science wire

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its latest synthesis report on climate change, warning that greenhouse gas levels are at their highest in 800,000 years, with recent increases mostly due to burning fossil fuels.

In a global world, it is the relationship that looms largest for our nation. Now a new book on Australia's links with China brings together new voices and fresh thinking on the shared future of the two nations.

Around 100 million Brazilians head to the polls on Sunday 26 October as the world's fourth largest democracy decides on its next president.

A research centre exploring new technologies for improving crop yields to secure food supply has been launched at the Research School of Biology.

The latest leak over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) highlights ongoing tensions between the 12 nations trying to negotiate the trade pact, says Australian National University trade law expert Dr Matthew Rimmer.

Scientists have found evidence for a huge mountain range that sustained an explosion of life on Earth 600 million years ago. The mountain range was similar in scale to the Himalayas and spanned at least 2,500 kilometres of modern west Africa and northeast Brazil, which at that time were part of the supercontinent Gondwana.

Scientists have produced the first detailed record of sea levels over the past 500,000 years and spanning five ice ages, using microfossils from sediments in the Red Sea. The team determined accurate dates for the sea levels by linking wind-blown dust in the sediments to a climate record from stalagmites from caves in China.

Hay fever and asthma sufferers in Canberra will soon be able to receive daily counts and forecasts of pollen levels thanks to a free app released by ANU researchers.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield has inspected projects to clean up space junk, and space engineering projects, at the University's advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre at Mount Stromlo.

The ANU will enhance its position as a leader in clean energy research after receiving $9 million in new funding for five major research and development projects.

An ANU team has successfully replicated one of the crucial steps in photosynthesis, opening the way for biological systems powered by sunlight which could manufacture hydrogen as a fuel.

Laser physicists have found a way to make atomic-force microscope probes 20 times more sensitive and capable of detecting forces as small as the weight of an individual virus.

Australian native cuckoos are engaged in an arms race, competing with each other to take over other species' nests. The finding by Research School of Biology scientists gives new insights into the deceptive habits of cuckoos, which lay their eggs in other birds' nests to dupe other mums into raising cuckoo chicks.

ANU experts have commented on the latest developments in Iraq and US President Barack Obama's decision to authorise air strikes against Islamic State.

Professor Simon Foote has been appointed the new Director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) in The Australian National University's College of Medicine, Biology and Environment.

The case for the Reserve Bank of Australia to increase interest rates is building, although the central bank should leave rates unchanged after its August board meeting, The Australian National University RBA Shadow Board has found.

Australia's public and private economy-wide deficit could blow out to more than $400 billion by 2050 due to the nation's ageing population, a new Australian National University report has found.

The Australian National University will continue to lead the country in academic research after the Australian Research Council (ARC) announced the University has won 16 prized Future Fellowships.

A team from the Research School of Physics and Engineering have uncovered the secret to twisting light at will. It is the latest step in the development of photonics, the faster, more compact and less carbon-hungry successor to electronics. A random find in the washing basket led the team to create the latest in a new breed of materials known as metamaterials.

Australian space scientists will no longer need to go offshore to build satellites, following the completion of the Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre (AITC) at The Australian National University.

The search for star power - fusion - has received a major boost with the launch of the Australian Plasma Fusion Research Facility (APFRF) at The Australian National University.

Quantum optics specialist and ANU alumna Professor Elanor Huntington has been appointed Dean of the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS).

The Australian National University Council has approved a new model for capital works investment to enable the construction of two buildings, to house the Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS) an

The bush capital is losing its large old native trees so fast it may have none left within 120 years, an ANU study has found. Researchers have surveyed trees in green spaces across Canberra and projected their future numbers. "We predict there will be a considerable decline in the number of large old trees in the next few centuries under current tree management practices," says Darren Le Roux, PhD student at ANU, who led the study.

The Great Barrier Reef grew during the last ice age, even though the water temperatures were four to five degrees colder than today, a team of international scientists has found. "It was right at the colder limit of what corals can take, but the reef grew and developed from there," said Dr Helen McGregor, from ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.

A flying squad of public health specialists has been officially launched in Melbourne, bringing together Australia's best experts who can rush to emergencies and disasters around the country and the world to stop the spread of infectious disease.

The Australian National University and the United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will work more closely on clean energy technology following Prime Minister Tony Abbott's White House meeting with US President Barack Obama.

Scientists have sequenced the genetic code of the eucalypt for the first time, revealing how the Australian icon became the world's favourite hardwood. The work also gives insights into the formation of the complex essential oils produced by eucalypts, which can help koala preservation efforts, minimise pest damage to plantations and could one day lead to eucalypt oils being a base for jet fuel.

The first comprehensive history of the orangutan-human encounter and the thin line that separates the two beings will be launched in Canberra on Thursday.

Long-lost paintings have been discovered on the walls of Cambodia's ancient Angkor Wat temple, thanks to the keen observations of an ANU researcher. The ancient paintings date back almost 500 years and depict deities, animals, boats and the temple itself, giving historians a new understanding of life in a relatively unknown period of Cambodia's history.

The Reserve Bank of Australia should leave interest rates unchanged in June despite uncertainty over the economic outlook, the Australian National University's RBA Shadow Board has found.

The value of the global environment to human well-being, health and livelihoods fell by around US$20 trillion (A$21.5 trillion) a year between 1997 and 2011 due to loss of wetlands, coral reefs and tropical forests, a new study from a team of international researchers has found. The study, published in Global Environmental Change , found the total value of global ecosystem services in 2011 was US$124.8 trillion (A$134 trillion) a year, down from $US145 trillion a year in 1997.

A new report has found Australians have extremely positive attitudes about science and technology, although they're not always clear about the details.

A new study of the way bacteria spread amongst possums could shed light on the spread of human epidemics. Scientists from The Australian National University studied E. coli in mountain brushtail possums, and found that the bacteria were transmitted in surprising patterns. "Even though possums are curled up together all day, daytime den sharing was not as important for the spread of E.coli as night time encounters while out foraging," said lead researcher Dr Michaela Blyton, from the ANU Research School of Biology.