computer modelling

Crashing helicopters for safety

Mathew Joosten crashes several helicopters a day—without any deaths or injury. He uses computer simulation.

Virtual management of the world’s oceans

New computer models are challenging the conventional wisdom in marine science.

Saving our skins

Physicist Dr Amanda Barnard has been using supercomputers to find the balance between sun protection and potential toxicity in a new generation of sunscreens which employ nanoparticles. The metal oxide nanoparticles which block solar radiation are so small they cannot be seen, so the sunscreen appears transparent. But if the particles are too small, they [...]

Read the full article →

Mapping the seafloor from space

We know more about the topography of Mars than that of Earth because 70 per cent of our planet is covered by water. Now University of Sydney PhD student Kara Matthews has used satellite data and GPlates, a computer package developed at the University, to create a complete digital map of the many geological features [...]

Read the full article →

Slide back in time and see the Himalayas form

Researchers in the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney have developed a computer package that lets scientists record and study the Earth over geological time. Their GPlates software, which they describe as “Google Earth with a time-slider,” contains powerful tools for modelling geological processes. Yet it is simple enough to use in schools [...]

Read the full article →

Quenching our thirst for water

CSIRO is spearheading a $9 million-a-year project to help ease Australia’s current water management crisis.

A new national Water Resources Observation Network (WRON), set up by CSIRO through the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, is aiming to improve water management, and make a 20 per cent cost saving in the process.

Read the full article →

Rail science fast-tracked by Rail CRC

Rail CRC is releasing research outcomes from more than 45 research projects that span six universities and six years.

Read the full article →

Rescuing the South Pacific’s weather data

Climate specialists from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology are helping Pacific nations save precious weather data threatened by decay, vermin attack and tropical weather.

Read the full article →

Predicting Australia’s mineral future

Predictive mineral exploration by Australian scientists has given local mining companies a powerful edge in the hotly competitive world gold market. Instead of pouring money – and lots of it – into the ground in the quest for undiscovered mineral deposits: often coming up empty.

Read the full article →

A satellite clue to extreme bushfire threat

The extreme weather conditions that can turn an already dangerous bushfire into an explosive firestorm can now be better predicted, thanks to the work of a 30-year veteran of the Bureau of Meteorology.

Read the full article →