Last month, Earth got a 46kg delivery – a pudding-dish-shaped object approximately the size of a coffee table. Inside it was the most valuable 250g of dust it’s possible to imagine. The craft that dropped it – OSIRIS REx – travelled 6.2 billion km from an asteroid named Bennu to bestow this space-age treasure.
We live on this tiny blue dot in the vast galaxy but there’s still so much we don’t know about the why and how of our home. 250g of dust from Bennu might change everything that we know about Earth’s deep history.
This isn’t a story about space. It’s a story about an innate curiosity, a very human desire to understand more about our home, and our place in it. It’s a story that extends to climate and ecology research, which seeks to protect our small blue dot. It’s the story of extraordinary medical advances that are improving our health outcomes over decades and centuries, and so recently brought us out from the darkness of the global pandemic. It’s the story of chemists, engineers, physicists and so many more, creating experiments and technologies that promise a bright and sustainable future.
These are important stories that need to be shared far and wide, into homes, schools, workplaces, cafes and more. And that is is where we come in. We are a not-for-profit on a mission to make science accessible to all. We publish these stories everyday for free on our website to millions or readers across the globe.
We also publish a quarterly print magazine with exclusive content that can’t be read for free on our site. The print magazine is an important part of our organisation as all sales and subscriptions support our not-for-profit work (which also includes an education program and a science film festival).
We have a newsroom of young science journalists – chemists, physicists, an environmental engineer, and a geneticist, who create content around science, not conflict and division. And we pay Australia’s best science writers to contribute long form articles.
The stories we publish in our print magazine take a deeper dive into the stories behind the science. It is about the people who are leading the innovations in nature, tech, space and other aspects of our life. A curious mind is all you need to enjoy the magazine articles. So be curious and buy our latest edition of the print magazine, Reasons for Hope.
Australian readers can enjoy a discounted price for the print magazine, while international readers benefit from a discount on the digital version of the print magazine (a great format for tablets, laptops and desktops.
Be curious, be inspired, embrace hope.
Originally published by Cosmos as From the microscopic to the intergalactic…and everything in between
Cosmos
Cosmos is a quarterly science magazine. We aim to inspire curiosity in ‘The Science of Everything’ and make the world of science accessible to everyone.
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There’s never been a more important time to explain the facts, cherish evidence-based knowledge and to showcase the latest scientific, technological and engineering breakthroughs. Cosmos is published by The Royal Institution of Australia, a charity dedicated to connecting people with the world of science. Financial contributions, however big or small, help us provide access to trusted science information at a time when the world needs it most. Please support us by making a donation or purchasing a subscription today.
