Latest Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Stories
Scientists from CSIRO and the University of Melbourne in Australia, and the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, are on the brink of a discovery which will facilitate the development of new, safe, more sustainable ways of controlling the world's worst agricultural insect pest "“ the moth, Helicoverpa armigera.The Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, said "“ at the BIO 2008 International Convention in San Diego, California...
The international science community must devote more resources to research into the effects climate change is having on ocean environments, according to a paper published today in the journal Science by researchers at CSIRO's Climate Adaptation National Research Flagship."Marine ecosystems are undoubtedly under-resourced, overlooked and under threat and our collective knowledge of impacts on marine life is a mere drop in the ocean," wrote Dr Anthony Richardson, from The University of...
Australian researchers are a step closer to turning plants into "˜biofactories' capable of producing oils which can be used to replace petrochemicals used to manufacture a range of products.Scientists working within the joint CSIRO/Grains Research and Development Corporation Crop Biofactories Initiative (CBI) have achieved a major advance by accumulating 30 per cent of an unusual fatty acid (UFA) in the model plant, Arabidopsis.UFAs are usually sourced from petrochemicals to produce...
Deep-sea sharks have been tagged and tracked and their habitats precisely mapped in world-first research to test the conservation value of areas closed to commercial fishing.Last month scientists from the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship fitted acoustic tags to 50 gulper sharks, swellsharks and green eye dogfish near Port Lincoln, South Australia.They will track the shark's movements in a closed area designed to protect the gulper shark "“ a species which is severely...
Climate change is likely to transform many of Australia's natural landscapes, according to a new study by CSIRO scientists. The report, "Implications of Climate Change for the National Reserve System," was prepared for the Federal Government, and released today by Environment Minister Peter Garrett.Author Dr Michael Dunlop says climate change is forcing environmental scientists to rethink their approach.Temperatures over Australia are projected to rise by about 1 ºC by 2030, and...
The giant ocean eddy that cooled Sydney's shores a year ago has been superseded by another 300 km diameter giant.CSIRO Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship scientist, Dr David Griffin, says the "˜birth' of the eddy has been traced to last August."From satellite maps of sea-level we can see that it had been loitering this side of Lord Howe Island for some time and began approaching the NSW coast near Christmas," Dr Griffin says."It remained stationary during January and simply grew...
CSIRO has developed a prototype portable device that will allow people to do business across the internet on any computer in a trusted manner.Known as a Trust Extension Device (TED), the TED consists of software loaded onto a portable device, such as a USB memory stick or a mobile phone. It is able to minimise the risk associated with performing transactions in untrusted and unknown computing environments."The problem is that trust is currently tied to specific, well-known computing...
By Michelle Nichols CANBERRA (Reuters) - Forget Atkins, Weightwatchers and Jenny Craig -- a new diet craze has emerged in Australia that has toppled Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and J.K. Rowling's latest Harry Potter novel from the top of the bestseller list. Even more surprisingly, this low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet was created by government scientists. Although best known internationally as a sports-mad country full of fit, bronzed youth, Australia is in reality battling the...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Transparent sheets made from minute carbon tubes may have uses ranging from artificial muscles to light-producing displays to electronic sensors to space elevators, according to researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas. The Texas scientists say the newly developed sheets are stronger than steel sheets of the same weight. Commercial applications of the sheets may be possible in a short time, according to Ray H. Baughman, a co-author of a paper reporting the...
RICHARDSON, Texas (Aug. 18, 2005) - University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) nanotechnologists and an Australian colleague have produced transparent carbon nanotube sheets that are stronger than the same-weight steel sheets and have demonstrated applicability for organic light-emitting displays, low-noise electronic sensors, artificial muscles, conducting appliqués and broad-band polarized light sources that can be switched in one ten-thousandths of a second. Carbon nanotubes are like minute...
