The 25-metre Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), the world’s biggest optical telescope, has reached a milestone in construction. The Steward Observatory Mirror Lab in Arizona has finished polishing the first of its seven 8.4m-diameter mirrors. Australian National University (ANU) is leading ...
More »Sweet taste of Nobel success
The more chocolate that a country’s citizens eat, the more Nobel prize winners they produce, says an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Columbia University’s Professor Franz Messerli wrote that flavonoids, antioxidants found in cocoa, green tea, ...
More »Marijuana linked to premature births
People have been urged to stop smoking marijuana with new research saying that women who use the drug can more than double the risk of giving birth to a baby prematurely. The large international study led by University of Adelaide ...
More »Catching a cold in motion
Researchers hope a supercomputer simulation of the common cold virus will help in drug development Melbourne researchers are now simulating in 3D the motion of the complete human rhinovirus, the most frequent cause of the common cold, on Australia’s fastest ...
More »Scientists kick a robot goal
Could robots be the football champions of the future? Forget Rooney, Ronaldo and Pirlo, a new breed of champion “footballers” has arrived and, who knows, it could be just the thing for Australia’s A-league. Bolts, Nuts and Sparksy from Plymouth ...
More »To Infinity and beyond: Where will the Square Kilometre Array take us?
Educators say the Square Kilometre Array will boost research here and hopefully increase the number of students studying science. Louis White reports. Astronomers, mathematicians and physicists around the world are jumping for joy at the news that Australia will share ...
More »New ARC head likes the big challenges
When Professor Aidan Byrne was a small child he liked taking things apart, which is something small children tend to do. The difference with Byrne was, he knew how to put them back together again. “I think I picked ...
More »Scientists recognised in citation awards
Twelve Australian researchers and seven organisations were recognised at the prestigious Thomson Reuters Australia Citation and Innovation Awards in Canberra. Australia was ranked among the top 20 nations (17th ) in all fields for the influence of its scientific papers ...
More »Nanopatch sparks interest at med-tech conference
An innovative project that will change the way vaccines are delivered to patients sparked the most interest at the AusMedtech conference and investment summit in Sydney. The Vaxxas Nonopatch developed by the University of Queensland is expected to reduce production ...
More »Flagship courses may give unis a boost
Outstanding courses could present a way for universities to stand out in the crowd – and attract more funding from the government, a seminar in Melbourne has been told. The Base Funding Review panel suggested that universities could offer undergraduate ...
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