science wire

Over the last three decades global society has grown richer, but not better off. "Although the global economy has tripled since 1950, global human well-being, as estimated by the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), has been flat or decreasing since around 1978," said Dr Ida Kubiszewski.

A new material that can store large amounts of energy with very little energy loss has been developed by researchers at ANU.

Researchers have ruled out climate change as the cause of extinction of most of Australia's giant animals, including giant kangaroos, three metre-tall flightless birds and the Tasmanian tiger, around 50,000 years ago. There has been much debate over the cause of the extinction of Australian's giant animals or 'megafauna', says Professor Patrick De Deckker from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.

The reports of stolen blueprints of the new ASIO headquarters have created an embarrassing situation for the organisation, and the bungle could also effect practices within the intelligence community in Australia. Surprisingly, history shows that negative publicity about the use or abuse of intelligence has an effect on intelligence practice.

The new Tax and Transfer Policy Institute will play an essential role in public debate about tax reform, Assistant Treasurer the Hon David Bradbury said today.

While showing off to the ladies, male lyrebirds coordinate song with dance, creating a display of a level of sophistication previously only known in humans. Video footage of superb lyrebirds dancing in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria revealed that during the final stage of courtship males sing several different songs, accompanying each with a unique dance choreography.

The Australian National University (ANU) has announced a new scheme that rewards high school students who undertake Indigenous studies.

A mother's antibodies passed on to her baby may be the main reason childhood vaccinations have been so successful and why science has battled so long, and with little success, to tackle chronic infections and tumours in adults, according to a leading immunologist.

The world's foremost ecological economist will use a report launch at ANU today to call for a sustainable alternative to our current economic system.

Summer ice melting in the Antarctic Peninsula has intensified almost ten-fold in the last 600 years, with the most rapid melting occurring in last 50, according to research from The Australian National University (ANU) and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

An improved primary health care system and policy in Australia will be one of the outcomes of a partnership between the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, based at The Australian National University (ANU), and the Australian Association of Academic Primary Care (AAAPC).

Penis size influences a man's sex appeal, and the taller the man, the bigger the effect, research from ANU has revealed. Dr Brian Mautz and Professor Michael Jennions from the ANU Research School of Biology showed life-size, computer-generated male figures differing in height, body shape and penis size to 105 women and asked them to rate the figures' sexual attractiveness.

Renowned international political scientist, Sir David Butler, will hand down his latest report card on Australia's political system this week.

A smarter, better educated population may help offset the impacts of declining fertility rates in East Asia, and provide lessons for Australia, according to a new report from the Australian National University's Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute.

Significant decisions in the Indonesian Parliament are being made in an unclear and unaccountable way, according to a new study from The Australian National University.

From a shortlist including brotox , fossil farming , qubit , and fourth age , the Australian National Dictionary Centre, based at ANU, has selected green-on-blue as their 2012 Word of the Year.

In the wake of the mass shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, the Australian Child and Adolescent Trauma, Loss and Grief Network (ACATLGN) based at ANU, has cautioned parents, carers and healthcare professionals to be mindful of the impacts this tragedy could have on Australian children.

The distinguished scholarship and outstanding contribution to national, regional and international security by one of the world's foremost strategy and defence experts has been celebrated at The Australian National University.

Researchers from The Australian National University will partner with leading Australian and American institutions to deliver four major new solar energy projects.

Plant scientists at the Research School of Biology (RSB), part of the ANU College of Medicine, Biology & Environment, have been awarded up to $7 million to add their scientific expertise to a new Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant.

The world needs to move away from only setting national carbon emission targets, and instead supplement these with an agreed maximum and minimum carbon price that clearly measures the effort it takes

Ecosystems worldwide are in danger of losing large, old trees forever, without more research and policy changes to better protect them, warns a new study published in Science today.

Four of the world's great rivers, including the Murray Darling, are all suffering from drastically reduced flows as a direct result of water extraction, according to new ANU research.

In one of the most significant gifts ever given to The Australian National University, the Harold Mitchell Foundation today announced $2.5 million in funding for the Development Policy Centre in the Crawford School of Public Policy.

Having a job with poor working conditions can be just as bad for a person's mental health as being unemployed, according to new research published in Psychological Medicine today. The study, led by Associate Peter Butterworth from the ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, is the first to use nationally representative data from England to compare the mental health of those who are unemployed with those in jobs of differing psychosocial quality.

Why are women underpaid in comparison to men? And what's the solution? Academic and author Alison Booth thinks finding the answer may mean revisiting our past.

Without immediate action to combat human-induced climate change, we're not only risking the health of our planet, but also ourselves.

A visually stunning mural is painting a different picture of the Pacific and recasting our ideas about identity, writes JAMES GIGGACHER.

Museums around the world are retaining the remains of Indigenous Australians against their communities' wishes.

The most interesting research sometimes comes from taking the road less travelled, writes ANDREW WALKER.

CELESTIAL SPACES: PHOTOGRAPHS OF FORMER CHINESE GOLD MINING SITES IN THE SNOWY MOUNTAINS OF AUSTRALIA BY DENISE FERRIS Celestial Spaces is a series of ten large-scale paired photographs or 'diptychs'.

The two classical Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata , are not only some of the oldest tales in human history.

One of the world's foremost glass maestros, Lino Tagliapietra, recently shared the secrets of his craft with students at the ANU School of Art.

A new study has revealed a rapid response between global temperature and ice volume/sea-level, which could lead to sea-levels rising by over one metre. During the last few million years, global ice-volume variability has been one of the main feedback mechanisms in climate change, because of the strong reflective properties of large ice sheets.

Researchers from the ANU Research School of Biology (RSB) and CSIRO have been given $400,000 and $600,000, respectively, for a collaborative project to improve rice and tackle the impending food crisis.