When radioactive atoms inside minerals decay, they fire out high energy particles, that leave trails of destruction through the mineral. Weirdly, researchers have found, it turns out these trails can have quite unexpected cross sectional shapes. The...

Scientists have perfected a way to reveal the smallest glitches in the biochemical machinery that makes proteins in our bodies – glitches that can trigger devastating diseases. With this technique – squeezing molecules through tiny holes...

Physicists have pioneered a new method for making a rare form of silicon, prized for its remarkable properties. The discovery, which could mean cheaper and more efficient solar cells, is the result of a ten-year hunch coming to fruition, said Associate...

Material physicists at the Research School of Physics are creating materials to protect satellites from the harsh space environment – essentially sunscreen for satellites. The sunscreen is to be used to protect components made from carbon fibre,...

Scientists have created new improved materials for detecting infrared light – the key to night vision. The new materials promise a more than tenfold improvement in efficiency over current night vision technology. The challenge in creating these...

A simple, cheap and non-invasive blood test could help predict a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis (MS) up to 20 years before symptoms show. Physicists from the ANU Research School of Physics have used tiny holes...

Imagine telling your boss that you need to spend $1000 each on two diamonds – for work. But you will use them to create more diamonds!  The catch? You will probably break them in the process (so maybe we’d better get some spares). In...

An innovative portable manufacturing process, inspired by a coffee machine, has given scientists new insights into fabricating and measuring membranes full of nanometre-scale pores. The process creates perfect nanopores in a material, with diameter as small...

An international team of scientists has found a way to speed up the creation of diamonds, making them in a room-temperature lab in mere minutes. One of the lead researchers, Professor Jodie Bradby, said their breakthrough shows that Superman may have...

An international research team led by The Australian National University (ANU) has made a new type of silicon that better uses sunlight and promises to cut the cost of solar technology. The researchers say their world-first invention could...

The Australian National University (ANU) has led an international project to make a diamond that’s predicted to be harder than a jeweller’s diamond and useful for cutting through ultra-solid materials on mining sites.   ANU Associate...

The ANZAC pattern was fabricated by using Focused Ion Bean (FIB) system at the Australian National Fabrication Facility by Dr Evgeny Mironov a recently graduated visiting PhD student from ADFA, to commemorate the 100 years of ANZAC (1915-2015)  The...