THE SEASON’S CHALLENGES have seen us
constantly reflecting on – and immensely
grateful for – the role of science and technology
in understanding how our Earth is changing, the
likely results of that change, and what we all ought
to be thinking about to make things better – or, at
least, no worse.
As unprecedented bushfires stained the
summer skies in eastern and southern Australia,
it seemed natural that our thoughts turned to
water and sky.
In this issue you’ll meet the marine
researchers who are getting help from the world’s
most magnificent pelagic bird, the wandering
albatross, to find illegal, unreported and
unregulated (IUU) fishing vessels operating in
Southern Ocean waters. Many deep-ocean fishers
play by the rules and adhere to various protocols
protecting fishing stocks and seabirds; the “dark”
fishing IUU crew do not.
Further north (but still on the cool side, in
Tasmania), we meet marine biologists seeking
a “super-kelp” to bolster Australia’s decling
temperate-climate reefs. Staying on the ocean
blue, you’ll also join locals in the mid-Pacific on
the atoll, where a collaboration between science
and traditional culture is improving the lot of a
popular food fish.
Bushfires always make us long for rain, so
turning to weather guy Nate Byrne to tell us about
clouds made a shower of sense. Nate got his start- cue interesting combination – through a degree
and physics and the Royal Australian Navy. We
trust you’ll enjoy his favourite less-typical clouds
as much as we do.
Nate’s nifty personal story points to the issue’s
other strong theme – how science and technology
are increasingly capable of narrowing focus for an
individual fix.
We take a training run with Drew Turney
through the impending Internet of Disposable
Things. Paul Beigler guides us through the
complex trials and ethical dilemmas of embryoids,
andCosmos’s Editor-at-Large, Elizabeth Finkel,
ponders how decades of overlapping genetics
research can lead from blue-sky lab work to
genuine hope for salvation. And Karen Hao
reports from China to reveal the billion-dollar
tech firms using AI to tailor individual approaches
that help students learn.
Last but far from least, we learn about an
immense international astronomy effort to map
the stars, and meet the project’s remarkable
workers – the “lost women” of Australian
astronomy.
From the blackness of space through cloudy
sky to deep blue seas, we trust you enjoyCosmos
GAIL MACCALLUM, Managing Editor
IAN CONNELLAN, Editor
[email protected]SUPPORT US
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