Koalas survived a climate-driven population crash 100,000 years ago, and new genomic research is helping scientists better protect the species today. A major genomic study has transformed scientists’ understanding of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) evolution, showing that the species underwent a dramatic population decline about 100,000 years ago, long before humans reached Australia. Researchers found that [...]

Ancient Australian fossils indicate that the earliest eukaryotes depended on oxygen, providing new evidence that oxygen helped enable the evolution of complex life. Stored in an open-air warehouse in tropical Darwin, Australia, are dozens of trays containing cylindrical cores of rock. They are from drill holes bored hundreds of meters below the surface by mineral [...]