Facebook exec pushes back on whistleblower claims

Monika Bickert, Facebook's head of global policy management, says the social media giant does not prioritize engagement and user growth over safety. That contradicts Senate testimony by whistleblower Frances Haugen, who claims Facebook knows its systems harm vulnerable people and hasn't made meaningful changes to prevent it. The platform is designed to exploit negative emotions to keep people on the platform, Haugen says.

Drying land and heating seas: Why nature in Australia's southwest is on the climate frontline

In a few days world leaders will descend on Glasgow for the United Nations climate change talks. Much depends on it. We know climate change is already happening, and nowhere is the damage more stark than in Australia's southwest.

COVID vaccines for 5 to 11 year olds are inching closer. Here's what we know so far

Australian children aged five to 11 could begin receiving the Pfizer vaccine by the end of November, with the nation's regulator currently reviewing the health and safety data.

Egyptian fruit bat pups steer echolocation beams from day zero

A trio of researchers with Tel Aviv University's School of Zoology has found that newly born Egyptian fruit bats are capable of steering echolocation beams. In their paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Grace Smarsh, Yifat Tarnovsky and Yossi Yovel note also that just after birth, the pups are also able to hear the echolocation clicks produced by adults and can produce clicks of their own.

Researchers observe interband collective excitations in twisted bilayer graphene

Twisted bilayer graphene is a carbon-based, two-dimensional (2D) material comprising two graphene layers. Although many scientists have recently started exploring its potential for superconductivity and magnetism, so far, there have been very few optical studies examining it.

Study: 10 UNESCO forests emit more CO2 than they soak up

Sites containing some of the world's most treasured forests, including the Yosemite National Park and Indonesia's Sumatra rainforest, have been emitting more heat-trapping carbon dioxide than they have absorbed in recent years, a U.N.-backed report said.