Year 7 students in SA have begun testing robotic rubbish collectors in the school pool, with their sights set on one day cleaning up waste-filled water worldwide

Despite headlines of an ‘arachnid apocalypse’ and startling images of cobwebs blanketing country Victoria, locals and experts alike are mesmerised by the spiders’ ingenious survival technique

Death Valley is no longer the hottest place on Earth, according to scientists who have found two even hotter places. We look at how Australia’s hottest places compare

An iceberg 170km long, 25km wide and the largest of its kind in the world has broken off Antarctica. It formed as scientists reported the previous largest iceberg had broken up and melted

We all know bees make honey, but their importance in Australia extends far beyond producing a beloved breakfast spread

Zookeeper and bushfire survivor Chad Staples says showcasing native creatures in the Great Aussie Coin Hunt is “so important” for conservation awareness

Nepalese Sherpa Kami Rita has set a new record for the most Everest ascents, reaching the summit of the world’s highest peak for the 25th time

Scientists have found a spooky-looking, bloodsucking, critically endangered native fish in record numbers in the Murray River system, which is great news for the environment and lamprey fish

Phillip Island’s little penguins are small but mighty adaptable, according to a new scientific study using custom-made ‘fitbits’.

A photo titled The Landscape of Fear and showing a volcano erupting within an incredible electrical storm has won first prize in a global photography contest. See some of our favourite photos

The recent floods in NSW have brought more than just record rainfall – and bloodthirsty leeches are loving it

Archie Cross has displayed courage beyond his 13 years, rescuing about 10 residents and a handful of pets from their flooded homes in NSW with his little fishing boat

Australian poet Dorothea MacKellar surely nailed it when she wrote her classic poem My Country in 1904. Mark Knight reflects on how it sums up this land of amazing contrasts

A new photography competition named for famous Australian photographer, adventurer and explorer Frank Hurley has attracted more than 1200 entries from 26 countries

Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, has awed even experienced volcanologists, pumping out spectacular displays of lava, ash and volcanic rocks for more than a week

A microphone on NASA’s Perseverance rover has recorded for the first time the sound of another planet. It’s hoped there will be more to hear from Mars soon as the rover gets to work

Mark Knight chooses a favourite cartoon from 2020 and explains the process of starting with a news event, gathering ideas and working towards a drawing to tell even more of the story

This summer, Australian scientists will use a crew of sniffer dogs led by Bear, a border collie and Australian cattle dog cross, to find and rescue any koalas in danger from bushfires

Scientists have calculated just how cold it got on Earth during the coldest part of the last Ice Age, using ocean plankton fossils and climate models

One of the hottest air temperatures recorded anywhere on Earth in at least a century, and possibly ever, was reached on Sunday afternoon at Death Valley in the US, where it soared to 54.4C

Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung has erupted, sending ash 5km into the sky. It’s the latest eruption along the 40,000km-long line of volcanoes, faults and trenches called the Pacific Ring of Fire

Divers are using the quiet pandemic period to grow and replant coral at popular tourist diving and snorkelling spots on the Great Barrier Reef.

A 7m-long procession of caterpillars parading through Alice Springs is fascinating and touching them dangerous, but to the Arrernte people, it can be a sign of a harsh winter on the way

The leaves on deciduous trees turn forests, parks and gardens a rainbow of yellows, oranges, reds and browns. Why do leaves change colour? And why do the trees let them fall?

The temperature in northern Antarctica has hit 18.3C, thought to be a heat record on the continent best known for snow, ice and penguins

Sydney has been plunged into chaos after the biggest rain event in 30 years sparked floods, home evacuations, traffic delays, power outages and landslides

A raging megablaze has burnt one-fifth of the Australian Capital Territory as out-of-control bushfires also continue to threaten homes in NSW and Victoria

Astronauts on the International Space Station have taken delivery of super-muscled mice, pest-killing worms and a robot that can sense how the astronauts are feeling

Seaweed piled high on Queensland beaches has trapped at least one runner, who had to be rescued from the algae. While seaweed is not unusual, people have never seen so much at once

