Cosmos Magazine

Cosmos Magazine is an award-winning literary science magazine, published in Australia but with a global reach. Cosmos Magazine presents the exciting world of science in a way that everyone can enjoy, with beautiful pictures and clear explanations of the latest developments. Discover the universe around you and what makes it tick.

FROM THE DIGITAL EDITOR

COSMOS MAGAZINE

FROM THE EDITORS

BEHIND THE SCENES IN THIS ISSUE

Megafauna fossils found in tropical Australia • Rich site suggests climatic change drove extinction.

A CAMERA SYSTEM WITH BUGS – BUT THAT’S OK • Energy efficiency makes wireless vision possible.

During lockdown we were light on the Earth • Scientists record the seismic noise of social distancing.

IT HAPPENED IN JUST ZEPTOSECONDS • Physicists calculate the speed of nuclear reactions.

The man who can’t see numbers • His brain can, but to him it’s like spaghetti.

FOCUS: CIVILISATION

The evolution of flowering plants • “Time tree” shows delayed diversification of families.

FILLING THE GAPS IN OUR GENOMIC MAPS • Scientists report first complete assembly of human chromosome.

Can water be two types of liquid? • Researchers offer evidence to support decades-old theory.

Lowland streaked tenrec • What do you get if you cross a shrew, a bee and a pincushion?

Giant reptile’s intriguing egg • Antarctic fossil challenges some scientific thinking.

NOW THAT’S HOW TO MAKE A HOME • These bees have a style all their own.

Build it like an earwig wing • Insect-inspired fans offer wide-ranging applications.

Mars is the place (in space) to be • Three missions, three countries, one destination.

WHAT’S THE FUSS ABOUT THESE REPTILIAN OBJECTS OF ADMIRATION?

Why Siri needs more Star trek • Many modern technologies are the success that science fiction promised but, as Alan Finkel explains, one innovation needs to take some past inspiration to boldly go forward.

An emu-led recovery • Rewilding supports ecological restoration and, Tristan Derham writes, in Australia the potential of one species stands out from the pack.

7 million miles and 90 years of ocean life

Learning the Star Knowledge of First Australians • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people use their understanding of the night sky to navigate, inform cultural practices and much more, report PETER REEVE and DUANE HAMACHER.

CAN FACEBOOK SOLVE THE BIGGEST MYSTERY IN PHYSICS? • At the Large Hadron Collider, evidence of the most sought-after particles in modern science remains elusive. But as MARTIN WHITE and ANNA MULLIN explain, perhaps we’ve been looking in all the wrong places.

THE STANDARD MODEL

SUPERSYMMETRY

PROTON COLLISION EVENTS

THE AMAZUNG VACCINE RACE • As vaccine makers scramble to the finish line and governments vie for first dibs, DYANI LEWIS explains why some vaccine developers are playing the long game.

THE SCHOOL OF SPACE ROCKS • After six long years, Japan’s Hayabusa2 is nearly home, packed with precious samples from near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu. RICHARD A LOVETT tracks the epic 5.24-billion-kilometre journey of a tiny probe with huge ambitions – and the race to unlock the origins of life on Earth.

GUNS vs GAS: TWO WAYS TO COLLECT A SAMPLE IN SPACE

WHAT HAPPENS IF BENNU HITS EARTH?

8 GREAT CLOCKS • Chronophile IAN CONNELLAN takes a pictorial tour through a brief history of timekeeping.

pokie in your pocket? • Setting aside a device packed with diversions designed to hijack your brain’s dopamine-driven reward circuitry is easier said than done. So, can you outsmart a smartphone using willpower alone? PAUL BIEGLER reports on the science of digital...