South Australia's Premier has questioned the use of the word "toxic" to describe the state's ongoing algal bloom, despite the word being used in government advice and by scientists researching it.

Positive welfare is a relatively modern concept based on the idea that on the whole, an animal’s positive experiences should outweigh their negative ones. Intuitively, we therefore require indic...

Stuff cuts are just the most visible aspect of critical problems within the modern university, as a new survey of academic workers reveals.

Murray Watt agrees recovery plans for greater glider, ghost bat, lungfish and sandhill dunnart were not made by successive governments * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, has conceded that successive governments acted unlawfully when they failed to create mandatory recovery plans for native species threatened with extinction in a major legal win for one of Australia’s largest environmental organisations. The Wilderness Society has been successful in federal court proceedings it launched in March that sought to compel the minister to make recovery plans for species including the greater glider and the ghost bat. Continue reading...

Homogenous, male-only panels remain prevalent, despite growing numbers of women experts in multiple fields.

While official advice is clear, it’s not a black-and-white issue, experts say. Responsibly interacting with urban wildlife may increase our compassion Chopping vegetables in my kitchen on a winter afternoon, I was startled by the sound of rustling branches and loud coughing coming from my back yard. I walked outside tentatively, prepared to face a fence-hopping intruder. Instead, after a few minutes of listening to evenly timed wheezes, I spotted it – a small brushtail possum, tucked behind lilly-pilly branches bowing over my fence. Continue reading...