Cosmos Magazine

Cosmos Magazine is an award-winning literary science magazine, published in Australia but with a global reach. Cosmos Magazine presents the exciting world of science in a way that everyone can enjoy, with beautiful pictures and clear explanations of the latest developments. Discover the universe around you and what makes it tick.

Closer look

From the Lead Scientist

BEHIND THE SCENES THIS ISSUE

From the Editors

COSMOS MAGAZINE

Cheers as spacecraft tags asteroid • OSIRIS-REx touches down for a sample of Bennu.

A barcode of Earth’s climatic past • 66 million years of change uncovered from ocean sediments.

IT HAPPENED IN JUST A FEW ZEPTOSECONDS • Physicists measure the shortest unit of time.

Yes, megalodons were really big • Researchers confirm gigantism of the extinct species.

FOCUS: NATURE

PHYSICISTS PROPOSE THE TOP SPEED OF SOUND • Calculations build on two well-known physical constants.

Scientists argue origins of a famous feather • New study suggests the old theory is right after all.

A scientific guide to Western art • Information theory reveals some interesting patterns.

IT’S CONFIRMED: THERE IS WATER ON THE MOON • Flying telescope detects unique spectral signature.

Sahara actually has quite a few trees • Satellite imaging and deep learning provide clearer picture.

I’d know those finger veins anywhere • Researchers up the ante on biometric authentication.

TURNING BUOYANCY ON ITS HEAD • French researchers have floated boats “upside down” on liquid.

Newton’s masterwork still going strong • Science detectives find new old copies of the Principia.

Electronic skin that behaves like skin • New device mimics body’s feedback response.

HONEY GOES WITH THE FLOW • Clever coatings reverse the rules of viscosity.

Armadillo lizard • The cycle of life, death and rebirth all rolled into one.

A missing part of the rock art gallery • Newly described images show human-animal relationships.

THEY’RE FOR RESEARCH…

Circular truth • Ecologists confirm Alan Turing’s theory for fairy circles.

FLEMING’S FAMOUS MOULD REVISITED • Scientists sequence genome of the original Penicillium.

Many fans make light work • Making important discoveries in astronomy is possible for anyone with an interest in looking up, as Ángel López-Sánchez explains

THE NEW LIFE AQUATIC • Aquanaut and ocean conservationist Fabien Cousteau – first grandson of Jacques – is seeking to honour his Old Man of the Sea by building Proteus, the world’s largest and most advanced underwater habitat.

IT’S HIP TO BE SQUARE • Like orbiting LEGO bricks crammed with tech, CubeSats are simple, (relatively) cheap, customisable and as BIANCA NOGRADY discovered, the next big thing for communications, real-time weather warnings and eyes in the sky. But how many is too many?

TURBULENT TIMES • Sharks are awesome and highly evolved animals, but according to fluid mechanist SOPHIE CALABRETTO, perhaps their most amazing characteristic is only skin deep.

Small worlds • The entrant images in Nikon’s 46th annual international photomicrography competition are as thoughtful, intimate and inventive as ever.

Dreaming in the key of SEA • Research suggests fish use tools, have complex social lives and are self aware. JAMES BRADLEY explores what that means for the way we test intelligence, and how we treat this diverse, enigmatic community.

Eyes in the SKY • First Australians’ animal connections to the stars

THE SEVEN SEASONS OF THE WURUNDJERI

GOOD KRILL HUNTING • Antarctica’s most iconic animals depend on the tiny, prolific and surprisingly charismatic krill. ANDREW BAIN reports...