A glove is being trialled at Liverpool Hospital that gives surgical trainees instant and accurate feedback. Researchers say the gloves could also be used by musicians and artists.

Engineers at Western Sydney University have invented a new surgical glove built around low-cost sensors which can record hand movements in fine detail, giving trainee surgeons and their mentors actionable data to evaluate and improve on intricate surgical procedures.

The research team are working closely with surgeons and students at Liverpool Hospital to develop the technology, which will augment rather than replace traditional surgical training.

UNSW Sydney-led research paves the way for large silicon-based quantum processors for real-world manufacturing and application.

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Australian researchers have proven that near error-free quantum computing is possible, paving the way to build silicon-based quantum devices compatible with current semiconductor manufacturing technology.

Location matters for species struggling to survive under a changing climate.

A new study led by Macquarie University has found we need to provide more safe havens for wildlife and plant species to survive under climate change in New South Wales’ west.

Along the Great Dividing Range, the vulnerable spotted-tailed quoll will be forced to move into higher habitats as the climate changes, but can find sanctuary in protected areas like Kosciuszko National Park.

Quantum computers promise ultra-powerful, high speed number crunching. They’ll help us to search vast databases and model biological molecules at an atomic level. They will crack the encryptions we rely on for banking and online security but also help us make new, unbreakable codes.

How close are we to building a quantum computer? Australian scientists are working on it.

Also at the national physics congress today: meet the man in charge of planning and designing the NBN; designing a cheaper high-precision clock for GPS, astronomy and space tracking; and fighting greenhouse gases and arc-welding fumes with super-heated thermal plasma.

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Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize goes to young Brisbane researcher

Jian Yang, 2012 Centenary Lawrence Creative Prize winner (credit: Centenary Institute)

The winner of the Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize is Dr Jian Yang, from the Diamantina Institute of the University of Queensland.

He has solved one of the great puzzles of human genetics—why the genes typically implicated in inherited diseases like schizophrenia, obesity and diabetes only account for a small amount of their heritability. [continue reading…]

Posted on behalf of the University of New South Wales

A research team led by Australian engineers has created the first working quantum bit based on a single atom in silicon, opening the way to ultra-powerful quantum computers of the future.

In a landmark paper published today in the journal Nature, the team describes how it was able to both read and write information using the spin, or magnetic orientation, of an electron bound to a single phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon chip.

“For the first time, we have demonstrated the ability to represent and manipulate data on the spin to form a quantum bit, or ‘qubit’,  the basic unit of data for a quantum computer,” says Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak. “This really is the key advance towards realising a silicon quantum computer based on single atoms.”

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This year, thanks to funding from the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education through the Inspiring Australia initiative, and partners in other states, we’ve expanded the program to include state finals in:

• Queensland, supported by the University of Queensland;
• Victoria, supported by Scienceworks;
• New South Wales, supported by ANSTO and;
• South Australia

Here’s the state finalists – we’ll announce the national finalists in the next week or so. [continue reading…]

Kicking off in Sydney this Thursday 16 August, it’s 11 days of serious science fun, with 50 events running day and night around the Powerhouse Museum, the ABC Ultimo Centre, Ultimo TAFE and the University of Technology, Sydney.

So far, we’ve blogged about:

• Chemistry and creativity in the kitchen: Making tiny edible spheres of flavour is just one of the secrets of molecular gastronomy that food scientist and award-winning pastry chef Galit Segev will share at the Ultimo Science Festival.
• Animating mating krill: from Antarctic ocean floor to online music video – A video of tiny crustaceans mating was taken at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Antarctica. Now it’s been transformed into an animation and remixed online into a music video.
• Iron-ageing: trace elements and their role in Parkinson’s disease: If all the iron in the human brain was put into one lump, it would amount to about the size of a grain of rice. But the metal plays a vital role in brain cells and their function.
• The life and inventions of Alan Turing: Turing expert Professor Jack Copeland and;
• ABC RN Forum – The Beast Within: dissecting the ethics of animal experimentation. [continue reading…]