science wire

The open access ANU Research repository has catalogued its 4,000th item. Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young was the author of the work, which was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans . The repository is a valuable way of sharing a broader range of research undertaken at ANU, including digital PhD and masters theses, says Professor Young.

Researchers at The Australian National University have developed the fastest random number generator in the world by listening to the 'sounds of silence'. The researchers - Professor Ping Koy Lam, Thomas Symul and Syed Assad from the ANU ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology - have tuned their very sensitive light detectors to listen to vacuum - a region of space that is empty.

The Australian Government has no legal right to try to detain 10 Chinese asylum seekers who are currently in Darwin en route to New Zealand, according to a legal expert from The Australian National University.

The tiny living organisms that call Sullivans Creek home were not fans of the recent storm water flood.

Aung San Suu Kyi is likely to be elected to Burma's parliament in this Sunday's by-election, according to a leading Southeast Asia expert from The Australian National University.

ANU Vice-Chancellor Ian Young welcomed news that four ANU professors have been elected as Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science.

Astronomers have begun to blast 3 million cubic feet of rock from a mountaintop in the Chilean Andes to make room for what will be the world's largest optical telescope when completed near the end of the decade.

The Australian National University continues to be at the forefront of national and international solar research thanks to funding provided by the Commonwealth via the Australian Solar Institute (ASI).

A secretly negotiated treaty, called The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), should be rejected by the Australian Parliament, according to a leading intellectual property expert.

The Chinese Government is struggling to prevent crimes against businesses, according to a new study from The Australian National University.

A one-ton wooden artwork by internationally-renowned Indigenous artist Gulumbu Yunupingu was installed in the Hedley Bull Centre on Saturday.

The latest addition to residential accommodation at The Australian National University, Lena Karmel Lodge, was officially opened by ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher.

There is considerable doubt the Reserve Bank has got its current economic settings right and it should consider cutting interest rates by at least 25 basis points, according to the Shadow Reserve Bank (Shadow RBA) board.

Scientific knowledge alone isn't enough to save the planet - we must also act on that knowledge and radically change our behaviour, according to the authors of an international study.

A new cookbook by ANU students is putting real food back on the menu and spilling the beans on what we eat.

Artist and historian Ximena Briceño has found that the twists, weaves and intricacies of finely-crafted filigree objects are every bit as complex as the art form's history. By MARTYN PEARCE. The fine art of filigree is just that - fine. Its delicately entwined silver wires have patterns and an intricacy more familiar in the natural world of vines and twines than the man-made world of silver jewellery.

The quiet personalities of our cities are in danger of being buried under the noise of the concrete jungle, writes TEGAN DOLSTRA.

A collaborative study involving undergraduate students and researchers has revealed that science in our favourite TV shows often slips under the radar.

New beats for old sounds on the island of Java are redefining and reviving local identities, writes JAMES GIGGACHER.

The eclectus parrots of Cape York Peninsula have an unusual and gruesome habit, writes LEANNE O'ROURKES.

Spending money on crime prevention might prove a wiser investment than building more prisons, writes Australian Research Council Federation Fellow JOHN BRAITHWAITE. Between 1910 and 1990 Australia had an imprisonment rate at approximately half what it is today. Punitive thinking led to the tragedy of massive public investment in prison building in an era when the evidence suggested this was not an effective way of reducing crime.

Valerie Kirk tells KATHARINE PIERCE why not knowing who you're working with shouldn't hold you back.

The Australian Dictionary of Biography sits in the School of History at the Research School of Social Sciences.

With the help of one of the planet's oldest marine organisms, an ANU scientist is revealing the natural environment's true history. By LUCY WEDLOCK. She may have grown up in Africa's land-locked Republic of Uganda, but Aimée Komugabe has always felt the inescapable pull of the ocean tide. But it wasn't until after finishing school, when Komugabe was living in another land-locked country, Austria, that the siren call of the deep blue sea became irresistible.

New and better ways of measuring high-tech energy consumption could lead to significant environmental and economic gains, a study from The Australian National University has found.

Law reform and tougher legal sanctions to stop greenwashing are critical, according to a leading intellectual property expert from The Australian National University.

A little known and deep historical link between Australia and Indonesia will be explored at a two-day symposium starting this Thursday at The Australian National University.

Researchers have completed the first comprehensive survey of the tiny cellular molecules found in the heart and which are essential for its healthy function. The breakthrough could lead to the development of targeted therapeutic treatments for heart disease. Professor Thomas Preiss and Jennifer Clancy and their team commenced the research at Sydney's Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in 2008 and completed it at The John Curtin School of Medical Research at ANU.

The historical record foreshadows a grim picture for a future threatened by even greater climate change according to a study from The Australian National University. Professor Tony McMichael from the ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health looked at climate changes and their impacts over the last 6,000 to 7,000 years, as documented in historical, archaeological and fossil records.

A new study from The Australian National University shows that foreign direct investment (FDI) both into and out of China is improving economic stability and driving development in Asia and the Pacific. In a major study, Chunlai Chen from the ANU Crawford School examined levels of FDI in 49 developing countries between 1992 and 2008.

A world-renowned quantum physicist and a researcher working to improve space travel are among the members of the ANU community recognised with 2012 Australia Day honours.

New conservation partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are saving threatened animals, returning Aboriginal people to their ancestral homeland, discovering new types of plant species and developing novel cross-cultural ways of managing country.

A good upbringing can make you more attractive to females - if you are a mosquitofish, that is.

Researchers from The Australian National University have discovered that the male-specific Y-chromosome is shrinking - and it's happening at different rates across species. The research team discovered that a marsupial's Y-chromosome is genetically denser than the human Y-chromosome, meaning that animals like the tammar wallaby are bounds ahead on the 'manliness' scale.

The three Australian environmental activists detained on a Japanese whaling ship could face a wide range of charges and may even have broken Australian law, according to an international law expert from The Australian National University.

ANU linguist Professor Anna Wierzbicka's work has been praised by Nobel Prize winner JM Coetzee. Mr Coetzee mentioned Professor Wierzbicka's book about the English language in the Books of the Year section of the Weekend Australian last month.

An ANU historian is swapping the sweltering Australian summer for the icy sheets of Antarctica as part of a historic journey commemorating the nation's first expedition to the great southern continent.

ANU graduate Brad Carron-Arthur is moving his feet for a good cause, running up the east coast of Australia to raise money for mental health research, programs and awareness.

New research from The Australian National University is set to help public servants step up a gear, by developing a high performance culture in the Australian Public Service.

Robert Strzepek, a visiting scientist in the Research School of Earth Sciences, has won the New Zealand Prime Minister's Science prize.

Misinterpretation of a key scientific concept has led to decades of fierce debate according to an ANU philosopher. In a hugely influential paper published fifty years ago, eminent scientist Ernst Mayr distinguished between 'why' questions and 'how' questions in biology; for example, the difference between asking 'why do birds migrate' and 'how they know when to migrate'.