Australia"s tall, wet forests were not open and park-like when colonists arrived—and we shouldn"t be burning them
Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage's Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia's forests were kept open through frequent burning by First Nations people. Advocates for widespread thinning and burning of.....»»
Emissions from four Punjab district shows stubble burning leads to poorer health
Punjab is the epicenter of stubble burning in India. Although the majority of residents are aware of the harmful effects of burning crop waste, it is still a widespread practice, with serious consequences for health, household expenditures and the en.....»»
Critical reporting weakens the effect of "sportswashing" for authoritarian regimes, experiment reveals
Major sporting events offer authoritarian regimes the opportunity to present themselves to the population of foreign states as progressive and open. However, this positive effect on image—or "sportswashing" for short—only works in other states wh.....»»
Bad weather led Dutch East India Company ship into Western Australian coast, archaeologists find
The Dutch East India Company ship, the Zuytdorp, likely crashed into the shore of Western Australia in 1712 due to a storm and not bad navigation, new research has found......»»
Extensive antimicrobial usage sparks warning over increased resistance in locations across Australia
University of Queensland research has found antimicrobial usage is significantly higher in affluent communities in Australia. Samples have been collected from 50 wastewater treatment plants in locations across Australia servicing about 11.3 million p.....»»
iOS 18.2 is nearing its public release and it"s packed with AI features
The release candidate version of iOS 18.2 has arrived, as Apple gears up for the software's full public rollout. Here's everything you need to know about the update and its features.Here's what's new in iOS 18.2.On Thursday, two weeks after the fourt.....»»
Scientists counted 49 ways Australia is destroying the ecosystems we hold dear—but there is hope
Australia's ecosystems face an unprecedented crisis. From rainforests in the continent's north to the alpine bogs and fens of the alps, ecosystems are being pushed towards collapse......»»
Hitting the target for eradicating feral pigs on Kangaroo Island
The Black Summer bushfires of 2019–20, that razed more than half of the landscape on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, left an indelible mark on the island's unique native biodiversity, which is still struggling to recover......»»
Google’s December 2024 Pixel Drop just arrived with a boatload of new features
Google's Pixel Drop for December 2024 is here, and it's a giant update. Here's a rundown of all the new features......»»
Coming soon to Apple Vision Pro: mixed reality hit game ‘Little Cities: Diorama’ [out now]
Update: Right on schedule, Little Cities: Diorama has arrived for Apple Vision Pro. Download it here. More mixed reality games that became popular on Meta Quest headsets are coming to Apple Vision Pro. Little Cities: Diorama offers an all-new.....»»
Not too warm and not too cold—finding the Goldilocks Zone of the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia is the largest living coral reef system on Earth, about 300 times larger than the next largest reef, found off the coast of Belize. This unique UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to a wide variety of.....»»
One in three domestic abuse victims is male. Here"s why we need to talk about them
When you think about domestic violence, you probably imagine a tall, powerful man overpowering his female partner. This is the image that is usually shown in media, films and true crime documentaries. But it is not just men who commit violence and ab.....»»
Apple TV+ on Amazon Prime Video now rolling out to additional countries
Following a launch last month of in the United States, the channel is now rolling out to additional regions. Apple TV+ is now available to subscribe and watch within Prime Video in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. The pricing is the sam.....»»
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is pitch-perfect archaeological adventuring
Review: Amazing open-world environs round out a tight, fun-filled adventure story. Historically, games based on popular film or TV franchises have generally been seen as cheap cas.....»»
After decades of plantation agriculture, coconut palms dominate over half of Pacific atoll forests
Coconut palms are king throughout the tropics, serving as the foundation for human lives and cultures across the Pacific Ocean for centuries. However, 200 years of planting by colonial interests transformed the palm from the revered "Tree of Life" to.....»»
The dual role of insects in parasitic plant reproduction solves a long-standing botanical mystery
In the dark and moist understories of the subtropical forests of Shimoshima Island in Japan grow parasitic plants that feed on the roots of other plants. They are called Balanophora, and for over a century, the mechanism of their seed dispersal has r.....»»
Join us today for Ars Live: How Asahi Linux ports open software to Apple’s hardware
Join us 3:30 pm ET Wednesday to unpack the effort to run Linux on Apple Silicon. One of the key differences between Apple's Macs and the iPhone and iPad is that the Mac can still.....»»
Teaching evolution with conflict reduction practices increases acceptance, study finds
Students in biology classes accepted the theory of evolution more often when it was taught with conflict-reducing practices, including an emphasis on religious compatibility and autonomy, according to a study published December 4, 2024 in the open-ac.....»»
Male African elephants develop distinct personality traits as they age
Male African elephants have distinct personality traits, but also adapt their behavior to suit the social context, according to a study published December 4, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell at Stanford Universit.....»»
Why you shouldn"t lie to your children about Father Christmas, according to philosophers
For many children, the winter holidays center on a lie. They're told that every Christmas Eve, a jolly, elderly man visits all the children in the world. He pops down the chimney, leaves gifts (at least for well-behaved children) and then disappears.....»»
Supreme Court could narrow the scope of federal environmental reviews
In the 1993 movie "Jurassic Park," Dr. Ian Malcolm, a fictional math genius specializing in chaos theory, explains the "butterfly effect," which holds that tiny actions can lead to big outcomes. "A butterfly flaps its wings in Peking," Malcolm posits.....»»