Invisibility cloak for thermal flow
13 May, 2013Researchers have demonstrated that metamaterials can be used to specifically influence the propagation of heat.
The flight of the RoboBee
06 May, 2013In the very early hours of the morning, in a Harvard robotics laboratory, an insect called a RoboBee took flight achieving vertical take-off, hovering and steering. Half the size of a paperclip, weighing less than a tenth of a gram, it leapt a few inches, hovered for a moment on fragile, flapping wings and then sped along a pre-set route through the air.
Great balls of iron: researchers uncover clue to bird navigation
29 April, 2013Every year, millions of birds make heroic migratory journeys across oceans and continents guided by the Earth’s magnetic field. How they detect those magnetic fields has puzzled scientists for decades.
Past 100 years reverses 1400 years of global cooling
26 April, 2013The first continental-scale reconstruction of temperatures over the past 2000 years by 78 scientists from 24 countries has highlighted the unusual nature of the 20th-century warming.
Discovery of three new molecules opens door for breast, prostate cancer treatments
23 April, 2013A team of Western Australian cancer researchers interested in the strong link between hormones and cancer have discovered three new molecules that may have an important role to play in future breast and prostate cancer treatments.
Developing a faster diagnosis of bacterial meningitis
22 April, 2013Using joint funding from the Paige Weatherspoon Foundation and the Macquarie University Office of Commercialisation, a team of researchers have recently made headway in developing a faster diagnosis for bacterial meningitis.
‘Free’ self-cooling, thermoelectric system developed
15 April, 2013Researchers at the UPNA/NUP-Public University of Navarre have produced a prototype of a self-cooling thermoelectric device that achieves ‘free’ cooling of over 30°C in devices that give off heat. It is a piece of equipment that acts as a traditional cooler but which consumes no electricity because it obtains the energy it needs to function from the very heat that has to be dissipated.
Rapid test device has global impact
15 April, 2013Two engineers have changed the way blood is collected and tested thanks to a world-first, fully integrated rapid test device, designed and developed in Australia.
Researchers find new way to clear cholesterol from the blood
12 April, 2013Researchers at the University of Michigan have identified a new potential therapeutic target for lowering cholesterol that could be an alternative or complementary therapy to statins.
Are people really staring at you?
09 April, 2013People often think that other people are staring at them even when they aren’t, vision scientists have found.
Restoring near vision without glasses
02 April, 2013For middle-aged patients with presbyopia, wearing OK contact lenses overnight can restore up-close vision in one eye, according to the study by Paul Gifford, PhD, FAAO, and Helen A Swarbrick, PhD, FAAO, of University of New South Wales.
Organ preservation device is not chopped liver
25 March, 2013In a world first, a donated human liver has been ‘kept alive’ outside a human being and then successfully transplanted into a patient in need of a new liver. The procedure has been performed on two patients on the liver transplant waiting list and both are making excellent recoveries.
Plant scientist off to study US corn as Fulbright scholar
25 March, 2013A young plant biologist who developed a passion for the environment when he took up surfing in primary school has been awarded a 2013 Fulbright Western Australia Scholarship to undertake research in the US.
Screening human blood for disease markers
25 March, 2013Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute in Florida have developed cutting-edge technology that can successfully screen human blood for disease markers. This tool may hold the key to better diagnosing and understanding today’s most pressing and puzzling health conditions, including autoimmune diseases.
New malaria drug could help combat resistance
21 March, 2013Dr Aaron Nilsen and colleagues have discovered a new drug called ELQ-300 that can target multiple stages of the malaria parasite’s life cycle, including the liver stage, and could dramatically boost the prevention, treatment and transmission of disease.
