The Conversation

Sections of the media have talked up the prospects of future power outages, even though the electricity market operator predicts that Australia's stringent reliability standards will still be met. Dylan McConnell, Researcher at the Australian German Climate and Energy College, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Scientists were not sure if an adult butterfly could remember things it learned as a caterpillar. Then a study by a team of US scientists found something very interesting. Michael F. Braby, Associate Professor, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

How a species of screw pine unique to Lord Howe Island has evolved its own rainwater harvesting system that allows it to grow tall. Matthew Biddick, PhD Researcher, Victoria University of Wellington Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The hydrogen economy has been touted for decades as a way to navigate the clean energy transition. Now a new CSIRO roadmap sets out how hydrogen power can become a major energy player. Sam Bruce, Manager, CSIRO Futures, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

In 2017 18.8 million people were displaced by natural disasters, with floods accounting for 8.6 million. Climate change is poised to drive those numbers higher still. Jane McAdam, Scientia Professor and Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW John Church, Chair professor, UNSW Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australians are angry about electricity prices and both the federal government and opposition are proposing to cap them. Will this approach work, and what are the risks? Guy Dundas, Energy Fellow, Grattan Institute Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

With New South Wales suffering winter bushfires and temperature records tumbling around the globe, our leaders in Canberra have picked a bad time to jettison climate policy in favour of political bickering. Sophie Lewis, ARC DECRA Fellow, UNSW Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, Research Fellow, UNSW Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The $444 million awarded to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation has been criticised as a politically calculated move. But governments have been asking what the reef can do for them ever since colonial times. Rohan James Lloyd, Adjunct Lecturer, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

We need to move past biased, opaque models for energy policies. Shirin Malekpour, Research Leader in Strategic Planning and Futures Studies, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University Enayat A. Moallemi, Research Associate, UNSW Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The only sea creature known to attack blue whales is the orca, also known as a 'killer whale'. But humans present a much bigger threat to them. Wally Franklin, Researcher and co-director of the The Oceania Project, Southern Cross University Trish Franklin, Researcher and co-director of The Oceania Project , Southern Cross University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has abandoned the emissions-reduction component of his signature energy policy, in the latest chapter of a brutal decade-long saga for Australian climate policy. Marc Hudson, PhD Candidate, Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless following the Lombok earthquakes. Much of this suffering need not have happened if houses were constructed to better withstand shaking. Graeme MacRae, Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, Massey University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The same day all of New South Wales was declared in drought, the state's Rural Fire Service issued its earliest ever total fire bans. Owen Price, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires, University of Wollongong Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

What would you do if you saw a fisher breaking the law? Would you report the offender to the police? Confront them? Or would you do nothing? These choices affect the future of marine protected areas. Brock Bergseth, Postdoctoral research fellow, James Cook University Georgina Gurney, Environmental Social Science Research Fellow, James Cook University Joshua Cinner, Professor & ARC Future Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence, Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Heatwaves can cause a large number of deaths, especially when vulnerable groups are unprepared and are not acclimatised to hot temperatures. Thomas Longden, Senior Research Fellow, University of Technology Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Renewable energy investment is gathering steam throughout the world. Australia's National Energy Guarantee policy should be made agile enough to jump on board, because this runaway train won't stop. Ken Baldwin, Director, Energy Change Institute, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Only when flowering is Pilostyles visible externally, the flowers erupting from the stems of its host like a weird botanical Alien. Steve Wylie, Molecular virology, virus ecology and evolution, metagenomics, symbiosis, Murdoch University Jen Mccomb, Emeritus professor, Murdoch University Kevin Thiele, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, University of Western Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

As energy ministers head into a crucial meeting with their federal counterpart Josh Frydenberg, our state-by-state guide compares their various stances on the future of the National Energy Guarantee. Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Urban trees are literally made with the help of human breath – they turn the carbon dioxide we breathe out into the building blocks of plant growth. So your local trees have a piece of you inside them. Cris Brack, Associate Professor, forest measurement & management, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The government has offered emergency payments to drought-stricken farmers. But if we really care about them, we'll also invest in long-term drought resilience measures to reduce impacts. Jacki Schirmer, Associate Professor, University of Canberra Dominic Peel, PhD Candidate in Public Health, University of Canberra Ivan Charles Hanigan, Data Scientist (Epidemiology), University of Sydney Kimberly Brown, PhD Researcher, University of Canberra Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.