These stunning bodies of water—saltier than seawater and nearly as acidic as lemon juice—can teach us more about where life can survive, on Earth and beyond.
Australia
Posted inNews
Reading Rainfall in a Snail’s Shell
The chemical record of a snail shell is allowing scientists to reconstruct a record of past storms from the recent—and maybe distant—past.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Australian Lakes Showed Us About Martian Hydrology
Studying the hydrology of the Yilgarn Craton reveals how the Red Planet may have evolved.
Posted inNews
Warm Waters Disrupt Seagrasses’ Microbial Environment
Microbial communities in ocean sediments become imbalanced as water temperatures rise, harming seagrass growth, a new study suggests.
Posted inScience Updates
When Does Rainfall Become Recharge?
Counting drips in caves is helping to reveal how much precipitation is needed to start refilling underground aquifers.
Posted inNews
To Find Critical Minerals, Look to Plate Tectonics
A study of “weird” Australian rocks suggests stores of niobium rose to the surface during the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia.
Posted inThe Landslide Blog
The report of the Board of Inquiry into the 14 January 2025 McCrae Landslide
The tribunal has concluded that a major leak in a water main, which released 40 million liters of water, triggered the failure On 14 January 2025, the McCrae landslide occurred on the Mornington Peninsula in Australia. The site is located at [-38.34631, 144.93500]. I posted about this event at the time, noting that local residents had […]
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Where the Pigs and Buffalo Roam, the Wetlands They do Bemoan
A novel fenced enclosure study demonstrates the heavy toll that invasive ungulates have on greenhouse gas emissions from coastal wetlands on Indigenous lands in Australia.
Posted inThe Landslide Blog
The 1-2 August 2025 Carne Wall landslide in the Blue Mountains of Australia
The 200,000 cubic metre collapse of a rock pillar has destroyed two extremely challenging climbing routes. At a time when there is a great deal going on in the landslide world, another really interesting event has almost passed me by. Thanks to loyal reader Scott for highlighting another remarkable event. Overnight on 1 – 2 […]
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Tracking the Sinking Ground from Coal Seam Gas Extraction
A new model shows how coal seam gas extraction causes land to sink by linking groundwater loss and coal shrinkage, helping predict impacts on farming in gas-producing areas.