First 2011 brought us a Nobel prize in Physics. Now Australia can also boast the winner of the Science Magazine “Dance your PhD” award. University of Western Australia PhD student Joel Miller has taken…
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Science + Tech – Research and News
Displaying 276 - 300 of 394 articles
Dennis Ritchie, whose invention of the Unix operating system and programing language C paved the way for the creation of the internet, smart phones, e-banking and modern computer software, has died aged…
For the first time, scientists have been able to fix a genetic liver defect in tests on mice using stem cells created from human skin, marking a potential major breakthrough in the repair of genetic disorders…
Two Australian chemists have won the 2011 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for the invention of “smart plastic” technology, a technique that revolutionised the way paints, contact lenses, solar cells…
The Gillard government’s carbon pricing legislation passed the House of Representatives by 74 votes to 72, and is expected to pass through the Senate with the support of the Greens next month. Under the…
Dispersants used to break down the 300 tonnes of oil that has leaked from a cargo ship into New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty may do marine ecosystems more harm than good, an ocean oil spill expert has said…
The world’s largest virus has been found in seawater off the coast of Chile, measuring around 10 to 20 times the length of most viruses. Named Megavirus chilensis, the giant virus infects single-cell marine…
A letter from Adolf Hitler formally expelling Max Born, the “father of quantum mechanics”, from a German university has been unveiled as part of a Cambridge University exhibition of archives. The 84 boxes…
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings has named the University of Melbourne Australia’s best university, but higher education experts have warned that such rankings tables are easily misinterpreted…
Hackers have infiltrated popular job-search website unijobs.com.au and posted the login details and passwords of over 600 users onto the public website Pastebin. Exposing login details is dangerous because…
Crows can recognise and ascribe numerical meaning to symbols, a new study shows, suggesting that the unusually intelligent birds may be able to “read” numbers and simple icons. Crows are known for their…
Monkeys fitted with brain implants can “feel” different surfaces of identical virtual objects, a new study shows, paving the way for technology that may paralysed people experience the sense of touch…
Apple founder Steve Jobs, widely seen as one of tech industry’s most influential figures, has died after a battle with cancer that forced him to resign as CEO in August. He was 56. In a statement posted…
Women diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), an endocrine disorder that can cause fertility problems, are more likely to have parents with heart disease, hypertension or a stroke, a new study…
The climate change debate has diminished the standing of science in some people’s minds, Australia’s Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist said today, calling for lawmakers to ensure public policy was informed…
An astrophysicist from the Australian National University has jointly won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for his part in the discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. Harvard-educated…
Australian researchers have pinpointed a gene that helps cause osteoarthritis, paving the way for new drugs that may one day improve or even prevent the painful condition. Osteoarthritis commonly affects…
A hole in the Arctic ozone layer grew at unprecedented levels this year, a new study has found, exposing densely populated northern hemisphere countries to potentially harmful levels of UV radiation. The…
Half of Canada’s ancient ice shelves have disappeared in the last six years, researchers have said, with new data showing significant portions melted in the last year alone. The rate at which ice melts…
Australian astronomers have shed new light on the cosmic filament that binds the Milky Way together, providing new clues on how the galaxy is formed and how it grows. The Milky Way, home to our solar system…
A distant planet that made its name as the world’s first directly photographed exoplanet is at the centre of an astronomical stoush, after it veered off course and new doubts were raised about its existence…
A defunct NASA satellite is expected to fall to Earth some time tomorrow afternoon but the US space agency has said it’s not yet clear where the space junk will land. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite…
Nearly 40% of academics under 30 and one-third of staff aged 30-39 years plan to leave the Australian higher education sector within 10 years, according to a new report, raising the prospect of severe…
Fifteen frog species have been discovered in the Western Ghats region of India, including 12 completely new species and three that had not been spotted in nearly 100 years. The “night frogs”, so named…
A NASA spacecraft called Dawn has delivered fresh images of an enormous asteroid called Vesta, revealing new detail about the giant object’s turbulent past. A video made up of images collected as Dawn…