Honeybees pollinate a third of Australia's food crops. Losing them due to varroa might would cost the economy billions of dollars. David McClenaghan, Author provided

By Gary Fitt, CSIRO

A nationwide outbreak of foot and mouth disease; an invasion of a devastating wheat disease; our honeybees completely wiped out. These are just three possible disastrous scenarios facing Australia; they’re considered in the Australia’s Biosecurity Future report published today by CSIRO and its partners.

Take a spot that only gets 6 to 8 inches of rain per year, with erosion causing such blinding dust that there is zero visibility, and build a wheat farm.

Wait, why would you do that? Washington State University researchers do it in the Horse Heaven Hills of south-central Washington to understand summer fallow management practices that can mean efficient water and soil conservation and help farmers everywhere.

There has been concern about a lessening of social engagement, mostly created by older people who see young people behaving differently than they did (and do). Last decade it was noted that young people were
less likely to join clubs, had fewer close friends, and were less likely to perceive others as trustworthy.

So young people don't join the Masonic Lodge in their college years. Does that mean they are less social? 

No, there has been an increase in extraversion and self-esteem, according to a paper in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. In a review, the authors examined past studies that utilized the Revised UCLA loneliness scale (R-UCLA) to analyze changes in loneliness over time, and gender differences in loneliness.

Physicists have developed a new cooling technique for mechanical quantum systems by using an ultracold atomic gas, cooling a membrane down to less than 1 degree above absolute zero.

Ultracold atomic gases are among the coldest objects in existence. Laser beams can be used to trap atoms inside a vacuum chamber and slow down their motion to a crawl, reaching temperatures of less than 1 millionth of a degree above absolute zero - the temperature at which all motion stops.

At such low temperatures, atoms obey the laws of quantum physics: they move around like small wave packets and can be in a superposition of being in several places at once. These features are harnessed in technologies such as atomic clocks and other precision measurement devices.

Due to a loss of scientific relevance, which has led to scarcity of personnel
and thus decreasing government funding, Italian natural history museums are on the verge of collapse. 

A new paper in Zookeys proposes that the existing museums associate and collaborate to form a diffused structure, able to better manage their scientific collections and share resources and personnel. Basically, they need to be a little more corporate and start consolidating rather than relying on government to some day boost funding.

What will it take to convince skeptics of global warming that the phenomenon is real? Droughts, floods and heat waves will begin to change minds.

Americans may recall the 'threat warning level' system that came into being after the terrorist attacks on the Wall Trade Center on September 9th, 2011.

It was a color coded with 5 levels. But it never once dropped below 3 - yellow, before it was dissolved in 2011. Did anyone pay attention? Another famous example is the "Doomsday Clock", created by anti-nuclear activists to increase anxiety about nuclear weapons. Even after disarmaments and the collapse of the Soviet Union, it barely moved. We are always on the verge of Doom, according to doomsday prophets, today they just say it's because of global warming, and there are still nuclear power plants, they warn.

Last week, in Part I of this two part series, "Bee Deaths Mystery Solved?

Magic and sparkle? Diliff, CC BY

By Isabelle Szmigin, University of Birmingham

As well as the tell-tale signs of decorations going up, the rolling out of Christmas advertisements has become a key moment for getting us all in the seasonal mood. And the competition to capture the festive spirit – and the customers that come with it – is fierce.

What if whether you got a job was determined by which web browser you used? Shutterstock

By Mark Burdon, The University of Queensland and Paul Harpur, The University of Queensland

Staff recruitment and retention are an ongoing challenge for employers. Proponents of big data in the workplace are now claiming they can change that.