Smart textiles and soft robots

Smart textiles with artificial muscle fibres which allow them to move and take different forms have been produced by a team from UNSW’s Medical Robotics Lab.

Less talk, more action needed to reform IP

IP laws are supposed to work to aid pharmaceutical innovation in rich nations. Can a new system support treating illnesses rife in developing economies, too?

6 ways for governments to drive innovation

Whereas most innovation now comes from the private sector, governments can encourage innovation and economic growth through creating the right conditions for change.

Turning pollution into plastics for a change

As carbon dioxide levels continue to soar, the emerging carbon capture and utilization industry is developing ways to creating lower-carbon, degradable polymers using CO2 emissions as a feedstock.

Battling the super-bugs

The over-use of antibiotics has reduced their effectiveness against many strains of bacteria, but the medical employment of phages – natural predators of bacteria – could help contain the growth of ‘super bugs’.

Multiverse madness

Fans of Michael Moorcock are well acquainted with the concept of a ‘multiverse’, but a quantum mechanics interpretation can help the less literary inclined comprehend the hypothetical existence of many worlds.

Curiouser and curiouser!

Modern science tends to ignore outsiders but reductionist science is not the only way of knowing things and more attention should be paid to ancient knowledge, new ideas and ‘thinking outside the box’.

Future-proofing Australia’s research

Scientific and medical research research remain the key to solving some of the world’s biggest problems, but efforts must be fostered to maximise their practical outcomes.

Bladerunner 2022

In 1982, Blade Runner floored audiences with its technodystopian depiction of the future. Almost 40 years on, some of these projections seem eerily and depressingly accurate today, particularly in the development of humanoid robots.

Exploring alternatives to plastic food packaging

Research into new biodegradable biopolymer materials could reduce the world’s reliance on plastic food packaging.

Commercialising research – again

There have been calls for better commercialisation of Australian research for decades but the Federal Government’s latest plan may help shape academic expectations and incentives in a more effective manner.

Australia needs an office for research integrity

Sweden is just the most recent of more than 20 European nations that have national offices for research integrity. So do the UK, US, Canada, Japan and China. Australia, which still lacks an Office for Research Integrity, is being left behind.