Category Physics

QUT researchers have used a combination of virtual reality (VR), aerial thermal-imaging and ground surveys to build a better statistical model for predicting the location of koalas and, ultimately, protecting their habitat.

In the study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers from QUT and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS) used the mashup of high-tech 360-degree imagery and heat-seeking drone cameras along with traditional techniques of ground surveys to develop a model that could be used to identify areas most likely to be home to koalas, which are ...

Ageing is a dramatic public health issue in the face of the current demographic changes: the proportion of 60 and over in the world’s population will almost double by 2050. In this context, a new discovery has just broadened scientific knowledge...

A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and The Ohio State University has developed a soft polymer material, called magnetic shape memory polymer, that uses magnetic fields to transform into a variety of shapes. The material could enable a range of new applications from antennas that change frequencies on the fly to gripper arms for delicate or heavy objects.

The material is a mixture of three different ingredients, all with unique characteristics: two types of magnetic particles, one for inductive heat and one with strong magnetic attraction, and shape-memory polymers to help lock various shape changes into place.

“This is the first material t...

Researchers and an Israeli scientist have discovered a new method for turning nearly any object into a data storage unit. This makes it possible to save extensive data in, say, shirt buttons, water bottles or even the lenses of glasses, and then retrieve it years later. The technique also allows users to hide information and store it for later generations. It uses DNA as the storage medium.

Living beings contain their own assembly and operating instructions in the form of DNA. That’s not the case with inanimate objects: anyone wishing to 3D print an object also requires a set of instructions...