pests

Releasing a virus against rabbits at the wrong time can make them immune

25 Feb 2022

New research finds 74 per cent of land managers who reported releasing a powerful biocontrol, release it during the peak rabbit breeding period. This can lead to rabbit populations actually increasing.

Most read science stories of 2019

18 Dec 2019

This year's most popular science stories took readers from melting Antarctic ice sounding the alarm on microbes and climate change, to a pest-proof fence to protect native wildlife in far western NSW, and early signs of life in ancient rocks in the Pilbara, WA.

Ants stomp, termites tiptoe: predator detection by a cryptic prey

22 Feb 2017

Termites and ants are mortal enemies and will fight to the death if necessary. Yet armies of sightless termites carry out their work within millimetres of ant nests thanks to an incredible talent that could be of interest to the defence and counter-espionage industries.