science wire

Ten years after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, a new book launched today at ANU gives key insight into Australia's part in the war and the impact of the decade-long conflict.

Logging in Victoria's mountain ash forests is increasing the risk of catastrophic wildfires, according to an expert from The Australian National University. In a study published in the journal PNAS last week, Professor David Lindenmayer from the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society, and a team of world-renowned ecologists, analysed Victoria's mountain ash forests after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires as well as decades of ecological data.

The consensus view of the panel of expert economists, who make up the Shadow Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Board, indicates stronger evidence for a rate cut at tomorrow's RBA meeting than last month.

The Federal Government's planned asylum seeker swap deal with Malaysia has been blocked by a High Court ruling.

A new vision for the Australian rail supply industry to deliver more effective, more efficient, higher quality service to its customers has been released today as part of a collaboration involving The Australian National University.

Canberrans can literally have their say in a new research project to record the Aussie accent.

The world's top scientists in laser research, from super-fast data transfer and blue-sky computing to designing invisible cloaks, will converge on the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre this Sunday for the largest optics research conference to be held in Australia and the southern hemisphere.

A new global survey by the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) suggests that a technological overhaul of production processes worldwide is needed to end poverty and avert the likely impacts of climate change and environmental degradation.

Deliberate alteration of the Earth's environment by humans on a large scale to counter the effects of climate change and in some cases to avoid having to reduce carbon emissions, could be called 'moral corruption? according to a leading Australian ethicist.

Research into an enzyme that produces a hormone released after sex has inspired ANU chemists to create new treatments for small-cell lung cancer.

Three ANU researchers have won 2011 ACT Young Tall Poppy Science Awards. Cormac Corr, Gonzalo Estillo and Liana Leach were named at a ceremony held on 17 August.

Superb fairy-wrens eavesdrop, learn to understand and react to the danger calls of other bird species that live nearby, according to new research published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Associate Professor Robert Magrath and Thomas Bennett from the Research School of Biology at The Australian National University made the discovery by playing recordings of miner-bird danger calls to fairy-wrens and observed the wrens fleeing to safety.

The global financial crisis and the creation of the Group of 20 (G20) have put Asian economies in the driver's seat of world economic affairs.

A report published today in The Medical Journal of Australia suggests that some of Australia's most vulnerable chronic disease sufferers are benefiting from the use of GP management plans. The study was part of the Serious and Continuing Illness Polcy and Practice Study, funded by an NHMRC program grant and carried out by researchers at The Australian National University, to find out who was using the plans, which were initially introduced by the Federal Government in 2000.

Community-based asylum seekers have limited access to primary health care in Australia, according to new research published in the Medical Journal of Australia. In an accompanying editorial to the paper, Christine Phillips from the ANU Medical School and the Companion House Medical Service said that achieving good health care for refugees in Australia presented a number of challenges.

ANU scientists have successfully bent light beams around an object on a two dimensional metal surface, opening the door to faster and cheaper computer chips working with light. The international team, including three members from the Research School of Physics and Engineering at ANU, have successfully demonstrated that a tiny beam of light on a flat surface can be bent around an obstacle, and course-correct itself on the other side of that obstacle.

If Australia stopped logging native forests it would meet almost half of its five per cent carbon emission reduction target for 2020, according to an expert from ANU.

People are now able to have an out-of-body experience of a different kind and take on the persona of one of Australia's most well-known environmentalists, thanks to a new avatar system developed at The Australian National University and on display tomorrow.

Solar technology set to revolutionise combat has been developed by The Australian National University.

Australian National University Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young has congratulated all Australian Research Council 2011 Australian Laureate Fellows, especially the three researchers from ANU.

Five months after Japan's devastating tsunami, earthquake and Fukishima nuclear power plant explosion, the issue of humanitarianism will be the topic of discussion at The Australian National University this week.

Ben Wellings was in the United Kingdom during the recent, historic referendum on preferential voting.

Bacterial infections might move more slowly than heart attacks, writes Frank Bowden, but they can be just as deadly.

Native vegetation must be restored to protect Australia's unique ecosystems from the impacts of climate change, according to scientists from the Australian National University.

The Australian National University and Bayer CropScience have signed a research agreement to develop new technology with the potential to produce higher yielding food crops.

The general consensus view of members of a new shadow RBA board is that the current interest rate is at the correct level, however there is some uncertainty.

ANU experts will be on show in a first-of-its-kind joint production between the University and ABC News 24 to be broadcast on ABC News 24 on August 3 at 8pm.

The public sees pokies as part of the problem, and government regulation as part of the solution, according to the latest ANUpoll, released today.

The ACT Human Rights Act (HRA) should include explicit guarantees of economic, social and cultural rights, according to report prepared by Australian National University and University of New South Wales researchers.

Last week saw more than 1700 undergraduate and postgraduate students take home their degrees from ANU.

A poll of 140 Australian economists in response to the weekend's Carbon Tax announcement has revealed that around 60 per cent believe the Government's package is good economic policy and about 25 per cent disagree with this assessment.

Sharing stories and health information with friends and families gives strength to Indigenous Australians living with chronic illness, a new study has found. Conducted by the Menzies Centre for Health Policy based at The Australian National University and the University of Sydney, People I Can Call On examined the experiences and views of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with heart disease, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.