Explainers

Explainers
Mark Knight Collingwood on the edge cartoon

Pies stuck teetering on the edge

Collingwood fans are ‘suspended’ as they wait to see if the reigning premiers will even make it into the finals – a predicament well illustrated in this cliffhanger cartoon by Mark Knight

Explainers
Mark Knight cartoon for Herald Sun, July 15, 2024

Trump’s reaction changes history

Seconds after US presidential hopeful Donald Trump survived the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, he seized the moment. Mark Knight’s cartoon captures him walking away not as a victim but as the clear election frontrunner

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TOPSHOT - This handout courtesy of the WikiLeaks X account @wikileaks posted on June 25, 2024 shows WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange looking out of the window as his plane from London approaches Bangkok for a layover at Don Mueang International Airport in the Thai capital. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released from prison in Britain and is set to face a final court hearing after reaching a plea deal with US authorities that brings to a close his years-long legal drama. A charter plane flew the 52-year-old from London to Bangkok, where it made a scheduled stop to refuel. (Photo by WikiLeaks / AFP) / -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Courtesy of the WikiLeaks X account @wikileaks  " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES

Julian Assange granted freedom

After a controversial case spanning 14 years, the founder of WikiLeaks has returned home to Australia a free man. But who is Julian Assange and why was he imprisoned for so many years?

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Woman sitting at desk and feeling cold, she is wearing warm clothes and saving money on her utility bills, electricity generic winter

Why it’s so cold in Aussie homes

If you’re having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, you’re not alone! Australian homes are much colder in winter than homes in other countries – and experts say they know why

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EXPLAINERHistory
mark Knight cartoon on Donald Trump's mug shot

Trump’s presidential prison portrait

With Trump found guilty of all 34 charges of falsifying business records, cartoonist Mark Knight revisits a toon created nine months ago imagining Trump as the first US president in prison

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TOPSHOT - This handout aerial image taken and released by Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) on May 12, 2024, shows the damaged area after flash floods and cold lava flow from a volcano in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra. At least 34 people have died and 16 more were missing after flash floods and cold lava flow from a volcano hit western Indonesia, a local disaster official said on May 12. (Photo by Handout / INDONESIA DISASTER MITIGATION AGENCY / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / INDONESIA DISASTER MITIGATION AGENCY" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

What is cold lava?

Volcanoes are known for spewing searing hot molten lava and ash, but they can also cause an even more destructive phenomenon – cold lava. But what is cold lava and how does it form?

News
People gather at the site of a landslide in Maip Mulitaka in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province on May 24, 2024. Local officials and aid groups said a massive landslide struck a village in Papua New Guinea's highlands on May 24, with many feared dead. (Photo by AFP)

Oz pledges aid after PNG landslide

Australia has offered to help with rescue and recovery efforts after a remote village in neighbouring country Papua New Guinea was hit by a devastating landslide

News
People demonstrate as French President Emmanuel Macron's motorcade drives past in Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. Macron flew to France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on a politically risky visit aiming to defuse a crisis after nine days of riots that have killed six people and injured hundreds. Macron's sudden decision to fly to the southwest Pacific archipelago, some 17,000 kilometres (10,500 miles) from mainland France, is a sign of the gravity with which the government views the pro-separatist violence. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP)

Why Aussies are leaving New Caledonia

After nine days of unrest in the Pacific holiday paradise New Caledonia, Australians are coming home ahead of French President Macron touching down – what is happening?

Explainers
Airport staff and emergency services preparing for the arrival of the Singapore Airlines in Bangkok -One person has died and multiple people have been injured on a Singapore Airlines flight that experienced “severe turbulence”.,The Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London Heathrow was forced to divert to Bangkok after experiencing severe turbulencewhile entering airspace in the region, which is currently being battered by tropical thunderstorms. Picture: Twitter

What causes turbulence in the air?

Passengers aboard Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 included 56 Australians and first reports suggest a natural phenomenon caused their ordeal – here’s what we can learn from it

Space
It flared over a highway in Portugal. Picture: X

Eerie blue fireball lights the sky

A sudden blue flash has stunned people in parts of Portugal and Spain after the fragment of a comet entered Earth’s atmosphere in a spectacular cosmic show that looked like an alien landing

PICTURESSpace
Aurora Australis from  Goolwa  , 11th May 2024 . Picture: Photography by Nikki

The greatest show on Earth

Stunned Aussies looked skyward over the Mother’s Day weekend as a once in a lifetime showing of the aurora australis turned the night sky into a rainbow of coloured lights following a solar storm

Money
Mark Knight cartoon on increased HECS debt

HECS debt deadweight for grads

Burdened by HECS debt, today’s university graduates find their dreams of financial freedom chained to a huge debt ball right at the beginning of their adult careers, says cartoonist Mark Knight

Space
A fireball was captured as it streaked across the US sky on 28/4/24 Picture: Julie D. / www.amsmeteors.org

Meteors puts on cosmic show

This year’s Eta Aquariid meteor shower is set to be extra special as Jupiter sends the space dust left by Halley’s comet in a closer direction to Earth – and Australia is in a prime position to see it

Health
How to plan a great story. Author Katrina Nannestad's advice on what to do if you get stuck for an idea. For Kids News short story competition

New clue into left-handedness

There could be a genetic reason some people are left-handed, with a new study finding that a rare variant is present in more than twice as many lefties as right-handed folk

Animals
Zombie cicadas. Picture: West Virginia University Photo

Plague of ‘zombie’ pee champions

Two regions in the US are about to be overtaken by trillions of noisy periodical cicadas in the biggest plague since 1803 – but why are these so-called ‘champions of pee’ turning into zombies?