Making a difference: Outcomes of ARC supported research 2020–21

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Making a difference 2020-2021

A MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO

EMPOWERING AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY

• Centre of Excellence giving solar energy a twist
• It’s all in the coating – creating longer lasting steel products
• Harvesting human waste for green energy
• Future is fully charged with new battery technology
• Making tall timber buildings fire safe
• Increasing the safety of coal miners
• The future humanities workforce
   

ADVANCING SOCIAL AND CULTURAL OUTCOMES

• Using film to tell the story of our national history
• Kicking caffeine
• Teen mental health study
• Research explores the stress of unaffordable housing market on older renters
• Shells, bones and fishhooks tell a story of sea level change
• Netflix: an entertainment gamechanger
• Internet of Things improving Australian lives

DISCOVERY AND FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH

• Ig Noble prize for research using intoxicated worms
• Rare ring galaxy captured 11 billion light-years away
• Study of rat skulls reveals an unexpectedly simple recipe for adaptive success
• Neanderthals were as familiar with the sea as modern humans
• Huge new dataset reveals chemical data on 600,000 stars
• Unlocking Macquarie Island’s geological secrets
• What opal fossils tell us about giant Australian dinosaurs
• How the human brain processes visual information

FIRST AUSTRALIANS’ COLLABORATIONS AND KNOWLEDGES

• Ancient food debris tells the story of 65,000 years
• Graffiti records the stories of conflict
• Rolling out a paper-based medical gown
• Healing land and people with biodiversity research
• Dating Gwion Gwion rock art figures in the Kimberley
• First underwater Indigenous sites found on Australian seabed

RESPONDING TO COVID-19

• The changing workforce under COVID-19
• Economic modelling of COVID-19 scenarios
• Rolling out a paper-based medical gown
• ARC-supported researchers at the forefront of the race to understand COVID
• Effects of COVID-19 on globalisation and migration

IMPROVING HEALTH AND WELLBEING

• Artificial Intelligence improving the study of brain disease
• New research reveals the damaging role of a superbug in the gut
• World-first 3D printed chest reconstruction implant
• Tiny tech gets to the heart of disease
• Insect wings might be the new weapon against ‘superbugs’
• 'Smart’ wound dressing technology

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURAL WORLD

• Tick saliva protein could one day help treat inflammatory diseases
• The tree whose sting is like a spider bite
• Cell gatekeepers could be the key to better crops
• Heatwaves around the world increase
• Restoring underwater leafy habitats
• Warmer ocean temperatures affecting baby sharks
• Animal responses to bushfire

Publication information

ISSN (Print) 2209-6000
ISSN (Online) 2209-7414
Published: August 2021
©Commonwealth of Australia 2021

All material presented in this publication is provided under a CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence with the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, the Australian Research Council (ARC) logo, images, signatures and where otherwise stated.

The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website as is the full legal code for the CC Attribution BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence legal code. Requests and enquiries regarding this licence should be addressed to ARC Legal Services on +61 2 6287 6600.
 

Images:

• Cover Credit: Curtin University.
• Inside cover: Turquoise watercolor wave. Credit: iStock.com/Anna Rodionova.
• Contents page:
  • 'Contents': The Figueira Brava cave on the Portuguese coast was used as a shelter by Neanderthal populations over the course of twentymillennia. Credit: Pedro Souto.
  • Empowering Australian industry: The tuneable emission colour of a solution of various bromide-based perovskite nanocrystals under UV light. Credit: DrWenping Yin.
  • Advancing social and cultural outcomes: Soda pop. Credit: iStock.com/carlofranco.
  • Discovery and fundamental research: View of one of the excavation areas at Figueira Brava cave. Credit: João Zilhão.
  • First Australians’ collaborations and knowledges: NAIDOCWeek. Credit: Curtin University.
  • Responding to COVID-19: Professor Warwick McKibbin AO, CEPAR Chief Investigator, Director of Policy Engagement and ANU.Node Leader Credit: ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research.
  • Improving health and wellbeing: Beach. Credit: iStock.com/magedepotpro.
  • Understanding the natural world: Associate Professor Adriana Vergés measuring crayweed. Credit: John Turnbull.
  • Scheme Information: Background with turquoise watercolor. Credit: iStock.com/Anna Rodionova.