February 2017
Issue 19: Space
In space, no one can... chastise you for using trite clichés in your writing — at least not yet, anyway. Who knows what the future holds.
This month, we're taking a trip into space, both here on Earth and out among the stars. Gravity and the human body, cramped living, messages for aliens, space-inspired art, and more. Don't get lost in it all...
Cover illustration by Simona Seizova.
Editorial
Features
In space, our bodies don't quite operate as they're supposed to. Before we make the next great leap, we must appreciate how weightlessness toys with our perceptions.
Forty years ago we launched the Voyager spacecraft. Now over 20 billion km from Earth, Voyager holds the golden record: our message in a bottle to any E.T. who would find it.
We all like to have room to ourselves, but not everybody has that option. What happens when too many people are forced to live in a cramped space?
Art has always been key to increasing the public’s engagement with science, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope project is utilising the help of artists to reach out to the masses.
What determines the size of our personal space, and how do we cope when someone encroaches on our territory? Our psychological claim on the world may be more complicated than we think.
Articles
As climate change wreaks havoc on the Great Barrier Reef, marine researchers must be both resilient and resourceful.
Human progress has long been denoted by the dominant material of the period. Will we soon be living in the Nanomaterial Age?
Columns
The effects of music on the mind and the self shouldn't be underestimated.
As one of the most successful and recognisable figures in Australian science journalism, Elizabeth Finkel's style and passion helped launch Nicki Cranna into a career that combines writing, art and science.
After spending months getting to know a group of eastern grey kangaroos, Paloma Corvalan finds that the most dominant males do not necessarily have all the success.
While the world is seemingly crumbling around us, we shouldn't forget that science still has the capacity to inspire and discover.