UNSW researchers have discovered a new way to detect ultralow levels of microRNA in a blood sample which could make diagnosis of cancer and other illnesses quicker and more efficient. The research team used nanoparticles to latch on to the targeted microRNAs (miRNAs) which enabled them to be easily extracted. One of the main benefits was that it was effective even when the miRNA was in minuscule amounts in the blood sample. Previously, a muc...

Research teams all over the world are exploring different ways to design a working computing chip that can integrate quantum interactions. Now, UNSW engineers believe they have cracked the problem, reimagining the silicon microprocessors we know to create a complete design for a quantum computer chip that can be manufactured using mostly standard industry processes and components.

UNSW Sydney scientists have developed a way to control the shape of polymer molecules so they self-assemble into non-spherical nanoparticles - an advance that could improve the delivery of toxic drugs to tumours. "Very little in nature is perfectly spherical," says study senior author Professor Pall Thordarson of the UNSW School of Chemistry. "Most biological structures like cells, bacteria and viruses come in a variety of shapes includ...

Tech leaders have written an open letter to the UN asking for a ban on lethal autonomous weapons which, they state, could permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend. Tesla’s Elon Musk, Google’s Mustafa Suleyman are among 116 of the world’s leading robotics and artificial intelligence pioneers who have come together to write an open letter to the UN as...

UNSW Sydney chemists have invented a new, cheap catalyst for splitting water with an electrical current to efficiently produce clean hydrogen fuel. The technology is based on the creation of ultrathin slices of porous metal-organic complex materials coated onto a foam electrode, which the researchers have unexpectedly shown is highly conductive of electricity and active for splitting water.

Virtual reality has been described as a game changer for medical education. Some even predict it will see an end to using cadavers to teach anatomy. It's a big call but it doesn't reflect the actual reality of medicine and medical training for a number of reasons. Remember, we have overestimated the role of new technologies in the past. It seems hard to believe now, but in the 1990s we thought Microsoft's PowerPoint was cutting edge. B...

Researchers from the University of New South Wales, Australia have created a “coated” qubit that remains stable 10 times longer than previously possible. This advancement allows for longer calculations in quantum computers. The research, published in Nature Communications, tackles one of the core applications of quantum mechanics to the world of computers. Quantum computers can be fast thanks to a property called superpositi...

  A solar cell configuration developed by engineers at the University of New South Wales has pushed sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency to 34.5% – establishing a new world record for unfocused sunlight and nudging closer to the theoretical limits for such a device.

The promise of ‘zero-energy’ buildings (buildings which generate as much power as they consume) has been held back by two hurdles: the cost of the thin-film solar cells (used in façades, roofs and windows); and the fact they’re made from scarce, and highly toxic, materials. However, this dream is one step closer to reality after a UNSW team achieved the world’s highest efficiency using flexible solar cells that are ...

  Clearing the final hurdle to making silicon quantum computers a reality, a team of engineers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), has built a quantum logic gate in silicon for the first time, making calculations between two qubits of information possible.