Latest Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Stories

CSIRO CSIRO's astronomy, spacecraft tracking and space science activities will be headed up by a new leader, with the announcement today that Dr Lewis Ball has been appointed as the incoming Chief for CSIRO's Astronomy and Space Science (CASS) division. Dr Ball returns to CSIRO from his present role as Deputy Director at the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) located in Chile. There he has led the successful commencement of ALMA's scientific operation, currently the...

CSIRO Australia The earbones, or 'otoliths', help fish to detect movement and to orient themselves in the water. Otoliths set down annual growth rings that can be measured and counted to estimate the age and growth rates of fish. "Otoliths can form the basis of new techniques for modelling fish growth, productivity and distribution in future environments," said Dr John Morrongiello of CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship, lead author of a paper published online in Nature Climate Change...

CSIRO Australia New antibiotic and anti-cancer chemicals may one day be synthesized using biotechnology, following CSIRO's discovery of the three genes that combine to provide soldier beetles with their potent predator defense system. CSIRO researchers, and a colleague at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, published details of the gene identification breakthrough and potential applications recently in the international journal Nature Communications. "For the first time, our team has been...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online New research reported in the journal Scientific Reports claims that the southern hemisphere is becoming drier. The researchers wrote that a decline in April-May rainfall over southeast Australia is associated with a southward expansion of the subtropical dry-zone. The scientists were looking to explore why autumn rainfall has been in decline across southeastern Australia since the 1970s, which is a period that included the...

A landmark study has found that climate change is likely to have a major impact on Australia’s plants, animals and ecosystems that will present significant challenges to the conservation of Australia’s biodiversity. The comprehensive study by CSIRO highlights the sensitivity of Australia’s species and ecosystems to climate change, and the need for new ways of thinking about biodiversity conservation. “Climate change is likely to start to transform some of Australia’s natural...

CANBERRA, Australia, May 29, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Australia's leading science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has been granted foundational patents in the US and Europe for short hairpin RNAi (shRNA) gene silencing technology. shRNA technology is a powerful method that is widely used as a research tool to test the function of genes and is being developed for a range of targeted therapies in humans. Potential human...

A salt-tolerant variety of durum wheat that outperforms other varieties by 25 per cent on salty soils has been developed by CSIRO scientists using traditional crop breeding techniques. Researchers have introduced a salt-tolerant gene into a commercial durum wheat which has produced spectacular results in field trials. "Salinity already affects more than 20 per cent of the world’s agricultural soils and is an increasing threat to food production due to climate change," CSIRO's Dr Rana...

Deep-diving ocean "gliders" have revealed the journey of Bass Strait water from the Tasman Sea to the Indian Ocean. Deployed in 2010 and 2011, the gliders have also profiled a 200-metre tall wall of water at the core of long-lived ocean eddies formed from the East Australian Current.The study, by University of Technology Sydney and CSIRO oceanographers, revealed the value of new sensors being deployed by Australia's Integrated Marine Observing System. "We're getting a terrific amount of...

LONDON, January 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- - iPad App launch marks big day as land Down Under aims to turn perception on its head - Today is Australia Day but not as we know it; this year some 100,000 Aussies across the UK are being asked to raise an iPad along with a glass. Not content with being better known for its beauty than brains, the land Down Under is out to turn a parochial perception on its head. So the...

An Australian fly species, found in far northern Queensland, has been given a rather unique name: Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae -- honoring American pop star Beyonce. Bryan Lessard, of CSIRO, Australia's top science agency, named the rare horsefly after Beyonce because of its impressive golden lower abdomen. The spectacular display of the fly's golden booty makes it the "all-time diva of flies." "It was the unique dense golden hairs on the fly's abdomen that led me to name this fly in...