Macquarie University researchers are exploring the earth, oceans, fire and sky to answer big questions of the past and future.

• The mystery of leaf size solved
• Reinventing the laser
• Modern humans were in Southeast Asia 20,000 years earlier than previously thought
• Protecting surfers from shark attacks

Read more about their work at www.mq.edu.au/about/about-the-university/faculties-and-departments/faculty-of-science-and-engineering, including:

• Saving the Tasmanian devil’s parasites. Can the devil survive without the suite of bugs that has lived with it for millennia?
• Reducing volcano risks in Indonesia and the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, and understanding their impact on climate
• Solving the wireless spectrum crunch—keeping us connected and ensuring the absolute reliability of wireless connections for hospitals, transport, power stations, and more
• How can we image and treat moving tumours—measuring radiation dose in three dimensions
• Mapping the Earth’s deep crust and hunting for gold, all with grains of zircon found on the surface
• Using arrays of camera lenses to detect ultra-faint astronomical sources of light
• Asking whether new medicines are worth the dollars—using statistics to determine their effectiveness and value.

Banner image credit: Ian Wright