Latest from the AM Blog
Writing from the frontiers of science, culture and education, as well as all the latest news from the Museum.
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Museullaneous
An Unusual Chair
Is Australian Museum Ornithologist, Alfred John North's Thonet chair the only surviving example of this design in Australian asks Virginia Wright?
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AMRI
Bridging the DNA barcode gap: field sampling of fishes in East Australia
Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding provides a new tool to monitor biodiversity in our oceans but the greatest challenge that it faces is a lack of DNA barcode reference libraries. Natural history museums are best placed to come to the rescue in the near future.
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Science
Supporting young scientists across the nation
Now, more than ever, we must guide school students in developing a deeper understanding of STEM disciplines.
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AMRI
Dots on the map of the Coral Sea
Dr Penny Berents and Amanda Hay recently embarked on a Coral Sea Voyage through the Coral Marine Park. Read more about their discoveries aboard the Iron Joy!
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AMRI
Hide and seek: eDNA flushes out cryptic marine fauna and aids biomonitoring on coral reefs
Genetic remote-sensing tools, such as environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding, provide new opportunities for scientists to locate endangered and/or elusive marine fauna, and to set new biodiversity baselines on increasingly vulnerable coral reefs.
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At The Museum
Australian Museum Night At The Museum Gala Dinner Silent Auction
You are invited to browse the fantastic prizes on offer in our AM online Silent Auction!
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AMRI
Australia's answer to the Easter bunny ... the Easter Bilby!
During this holiday season, we thought that you may like to know more about Australia’s answer to the beloved ‘Easter bunny’… the Easter Bilby!
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AMRI
Oological odyssey – the wonders of bird eggs
The variation in size, colour and shape of bird eggs is part of what makes them so fascinating! This variety reflects the diversity of Australia’s birdlife.
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AMRI
Raised from the dead: Species assumed extinct rediscovered on Norfolk Island
Introduced rats and chickens on Norfolk Island love to eat native animals as snacks, and were thought to have wiped out the endemic Campbell’s Keeled Glass Snail … until we recently found a few individuals alive.
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AMRI
Weird and wonderful larva explained
A strange beetle larva was brought to the Australian Museum. It turned out to be only the third collection of its family in Australia and a new species!
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AMRI
The invasive tropical jellyfish Cassiopea overstays its welcome in the lakes of NSW
For the past few years several lakes in NSW have been subjected to a seasonal influx in Cassiopea population. Usually at home in far warmer waters, this tropical jellyfish has migrated south to live all year round.
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AMRI
The jigsaw: putting together the Bloody Perchlet puzzle
Museum collections provide a treasure trove of undiscovered species, and in this case the newly discovered and beautiful Bloody Perchlet, Plectranthias cruentus, was a jigsaw puzzle put together from old and new.
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AMRI
Pesky neighbours: diet strategies of reef fish in coastal ecosystems
A new study that uses DNA metabarcoding on cryptic red snapper species (family Lutjanidae), has provided new insights into their diet strategies and adaptations required for their coexistence.
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AMRI
Bloodlust for Conservation: iDNA an innovation in the search for elusive frogs
A new, DNA-based frog survey technique means bloodsucking insects can help scientists find and conserve threatened frog species.
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AMRI
How (not) to name a snail
Taxonomists strive to bring order to the chaos we call the diversity of life by naming species and sorting them into higher taxa, like genera and families. Needless to say that this undertaking comes with its own problems.
