By Macquarie University
While for many people sharks bring to mind the Jaws theme music, it seems sharks themselves prefer jazz.
Far from mindless eating machines, new research from the Macquarie University Fish Lab has shown sharks are much more sophisticated than most people imagine. Continue reading Sharks can acquire a taste for jazz music
An international team of astronomers have detected an unexpected population of more than 20 blue straggler stars of similar age in young globular cluster NGC 2173. Continue reading Burst of newborns in young star cluster puzzles astronomers
Damselflies are evolving rapidly as they expand their range in response to a warming climate, according to new research led by Macquarie University researchers in Sydney.
“Genes that influence heat tolerance, physiology, and even vision are giving them evolutionary options to help them cope with climate change. Other insects may not be so lucky,” says Dr Rachael Dudaniec, lead author of the paper. Continue reading Are damselflies in distress?
Ten internet searches can be enough to reveal your identity online, according to research from Macquarie University and CSIRO’s Data61 that was presented at The Web Conference 2018 yesterday.
But the researchers have developed a new method—called Incognito—to better protect users’ online privacy through obfuscating the web data they leave behind. Continue reading Protecting users’ privacy online
Dr Sourabh Khandelwal from the Department of Engineering has developed a model for a GaN (gallium nitride) transistor that has been adopted as an international standard.
Silicon transistors are a critical part of modern electronics. There’s a few million of them in your smartphone alone, but owing to their fundamental material limitations they’re extremely inefficient for emerging applications.
GaN transistors are emerging as a go-to technology for use in future applications like 5G communications, sensing electronics in autonomous cars, and compact converters for renewable energy. They’re more efficient than silicon, meaning they’ll use less power and can also be made smaller than silicon transistors. Continue reading Transistor model sets the standard
Dr Andrew Care from the Department of Molecular Sciences has been awarded a 2018 Early Career Fellowship from the Cancer Institute NSW.
Andrew’s fellowship will fund research looking at how biological nanoparticles can be used to better deliver anti-cancer drugs to destroy tumours.
Andrew and his team are re-engineering protein-based nanoparticles that are normally found in microorganisms, like bacteria. These re-engineered nanoparticles will be capable of carrying anti-cancer drugs to tumours inside the body. Continue reading Using nanoparticles to better target cancer tumours
There’s still life in lead batteries. East Penn Manufacturing operates the largest single-site, lead-acid battery manufacturing facility in the world in Berks County, Pennsylvania. 
They argue that their new lead batteries are 99 per cent recyclable and ideal for large-scale storage.
To prove it, they’re developing a 3MW power storage system using the UltraBattery technology invented by Australia’s CSIRO.
By combining lead-acid technology with a supercapacitor, the UltraBattery not only charges and discharges rapidly, but lasts four to five times longer than an ordinary battery.
Today, 85 per cent of children with leukaemia can be cured, but the outlook for patients over 60 is bleak. Only 10 per cent survive beyond one year as their cancer adapts to weather the storm of standard chemotherapy treatments. Associate Professor Steven Lane wants to change that outlook.
Steven and his team at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute have developed a method to rapidly profile the genetics of different leukaemia types—of which there are hundreds—and model them in the lab.
This allows them to work with many leukaemia types simultaneously, providing a cheaper, faster and more accurate model of the leukaemia. Continue reading Improving survival for patients with acute leukaemia
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.
Continue reading Making biosecurity profitable for Indonesian poultry farmers
Life on land depends on plants. And every plant balances opening its pores to let in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis; and closing its pores to retain water.
Graham Farquhar’s work has transformed our understanding of photosynthesis.
His models of plant biophysics have been used to understand cells, whole plants, whole forests, and to create new water-efficient wheat varieties.
Continue reading Feeding the world, and asking where the wind went
