Author: Editorial Board

A new study published this month in Science concludes that you may get something unexpected from reading great literary works: more finely-tuned social and emotional skills. Conducted by Emanuele Castano and David Comer Kidd (researchers in the psych department at the New School for Social Research), the study determined that readers of literary fiction (as opposed to popular fiction or non-fiction)…

A bad night´s sleep, a nervous stomach and sweaty hands. This scenario that students typically face before their obligatory English exam may be a thing of the past at the University of Wismar, Germany. Since June 2012, over 90 students from various degree programmes have produced podcasts – or vodcasts – as part of their…

King’s College London is celebrating the award of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics to its alumnus, Fellow and Honorary Doctor Professor Peter Ware Higgs CH CBE FRS FRSE FKC, jointly with François Englert. The award is the 11th Nobel Prize awarded to a member of King’s or its associated institutions, and it also highlights…

The days of stalling online purchases in fear of products “not quite looking like they did on the model” could soon be out of fashion according to new research by Aussie scientists. CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, today announced it has filed a series of patents for its new Smart Vision research. Enhancing the ‘virtual…

The Director of the Marine National Facility, Mr Ron Plaschke, said the research achievements onboard Southern Surveyor have not only been to Australia’s benefit, but also understanding the global importance of our surrounding seas and oceans. “Southern Surveyor has made a major contribution to Australia’s blue-water research effort,” Mr Plaschke said. On board Southern Surveyor, scientists from a diverse range of…

One of the world’s authorities on offshore oil spill countermeasures has taken the helm of CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship. Dr Ken Lee will head a multidisciplinary team of over 200 CSIRO scientists and technical staff to provide the science to support the healthy and sustainable coexistence of the ocean energy industry with…

The European Commission welcomed the publication of the first-ever EU-wide study of the impact of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) on the European economy in terms of GDP, employment, wages and trade. Carried out jointly by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) acting through the EU Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights…

A prototype autonomous vehicle, or rover, developed by CSIRO is helping scientists improve the accuracy of Earth observation satellites that provide valuable data to our mining and agricultural industries. Just as the Mars Rover Curiosity is gathering information about our neighbouring planet, CSIRO’s affectionately nicknamed ‘Outback Rover’ is helping to calibrate satellites that provide clues…

An international team of astronomers has used X-ray telescopes in space and ground-based telescopes, including two of CSIRO’s, to identify a pulsar that switches between emitting X-rays and emitting radio waves. This is the first direct evidence of one kind of pulsar turning into another. An international team of astronomers using CSIRO radio telescopes and…

Schemes that offer economic incentives for growing trees for carbon present an opportunity to reverse trends in land clearing but also to restore ecosystem services – such as pest control, pollination, soil and water conservation. ‘Best practice’ carbon farming that considers more than just the carbon in trees is needed if the full benefits of…

Australian researchers have created the first ever interior 3D map of Italy’s iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa by using a breakthrough mobile laser mapping system. Developed by the CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, the Zebedee technology is a handheld 3D mapping system incorporating a laser scanner that sways on a spring to capture millions of…