Scientists at the University of Melbourne have uncovered for the first time how Australia’s iconic Twelve Apostles were formed, finding tectonic plate movements over millions of years lifted and tilted the giant structures out of the sea.

A recent study published in National Science Review has revealed the soil inorganic carbon (SIC) stock in China’s topsoil (0–10 cm) may decrease by 314 ± 8 Tg C, accompanied by a loss of 217 ± 9 Tg C from the 2 m soils until 2100, estimaed by a new process-based mode. These findings challenge the traditional view of SIC stability in terrestrial carbon cycles, reveal potential substantial SIC losses in both topsoils and deep soils, and highlight the projection of future climate and global inorganic carbon cycle feedbacks.

Eastern Africa’s Turkana Rift is both a hotbed for fossil discoveries of our earliest ancestors and a literal hotbed of volcanic activity caused by shifting tectonic plates. Now researchers have found that Earth’s underlying crust in the region has been significantly thinned, presaging Africa’s eventual breakup—and with that finding, the researchers offer a new perspective on how Turkana’s world-famous fossil record of human evolution came to be.

Just as wave-like patterns can appear on computer screen when pixels do not align, new research led by Flinders University is investigating atomic-scale ‘moiré patterns’ in the promising field of ferroelectricity.

The new study, with experts at Monash University and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, seeks inroads into electrical and optical science by exploring these complex ‘superlattice’ patterns in various ways to create new energy and material capabilities.