2013

May

• Saturation wreaks deep benefits - 14 May 2013
  (media issued by the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training)
  Scientists from Australia’s National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT) say they have been impressed with recharge rates of groundwater following the 2011 floods in Queensland and Victoria. Researchers at the NCGRT are making estimates of Australian groundwater availability in the future based on learning gauged from the recent floods. With this information the NCGRT intends to provide state and Australian Government water authorities with a clearer picture of ground water demands. This information will also look at how to form sustainable procedures for Australia’s underground reserves well into the future. The NCGRT is an Australian Government initiative, supported by the ARC and the National Water Commission.
• Saline tolerant plants - 10 May 2013
  (media issued by the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics)
  A technology that enhances salinity tolerance in plants has been secured by the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics. The technology was secured after field testing in Western Australia showed significant improvements in barley yields. The technology, discovered at the University of Connecticut (UConn) by world renowned scientist Dr Roberto Gaxiola, will be used to improve Australian cereal varieties.
• ARC Laureate Fellow Professor Peter Hall elected to National Academy of Sciences – 2 May 2013
  (Media issued by The University of Melbourne)
  ARC CEO, Professor Aidan Byrne, congratulates 2011 ARC Laureate Fellow Professor Peter Hall from the University of Melbourne for his election to the prestigious US-based National Academy of Science (NAS). Professor Hall has been elected  in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. In 2011 Professor Hall received his fourth Australian Research Council (ARC) fellowship – a Laureate Fellowship, to develop important advances in statistics, leading to new statistical methodologies.

• Ancient archaeological dig reveals in Southeast Asia – 1 May 2013
  (media issued by The Australian National University School of Archaeology and Anthropology)
  More than 140 ancient burials including men, women, teenagers and children have been recovered from a site in the Thanh Hoa province in Northern Vietnam. The dig is being led by Dr Marc Oxenham from The Australian National University's School of Archaeology and Anthropology with funding support from the Australian Research Council. The burial site, known as Con Co Ngua, is believed to have existed sometime between 5000 and 6000 years ago. Rising sea levels have helped preserve the site under a thick cap of marine clay.
  

April

• Saving city wildlife - 29 April 2013
  (media issued by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions)
  Natural urban ecosystems and protecting wildlife is often overlooked during the urban planning process. The loss of natural ecosystems in cities poses a risk to public health and the quality of life of urban citizens according to Dr Sarah Bekessy form the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED) and RMIT University. Australian citizens can become more involved in planning their cities with wildlife in mind thanks to a new tool developed by the CEED team. The tool ranks sites for development according to various priorities such as biodiversity loss, flood risk and transport.

• First Australian win for US plant biology award - 19 April 2013
  (media issued by University of Western Australia)
  The University of Western Australia's internationally recognised plant scientist Winthrop Professor Harvey Millar has become the first Australian to win a prestigious American award in its 40-year history. Professor Millar, who is Deputy Director at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology at UWA, has a passion for proteins and how they work and has built a remarkable career in the 16 years since he graduated from The Australian National University with a PhD in biochemistry.
• Quantum computing taps nucleus of single atom - 18 April 2013
  (media issued by ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology)
  A team of Australian engineers from ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has demonstrated a quantum bit based on the nucleus of a single atom in silicon. The findings show promising dramatic improvements for data processing in ultra-powerful quantum computers of the future.
• Scientists call for large ocean wilderness parks - 15 April 2013
  (media issued by ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies)
  Leading international marine scientists, including researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, have called for the protection of larger marine wilderness areas in a bid to shield the world's dwindling stocks of fish from destruction. Scientists from Australia and the US have been working in the world's largest unfished marine reserve, the remote Chagos Archipelago in the central Indian Ocean to gather data. Their findings provide the world's first clear evidence that large-scale marine wilderness reserves are better for conserving fish than the far more common, small marine protected areas that many governments and fishing communities are presently implementing.
• New way to protect precious water - 10 April 2013
  (media issued by the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training)
  Researchers at the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT) have developed a new model to predict where – and how fast – polluted groundwater can move from a contaminated site, allowing water managers to better locate and clean up the water. The NCGRT is an Australian Government initiative, supported by the ARC and the National Water Commission.
• Optics innovation an industry success - 9 April 2013
  (media issued by the University of Sydney)
  A researcher at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Ultrahigh Bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), has created a new processor technology that allows light to be split in extremely sophisticated ways. The processor is a computer programmable optical filter that can shape light. It can, for example, compress incoming light pulses to become very short, or shape an incoming 'rainbow' of light into an output that is only made up of red and blue light. The new technology has made its creator, Dr Jochen Schroeder, the winner of the Innovation Prize from CUDOS (February 2013), celebrating Australian innovations in optics and photonics. It has also been a successful technology transfer story, creating a wave of sales for Finisar, one of the world's Largest Supplier of Optical Communication Components and Subsystems.
• Discovery measures greenhouse gases from space - 3 April 2013
  (media issued by University of Western Australia)
  Supported by an ARC Discovery program grant, scientists have discovered how to measure greenhouse gases 200 000 times faster as the result of research by an award-winning PhD student from The University of Western Australia and a US team.
  The discovery, which is already being used by NASA scientists in Space, has major implications for global warming research, breath analysis (to detect illness), explosives detection, chemical process monitoring and a range of other applications, including fundamental quantum theory.
• Community Power 'Can Rescue Failing Fish Stocks' - 1 April 2013
  (media issued by ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies)
  An international team of scientists have used genetic 'fin-printing' to gather the first clear proof that small traditional fishing grounds, that are effectively managed by local communities, can help re-stock both themselves and surrounding marine areas. The finding has big implications for hundreds of millions of people around the world who depend on coral reefs for food and livelihood. "This is a really important finding, because it shows that small community-run fisheries can preserve their fish stocks and can boost fish stocks in a surrounding radius of 30 kilometres or more," said Dr Glenn Almany from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.

