''Cosmos'' (subtitled The Science of Everything) is a science magazine published in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, by the

Royal Institution of Australia The Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus) is a national scientific not-for-profit organisation with a mission to "bring science to people and people to science". It opened in October 2009. Concept The concept of a Royal Institution of Austral ...

that covers science globally. It appears four times a year in print as ''Cosmos Magazine'', and the online edition is updated daily with news as well as long features and

multi-media Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

content, and includes the print magazine content. ''Cosmos Weekly'' is a subscription-based weekly online edition published on Fridays, and a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

was launched in April 2022.

History

The magazine was established in Sydney in November 2004 by the Sydney magazine publishing executive Kylie Ahern and science journalist

Wilson da Silva Wilson da Silva is an Australian feature writer, science journalist, editor and documentary filmmaker who has worked in magazines, newswires, newspapers, television and online. He is a co-founder and the long-serving former editor of ''Cosmos'', ...

. with the first issue published in 2005. In June 2006, the magazine launched a daily Internet news and features service. The magazine was the originator of ''

Hello from Earth Active SETI (Active Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) is the attempt to send messages to intelligent extraterrestrial life. Active SETI messages are predominantly sent in the form of radio signals. Physical messages like that of the ...

'', a web-based initiative to send messages from the public, each just 160 characters in length, to Gliese 581d, the (then) nearest Earth-like planet outside the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

. Created as a science communication exercise for 2009 National Science Week in Australia, it collected nearly 26,000 messages that were beamed by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) is a satellite communication station, part of the Deep Space Network of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), located at Tidbinbilla in the Australian Capital Territory. Opened in 196 ...

on 28 August 2009. In June 2013 the company, then owned by Luna Media, moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

following its acquisition in February 2013 by Australia's Chief Scientist,

Alan Finkel Alan Simon Finkel (born 17 January 1953) is an Australian neuroscientist, inventor, researcher, entrepreneur, educator, policy advisor, and philanthropist. He was Australia’s Chief Scientist from 2016 to 2020. Prior to his appointment, his c ...

, and his wife Elizabeth Finkel, a science journalist, who became editor-in-chief. The Finkels were already part-owners, and acquired the remainder from Ahern and Da Silva, who remained on the editorial staff. On 1 September 2018, custodianship of the magazine was transferred to

(RiAus), a not-for-profit science media organisation based in

. In April 2021 ''Cosmos Weekly'' was launched, and exactly a year later, a

on the LiSTNR app, featuring science explainers, was launched. Writers whose work have featured include Margaret Wertheim,

Jared Diamond Jared Mason Diamond (born September 10, 1937) is an American geographer, historian, ornithologist, and author best known for his popular science books ''The Third Chimpanzee'' (1991); '' Guns, Germs, and Steel'' (1997, awarded a Pulitzer Priz ...

Tim Flannery Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, conservationist, explorer, author, science communicator, activist and public scientist. He was awarded Australian of the Ye ...

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An at ...

, Edward O. Wilson,

Michio Kaku Michio Kaku (, ; born January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist, futurist, and popularizer of science (science communicator). He is a professor of theoretical physics in the City College of New York and CUNY Graduate Center. Kaku is ...

Susan Greenfield Susan Adele Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield, (born 1 October 1950) is an English scientist, writer, broadcaster and member of the House of Lords (since 2001). Her research has focused on the treatment of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's dis ...

Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind. P ...

Paul Davies Paul Charles William Davies (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institu ...

Simon Singh Simon Lehna Singh, (born 19 September 1964) is a British popular science author, theoretical and particle physicist. His written works include ''Fermat's Last Theorem'' (in the United States titled ''Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve th ...

and

Oliver Sacks Oliver Wolf Sacks, (9 July 1933 – 30 August 2015) was a British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and writer. Born in Britain, Sacks received his medical degree in 1958 from The Queen's College, Oxford, before moving to the Uni ...

Description

''Cosmos subtitle and byline is "The Science of Everything". The quarterly print magazine, ''Cosmos Magazine'', is a science magazine published in Adelaide by RiAus, covering international developments in science. The online edition is updated daily with news as well as long features and multi-media content, and includes the print magazine content. ''Cosmos Weekly'' is a subscription-based weekly online edition published on Fridays. In the 12 months to March 2022, the print readership of ''Cosmos'' had increased 115.1% on the previous year, lifting it to 114,000.

People

Ian Connellan is editor-in-chief of RiAus, while Gail MacCallum is managing editor of ''Cosmos Magazine''.

Recognition and awards

''Cosmos Magazine'' won 48 journalism and industry awards under Da Silva's editorship, including Magazine of the Year at the Bell Awards for Publishing Excellence in 2009 and 2006, and Editor of the Year in 2006 and 2005. It won a

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

/World Conservation Union Award for Excellence in Environmental Reporting, an Earth Journalism Award and the

American Institute of Physics The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...

Science Writing Award.

References

External links

*{{Official Website, www.cosmosmagazine.com 2004 establishments in Australia Magazines published in Australia Science and technology magazines Quarterly magazines published in Australia Magazines established in 2004 Magazines published in Sydney Magazines published in Melbourne Popular science magazines Mass media in Adelaide