Everything old is news again

› News   › Dr Karl   › abc.net.au/science	Find us on:   Twitter  Facebook
Ever wondered why your jeans fade but the pigment in cave paintings lasts for thousands of years? The chemistry of colour is exposed in our extract from Theodore Gray's latest book, Molecules. And everything old was news again this week. Astronomers analysing soundwaves have pinpointed the oldest 'solar' system in our galaxy, and Taiwanese fisherman have trawled up a jawbone that could open a whole new chapter in human evolution. Finally, it's a very sad time for us at ABC Science, our much loved news editor Darren Osborne passed away last week after a two year struggle with an aggressive brain tumour. He will be greatly missed.
Top news stories of the week Vale Darren Osborne It's with deep regret that we farewell our science news editor, Darren Osborne. Big-toothed fossil may be primitive new human The first known prehistoric human from Taiwan has been identified and may represent an entirely new species that lived as recently as 10,000 years ago, according to a new study. Fossils push back snake origins by 65 million years Astronomers find oldest-known solar system Planning may start in brain's emotion centre
What's new Colour me chemical MULTICOLOURED MOLECULES | Colour is all around us, but almost all pure compounds are white. That's not surprising when you know what it takes to make a thing coloured, writes Theodore Gray. The great redback invasion of Brisbane VIDEO FROM THE VAULT | The redback is something of an Aussie icon - every Australian child is taught to be wary of this small, but lethal, spider with the distinctive red stripe on its back. Violent heart of the Milky Way exposed STARSTUFF PHOTO OF THE WEEK | This is the heart of the Milky Way seen though the infra-red eyes of the Hubble Space Telescope. Rosetta's comet dissected in detail STARSTUFF PODCAST | The first detailed scientific papers paint a complex portrait of comet 67P. Also; a new look at Eta Carinae, and our planet's close encounter with a half-kilometre-wide asteroid.
Catch up with ABC Radio and TV Listen to more science on ABC RN Watch ABC TV science shows on iView    Dumont d'Urville - French explorer (Ockham's Razor, ABC RN)    The tick-tock of the biological clock (Health Report, ABC RN)    Feed the birds (Counterpoint, ABC RN)    Playing in the digital age (RN Future Tense, ABC RN)    Learning from Leonardo (Big Ideas, ABC RN)    Is social media merely electronic graffiti? (Breakfast, ABC RN)    Tech Tuesday: robot chefs and streaming wars (Drive, ABC RN)    Climate change to hit Australia hardest: CSIRO (Breakfast, ABC RN)    Science with Chris Smith: Mount Vesuvius (Breakfast, ABC RN)    Mind the brain (Philosophers Zone, ABC RN)    Human Universe with Brian Cox - Are we alone? (ABC iView)    David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive (ABC iView)
ABC Health & Wellbeing Social jet lag behind back to work and school grind ABC Environment 26 tips to beat the heat without air-conditioning