Science in 2026: the events to watch for in the coming year
The rise of AI scientists, missions to explore the moons of Earth and Mars and a massive ocean-floor drill are among the developments set to shape research in 2026.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03673-6

Common household rat poisons found to pose unacceptable risk to wildlife as animal advocates push for ban
Environmentalists say proposed temporary suspension of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides ‘doesn’t go far enough’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/17/common-household-rat-poisons-found-to-pose-unacceptable-risk-to-wildlife-as-animal-advocates-push-for-ban

Don’t stop be-leafin’: how urban greening can help save threatened species
Planting even small pockets of native vegetation can be a boon for wildlife seeking refuge in our cities
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/20/dont-stop-be-leafin-how-urban-greening-can-help-save-threatened-species

Week in wildlife: honeymooning owls, an otter on the razz and a magical frog

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2025/dec/19/week-in-wildlife-honeymooning-owls-an-otter-on-the-razz-and-a-magical-frog?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Australia’s roads are full of giant cars, and everyone pays the price. What can be done?
https://theconversation.com/australias-roads-are-full-of-giant-cars-and-everyone-pays-the-price-what-can-be-done-268212

Cost of wind and batteries fall, coal and gas rise as CSIRO finds new way to show renewables are cheapest https://reneweconomy.com.au/cost-of-wind-and-batteries-fall-coal-and-gas-rise-as-csiro-finds-new-way-to-show-renewables-are-cheapest/

The ‘surprising’ discovery about dolphin friendship https://www.theage.com.au/environment/conservation/the-surprising-discovery-about-dolphin-friendship-20251216-p5no1s.html

@jhaue

The Conversation is one of the places worth supporting financially ... every little bit helps keep knowledge flowing ...

And in these days of the Media Streaming Misinformation ... these Independent sources are vital for public knowledge ...

https://donate.theconversation.com/au

Hidden clues in colonial journals reveal why Tasmania’s remote west keeps burning
https://theconversation.com/hidden-clues-in-colonial-journals-reveal-why-tasmanias-remote-west-keeps-burning-271623

Mary River cod thriving in Brisbane River catchment, century after relative went extinct https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-17/mary-river-cod-brisbane-river-cod-catchment-apex-predator-bremer/106146520

‘No water, no life’: Iraq’s Tigris River in danger of disappearing
Unless urgent action is taken life will be fundamentally altered for the ancient communities who live on its banks

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/16/no-water-no-life-iraqs-tigris-river-in-danger-of-disappearing?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Trump officials were told that cutting aid to South Sudan would exacerbate a deadly cholera epidemic. -- They did so anyway. 

Aid Charade: Even as lifesaving programs closed in South Sudan, Rubio and other officials maintained they were still active and that no one had died. -- We found that wasn’t true.

A Surging Outbreak: After the funding cuts, cases in South Sudan spiked. -- It’s the worst cholera epidemic in the country’s history.

https://www.propublica.org/article/usaid-cholera-deaths-trump-humanitarian-aid-cuts-south-sudan

Deep-sea squid caught masquerading as sponge stalks in Pacific abyss https://phys.org/news/2025-12-deep-sea-squid-caught-masquerading.html

The best science images of 2025 — Nature’s picks
The Sun’s fiery surface, a tattooed tardigrade, rare red lightning and more.
https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-025-03935-3/index.html

2.8 days to disaster: Why we are running out of time in low earth orbit https://phys.org/news/2025-12-days-disaster-earth-orbit.html

@treleanor @MyView @jhaue

if “the purpose of a system is what it does”, the purpose of our current unemployment service is to enrich people who provide pointless — and very poor — training courses.

a secondary purpose is to actively discourage anyone from using the system.

apart from a dozen of so other issues with recent australian governments, this is one that really ticks me off

[fren’s age pension was arbitrarily stopped during the previous administration. greg hunt’s electorate office were at first useless, then later, downright aggressive. took 5 months and a solicitor to rectify the situation, mostly because gutting and outsourcing the public service meant no one in sennalink knows their own system.

me, i do absolutely nothing exceptional for fear the same might happen to me]

@jhaue People need reminding of this.

The rainforest is an unfathomly complex and completely entangled whole, and every clearance is a small cut. Cuts aren't what visible, they have unseen effects accross the system of the whole body, and enough cuts will kill without ever piercing a vital organ or severing an artery.

I was doing a bushwalk with an old hand in field ecology up at Daintree once, and he said something to me that was so obvious but had never truly clicked with me. "Every tree is a whole ecosystem. You can't cut one out and expect everything to be OK"

Breeding logs, river repair and restocking keys to endangered Mary River cod's survival https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2025-12-16/endangered-mary-river-cod-conservation-action-plan/106055554

Amazon could lose over a third of forest cover by century's end
Through its enormous evaporative power, the Amazon forest draws moisture from the ocean into the interior of the country, where precipitation is constantly evaporating and raining down again. In this way, the forest keeps itself alive.
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-amazon-forest-century.html

Climate change can affect human diseases in widespread and varied ways https://phys.org/news/2025-12-climate-affect-human-diseases-widespread.html