The hormone oestrogen pollutes our waterways, virtually unchanged even by wastewater treatment, and now marine life is subjected to a drug cocktail that contaminates rivers and streams. Enter our hero, Smart Rust, which can attract many substances, including oil, microplastics, and oestrogen, depending on the coating applied to its superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles.

“Community” extends beyond human collectives to embrace a vast network of adaptable lifeforms, all of us reliant on each other in our remarkable planet’s dynamic web of life. This National Science Week, the Survive and Thrive program explored how we can use science to help flora, fauna, and ourselves to not only survive, but thrive in our changing world.  

Feral cat populations urgently need to be controlled. The challenge is enormous, and requires ‘boots on the ground’, so we need the media, politicians, government, invasive species organisations, and conservation agencies to encourage and empower people to take individual responsibility in addressing the impacts of outdoor cats.

Bryophytes are a group of plants that are familiar to most but are rarely called by their species name – even amongst many botanists. They represent some of the smallest plants in the world. Unfortunately, they are among the forgotten species in conservation planning and land management, as their ecosystem requirements and functions are given too little consideration, if any.

How can Victoria support the development of a market for biodiversity certificates that is based on integrity and trust and, in doing so, deliver nature positive outcomes? Supporting biodiversity scientists to provide independent opinions for biodiversity certificates is one way to help to build a market based on integrity and trust.