A fossil that appears to shine like gold has been quietly misleading scientists for decades. Found in black shale deposits in southwest Germany, these 183-million-year-old remains, mostly ammonites, were long considered classic examples of pyritisation. In simple terms, researchers believed the original biological material had been replaced by pyrite, a mineral often called fool’s gold…

Revolutionising the synthesis of graphene as an alternative to conventional graphite for lithium-ion batteries, UNSW Sydney scientists have created a highly efficient and cost-effective method for transforming low-value peanut hull waste stockpiles into high-quality graphene for batteries through innovative flash Joule heating technology. The process produces super-conductive graphene nanomaterials in just seconds and could dramatically…