Serious, interconnected risks are closing in on the globalised community, from climate change to anarchy. Are we heeding the warnings?
AAP/EPA/Daniel Deme
In that world of peripheral vision, essential for business, social and political leaders, it is surprising that the World Economic Forum’s report, Global Risks 2012 has not received greater publicity or…
The image of the bearded, grubby ecologist, out-dated spectacles askew and sporting an eccentric grin of geeky, scientific relish, is one that is shared by many, including novice ecologists themselves…
What part do superstition and inconsistency play in contemporary genetic research?
DNA Art Online
By David Wilson, Technical University of Braunschweig
I’ve been an ecologist in Australia for the last ten years, working for both government agencies and as a university researcher. Over this time, funding for fieldwork has been increasingly hard to secure…
Given our neo-Platonic visions of universal ecologies, when it comes to restoring waterways we're up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
Flickr/Annadriel
I’ve been away in the UK for a few years – and what do I find when I come back? In the Murray Darling we are still arguing over inputs (the amount of water to be returned to the river) instead of focusing…
"If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" Research shows that plants spread news of trouble.
Flickr/Peter Nijenhuls
Sound and its use in communication have shaped the ecology, evolution, behaviour, and ultimately the success of many animal species. But are animals the only lifeforms to communicate with sound? Do plants…
