Posts tagged as:

2009

Octopus jets the key to greener flights: synthetic jets improve aerodynamics of aircraft

19 November 2009

Researchers at the University of New South Wales have improved the aerodynamics of aircraft by putting rows of tiny synthetic jets along the wings of aeroplanes —much like the suck and blow jets octopuses use to move through the water. The models tested demonstrated smoothing of the air flow over the wing section. This would [...]

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Fresh Scientist wins Cosmopolitan Women of the Year

2 October 2009

2007 Fresh Scientist Tu’uhevaha Kaitu’u-Lino has won the 2009 Cosmopolitan Fun, Fearless, Female, Women of Science – and a $10,000 cheque.

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Whiplash: who won’t get better. A new test reveals the problem cases.

11 August 2009

Most people recover from whiplash injuries within the first few months. However some people have long term pain – lasting months or years. Until now there has been no way of diagnosing these more severe cases. New Brisbane research suggests that fat deposits in the neck muscles are the key.

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Fool’s gold reveals the ancient evolution of life on earth

11 August 2009

‘Fool’s gold’ has tricked many amateur gold miners, but Queensland researchers have discovered it can reveal much about the early evolution of life on Earth. Three billion years ago the Earth couldn’t support life as we know it – the atmosphere was deadly to oxygen-breathing plants and animals. But two and half billion years ago [...]

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Is your treatment working? Cancer scanner pinpoints dividing lung cancer cells

27 July 2009

A team of Victorian researchers have discovered how to track if lung tumours respond during a course of treatment. Trials with five patients revealed that some tumours responded quickly to treatment while others continued to grow. A larger trial is now underway with twenty patients. The new technique could transform lung cancer treatment.

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Life beneath the sheets: 9000 years in the dark

27 July 2009

Researchers at Geoscience Australia have unravelled the development of a unique seafloor community thriving in complete darkness below the giant ice sheets of Antarctica. The community beneath the Amery Ice Shelf in Antarctica is 100 km from open water and hidden from view by ice half a kilometre thick. This ecosystem has developed very slowly [...]

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How lobsters create their colours

26 July 2009

A team of Queensland researchers have discovered that lobsters, prawns and other crustaceans have evolved a unique way of making colours: making the complex patterns appreciated by biologists and connoisseurs of seafood. Their work will help with conservation, aquaculture and may even lead to a new food colourant. And all the colours come from just [...]

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Not enough carbon to light the early Universe

21 June 2009

An international team of astronomers has discovered the oldest and most distant carbon in the Universe, but there’s not enough of it to support standard theories of how the Universe lit up, a member from Swinburne University of Technology has calculated. In the early Universe a dark pervasive fog of neutral hydrogen gas lurked everywhere. [...]

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Dinner for tuna: tracking tuna dining habits across the Indian Ocean

8 June 2009

Southern bluefin tuna can’t even have a quiet snack without CSIRO researchers knowing. They’ve developed a way of tracking when the tuna feed and also where, at what depth, and the temperature of the surrounding water.

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Ancient eruptions warn of climate change and mass extinctions

4 June 2009

A Curtin University researcher has shown that some ancient periods of massive eruptions released green house gases so quickly that they caused rapid climate change and mass extinctions. But today we are adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere faster than even the most rapid sequence of eruptions. “We have carefully dated minerals contained in the [...]

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One step closer to turning off cancer genes with gene-silencing

4 June 2009

Using this technology, Sherry and her colleagues observed a 70% reduction in tumour size in a cervical cancer mouse model.

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Owl CSI – feathers and DNA reveal night secrets

4 June 2009

…more than 2,000 feathers have been collected, some from highly threatened species, such as the elusive Rufous owl …

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From separating blood to separating copper

2 June 2009

The technology could help mineral processing plants to become more compact, highly efficient, and consume less of resources such as water and power, he says.

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Imaginary friends, real benefits

2 June 2009

Children aged between four and six who have imaginary friends are better able to get their point across than their contemporaries who do not

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Bilbies bring new life to desert dunes

2 June 2009

Bilbies and bettongs-the desert forms of bandicoots and rat-kangaroos-can bring degraded desert landscape back to life, a new study at the University of New South Wales has found.

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