A Code Red fire danger day has been declared in Victoria for the first time in 10 years as the entire country swelters through heatwave conditions and fires continue to burn

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight captures the helplessness of drought-affected Australian communities now caught in the path of catastrophic bushfires

Ice eggs the size of footballs have engulfed an entire beach in Finland in a rare weather event that requires ice, wind, water and freezing temperatures

Rainbows, aurora australis and massive, fluffy clouds that make you want to bounce on them star in the year’s best weather photos, as judged by the Bureau of Meteorology

Tenterfield — battling drought and, recently, bushfires — has struck it lucky with the discovery of underground water only 126 days before the town’s supply was due to run dry

In our weekly series, Mark Knight explains why he used classic composer Vivaldi as inspiration for how different the four seasons and the weather is becoming in Australia

A rare moonbow has appeared in the South Australian sky in the middle of the night and been caught on camera. We look at how they form and why seeing one is very special

‘Hurricane Hunters’ have taken an incredible photo from inside the eye of Dorian, which has hit the Bahamas and is now heading for the US, where people are doing their best to prepare

With poetry, moments of silence and political speeches about the urgent need to fight climate change, Iceland bade goodbye to its first extinct glacier

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has taken an amazing new photo of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, a massive storm wider than the Earth, with furious winds reaching speeds of up to 684kmh

The wind is ferocious and the temperature hovers close to zero, but Andrea Turbett has only warm words to describe her job on the remote, sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island as Australia's southernmost ranger

On the eve of National Tree Day, new research suggests planting a trillion trees could achieve a 20-year pause in global warming and that we have the available land to do it

After several warm days with temperatures above 30C, residents of this Mexican city woke up to a winter wonderland and then set about trying to find their cars under all that ice

An erupting volcano in Papua New Guinea has blanketed a town in ash and forced evacuations, just four days after astronauts on the ISS photographed another incredible eruption

A photo of a pack of sled dogs appearing to walk on water in Greenland has shocked the world, showing the result of a massive ice melt on an unusually warm day last week

Residents of an island near the Arctic Circle are working on a plan to officially ignore time for two months each summer when the sun doesn’t set for 69 days and it doesn’t get dark at all

Lake Eyre is approaching its fullest state in more than 40 years, with the huge flow of water catching the attention of birds, pilots, tourists and even NASA

After a freak hailstorm turned a sandy beach into a sea of white, we look at what causes hail and if it’s dangerous for humans to get caught in it

As part of the Adopt A Farmer campaign, students from across Australia have sent letters of encouragement and hope to farmers to help them get through the drought

Farmers, their families and animals across Australia are doing it tough with worsening drought conditions. Students can now Adopt A Farmer to lend a helping hand to those most in need

Residents are being warned to "stay indoors" as the extremely dangerous tropical Cyclone Veronica brings wild winds and heavy rain in Western Australia today

Townsville’s mayor has urged the city’s residents to “hang tough” as the Army and emergency services personnel work hard to keep everyone safe after record rain in Queensland

As Australia swelters through record-breaking heat, North America is experiencing extreme, record-breaking cold, with Niagara Falls looking like a scene out of the movie Frozen

Strong winds have stripped drought-stricken Central Australia and western NSW of thousands of tonnes of precious topsoil, forming a dust storm that moved east over Sydney and out to sea

Australian scientists are calling on citizen scientists — including kids — to use a new app to record extreme weather events where you live and help improve forecasting

Lots of us think the sky is blue because it’s a reflection of the ocean or moisture in the air, but it’s not. Next time someone asks, you’ll be able to give the right answer

Australian climber Dan Bull has a second world record to his name after trekking 5707m up a mountain to a frozen lake to complete the highest kayak on earth

Spring weather and warm mean something completely different on Antarctica, as these funny outdoor cooking photos show. What would you like to try to cook outdoors there?

A 10-year-old boy’s response to learning about Australia’s drought was to find a way to help. In five weeks, he has raised more than one million dollars. What are your ideas for helping people?