Latest University of New South Wales Stories

A new study by researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) finds that warming and cooling cycles in the Indian Ocean may be responsible for Australia's major droughts.El Nino events in the Pacific Ocean have were previously thought responsible for the droughts, which over the past 120 years include the Federation drought (1895-1902), the World War Two drought (1937-1945), and the present drought (post-1995) -- the worst in 100 years.  However, the new research shows the...

Donning a face mask is an easy way to boost protection from severe respiratory illnesses such as influenza and SARS, new research from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has found, but convincing a reluctant public and health workers is proving a struggle.In a world-first clinical trial of the efficacy of masks, researchers found adult mask wearers* in the home were four times more likely than non-wearers to be protected against respiratory viruses, including the common cold.The...

Researchers said on Monday that more than 1 billion people globally suffer from a condition in which the eye's lens loses flexibility, blurring objects close by, and half of them do not own eyeglasses to help them see.Experts believe around 517 million people with presbyopia, which is thought to be caused by a stiffening of the eyes' lenses or a weakening of muscles that focus the lens, lacked eyeglasses or had an inadequate pair in 2005.Researchers from the University of New South Wales in...

Something vital is missing in the far distant reaches of the Universe: hydrogen - the raw material for stars, planets and possible life.The discovery of its apparent absence from distant galaxies by a team of Australian astronomers is puzzling because hydrogen gas is the most common constituent of normal matter in the Universe.If anything, hydrogen was expected to be more abundant so early in the life of the Universe because it had not yet been consumed by the formation of all the stars and...

UNSW's ARC Photovoltaic Centre of Excellence has again asserted its leadership in solar cell technology by reporting the first silicon solar cell to achieve the milestone of 25 per cent efficiency.The UNSW ARC Photovoltaic Centre of Excellence already held the world record of 24.7 per cent for silicon solar cell efficiency. Now a revision of the international standard by which solar cells are measured, has delivered the significant 25 per cent record to the team led by Professors Martin Green...

Using sophisticated computer modeling techniques, scientists have determined that the bite force of the great white's extinct relative, the gigantic fossil species Carcharodon megalodon (also known as Big Tooth) is the highest of all time, making it arguably the most formidable carnivore ever to have existed.Shark researchers from the University of New South Wales, Newcastle University, NSW Department of Primary Industries Fisheries (Australia) and University of California (USA) reveal...

Diet can strongly influence how long you live and your reproductive success, but now scientists have discovered that what works for males can be very different for females.In the first study of its kind, the researchers have shown that gender plays a major role in determining which diet is better suited to promoting longer life or better reproductive success.In the evolutionary "battle of the sexes", traits that benefit males are costly when expressed in females and vice versa. This...

Gels that have been developed to protect women from the AIDS virus may be just as likely to protect men from catching the disease as well, researchers said on Monday.That prediction would rely on the event of such gels and creams being perfected to be effective for men.Sally Blower of the University of California, Los Angeles, and David Wilson of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia said women who use gels of microbicides could end up with fewer treatment options if they do...

The fearsome Komodo dragon is the world's largest living lizard and can take very large animal prey: now a new international study has revealed how it can be such an efficient killing machine despite having a wimpy bite and a featherweight skull.A member of the goanna family with ancestors dating back more than 100 million years, the dragon (Varanus komodoensis) uses a combination of 60 razor-sharp serrated teeth, powerful neck muscles and what researchers are calling a...

Contaminated seaweeds in Sydney Harbor could be threatening the small animals that feed on them, according to a new study revealing that the harbor's seaweeds have the world's highest levels of copper and lead contamination.Up to 75 percent of the offspring of small crustaceans that feed on a common brown seaweed, for example, are killed when they are exposed to copper at levels found in some parts of the harbor, UNSW laboratory and field experiments have shown.The UNSW study sampled seaweed...