The future of food

Australia’s farmers and agricultural industries are at the front line when it comes to dealing with the impacts of climate change. Agriculture also contributes 14% of the country’s emissions.

The recently established Zero Net Emissions Agriculture Cooperative Research Centre (ZNE-Ag CRC) aims to help the agriculture industry transition to net zero by 2040 by bringing academic knowledge and agriculture experience together. 

In this episode of Cosmos Country, hosts Glenn Morrison and Jamie Seidel speak with Dr Deb Cousins and Professor Matthew Morell from the ZNE-Ag CRC’s Establishment Committee about the role of the CRC, the challenges facing our farmers and the integrated systems approach needed to make the transition.

The Science Detectives are on another case. 

This week, Olivia Henry wants to know why animals come in so many different colours and patterns. The detectives talk to Devi Stuart-Fox, a professor of evolution and ecology at the University of Melbourne, to find out. 

This episode was hosted and produced by Imma Perfetto and edited by Andrew Wyrill.

For more science news, visit cosmosmagazine.com and follow us on Instagram @cosmosmagazine

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Regional communities looking for ways to diversify income and employment under climate change often turn to tourism. Recently, the Australian Tourism Commission created a data hub to help. It shows the value of Australian tourism by region; and the scale of incomes and number of people in the industry to be staggering.

The Cosmos Country podcast speaks with two people involved in tourism about how events can contribute to a diversified economy. Archaeologist Dr James Hunter is curator of Naval Heritage and Archaeology at the Australian National Maritime Museum. He recently highlighted the wreck called The South Australia, just offshore in Victor Harbour. Despite its size and importance to the history of South Australia, the wreck was only discovered less than a decade ago. Hunter is also exploring the southern SA coast in search of shipwrecks offshore of Robe.

And Carolyn Grant is Director of Engagement at the Ocean Lovers Festival in Sydney, a blend of ideas, arts and music.

They spoke to Cosmos Country’s podcast hosts Glenn Morrison and Marie Low.

It doesn’t rain at the South Pole. Why not? Will global warming change that?
This question from a Cosmos reader was a task for The Science Detectives.

Cosmos journalism intern Tyler Fisher was asked to investigate, to find out what’s going on.

We learn in school that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. But we also know the Sun doesn’t stay in the same part of the sky the whole year round – it’s higher at some points and lower at others. So what’s going on?

What about the Moon? How does its path change across the sky?

On the latest episode of Science Detectives, a new podcast series from Cosmos, Ellen Phiddian gazes at the sky to figure out how its two biggest hits change their appearance. She’s joined by Mary Adam, an astronomy educator from the Adelaide Planetarium at the University of South Australia.

Series one ep: 14
When coral reefs disappear more is lost than animals and evonomic benefits. Dr Tommy Fellowes at the USyd’s School of Geosciences Geocoastal Research Group talkas to Cosmos Country reporter Glenn Morrison.

Cosmos Science regional reporters Jamie Seidel and Glenn Morrison find out how quolls were transported across the country  to help re-wild an arid reserve in outback WA.