Brendan Paul Burns – The Conversation

Microscopic image showing newly discovered Asgard archaeon (Nerearchaeum marumarumayae) derived from microbial mats that offers clues to the formation of complex life. Debnath Ghosal

April 9, 2026

‘First contact’ that may have led to complex life on Earth finally witnessed by scientists

Brendan Paul Burns, UNSW and Kymberley Oakley, Indigenous Knowledge

Stromatolites might look like rocks. But they are living relics of ancient systems that thrived on Earth billions of years ago.

Purple microbial mats offer clues to how ancient life functioned. Pieter Visscher

September 25, 2020

Ancient microbial life used arsenic to thrive in a world without oxygen

Pieter Visscher, University of Connecticut; Brendan Paul Burns, UNSW , and Kimberley L. Gallagher, Quinnipiac University

How ancient microbes survived in a world without oxygen has been a mystery. Scientists discovered a living microbial mat that uses arsenic instead of oxygen for photosynthesis and respiration.

JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic

September 14, 2020

Life on Venus? Traces of phosphine may be a sign of biological activity

Laura McKemmish, UNSW ; Brendan Paul Burns, UNSW , and Lucyna Kedziora-Chudczer, Swinburne University of Technology

The discovery of phosphine in the acidic clouds of Venus can’t be explained by any known chemical or geological processes.

Shark Bay was hit by a brutal marine heatwave in 2011. W. Bulach/Wikimedia Commons

February 7, 2019

Shark Bay: A World Heritage Site at catastrophic risk

Matthew Fraser, The University of Western Australia; Ana M. M. Sequeira, The University of Western Australia; Brendan Paul Burns, UNSW ; Diana Walker, The University of Western Australia; Jon C. Day, James Cook University, and Scott F. Heron, James Cook University

Everyone knows the Great Barrier Reef is in peril. But a continent away, Western Australia’s Shark Bay is also threatened by marine heatwaves that could alter this World Heritage ecosystem forever.

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