Operations

The location of the brightest cosmic explosion ever recorded was pinpointed at 2.4 billion light years from Earth by a team of astronomers, which included a Macquarie University researcher.

The blast, known as a gamma-ray burst (GRB), was first picked up by sensors on veteran spacecraft Voyager 1 last October, only arriving at Earth 19 hours later.

It was then detected by several gamma-ray space telescopes, such as NASA’s Swift and Fermi, and the European Space Agency’s INTEGRAL.

But two papers published this week show it was spectroscopic data collected by the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope that finally helped locate the origin of the blast in a previously unknown galaxy.

And how their shifting use of Antarctic waters shows effects of climate change.

Scientists have analysed chemicals in the skin of southern right whales to give new insights into the animals’ distribution, as well as long-term environmental changes in the Southern Ocean.

The research was published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

How long will a leaf live? It’s an economic decision made by every tree.

Monkey puzzle tree leaves can live for over two decades. And Picea growing in the Gongga Mountains in China can thrive for thousands of years, growing slowly in severe environments with leaves that last twenty years on average. 

On the other hand, maple leaves last a season, while blueberry leaves may last just three months.

So, what determines the lifespan of a tree leaf?