Environment
Hundreds rescued as fires rage in Royal National Park
The Royal National Park was closed and hundreds of people escorted to safety on Saturday, as firefighters battled two out-of control bushfires near Wattamolla in Sydney's south.
- by Miriam Webber
Latest
Hopes for Tasmania's 'Battery of the Nation' dangle by a cable, or two
Tasmania could become a renewable energy powerhouse for the nation, but the concept largely hinges on interconnection issues that have not always gone well.
- by Peter Hannam
Severe weekend heatwave could match last summer's record hot days
Parts of the city's west will swelter through 40-degree-plus temperatures on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and into Monday.
- by Jenny Noyes
'Serious case of negligence': Scientists blast controls on coral-eating starfish
Federal-funded efforts to contain the fourth big outbreak of crown-of-thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef are "sporadic" and a "serious case of negligence" that will likely fail, a leading scientist said.
- by Peter Hannam
Giant extinct burrowing bat discovered in New Zealand's South Island
The fossilised remains of a giant burrowing bat that lived in New Zealand millions of years ago has been found in Central Otago.
World's biggest deep-sea volcanic eruption in 100 years 'a scientific goldmine'
The volcano, named Havre, 1000 kilometres north-west of the country's North Island, was discovered in 2002.
'Worse than Liddell': Another coal-fired power plant develops conniptions
One of the nation's largest coal-fired power stations has had six failures of one of its units in the past three weeks, placing added strain on the power grid, and prompting a call for fossil-fuel plants to be set the same reliability standards being considered for renewable energy suppliers.
- by Peter Hannam
Science
Beware Greeks bearing tillers: research into soil erosion shows agriculture's impact
Despoiling the environment risks triggering the collapse of civilisations, a threat that goes back at least as far as Greeks, new research by Australian-based scientists has revealed.
- by Peter Hannam
Energy Smart
'All happening very quickly': Tesla battery sends a jolt through energy markets
When it comes to hype, there is probably nobody as outlandish as US-based billionaire Elon Musk and his Tesla corporation.
- by Peter Hannam
How to spot a rip (and what to do if caught in one)
Rip currents are already claiming lives this summer, but many of us don't know how to recognise them.
For 45 minutes, it was Muldoon versus monstrous rip
Only 30 per cent of Australians can correctly identify a rip, and about two out of three of those who say they can, cannot do so correctly.
- by Julie Power