From the category archives:

Griffith University

Penguins hold missing pieces of evolutionary puzzle

Antarctica’s humble Adélie penguin is helping scientists shed new light on the process of evolution and may even hold the secret of how animals adapt to climate change.

Griffith University’s Professor of Evolutionary Biology David Lambert used genetically pristine Adélie penguin populations to reach back further in DNA history than thought possible, analysing DNA from living mothers and chicks alongside their ancestors from 44,000 years ago.

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Are forests really the carbon sink we need?

Evidence is building to suggest that our forests may not be the climate change ‘get out jail free’ card we all want.

Australian Rivers Institute’s Assoc. Prof. Peter Pollard has researched rainforest lakes and rivers to test a provocative theory. The respiration of bacteria living and ‘breathing’ in these freshwater ecosystems is a major pathway for the return of rainforest carbon back to the atmosphere as the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

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Wake-up call for waterways

The health of southeast Queensland’s rivers, creeks and catchment areas are under scrutiny with the release of the 2009 Ecosystem Health Report Card.

This year, Moreton Bay received the lowest ecosystem health rating (D) in more than a decade. Prof. Jon Olley, from Griffith University’s Australian Rivers Institute, said the report card results were a wake-up call for Moreton Bay and southeast Queensland.

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Kangaroo bacteria fight cancer

Australia’s iconic kangaroo may hold the secret for the war on cancer. Assoc. Prof. Ming Wei from the Griffith Institute of Health and Medical Research is using commensal bacteria found in kangaroos to develop anti-cancer agents that are expected to be effective in combating solid tumours, which account for up to 90 per cent of cancers.

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