Science/Technology/Environment
New two-tone lizard named after Sir David Attenborough
A research team led by Dr Martin Whiting from the Department of Biological Sciences recently discovered a colourful new species of flat lizard, which they have named Platysaurus attenboroughi, after Sir David Attenborough. This African species is appropriately named Platysaurus (flat lizard) because they are incredibly flat – designed to fit into the narrowest of crevices where they refug...
Big History makes history
Big History has gone global with the launch of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Coursera, alongside other courses from leading international universities. The course, comprising six modules and led by Big History founder Professor David Christian, will be accessible on demand to people from all over the world. It takes learners through the history of everything, starting with the...
Innovation districts: Pioneering a new approach to university-corporate engagement in Australia
The 2013 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard shows Australia lags when it comes to active collaboration between universities and business. Only 3.5 per cent of large and 4.1 per cent of small and medium sized firms in Australia were reported to be collaborating with higher education or public research institutions. In com...
Australian Hearing Hub Open House
With one in four Australians expected to experience hearing loss by 2050, it’s never been more important to focus on hearing health. To celebrate Hearing Awareness Week, alumni and friends of the University are invited to join us at the Australian Hearing Hub Open House from 12pm – 4pm on Saturday 22 August 2015. The event aims to raise awareness on healthy hearing and the services availab...
Can sex hormones save us from dementia?
Even though we know that a lot of diseases affect men and women differently, traditionally a disproportionate amount of research has been done in males (either in male animals or on male cells/human subjects), which means that often women are medically treated as if they were men. Macquarie University PhD student Josien de Bie is working to understand the interactions of sex hormones with o...
Alexander Arriola, PhD, 2013
While Alexander Arriola’s PhD research focused on using lasers to fabricate sensors to measure the concentrations of Parkinson’s biomarkers in the blood, after graduation he spent a year in Edinburgh focusing on astronomy. His quest for Earth-like planets around newly formed stars brought him back to Macquarie a year later, where he remains as a postdoctoral researcher. Today, he designs, ...