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 […]
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,
By Georgia Barrington-Smith & Dr Rebecca Duncan Medical radiation procedures, such as diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy, are critical in modern healthcare, providing life-saving detection and treatment tools for people suffering from diseases like cancer. Recent technological advancements have led to a new generation of radiotherapy treatments that promise to further enhance patient outcomes. Developing
Flexible, organic X-ray sensors: Enabling the next generation of radiation therapy Read More »
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
The battle between plant immunity and fungal infections: A microscopic arms race. Read More »
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
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
Will the rivers run dry? Read More »
AINSE 2024 Year in Review AINSE is delighted to celebrate another exciting year filled with successful student events and high-quality research being carried out by our wonderful scholars. As the year draws to a close, the staff at AINSE would like to take this opportunity to reflect upon some of these achievements in more detail.
What a year it has been! Read More »
By Georgia Barrington-Smith & Dr Rebecca Duncan The Antarctic ice sheet holds 61% of all the fresh water on Earth. How this ice sheet is responding to climate warming remains the biggest source of uncertainty in determining future global sea levels. Interpreting clues from the past ice margins is critical to understanding the future, and
By Rebecca Duncan & Georgia Barrington-Smith The polar food web at risk from shrinking sea ice Standing on the frozen ocean, it’s hard to imagine life thriving in such a harsh environment. Yet, on the underside of the ice lies a bustling world: a community of sea ice algae and tiny animals called zooplankton. These
By Georgia Barrington-Smith, 16th December 2024 AINSE had a great end to the year with our 8th Annual Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship (WISE) School running from December 2nd– 6th. Over the course of the week, seventy undergraduate students engaged with inspiring women across the STEM industry and began a yearlong mentorship program that will continue
A wonderful week for Women in STEM! Read More »
