Issue 206

Modelling a more efficient future for cattle transport

The new TRANSIT tool developed by CSIRO is identifying ways to cut the costs of transporting cattle—offering solutions that would reduce the vast distances travelled and the numbers of trucks on the road. The tool will be applied beyond the livestock industry for use more broadly in the agricultural and logistics sectors.

Stand of trees with a water mark part way up the trunks

A long view of ecosystem health in the Murray-Darling Basin

New research has examined over 100 years of historical data on Murray-Darling Basin ecosystems to provide an indication of long-term trends in the Basin’s ecological condition.

Three children carry a turtle followed by a man in a dark blue uniform

Cowabunga! Tracking our teenage turtles

The Dampier Peninsula on the western edge of Western Australia’s Kimberley region is Bardi Jawi country. It’s also green turtle […]

Flooded road with stranded taxi underwater and man paddling kayak on water

Explainer: the models that help us predict climate change

What will the weather be like next week, next season, or by the end of the century? In the absence of a second Earth to use in an experiment, global weather and climate model simulations are the only tools we have to answer these questions.

Koala in between two branches of a tree

Farming carbon can be a win for wildlife, if the price is right

Climate change and the loss of biodiversity are two of the greatest environmental issues of our time. Is it possible to address both of those problems at once?

Close up of small fluffy yellow flowers

Five seasons in Australia? Meet sprinter and sprummer

It’s autumn – or so you may think. But did autumn really start on 1 March? And why do we observe four seasons, each exactly three months long?

Warmer, wetter, hotter, drier? How to choose between climate futures

Some climate models show that, under high greenhouse gas emissions, Sydney could be up to 4.8C hotter and have 20% less rainfall by 2090. Others show the Harbour City could warm only by 2.3C and become 25% wetter. How do we deal with such large uncertainty?

Dry paddocks studded with green trees and cows in the foreground

A new website shows how global warming could change your town

What will Australia look like in 2050? Even if we significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as under an intermediate scenario, Melbourne’s annual average climate could look more like that of Adelaide’s, and Adelaide’s climate could be more like that of Griffith in New South Wales.