It’s not easy to find an planets beyond our own solar system. With few exceptions, we cannot see them directly. Even with the largest, most powerful telescopes, they remain lost in the glare of their host stars. Instead, astronomers like NASA’s Dr Jessie Christiansen search for clues that reveal the presence of unseen worlds as detectives.

It’s not uncommon to have “four seasons in one day” in Melbourne. Our variable weather patterns are driven by conditions moving from west to east and, to some extent, from the Southern Ocean to Australia. These variables control cloud formation and, just like following a cake recipe, change in flavour and form depending on the ingredients you put in.

From remote Antarctica to the towering Himalayas, accelerating ice loss under climate change casts a stark shadow over ecosystems, coastlines, and the equilibrium of our global environment. Glaciologists like Professor Andrew Mackintosh work to understand past glacier and ice sheet changes to improve future predictions – and that future looks bleak.

Outside the protective cocoon of the Earth’s magnetic field is a universe full of damaging radiation. NASA’s Artemis Missions aim to establish humanity’s first long-term presence on the Moon in 2024, so experimental physicist Dr Gail Iles is investigating ways to overcome the radiation factor so that astronauts can survive long journeys, or even live indefinitely, in space.

Just as we cannot see the air, we can see its effect on the objects it moves, such as swaying tree branches in the wind. Similarly, dark matter is composed of particles that cannot be seen or felt directly, but astrophysicists like Professor Alan Duffy can detect its presence from the effect these particles have on observable phenomena.