[Read more…] about Renewable ‘alternatives’ cheapest option for Australia, Indonesia
Professor Dali Kaafar to lead research at the Optus Macquarie University Cyber Security Hub
A focus on cyber security and privacy-preserving technologies.
Macquarie University is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Dali Kaafar as Scientific Director of the Optus Macquarie University Cyber Security Hub.
Prof Kaafar will move from CSIRO Data61 on 3 October 2017.
“It is a pleasure to appoint Prof Kaafar who is regarded worldwide as one of the leaders in cyber security, in particular regarding data privacy issues,” says Dr Christophe Doche, Executive Director of the Cyber Security Hub.
“Privacy is a fascinating and important research area as it cuts across fields of information technology, business, law, criminology, psychology, and ethics,” he says. “This research topic is thus very well aligned with the philosophy of the Cyber Security Hub, which is to tackle cyber security issues with an interdisciplinary mindset. Privacy-preserving technologies are key to enable collaboration amongst organisations and to foster private and confidential data-sharing for wider and more powerful cyber security approaches.”
Microbial mass movements: the millions of species we ignore at our peril
Science paper Friday, 15 September 2017
More high-res images available below.
Wastewater, tourism, and trade are moving microbes around the globe at an unprecedented scale. As we travel the world we leave billions of bacteria at every stop.
As with rats, foxes, tigers and pandas, some microbes are winners, spreading around the world into new ecological niches we’ve created. Others are losing, and might face extinction. These changes are invisible, so why should we care?
“Yes, our survival may depend on these microbial winner and losers,” say a team of Australian, Chinese, French, British and Spanish researchers in a paper published in Science today.
“The oxygen we breathe is largely made by photosynthetic bacteria in the oceans (and not by rainforests, as is commonly believed),” says Macquarie University biologist Michael Gillings.
[Read more…] about Microbial mass movements: the millions of species we ignore at our peril
The mystery of leaf size solved
And feature story by lead author Ian Wright for The Conversation here.
A global team of researchers have cracked the mystery of leaf size. Their research was published today as a cover story in Science.
Why is a banana leaf a million times bigger than a common heather leaf? Why are leaves generally much larger in tropical jungles than in temperate forests and deserts? The textbooks say it’s a balance between water availability and overheating.
But it’s not that simple.
The research, led by Associate Professor Ian Wright from Macquarie University, reveals that in much of the world the key limiting factor for leaf size is night temperature and the risk of frost damage to leaves. [Read more…] about The mystery of leaf size solved
Reinventing the laser
Caring for Country in Arnhem Land
Macquarie University Eureka Prize winners
Macquarie University congratulates its winners in the 2017 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes and the winner of the Macquarie University Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher.
High-power diamond lasers invented at Macquarie University
High-power lasers have many potential applications: from medical imaging to manufacturing, shooting down drones or space junk, or powering deep space probes. But current laser technologies overheat at high power.
Rich Mildren and his team have developed a technique to make diamond lasers that, in theory, have extraordinary power range. Five years ago, their lasers were just a few watts in power. Now they’ve reached 400 watts, close to the limit for comparable conventional lasers.
Rich Mildren won the Defence Science and Technology Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia.
Reinventing the laser
High-power diamond lasers, invented at Macquarie University, Eureka finalist
High-power lasers have many potential applications: from medical imaging to manufacturing, shooting down drones or space junk, or powering deep space probes. But current laser technologies overheat at high power.
Rich Mildren and his team have developed a technique to make diamond lasers that, in theory, have extraordinary power range. Five years ago, their lasers were just a few watts in power. Now they’ve reached 400 watts, close to the limit for comparable conventional lasers.
Their calculations suggest that their diamond laser technology could handle over a thousand times the current power. They’ve also shown that they can use diamond to focus multiple laser beams into a single beam. And they can create almost any frequency of light.
Diamond is an outstanding optical material and exceptionally good at dissipating heat. But it’s not very good at generating a laser beam as its dense structure makes it difficult to introduce the impurity additives normally needed to amplify light. Until now.
The mystery of leaf size solved – photos
Click here for media release and background information.
Click on photos for the high-res version.
Indigenous and Western science caring for country in Arnhem Land
A unique collaboration between scientists and Aboriginal people in remote south-eastern Arnhem Land is building knowledge about country and how local people can better manage it.
In the last nine years the Ngukurr Wi Stadi bla Kantri (We Study the Country) Research Team has discovered species new to science, found new populations of threatened species, preserved culturally-significant wetlands, and documented the community’s plants and animals in eight local languages.
Led by ecologist Dr Emilie Ens from Macquarie University and Ngandi Elder Cherry Wulumirr Daniels, this citizen science research is also working with the Yugul Mangi Rangers to better manage the new threats facing their country—like feral animals, weeds, climate change and altered fire regimes.
The project is blending ecological methods with traditional knowledge and ways of seeing country. “Our ancestors were rangers. We were rangers for 40,000 years and are rangers today,” Cherry says. “It’s a responsibility for us to look after those things.”
“We are not doing it for ourselves. We are doing this for our country and for our people and for the sake of our culture, keeping our culture alive and strong.”
[Read more…] about Indigenous and Western science caring for country in Arnhem Land
Are you a slave to your smartphones? Or master of your mobile?
We spend three hours a day on our phones, on average, with almost one in five of us admitting we check our phone at least once every 15 minutes.
These are some of the early findings from Australia’s Biggest Smartphone Survey, which is looking at how we use our smartphones and how we feel about them.
In particular, researchers want to hear from more young people, especially those aged between 12 and 25.
Psychology PhD student Bep Uink from Murdoch University, says: “Young Australians are digital natives so it’s possible they have more sophisticated relationships with their smartphones than their parents’ generation.”
“It’s really important for researchers to hear from young people about the benefits they get from their smartphones, and conversely the downsides of having such a ubiquitous device in their lives, that we might not otherwise be aware of,” she says.
Other early findings from the survey show: [Read more…] about Are you a slave to your smartphones? Or master of your mobile?
Sex, genes and rock ‘n’ roll; inside a dodgy drug lab; physics of recycling; and more
Saturday 19 August 2017
Highlights for day eight of National Science Week’s nine-day ‘week’
National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.
Hobart
Perth
Blue Mountains
Canberra
- Opening of Canberra’s revamped recycling facility: tour the facility, meet the experts and see how physics sorts trash from treasure. Drone footage available.
- Scienceability: young adults with a disability running a free science workshop open to the public.
- Dancing with the Science Stars: astronomy, gravitational waves and Antarctic research explained… with the help of dancers.