Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have designed a new nano material that can reflect or transmit light on demand with temperature control, opening the door to technology that protects astronauts in space from harmful radiation. Lead researcher Dr Mohsen Rahmani from ANU said the material was so thin that hundreds of layers could fit on the tip of a needle and could be applied to any surface, including spacesuits.

Researchers at ANU are working on a new treatment for an aggressive type of leukemia that outperforms standard chemotherapies. Lead researcher Dr Nadine Hein from The John Curtin School of Medical Research at ANU said researchers have successfully treated highly aggressive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in mice using the new treatment.

Engineers have invented tiny structures inspired by butterfly wings that open the door to new solar cell technologies and other applications requiring precise manipulation of light. The inspiration comes from the blue Morpho Didius butterfly, which has wings with tiny cone-shaped nanostructures that scatter light to create a striking blue iridescence, and could lead to other innovations such as stealth and architectural applications.

Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have controlled wave-generated currents to make previously unimaginable liquid materials for technological innovations, including techniques to manipulate micro-organisms. The new kind of dynamic material could be revolutionary, similar to other materials created in recent decades that have been used for invisibility cloaking, superlenses and high-efficiency antennae.

Australian National University physicists have invented a tiny device that creates the highest quality holographic images ever achieved, opening the door to imaging technologies seen in science fiction movies such as Star Wars. Lead researcher Lei Wang said the team created complex holographic images in infrared with the invention that could be developed with industry. "As a child, I learned about the concept of holographic imaging from...

Physicists at The Australian National University (ANU) and University of Queensland (UQ) have produced near-perfect clones of quantum information using a new method to surpass previous cloning limits. A global race is on to use quantum physics for ultra-secure encryption over long distances according to Prof Ping Koy Lam, node director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T) at ANU.

Physicists at the Australian National University (ANU) have brought quantum computing a step closer to reality by stopping light in a new experiment. Lead researcher Jesse Everett said controlling the movement of light was critical to developing future quantum computers, which could solve problems too complex for today's most advanced computers.

Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have developed a spray-on material with a remarkable ability to repel water. The protective coating could eventually be used to waterproof mobile phones, prevent ice from forming on aeroplanes or protect boat hulls from corroding. "The surface is a layer of nanoparticles, which water slides off as if it's on a hot barbecue," said PhD student William Wong, from the Nanotechnology Res...

Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have set a world record for efficiency for a solar thermal dish generating steam that could be used for power stations. The team designed and built a receiver for the solar concentrator dish at ANU, halving losses and achieving a 97% conversion of sunlight into steam. The breakthrough could lead to the generation of cheaper base-load electricity from renewable energy and help lower ...

Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) are a step closer to harvesting renewable or ambient energy from mobile phone base stations to power battery-operated wireless sensors used in industries including health and agriculture. Lead researcher Dr Salman Durrani from the ANU Research School of Engineering said current wireless sensors for buildings, biomedical applications or wildlife monitoring use batteries which are often diffic...

Computer scientists have developed a tweak for computer operating systems that could make large data centres 25% more efficient by sharing their processing power. Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) and Microsoft collaborated to develop the new system mechanisms, which give big improvements in energy efficiency for servers that run searches and interact with users.

Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have improved the performance of tiny lasers by adding impurities, in a discovery which will be central to the development of low-cost biomedical sensors, quantum computing, and a faster internet. Researcher Tim Burgess added atoms of zinc to lasers one hundredth the diameter of a human hair and made of gallium arsenide - a material used extensively in smartphones and other electronic devices...

Physicists have discovered radical properties in a nanomaterial, opening possibilities for highly efficient thermophotovoltaic cells that could one day harvest heat in the dark and turn it into electricity. The research team from ANU/ARC Centre of Excellence CUDOS and the University of California Berkeley demonstrated a new artificial material, or metamaterial, that glows in an unusual way when heated.