Australian and UK researchers have made new findings about a form of secret language in the animal kingdom using polarization, a type of light that humans cannot see. In a new paper published in Current Biology, researchers at The University of Queensland’s (UQ) Queensland Brain Institute and at the University of Bristol in the UK… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Agricultre & Vet Science
Unscrambling the Devil tumour
Researchers have mapped the genome of the Tasmanian Devil for the first time, a crucial step towards understanding the transmissible facial tumours decimating Devil populations and related human cancers. The international team, led by Dr Janine Deakin of the Research School of Biology at The Australian National University, compared the normal Tasmanian Devil genome to… Continue Reading
World can reap benefits of Australia’s farming skills
It is in our national interest to better support agriculture at our universities, because, as Chubb and his team recently noted about Australia’s involvement in international agricultural research, we are good at it. Australian science more generally cannot hope to be good at everything; we are too small a community. But in agriculture we punch… Continue Reading
Preparing coastal regional communities
Coastal regional communities will be given a helping hand to adapt to changes in the marine environment with a new research project. The project is titled A climate change adaptation blueprint for coastal regional communities. Researchers from the University of Tasmania, Murdoch University and CSIRO are to visit and study the consequences of change in… Continue Reading
Managing Buffel Grass good for native animals
A Central Australian researcher has found that more native animals live in areas that have been cleared of the introduced pastoral grass Cenchrus ciliaris (Buffel Grass). Arid zone ecologist Christine Schlesinger has found a distinct difference in the abundance and number of species of frogs, lizards, snakes and small animals in areas where Buffel Grass… Continue Reading
Predicting crop yield seeds international interest
UQ’s Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) has bolstered its growing reputation for high-impact science by co-developing innovative new crop technology in consort with one of the world’s biggest seed companies. Director of QAAFI’s Centre for Plant Science, Professor Graeme Hammer, is leading a team of UQ scientists working with the international seed… Continue Reading
How does rice handle the heat?
The ability of a staple food crop, such as rice, to cope with climate change is under investigation in specially designed growth chambers at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga. The research, led by Associate Professor of Soil Management, Philip Eberbach from the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, is examining how tolerant rice… Continue Reading
Mouse to elephant in 24 million generations
Scientists have for the first time measured how fast large-scale evolution can occur in mammals, showing it takes 24 million generations for a mouse-sized animal to evolve to the size of an elephant. Research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS) describes increases and decreases in mammal size following the extinction… Continue Reading
Saltwater crocodile breeders to benefit from genome sequence
The genome sequence of the saltwater crocodile has been completed by an international collaboration of scientists, including researchers from the University of Sydney. The team from the University will develop information from the sequencing to perfect crocodile breeding techniques, a development of enormous potential benefit to the crocodile industry in Australia which is worth an… Continue Reading
Streams need trees to withstand climate change
More than twenty years of biological monitoring have confirmed the importance of vegetation for protecting Australia’s freshwater streams and rivers against the ravages of drought and climate change. Researchers from Monash University, the Environment Protection Authority and the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research studied the effects of drought on Australia’s fragile freshwater ecosystems using… Continue Reading
Sea cucumbers could be key to preserving coral reefs
Tropical sea cucumbers could play a key role in saving coral reefs from the devastating effects of climate change, say scientists at One Tree Island, the University of Sydney’s research station on the Great Barrier Reef. “We have found that sea cucumbers play a vital role in reducing the harmful impact of ocean acidification on… Continue Reading
A world without animals?
“What would our world be like without animals?” Dr Nik Taylor, a Flinders University sociologist specialising in the emerging field of human/animal relations, posed the question in a wide-ranging interview with Flinders Indaily that covered live exports and the links between human and animal abuse. “Our daily lives are filled with animals in way or… Continue Reading