March

• Improving the flow of the fibre optic freeway – 26 March 2013
  (media issued by Monash University)
  Research conducted at Monash University, supported by the ARC, has played an important part in the invention of an energy-efficient method of increasing the data capacity of optical networks. It has the potential to dramatically boost the overall performance of networks such as the National Broadband Network (NBN), while reducing costs.  
• Closing the gap between conservation and communities – 26 March 2013
  (media issued by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions)
  Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions have completed a world first study into how governments can balance the needs of society and industry with those of endangered wildlife and environments. There is potential for this approach to dispel some of the  long-running tensions between conservationists, industry, government and communities.
• Climate 'brings opportunities and threats to the Pacific' – 25 March 2013
  (media issued by ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies)
  Marine scientists from France, New Caledonia, Fiji and Australia (supported by the ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies) have revealed that climate change will bring both big opportunities and threats to the Pacific region, where more than 25% of GDP (gross domestic product) depends upon fishing. Impacts include a projected decline in coral reef fish, shellfish and crustacean harvests, along with a shift in tuna feeding and breeding grounds which would result in a 'net gain' in the south and east Pacific region.
• New roads might help environment – 21 March 2013
  (media issued by James Cook University) 
  The work of leading ecologist Professor William Laurance, an ARC Laureate Fellow researching Australia's leadership in tropical conservation science, has featured in Nature. Professor Laurance, along with colleague Professor Andrew Balmford (University of Cambridge, UK), has found that despite the strong impact road construction has on forest destruction and wildfires, a global mapping program can advise on where to avoid building new roads and close existing ones, to halt severe environmental damage.

• What are migraines? – 18 March 2013
  (media featured by The Griffith Health Institute as reported in The Conversation)
  Professor Lyn Griffiths, who receives funding from the ARC to support her migraine research, looks into the symptoms and causes of migraines. Her research is currently focused on the latest treatments, specifically the efficacy of non-toxic vitamin therapy.

• Wallabies start pouch climb in womb – 17 March 2013
  (media issued by Nature's Scientific Reports)
  Two researchers at the University of Melbourne, supported by ARC grants, are part of a team which has completed a study of developmental events experienced by small species of the kangaroo and wallaby family. This included the finding that the tiny tammar fetus displays preparative climbing movements up to three days before birth, exhibiting highly coordinated movements which don't occur until much later in eutherian mammals. The study involved collaboration with researchers from Germany.
• Genetic mystery solved – 8 March 2013
  (media issued by the University of New South Wales)
  Research conducted by the UNSW's Dean of Science, Professor Merlin Crossley, has identified the final missing piece in the genetic puzzle of an unusual form of haemophilia, more than 20 years after he discovered the first two pieces. The research, which could help improve understanding of other blood-clotting conditions such as thrombosis, received funding from the Australian Research Council.
• Local dig uncovers new species of ancient fish – 7 March 2013
  (media issued by the Australian National University)
  An ARC Discovery Projects grant has assisted researchers at the Australian National University in discovering a new species of ancient fish. The researchers have unearthed the largest fossilised lobe-finned fish skull ever found in rocks of Devonian age. The fossils were found during an excavation of 360 million-year-old rock near Eden on the NSW South Coast.
• Bacteria and the bees: honey improves antibiotics – 1 March 2013
  (media by University of Technology Sydney Newsroom)
  According to new findings by UTS researchers, supported by ARC Linkage Project funding, medical-grade manuka honey (Medihoney) can improve the effectiveness of antibiotics and prevent the emergence of resistance. This has significant implications for the fight against drug-resistant bacteria such as the superbug MRSA (golden staph).
• Scientists call for legal trade in rhino horn – 1 March 2013
  (media by ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions)
  Due to the failure of a global ban on rhino products and soaring death rates among the world’s remaining population, four leading scientists (including Duan Biggs and Hugh Possingham of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions) have argued for the introduction of a legal trade in rhino horn – in a last ditch effort to save the species from extinction.

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