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![]() ![]() Cosmos MagazineThe most valuable resourceIt's Carla Eisemberg's job to help the villagers in Papua New Guinea protect the country's endangered pig-nosed turtle and plan for the future. The sex lives of sea slugsAs Aplysia sea slugs gather en masse, looking for love on the ocean floor, Scott Cummins is there to study them. Fighting the flamesKathleen Harvey, a geologist and volunteer with the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, helped battle the 2003 inferno that was brought on by a lightning strike. Colour-change diagnosisMeningococcal is infamous for the speed at which it progresses - sometimes towards death - but Sapna Thoduka has figured out a diagnostic method that can work in 15 minutes. The immune cycleEvery athlete can increase their endurance through physical exertion, but not many know what Michael Kakanis knows: it may have a negative impact on their immune system. Standing up for the planetShe began by getting her university to opt for recycled toilet and photocopier paper - and now Ellen Sandell is leading Australia's next-generation of environmentally conscious youth. Swimming with sharksIt may not be everyone's cup of tea, but shark ecologist Charlie Huveneers is getting up close and personal with some of the ocean's most enigmatic predators to help determine better methods of conservation. Time pieceThe battle to keep precise time is a frontier encounter between quantum physics and technological know-how. Shaky groundScientists who failed to warn citizens of a major earthquake have been charged with manslaughter, igniting debate and raising the question - will we have any warning before future big earthquakes hit? Two sides of the same coinFrom astrophysics to genetics, all published scientific research is subject to rigorous challenge by other scientists, scrutinised for errors and the evidence tested. So why are some disciplines treated differently, asks Matthew Bailes. Sexual evolutionWhile sex purges our genome of harmful mutations and pushes biodiversity, it's a costly exercise for the average organism. So when, and why, did it all begin? John Long trawls the fossil record to find out. River of lifeThe birthplace of both agriculture and civilisation, Syria's Euphrates River is again facing turmoil and change - environmental as well as political. Fiona MacDonald travels to the ancient waterway. Atomic flatlandGraphene, the two-dimensional wonder material, seems ready to deliver on some of its early promises for the three-dimensional world. |
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