CSIRO

Dirt solves murder mysteries

Australian detectives can now use a pinch of dirt or a speck of dust to help solve crimes, thanks to techniques developed at the Australian synchrotron. Soil composition is as unique as a fingerprint so scientists can analyse dirt samples and, in theory, match their results to specific regions of the Earth’s surface. Until recently, [...]

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Giving farmers more timely weather and climate forecasts

Seven days. Three months. We can now get accurate rainfall and temperature forecasts for these periods, but what if a farmer had access to quality outlooks that sat between the two—multi-week forecasts?

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Quenching our thirst for water

CSIRO is spearheading a $9 million-a-year project to help ease Australia’s current water management crisis.

A new national Water Resources Observation Network (WRON), set up by CSIRO through the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, is aiming to improve water management, and make a 20 per cent cost saving in the process.

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Every would-be rocker’s fantasy comes true

CSIRO has ‘built’ a shirt that could fulfil the fantasy of anyone who has, in the privacy of their homes, jammed along with one of rock ‘n roll’s great lead guitarists.

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How lobsters create their colours

A team of Queensland researchers have discovered the genetics that underlies the one molecule that lobsters, prawns and other crustaceans use to make the complex coloured patterns appreciated by biologists and connoisseurs of seafood.

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Dinner for tuna

outhern bluefin tuna can’t even have a quiet snack without CSIRO researchers knowing. They’ve developed a way of tracking when the tuna feed and also where, at what depth, and the temperature of the surrounding water.

Dr Sophie Bestley and her colleagues at CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship surgically implant miniaturised electronic ’data-storage’ tags into juvenile fishes off the coast of southern Australia.

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Managing tropical fires for greenhouse gas abatement

The economic potential of carbon is the focus of a new fire project on the Tiwi Islands, 80 kilometres north of Darwin in the Northern Territory and home to 2,000 Aboriginal Australians. Nearly half of the Tiwi Islands are burnt every year, resulting in significant greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing the extent of fire may provide substantial financial benefits under the emerging carbon economy.

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Research combats invasive ants on Indigenous lands in northern Australia

Invasive ants are among the greatest environmental, social and economic threats to Australia, potentially costing the nation more than $1 billion annually. However, knowledge of the basic biology of these pest species remains rudimentary, and many management operations have been unsuccessful.

CSIRO ecologist Dr Ben Hoffmann has been working on invasive ants on Indigenous lands, in collaboration with Indigenous ranger groups, for 13 years

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Sunscreens go nano

CSIRO scientist Dr Maxine McCall is testing sunscreens containing nanoparticles to assess the safety of these products.

Sunscreens have long contained bulk particles of zinc and titanium oxides as their active ingredients to absorb or reflect damaging ultraviolet light. In contrast to chemical absorbers, such as octyl methoxycinnamate, the oxides work over most of the ultraviolet band. These oxides appear white on the skin, but at a nanoscale they are clear.

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Australia’s place in the nanotechnology race

CSIRO researchers are applying nanotechnology to drug delivery, medical body imaging, nerve repair, smart textiles and clothing, medical devices, plastic solar cells (see From plastic money to plastic electricity) and much more.

“Nanotechnology is not an industry—it is an enabling technology,” says Clive Davenport, leader of CSIRO’s Future Manufacturing Flagship.

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