Tuesday 3 June 2014 Scientist available for interview in Perth on Tuesday 3 June Dr Francis Torres, a physicist at the University of Western Australia, has developed the mirror device at the heart of a new amplifier technology, which uses an interaction between a high-powered laser and mirror motion to magnify subtle metal, temperature and…
5am AEST, 28 May 2014 Vision: laboratories, close-up photos of the worms, footage of Michael’s talk Cairns researchers have discovered a wound-healing and cancer-causing hormone in the spit of a liver worm that lives in over nine million people and infects adventurous Australian tourists. The Southeast Asian liver fluke munches through the liver repairing the…
Congratulations to Dr Michael Smout from James Cook University for taking out Australia’s first FameLab competition on Tuesday night in Fremantle, WA. Michael and his research story on cancer-causing liver worms will be heading to the UK in June to represent Australia at the International FameLab competition held at the Times Cheltenham Science Festival. He’ll…
A simple and affordable ‘jetlag’ skin patch could help prevent deaths and disabilities of two million babies worldwide each year by reducing brain damage caused by low oxygen during birth. Monash University PhD student James Aridas and his colleagues at MIMR-PHI Institute’s Ritchie Centre have found that melatonin patches, commonly used to treat jetlag in…
Lights! Camera! Science! Passionate Aussie scientists are in the spotlight talking science. No jargon, no lab coats – props, music and poetry optional. Join us in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide for the State Heats of FameLab Australia – a competition that gives early-career researchers the chance to talk about their science in plain…
A Queensland engineer can now predict how long it takes for reclaimed land to become suitable for development, potentially saving millions of dollars in building costs. Dr Julie Lovisa from James Cook University is using maths to determine when dredged soil is solid enough to build on.
A tiny Tasmanian invention that could make personalized medication easy and affordable. Millions of people should have their blood tested each day to check the level of prescription drug in their blood. Some drugs are only effective within a very narrow range. Too little and the drug is ineffective, too much and the drug could…
Maths meets Carlton, AFL fights ACL AFL knee injuries could be dramatically reduced if physiotherapists paid more attention to ankles, a Melbourne mechanical engineer has found. He is now trialling the mathematical models to help Carlton Football Club predict and screen for players at most risk of knee injuries. Hossein Mokhtarzadeh has demonstrated that the…
Sydney sea squirts show that there’s more to fertilization and IVF than we thought For sea squirts the key to a long and happy life is to be fertilized not by a fast sperm, but by one that stands the test of time, Dr Angela Crean, from the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre at the…
Trial of treatment underway in Perth Perth researchers are planning to end the sleepless nights that families face when ear infections strike and won’t go away. Their research could reduce the need for antibiotics and surgery, and help tackle hearing loss in indigenous communities. Dr Ruth Thornton and her research team at the University of…