Research & development

CSIRO ordered to renew focus on climate science

04 August, 2016 by Lauren Davis

Greg Hunt has demanded that CSIRO restore its focus on climate science, less than six months after the organisation announced a number of job cuts in the area.


ANU and CSIRO open agriculture research lab

01 August, 2016 | Supplied by: Australian National University

The Australian National University and the CSIRO have officially opened a collaborative centre that will focus on technologies relevant to environment, agriculture and global food supplies.


Balancing fire management and conservation

29 July, 2016 | Supplied by: La Trobe University

Victorian environmental scientists have collected one of the world's largest datasets on wildfires, transforming our understanding of how fire affects biota and contributing to changes in fire policy.


Cygnus spacecraft returns to Earth

29 July, 2016

The Cygnus CRS OA-6 spacecraft has returned to Earth after supplying 3.5 tonnes of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).


The da Vinci code: notes of the laws of friction uncovered

27 July, 2016

Scribbled notes and sketches on a page in a notebook by Leonardo da Vinci, previously dismissed as irrelevant, have been identified as the place where he first recorded his understanding of the laws of friction.


Fast diagnostics tests to be commercialised by Oxford spinout

27 July, 2016

Technology co-developed at the Universities of Oxford and Sao Paulo State University will be commercialised by spinout company Oxford Impedance Diagnostics (OID), offering the potential for the development of ultrasensitive fast diagnostic tests for a range of diseases.


France partners with CSIRO on space science project

21 July, 2016

The president of the French Government's space agency has signed a cooperation agreement with the CSIRO covering the 2017 launch of a stratospheric scientific balloon research program from the NASA/CSIRO base in Alice Springs.


Drought-proof crops under development

19 July, 2016 | Supplied by: Australian National University

ANU has led an international research effort into how plants, such as rice and wheat, sense and respond to extreme drought stress. Their study could lead to the development of next-generation, drought-proof crops.


Plate tectonics and pizza dough

18 July, 2016 by Adam Florance

The Earth's crust has more in common with pizza dough than you might think, according to an international team looking into the mechanics of plate tectonics.


Artificial sweeteners make you hungrier

13 July, 2016 by Adam Florance

As well as promoting hyperactivity and insomnia, a new study has found that artificial sweeteners actually increase feelings of hunger, leading to higher calorific intake.


Is there a connection between dance music and cravings?

01 July, 2016

Neuroscientists at The University of Melbourne are recruiting electronic music fans for a study exploring the connection between cravings and the 'risky' sounds of dance music.


What makes planes freeze?

28 June, 2016

Chinese researchers have investigated the process by which ice accumulates on the wings and tail of an aircraft flying during freezing rain.


A violin made from spider silk

24 June, 2016

Luca Alessandrini has developed a prototype violin made from a composite material that includes, among other things, spider silk.


A giant galaxy cluster, more gravitational waves and life outside the solar system

16 June, 2016

It's been a busy couple of days for astronomers, with announcements of three significant discoveries taking place in the past 48 hours.


Bionic leaf 2.0

09 June, 2016 by Adam Florance

A team from Harvard has created a 'bionic leaf' that converts sunlight directly into a biomass fuel with 10 times the efficiency of natural systems.


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