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COVID-19 infection rates in the UK, France and Belgium are much higher than reported and up to 17 times higher in Italy, new data shows. Analysis also shows Australia had the best level of detection among 15 countries at the end of April but the rate of infection may still have been five times higher than what was officially reported at the end of August.

COVID-19 infection rates in the UK, France and Belgium are much higher than reported and up to 17 times higher in Italy, new data shows. Analysis also shows Australia had the best level of detection among 15 countries at the end of April but the rate of infection may still have been five times higher than what was officially reported at the end of August.

Lightning never strikes twice, so the saying goes, but new technology may allow us to control where it hits the ground, reducing the risk of catastrophic bushfires. Many of Australia's devastating 2019-20 bushfires were caused by dry lightning strikes. An international team of researchers, including scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) and UNSW Canberra, are pioneering laser tractor beam technology that has the potential to control the path and direction of lightning.

Digital platform Reddit's efforts to limit the spread of hateful and misogynistic content is driving users to self-moderated forums where the material can spread largely unchecked, according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU). PhD researcher Simon Copland analysed the impact of Reddit's 'quarantine' on two men's rights subreddits - r/TheRedPill and r/Braincels.

Working Australians, on average, lost 167 hours of work worth more than $5,000 each and $47 billion to the economy from the start of March to the end of October due to COVID-19, new research shows. Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) have tallied the total loss in working hours and productivity cost for the first time.

Australian scientists have discovered one of Australia's best-loved animals is actually three different species. A team of researchers from James Cook University (JCU), The Australian National University (ANU), the University of Canberra and CSIRO analysed the genetic make-up of the greater glider - a possum-sized marsupial that can glide up to 100 metres.

Archaeologists from The Australian National University (ANU) have discovered a rare child burial dating back 8,000 years on Alor Island, Indonesia. The one-of-its-kind burial for the region is from the early mid-Holocene and gives important insights into burial practices of the time. Lead researcher Dr Sofia Samper Carro said the child, aged between four and eight, was laid to rest with some kind of ceremony.

Discrimination fluctuates, but social cohesion improves More than four-in-five Asian-Australians say they have experienced instances of discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, new analysis from The Australian National University (ANU) shows. In a survey of more than 3,000 people, 84.5 per cent of Asian-Australians reported at least one instance of discrimination between January and October 2020.

Noisy open plan offices full of workers hunched over desks while wearing noise cancelling headphones could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to new research from The Australian National University (ANU). The ANU researchers have developed a new formula to show how effective noise cancellation technology can be in different spaces.

It may be another 100,000 years until the giant red star Betelgeuse dies in a fiery explosion, according to a new study by an international team of researchers. The study, led by Dr Meridith Joyce from The Australian National University (ANU), not only gives Betelgeuse a new lease on life, but shows it is both smaller and closer to Earth than previously thought.

A new study has found up to three quarters of damaged forest needs to be protected from logging after major natural disasters, in order to preserve its biodiversity. According to co-author Professor David Lindenmayer from The Australian National University (ANU), "naturally disturbed" forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world.

Having logging machines "thin" forest for fire reduction is largely ineffective, a new peer-reviewed, scientific study has found. The study, led by researchers at The Australian National University and published in the journal Conservation Letters , compared fire severity in unthinned versus thinned forest burned in the 2009 wildfires.

A team of Australian researchers are about to set off on a landmark voyage to discover more about the Earth beneath our oceans, and what triggers underwater earthquakes. The team will sail on CSIRO research vessel  Investigator , to a remote area known as Macquarie Ridge, halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica, to place special monitoring equipment on the ocean floor.

Early people were rapidly adapting to climate change as they made their way towards Australia tens of thousands of years ago, new research shows. Shells, fish bones and fishhooks found on the Indonesian island of Alor show how people lived and adapted to the environment more than 40,000 years ago. Researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) led the team which excavated a cave - called Makpan - on Alor's south-west coast.

Using e-cigarettes triples the chance of a non-smoker taking up cigarettes and there is "insufficient" evidence that they help smokers quit, according to a new report submitted to the Government. Research led by The Australian National University (ANU) reviewed the worldwide evidence on e-cigarettes and smoking behaviour, relevant to the Australian context.    "We found clear evidence that non-smokers who use e-cigarettes are around three times as likely to take up conventional smoking as their peers who don't use e-cigarettes," lead researcher Professor Emily Banks from ANU said.

Fire and logging are substantially reducing the number of hollow-bearing trees that threatened and critically endangered Australian mammals can use as homes, a new study from The Australian National University (ANU) warns. The findings come as the number of Australian mammals which live and nest in tree hollows is also declining.

Australians say frontline healthcare workers and aged and disability carers should be the first to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU). The survey of more than 3,000 Australians used an experimental approach to identify who Australians think should be the first groups to receive an effective vaccine once developed.

ANU Experts studying the impact of tourism on wild gibbon populations are recommending visitors don PPE masks and have health and temperature checks before entering forests where wild populations live. While tourism to wild gibbon populations halted with the first COVID-19 lockdowns, tour operators in Cambodia and China are gearing up to resume visits.

Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) have developed a new way to create an almost perfect hologram in near darkness. Optical holograms are a clever way of producing a 3D image of an object. They have a number of uses - from protecting our ID cards from forgery, to real-time imaging of living cells.

Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) have developed a new blood test capturing previous exposure to COVID-19. Initial results suggest many more people have been exposed to the virus in Australia than have been detected so far.  "We screened 3,000 blood samples provided by healthy people around Australia for antibodies to the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2," Associate Professor Ian Cockburn said, who co-led the research with Professor Elizabeth Gardiner.