Category: News

Australia’s rare and precious rainforests, like the iconic Daintree, could have an unexpected aerial ally in the battle against weeds – autonomous helicopters. Two Project ResQu helicopters developed by CSIRO completed trial flights near Cairns, locating weeds like the dreaded ‘purple plague’, or Miconia calvescens, faster and more reliably than ever. Developed by robotics researchers…

In 2012, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, two econ professors at George Mason University, launched Marginal Revolution University (otherwise known as MRUniversity) which delivers free, interactive courses in the economics space. During its early days, MRUniversity created courses on The Great Economists, Development Economics, International Trade, and The Economic History of the Soviet Union. And…

An ANU team has successfully replicated one of the crucial steps in photosynthesis, opening the way for biological systems powered by sunlight which could manufacture hydrogen as a fuel. “Water is abundant and so is sunlight. It is an exciting prospect to use them to create hydrogen, and do it cheaply and safely,” said Dr…

The chemistry of ridable explosions. In recounting the riveting experience of what it’s like to launch on a Space Shuttle, pioneering astronaut Sally Ride vividly recalled how “the shuttle leaps off the launch pad in a cloud of steam and a trail of fire.” But what produces this fiery magic? In this wonderful short explainer,…

Neanderthal groups lived alongside modern humans for several thousand years, an international team of scientists has found, overturning previous theories about the extinction of Neanderthals. The team applied a new radiocarbon dating method which revealed that Neanderthals across Europe did not all die out at one time as modern humans appeared. “The two groups lived…

It seems we are around one more Sunday in this month. We left behind us one more fascinating and promising week and now, with the full confidence, we would like to recapitulate what have happened during the last 7 days. We are just wondering if anyone could predict that the amateur in genetics may give…

Medical researchers have used DNA sequencing to identify a gene variant responsible for causing lupus in a young patient. The development shows that for the first time, it is feasible for researchers to identify the individual causes of lupus in patients by using DNA sequencing, allowing doctors to target specific treatments to individual patients. Lupus…

We know that depression affects people from all walks of life. Rich. Poor. Celebs. Ordinary Joes. Young. Old. But, somehow after the death of Robin Williams, there’s a renewed focus on depression, and my mind turned immediately to a lecture we featured on the site way back in 2009. The lecture is by Robert Sapolsky,…

The latest chapter in a long history of mapping technology innovation at Jenolan Caves will see students from around Australia explore the caves in virtual reality as part of Australia’s biggest school excursion. From classrooms around the country, students will embark on a digital journey exploring the iconic Jenolan Caves, an important scientific environment full…

Laser physicists have found a way to make atomic-force microscope probes 20 times more sensitive and capable of detecting forces as small as the weight of an individual virus. The technique, developed by researchers in the Quantum Optics Group of the Research School of Physics and Engineering, hinges on using laser beams to cool a…

So much more than just a tree, the river red gum has been central to the tensions between economic, social and environmental values of rivers and floodplain landscapes in Australia – perhaps more so than any other Australian plant or animal. Flooded Forest and Desert Creek: Ecology and History of the River Red Gum, a…

What an amazing week! A lot of things have happened over the last 7 days. For instance, did you know that a woman won an outstanding Fields Medal in mathematics for the first time after 50 years? How brilliant is that? Also, we have noticed there is some progress in discovering an Ebola medication. In…

Australian native cuckoos are engaged in an arms race, competing with each other to take over other species’ nests. The finding by Research School of Biology scientists gives new insights into the deceptive habits of cuckoos, which lay their eggs in other birds’ nests to dupe other mums into raising cuckoo chicks. “Previous research has…

Michel Foucault’s time in the United States in the last years of his life, particularly his time as a lecturer at UC Berkeley, proved to be extraordinarily productive in the development of his theoretical understanding of what he saw as the central question facing the contemporary West: the question of the self. In his 1983…