Australian telescopes and European satellite combine to reveal unexpected motions among the Galaxy’s rarest objects
Theories on how the Milky Way formed are set to be rewritten following discoveries about the behaviour of some of its oldest stars.
An investigation into the orbits of the Galaxy’s metal-poor stars – assumed to be among the most ancient in existence – has found that some of them travel in previously unpredicted patterns.
Australian researchers find ways to overcome the blinding glare of quasars
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will uncover galaxies never before seen by humanity, Australian-led research reveals.
The telescope, due to launch in late 2021, is the largest, most powerful and complex space telescope ever built.
Two new studies led by Madeline Marshall from Australia’s University of Melbourne and the ARC Centre of Excellence in All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) find that the Webb will be able to reveal galaxies currently masked by powerful lights called quasars.
Research finds current models underestimate the impact of hurricanes and typhoons on coral reef communities
The same area of Scott Reef photographed in 2010, and again in 2012 after Cyclone Lua. Credit: James Gilmour/AIMS
Big and strong cyclones can harm coral reefs as far as 1000 kilometres away from their paths, new research shows.
A study led by Dr Marji Puotinen from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) sounds a warning about the way strong cyclone winds build extreme seas that affect coral reefs in Australia and around the world.
Conventional modelling used to predict how a cyclone, hurricane or typhoon might impact corals assumes that wave damage occurs primarily within 100 kilometres of its track.
Modelling shows big galaxies get bigger by merging with smaller ones
Distribution of dark matter density overlayed with the gas density. This image cleanly shows the gas channels connecting the central galaxy with its neighbours. Credit: Gupta et al/ASTRO 3D/ IllustrisTNG collaboration.
Galaxies
grow large by eating their smaller neighbours, new research reveals.
Exactly
how massive galaxies attain their size is poorly understood, not least because
they swell over billions of years. But now a combination of observation and
modelling from researchers led by Dr Anshu Gupta from Australia’s ARC Centre of
Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) has provided a
vital clue.
A proof-of-concept published today in Nature promises warmer, cheaper and more robust quantum computing. And it can be manufactured using conventional silicon chip foundries.
Dr Henry Yang and Professor Andrew Dzurak: “hot qubits” are a game-changer for quantum computing development. Credit: Paul Henderson-Kelly
Most quantum computers being developed around the world will
only work at fractions of a degree above absolute zero. That requires
multi-million-dollar refrigeration and as soon as you plug them into
conventional electronic circuits they’ll instantly overheat.
But now researchers led by Professor Andrew Dzurak at UNSW
Sydney have addressed this problem.
Researchers hunt for a 12-billion-year-old signal that marks the end of the post Big Bang “dark age”.
In this image of the Epoch of Reionisation, neutral hydrogen, in red, is gradually ionizsed by the first stars, shown in white.Credit: Paul Geil and Simon Mutch
Astronomers
are closing in on a signal that has been travelling
across the Universe for 12 billion years, bringing them nearer to understanding
the life and death of the very earliest stars.
In a
paper on the preprint site arXiv and
soon to be published in the Astrophysical Journal, a team led by Dr Nichole Barry from Australia’s University of Melbourne and
the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO
3D) reports a 10-fold improvement on data gathered by the Murchison Widefield
Array (MWA) – a collection of 4096 dipole antennas
set in the remote hinterland of Western Australia.
Scientists urge priority action on hundreds of surviving reefs.
Image credit: Jeremy Bishop
The majority of 2500 reefs surveyed in a major international exercise retain the coral species that give them their distinctive structure.
More than 80 marine scientists, including several from Australia, contributed to the study, which is published in the journal, Nature Ecology and Evolution.
Australian scientists develop cheap and rapid way to identify antibiotic-resistant golden staph (MRSA).
Researchers Anwar Sunna (right) and Vinoth Kumar Rajendran with their smartphone-enabled MRSA detector. Credit: Sunna Lab
A combination of off-the-shelf quantum dot nanotechnology
and a smartphone camera soon could allow doctors to identify
antibiotic-resistant bacteria in just 40 minutes, potentially saving patient
lives.
Staphylococcus aureus (golden staph), is a common form of bacterium that causes serious and sometimes fatal conditions such as pneumonia and heart valve infections. Of particular concern is a strain that does not respond to methicillin, the antibiotic of first resort, and is known as methicillin-resistant S. aureus, or MRSA.
Recent
reports estimate that 700 000 deaths globally could be attributed to antimicrobial
resistance, such as methicillin-resistance. Rapid identification of MRSA is
essential for effective treatment, but current methods make it a challenging
process, even within well-equipped hospitals.
Chinese-Australian research finds climate change good news, and solves an evolutionary mystery
Chinese Pond Turtle (Mauremys reevesii) Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Baby turtles influence their gender by moving around inside
their eggs, research has revealed.
The idea that an embryo reptile can act in a way that
affects its chances of developing as male or female has long been thought
impossible, but findings by scientists from China and Australia have now provided
clear proof of the process.
The research, published in the journal Current Biology,
solves a long-standing evolutionary mystery – and offers hope that at least
some species thought especially vulnerable to effects of climate change will prove
more robust than thought.
