Ancestor of all animals identified in Australian fossils
A team led by UC Riverside geologists has discovered the first ancestor on the family tree that contains most familiar animals today, including humans.
A team led by UC Riverside geologists has discovered the first ancestor on the family tree that contains most familiar animals today, including humans.
Paleontology & Fossils
Mar 23, 2020
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One of the most invasive Australian weeds is being touted as a potential economic crop, with benefits for the construction, mining and forestry industries, and potentially many First Nations communities.
Agriculture
Feb 20, 2024
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508
A powerful radio-wave laser, called a "megamaser", has been observed by the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa. The record-breaking find is the most distant megamaser of its kind ever detected, at about five billion light ...
Astronomy
Apr 7, 2022
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515
Scientists studying a distant galaxy cluster have discovered the biggest explosion seen in the Universe since the Big Bang.
Astronomy
Feb 27, 2020
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University of South Australia scientists have made a surprising discovery in the origins of an antibiotic-resistant gene previously thought to have been confined to Adelaide.
Molecular & Computational biology
Jan 18, 2022
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123
A team of Australian scientists led by Australian Museum (AM) and University of New South Wales (UNSW) paleontologist Dr. Matthew McCurry have formally named and described a fossil spider, Megamonodontium mccluskyi, which ...
Ecology
Sep 22, 2023
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341
Century-old footage of the last known Tasmanian tiger in captivity has been brought to life by colourisation, offering a tantalising glimpse of the now-extinct creature.
Plants & Animals
Sep 7, 2021
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In a twist to the native animal survival story, new research shows that a threatened rodent that only survives on offshore islands prefers one of Australia's most invasive weeds for food and shelter.
Plants & Animals
Jul 25, 2024
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205
Astronomers at Western Sydney University have discovered one of the biggest black hole jets in the sky.
Astronomy
Aug 19, 2022
0
356
You can see the longest partial lunar eclipse in hundreds of years this week.
Space Exploration
Nov 16, 2021
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13099
Australia (pronounced /əˈstreɪljə, ɒˈstreɪljə/, or formally /ɔːˈstreɪliə/), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the mainland, which is both the world's smallest continent and the world's largest island, the island of Tasmania, and numerous other islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.N4 Australia is the only place that is simultaneously considered a continent, a country and an island. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east and New Zealand to the southeast.
For around 40,000 years before European settlement commenced in the late 18th century, the Australian mainland and Tasmania were inhabited by around 250 individual nations of indigenous Australians. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the immediate north, and European discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, the eastern half of Australia was claimed by the British in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales, founded on 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in the following years; the continent was explored, and during the 19th century another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were established.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies became a federation, and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth realm. The population is just over 21.7 million, with approximately 60% concentrated in and around the mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. The nation's capital city is Canberra, located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
Technologically advanced and industrialised, Australia is a prosperous multicultural country and has excellent results in many international comparisons of national performance such as health care, life expectancy, quality-of-life, human development, public education, economic freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political rights. Australian cities also routinely rank among the world's highest in terms of livability, cultural offerings, and quality of life. It is a member of the United Nations, G-20 major economies, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, OECD, and the WTO.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA