Research

How Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, could help us understand life’s origins.

2025 Research Spotlight, Materials Science and Engineering, PGRA, Research /

By Georgia Barrington-Smith In the quest to unravel one of life’s greatest mysteries—how it all began—scientists are looking beyond our planet, to the vastness of space, in search of the molecular seeds that might have sown life on Earth. One key stop on that journey is Titan—Saturn’s largest moon. For nearly two decades, NASA’s Cassini […]

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Thermo-electro-magnetic synergy: Unlocking next-gen thermoelectricity

2025 Research Spotlight, Materials Science and Engineering, PGRA, Research /

By Georgia Barrington-Smith Amidst the ongoing global energy crisis, industries such as power, manufacturing, and transportation are significant contributors to energy consumption. These sectors produce substantial amounts of unwanted heat as a byproduct, typically released into the environment through exhaust systems, heated surfaces, or cooling mechanisms. This thermal energy, often considered waste, represents a largely

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AINSE 2025 Gold Medal Ceremony and Networking Dinner

Environmental Science, Gold Medal, Materials Science and Engineering, Outreach, PGRA, Research /

On Tuesday 20th May 2025, our annual AINSE Networking Dinner was hosted at NSW Parliament House to bring together representatives from across the Australasian nuclear science and technology sector. As part of this event, AINSE Scholar Gold Medals for excellence and impact in research were formally awarded to: Read more about Rebecca’s and Hayden’s research successes below.

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Sustainably powering the digital age: Next-generation spintronic materials for a low-energy future

2025 Research Spotlight, Materials Science and Engineering, PGRA, Research /

By Georgia Barrington-Smith In today’s digital era, the rapid proliferation of online services and cloud computing has driven an unprecedented global demand for data centres. These facilities support the storage and distribution of vast data volumes, ranging from AI models to high-demand streaming content. Unfortunately, as our reliance on digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence accelerates,

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What Tasmania’s Pencil Pine teaches us about bushfire management.

2025 Research Spotlight, Archaeology and Geoscience, Archaeology and Geosciences, Environmental Science, PGRA /

By Georgia Barrington-Smith Anthropomorphic climate change is weakening the resilience of globally significant forests by altering their temperature and aridity. Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) is particularly at risk, with longer, more intense bushfire seasons threatening this sensitive ecosystem. Amid ongoing climatic stress and ecological decline, important questions are emerging around the ability of

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Historical holes: Beneath the surface, caves hold the key to Australia’s wildfire history

2025 Research Spotlight, Archaeology and Geosciences, ECRG, Research /

By Georgia Barrington-Smith & Dr Rebecca Duncan Anthropogenic-driven climate change has extended the duration of Australia’s annual fire seasons, wreaking havoc on agricultural crops, wildlife, and homes. The 2019-2020 bushfires, which scorched over seventeen million hectares and claimed the lives of over one billion animals, provide a stark example of this growing crisis. Satellite observations

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Beyond Conventional X-rays: Recovering Multimodal Signals with an Intrinsic Speckle-Tracking Approach

2025 Research Spotlight, Biotechnology and Biomedical Science, PGRA /

By Georgia Barrington-Smith & Dr Rebecca Duncan For decades, conventional X-rays have been invaluable in clinical settings, enabling doctors and radiographers to gain critical insights into patients’ health. While traditional X-rays are still widely used, they are limited in the depth of information they can provide. New, advanced multimodal techniques, like phase-shift and dark-field imaging,

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The battle between plant immunity and fungal infections: A microscopic arms race.

2025 Research Spotlight, Biotechnology and Biomedical Science, PGRA, Research /

By Georgia Barrington-Smith & Dr Rebecca Duncan The agricultural industry is constantly under threat from fungal pathogens that infect important plant crops like tomatoes, bananas, and cotton. In response, plants have developed new defence mechanisms, fuelling an ongoing arms race against these invaders as they, in turn, develop new ways to circumvent these defences. How

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Fight against the fungus: Understanding the relationship between fungal pathogens and plant infection.

2025 Research Spotlight, Biotechnology and Biomedical Science, PGRA, Research /

By Georgia Barrington-Smith & Dr Rebecca Duncan Ensuring our ongoing food availability in the face of a rising global population is a critical challenge. Infectious plant diseases pose a significant threat to our agricultural food production, costing the global economy around $220 billion USD each year. One particularly destructive disease is ‘blast disease’, which targets

Fight against the fungus: Understanding the relationship between fungal pathogens and plant infection. Read More »

Will the rivers run dry?

2025 Research Spotlight, Archaeology and Geoscience, Environmental Science, PGRA, Uncategorized /

Understanding how decreasing rainfall is impacting river regions in South-Western Australia. By Georgia Barrington-Smith & Dr Rebecca Duncan Global rainfall patterns are changing, leading to dryer conditions in numerous biodiversity hotspots. Rivers in the Southern Hemisphere are particularly sensitive to these climate-induced changes. To mitigate biodiversity loss and manage our precious water resources, we need

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