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1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | Jacinta Bowler
Steven Wesselink loves his three Skye terriers: Sybil, Dot and Faith. According to Mr Wesselink, who is the vice-president of the British Terrier Club of NSW, the breed's short legs, long fur and gentle temperament create a "gorgeous" dog. "They're such a sweet, calm, quiet terrier," he says. "Most terriers are quite active and vibrant. The Skyes will just stand there and give you a kiss."Without an increase in numbers though, the breed could be headed towards extinction. Loading...
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3 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Jacinta Bowler |Annie Brown
Builder Craig Eury and winemaker John Eason were fossil hunting near the Victorian town of Mansfield when they spotted some footprints on a slab of rock. "It was literally the footprints that caught my eye — the light hit the rock in way that cast a shadow on the footprints," Mr Eury said. "I couldn't believe it — it's rare in life you find what you've always been dreaming about finding," Mr Eason added.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Jacinta Bowler
A decades-old Soviet spacecraft originally bound for Venus will crash down to Earth within the next 48 hours, according to experts. They've been tracking the progress of Kosmos 482 — a 500-kilogram failed probe that was launched 53 years ago. Tracking a space object that's hurtling around Earth every hour and a half is no easy task, but predicting where it will land days ahead of time is almost impossible, according to Bill Barrett, an orbital expert from Asia Pacific Aerospace Consultants.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Jacinta Bowler
Early risers are in for a treat, with one of the best meteor showers of the Southern Hemisphere about to peak later in the week. The shower is visible from anywhere in Australia and, if you know where to look, you might catch up to 22 meteors an hour. This year will be particularly good because the Moon won't be visible when the meteors — called the Eta Aquariids — start streaking across the night sky.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Jacinta Bowler
For 18 years, Wisconsin man Tim Friede has injected increasing amounts of venom into his body from the world's most deadly snakes. His strange quest has today yielded results, with a team of US researchers claiming to have created "the most broadly effective" snake antivenom to date.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Jacinta Bowler
A Soviet-era spacecraft that never made it to Venus more than 50 years ago is finally about to plunge back to Earth. That's according to academic and satellite watcher Marco Langbroek from Delft Technical University in the Netherlands, who has been keeping an eye on the Soviet spacecraft called Kosmos 482 for the past few years. So, as we get closer to the deadline, here are five quick questions on Kosmos 482, and what you need to know about the falling spacecraft.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Jacinta Bowler
Most days, Michael Mattiazzo logs into his computer and looks through public data from a spacecraft orbiting the Sun. He's not an astronomer by trade, and he's not interested in our stellar neighbour. Instead, he's hunting comets. Michael has been doing this for more than two decades, and when asked why, he's delightfully honest. "It's the kudos," he laughs.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Jacinta Bowler
With generative artificial intelligence (AI) advancing in leaps and bounds, tech giants are racing to power the energy-hungry computer systems running it all. But a pair of studies published in Nature today suggest a long-sought technology could improve the efficiency of computing itself, making AI more energy efficient and much faster. The new studies used optical computer chips, a type of technology that uses light instead of electrons to undertake the processes done in a computer.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Jacinta Bowler
Jupiter's stunning auroras have been captured by many telescopes and spacecraft since Voyager 1 flew by nearly 50 years ago. Recently, scientists detected a mysterious band of hot gas — almost hot enough to melt aluminium — that stretched halfway around the planet. The band of gas was hundreds of degrees warmer than it's surroundings, said James O'Donoghue, a planetary scientist at the University of Reading. "It's the first time we've ever seen anything like this on a giant planet," he said.
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2 months ago | 
rnz.co.nz | Jacinta Bowler
By Jacinta Bowler, ABC science reporterThe research was undertaken using the live shingles vaccine Zostavax, however that has now been replaced with the Shingrix vaccine. The shingles vaccine has been linked to lower dementia risk, according to a large study in Wales. Researchers say vaccination may have this effect by reducing reactivations of the virus that causes chickenpox and shingles, or through broader immunological effects.
