Kaya, ABC environment reporter Peter de Kruijff here, and be very very quiet, because today, we're hunting comets.
 

Well, my colleague Jacinta Bowler kind of was when they caught up with Australian comet-hunter Michael Mattiazzo.
 

Mr Mattiazzo is not an astronomer by trade, but nothing lures him in like the thrill of making a new discovery.
 

He has helped find 10 comets in the past two decades, ones which big sky surveys missed, by scouring public data transmitted by a spacecraft orbiting the Sun.
 

But Mr Mattiazzo worries his latest find might be his last with a soon-to-be-completed observatory in Chile that will see comets long before amateurs do.
 

Even as one hunt ends, another begins.
 

At ABC Science, we're looking for Australia's most underrated native animal and we want you to help!
 

For Science Week this August we'll be highlighting the plight of the not-so-obvious and, at times, overlooked critters.
 

So, we're after your suggestions.
 

Maybe you want to take up the flag for Australia's smallest rock wallaby, the monjon (Petrogale burbidgei), which is only found in a tiny patch of WA's Kimberley region.
 

Or perhaps you're a short-finned eel (Anguilla australis) fan. It's a species which spends some of the year in freshwater but then travels over land and the ocean for thousands of kilometres to an unknown breeding location.
 

Just click here and send an email telling us what species you think is the most underrated and why. 
 

And keep an eye out during Science Week, August 9 to 17, to find out what species is Australia's ultimate underdog.
 

But wait, there are more ways to get involved with the science team, although you'll need to be a PhD-qualified researcher for this one.
 

This is a final call to get in applications for our TOP 5 SCIENCE media residency.
 

So for all you early career scientists, working at an Australian university or research organisation, who love communicating their work to a non-expert audience, get an application in at www.abc.net.au/top5 before 11.59pm AEST on Sunday.
 

Got any other feedback? We love to hear all your science thoughts via email.
 

More ABC science and technology: Web | Facebook | YouTube | ABC iview

A team of archaeologists has found what they claim to be the skeleton of a gladiator who was bitten by a big cat — the first physical evidence of gladiator-animal combat in the Roman Empire.

Amateur astronomer Michael Mattiazzo discovered the latest comet to grace our sky. But he fears his 10th comet could be his last as a state-of-the-art telescope is set to replace comet hunters like him.

A study of a 100-million-year-old bone suggests the ancient relative of the echidna and the platypus was semiaquatic — and echidnas moved back to the land from the water as they evolved.

As the election campaign draws to a close, it's safe to say both major parties have been quiet on climate change. While Labor policies have made some progress to decarbonise, the Coalition threatens to scrap or weaken them. 

A school student has discovered a "very, very rare" seashell during a school holiday session at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.