The Danish wind turbine company Vestas is teaming up with Australian
scientists to develop stronger carbon fibre composite materials to be used in
reinforcing turbine blades.
Updated for Europe Day, 7 June 2021
Vestas has funded two years of research at Deakin University’s Carbon Nexus facility in Geelong into strengthening carbon fibre.
The investment is part of a project to build two wind farms in Victoria that together will deliver more than 500 megawatts, enough to power 350,000 homes.
South Australian winemakers are looking to Europe as the climate—and what drinkers want—is changing.
Grapes don’t ripen the way they used to. As temperatures climb, they are getting sweeter faster.
Winemakers find that by the time the crop achieves the right colour or level of tannins, the grapes contain more sugar. More sugar means heavier, more alcoholic wine. At the same time, drinkers are preferring lighter wines Continue reading Making wine in a warming world→
Research conducted by former Fresh Science participant Dale Robinson has been covered in the 2020-2021 edition of Defence Science and Technology’s Outlook magazine.
Dr Robinson is a biomedical engineer at the University of Melbourne.
Minimising severe injury from blast events on military vehicles
Blast events inflicted on military vehicles are a consistent threat in contemporary conflicts. Developing equipment that better protects soldiers from this threat has become the focus of significant military research. It is critical to understand how severe injuries are inflicted and how forces from blast events are transmitted to the human body in order to strengthen blast protection for soldiers.
Research finds rehab-only treatment yields better long-term results
Adam Culvenor, La Trobe University
Knee reconstructions may lead to more problems later in life than non-surgical rehabilitation, researchers have found.
A team led by Dr Adam Culvenor from La Trobe University looked at health outcomes for athletes with damaged anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) – a devastating injury, particularly common among footballers.
Researchers have been able to pick a water leak within 1 percent of its location within seconds.
Artificial intelligence combined with pressure waves has been used to find faults in major water pipelines faster and more cheaply than existing methods.
Using a face mask, Adelaide researchers have a new way to detect a major hidden equine health issue.
Surita du Preez, The University of Adelaide
Up to 80 percent of horses – including racehorses and showjumpers – suffer from a form of asthma that affects their performance and wellbeing.
Researchers led by veterinarian Surita Du Preez from the University of Adelaide are designing a way to detect the condition – which often produces no obvious symptoms – without adding further stress to the affected animals.
“Currently the methods that are available to diagnose the mild to moderate form of horse asthma are invasive,” says Surita.
A new type of concrete that is
made out of waste materials and can bend under load has been developed by
researchers from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.
Behzad Nematollahi, Swinburne University
This material, which
incorporates industrial waste products such as fly ash produced by coal-fired
power stations, is especially suited for construction in earthquake zones – in
which the brittle nature of conventional concrete often leads to disastrous
building collapses.
Using zircon crystals, researchers have discovered the route of a massive ancient river that could help find new reservoirs of fossil fuels and suggest how modern rivers might change over time.
Sara Morón, The University of Sydney
More than two thirds of the worlds’ major cities are located in coastal deltas. How they change over time can impact communities that live around them.
Nanotech technique could revolutionise neurological treatments.
Blanca del Rosal Rabes, Swinburn University of Technology
Light could replace invasive techniques to measure brain temperature– eliminating the need to place a thermometer in the brain when treating a range of neurological disorders.
Researchers from Victoria’ Swinburne University have teamed up with Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain and Stanford University in the US to develop a technique for measuring sub-degree brain temperature changes using near-infrared light.
