ABC Science

COLD CASE: One of the world's coldest cases may have finally been cracked - human ancestor 'Lucy' died after falling from a tree, according to detailed scans of her 3.18-million-year-old bones.

LOVE IN A TORRENT: Some frogs have evolved ultrasonic mating calls so they can be heard above the background rumble of the fast-flowing streams they depend on, say researchers.

CLIMATE DATA: Human-induced global warming began as early as the 1830s just as the Industrial Revolution was gaining steam, a new study shows.

SEAL SCIENCE: A group of elephant seals in Antarctica has helped show how freshwater from melting ice shelves affects a key part of the engine that drives the circulation of the world's oceans.

QUANTUM MILESTONE: US researchers have unveiled the development of a small quantum computer that can be reprogrammed to complete three algorithms in a single step.

COOK'S CHOOKS: The first domestic chickens in New Zealand were likely set loose there by Captain James Cook and his crew.

TAKEAWAY MESSAGE: Up to 900 reef sharks survive in a small patch of one of the most untouched reef environments in the world thanks to an annual migration of groupers arriving at their door, researchers have found.

JOVIAN HEAT: The howling turbulence of Jupiter's Great Red Spot may be superheating the upper atmosphere above the storm, researchers say.

DISEASE TRIGGER?: Fire brought warmth and comfort to early humans but may also have triggered the emergence of deadly tuberculosis, Australian researchers suggest.

TWO-WAY CONVERSATION: Not only do hunters in Mozambique recruit wild birds to help find honey, the birds actively recruit the hunters, reveals a new study of the remarkable relationship between humans and wild animals

THE X FACTOR: An enormous X-shaped structure made of stars lies at the centre of the Milky Way, indicates a new study of infrared light coming from our home galaxy.

NEW THEORY: Mounting evidence suggests the link between popular antidepressants and obesity should be investigated more closely as the rates for both grow, Australian researchers say.

CARBON BALLS: An international team has created a new carbon-based material that enables quantum computers to work at room temperature longer than any other conducting material such as graphene.

SPECIES LOSS: An analysis of global data suggests that biodiversity loss across more than half the world's surface is substantial enough to question the ability of many ecosystems to support human societies

CORAL SECRETS: Images of kissing corals and seafloor turf wars have been captured for the first time by scientists using a revolutionary new underwater microscope.

WARMING OCEANS: Great swathes of the temperate kelp forests on Western Australia's reefs that underpin tourism and fisheries industries worth $10 billion annually are gone.

ARCHAEOLOGY: Early Polynesian sailors criss-crossed the Pacific for hundreds of years, travelling as far as 2,500 kilometres, according to a new chemical analysis of centuries-old stone tools.

GOOD NEWS: The ozone hole over Antarctica is finally healing almost 30 years after the world banned the chemicals responsible for its creation, say researchers.

NASA's Juno mission is almost at Jupiter. Here's why you should care.

ONE STEP CLOSER: Researchers say a safe and effective vaccine against the Zika virus is a step closer after two successful trials on mice.