Push to quantify social impact of science goes global
Australia is preparing to join a worldwide push to map the wider social returns on investments in science.
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Environment + Energy — Research and News
Post-1950s warming in region unmatched in 1,000 years
Post-1950s warming in the Australasian region is unmatched by any climate fluctuations over the past 1,000 years, according…
Floods and heatwaves to increase across NSW
Rising sea levels could threaten up to 60,000 houses, 1200 commercial buildings and 250 kilometres of highway in NSW by the…
Species with multiple colours evolve faster
Australian researchers have provided the first support for a 60-year-old evolution theory – that species with multiple colours…
Efficiency tax will stifle scientific work at CSIRO
A $23-million “efficiency dividend” on administrative costs at CSIRO will inevitably affect the quality of scientific research…
Dingoes may have wiped out Tasmanian tiger on mainland
Dingoes were twice the size of female thylacines and could have caused their extinction on mainland Australia through direct…
Wiki founder to build open access site for UK research
The British government has enlisted the services of Wikipedia in a push to make all taxpayer-funded academic research from…
Wind farms lift the temperature in their region
Wind turbines can modify the local climate by warming the atmosphere, according to a study that revealed an increase in temperature…
Dry parts of the planet to get drier, wet parts wetter
The cycle of evaporation and rainfall over the past 50 years has intensified at twice the rate predicted by climate change…
Australia on track to meet Kyoto Protocol target
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions increased by 0.6% year-on-year in the December quarter, despite a drop in electricity…
Some corals could survive a more acidic ocean
Internal “pumps” found in some corals may help them to endure gradual ocean acidification, giving rise to hope that coral…
Informed views on topical questions: The Conversation’s first year
The Conversation has “provided an avenue for academics to present an informed view of topical questions” and has become a…
Solar technology could transform office blocks into power producers
Skyscrapers could one day generate enough power to offset much of their energy consumption, thanks to a breakthrough by Australian…
Australia falls behind in preparation for low-carbon world
Australia is the only country in the Group of Twenty nations less prepared for a low carbon emissions world than it was almost…
As Australia lurches from drought to floods, temperatures continue to rise
Greenhouse gases have increased at more than 3% a year for the past decade to reach their highest level in 800,000 years…
New variety of salt-tolerant wheat could help address food shortages
A new type of wheat bred with a gene that removes sodium from water can outgrow conventional strains by up to 25% in salty…
Bright green algal bloom is so vast it can be seen from space
A field of green algae stretching hundreds of kilometres across the ocean surface near Antarctica is so bright that it is…
As grapes ripen faster, wine regions could lose their distinctive character
Wine grapes in Australia’s south are ripening on average 20 days earlier than they did in 1985, according to a study that…
Panoramic images of Great Barrier Reef will take millions on virtual dives
Internet surfers will soon be able to go below the surface to immerse themselves in the spectacular coral and marine life…
Penguin colony flourishing after being driven to brink of extinction
Eighty years after slipping to the brink of extinction, a colony of King Penguins at Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean…
100,000-year-old seagrass could be the world’s oldest organism
An ancient seagrass that spans up to 15 kilometres and weighs more than 6,000 metric tonnes may be more than 100,000 years…
Ocean warming drives growth in coral reefs further south off western coastline
Coral reefs off part of Western Australia’s coastline have flourished over the past 110 years, despite the rise of carbon…
Elephants the answer to bushfire problem? That’s dumbo, scientists say
Elephants, rhinoceroses, Komodo dragons and other large animals are the unorthodox but most effective solution to the spread…
Gas drilling research highlights risk to animals, but more thorough work needed
A US study released this week linking animal health problems with gas drilling provides further argument for more stringent…
Greater Mekong species showing up – and going extinct – at a rapid rate
In the last ten years more than 1000 new species have been discovered in the Greater Mekong region. The new species are the…