ScienceAlert is an independently run online publication and news source that publishes articles featuring scientific research, discoveries, and outcomes.

[2] The site was founded in 2004 by Julian Cribb, a science writer, to aggregate research findings from Australian universities,[7] and it expanded in 2006 when ex-Microsoft programmer Chris Cassella took on the project of developing the website.

[2][16] In 2012, ScienceAlert received a grant from Inspiring Australia, a government initiative aimed at engaging "people who may not have had previous access to or interest in science-communication activities".

[17] Although the website began as a project to aggregate research findings and outcomes from Australian universities, by 2019 the focus of the site had shifted toward presenting popular science to a wider audience.

[6] In addition to Cassella and MacDonald, ScienceAlert's editorial staff is headed by Peter Dockrill, who now manages more than half a dozen contributing science journalists to produce the site's news.

[citation needed] The broadening of the scope of topics covered (noted above) has drawn criticism from those opposed to the change to an international science news perspective.

[citation needed] The site also has come under criticism for issues related to sensationalism, hyperbole, misleading or naive headlines, and even sexism to attract readers.

In a social media post from 2014, STEM blogger Zuleyka Zevallos criticized superficial explanations about a powdered coffee product that vaguely referred to "researchers" without evidence.