Earth sciences

Searching for hidden gold and copper
Finding the Hobbit and more
Making artificial tsunamis
Where are Asia’s lost ‘elephants’ ?
Re-evaluating Jakarta’s seismic risk
Predicting Indonesia’s weather

Indonesian and Australian teams are digging, sifting, and scanning the earth to discover treasures, secrets of the past, and the hazards of the future.

Credit for banner image: David Elkins.

Island nations sharing expertise, not pests

Biosecurity research, training and education in Indonesia and Australia are set to benefit from a bilateral research agreement between five Indonesian research organisations and the Australian Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre (PBCRC), announced in April 2016.

The first project in the partnership is the development of a virtual diagnostic network using the Pestpoint software developed by the PBCRC.

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Getting the most out of Indonesian specialty coffees

Coffee processed on the Indonesian island of Flores has gained popularity in the international specialty coffee scene, as a result of efforts to improve revenue for small coffee farmers in regional areas.

The global market for specialty coffee continues to grow, but that demand is increasingly paired with a call for traceability, enhanced quality demands, and evidence of environmental and social standards throughout the production chain.

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Making biosecurity profitable for Indonesian poultry farmers

Domestic poultry, farmers, and consumers will all benefit from the work of an Australian-Indonesian research team in improving the understanding, and use, of biosecurity measures in Indonesian farms.

Making sure poultry stay healthy is important not only for the welfare of the birds, but also the lives of people interacting with them. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is extremely contagious, and control of the disease is essential to reduce the risk of a global outbreak, improve livelihoods of everyone involved in the poultry industry, and prevent further human deaths.

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Saving Indonesia’s cocoa

Supporting farmers and improving crop sustainability are the focus of collaborative work to save Indonesia’s ailing cocoa bean yields.

Production of cocoa beans for chocolate making is big business in Indonesia, especially in Sulawesi—where from the 1970s to 1990s, production grew from almost nothing to around 1.5 million hectares of smallholder plantings, and the third-largest production output in the world.

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Joining the race for better, safer lithium batteries

Commercialising the technology or the next generation of lithium batteries is the target for a team of Indonesian and Australian scientists, who are backed by battery manufacturer PT Nipress Tbk.

Lithium batteries allow for a large amount of energy to be packed into a small space. But they’re costly compared to single use ‘disposable’ batteries, and have special requirements for transportation and storage.

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Designing the coolest and most efficient tropical houses

Traditional buildings in Indonesia make use of ‘passive’ cooling techniques.

Being well ventilated, raised off the ground, and with shady verandas, their design allows them to stay cool in a tropical climate without air conditioning. The classic timber ‘Queenslander’ house also follows a similar design.

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An end to Indonesia’s hospital power blackouts? Sensing reductions in energy use

A team from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) and the Australian National University (ANU) are planning to use thousands of sensors to monitor heat, noise, human activity and power usage in commercial buildings in Yogyakarta. This data will help them design a real-time monitoring system that saves energy and can be used in commercial buildings across Indonesia.

Energy demand in Indonesia has grown by 150 per cent over the last 30 years. Electricity supply is struggling to keep up—blackouts are common in hospitals, hotels, offices, shopping centres and university laboratories.

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Lasers and a window in a ship’s hull: scientists work to improve shipping efficiency

Every shipping manager wages an endless battle against fouling—the bacteria, seaweed, barnacles and other marine life that take residence on the hull of ships.

This biofouling is thought to add more than 20 per cent to the fuel costs of commercial shipping—that’s a big cost for the maritime trading nations of Australia and Indonesia.

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