Visionary test a sight for sick eyes

A new method for detecting and managing the debilitating eye disease glaucoma developed by researchers at ANU is set to revolutionise testing for the disease.

Air-conditioner switch from summer smart to art

A local artist has turned an entire building’s air-conditioning system into a work that’s bound to generate buzz.

Vice-chancellor’s message Autumn 2009

Succeeding and striving
The Australian National University is proud to be ranked amongst the world’s best universities in research and education, but we never forget that this high standing is built on the success stories of many people.
This edition of ANU Reporter is in part a celebration of such success stories. It showcases the work of […]

Life…science

Balancing family and career

Obama: What lies ahead

Two experts on US politics consider the challenges ahead for President Obama

In agreement

Are investor agreements between rich and developing countries handing too much power to those holding the purse strings?

Word games

Graduate Aparna Rao is bound for Oxford to research aspects of evidence and procedural law. When she goes, chances are there’ll be a funny book tucked into her suitcase.

Cool runnings

February in Australia can be sweltering. Searing heat melts tar from the road, blistering rays burn human skin, and forget about getting into any car that’s been parked in the sun for more than five minutes.
Just about the best place on a hot summer day is kicking back on the couch, an icy pole […]

Receipt revolution

Cohabitation looks set to join necessity as a mother of invention.
This was the case for four students who until recently lived in close quarters at Fenner Hall, an ANU residence in central Canberra.
Vicky Chen, Jonathan Oh, Xiao Jing Yeoh and Katy Zhu were winners in the inaugural Innovation ANU, a program that supports commercialisation at […]

Method academia

Many PhD students spend months chained to their desk, writing up papers. Husband and wife research team Stephan and Rachel Lorenzen bucked that trend by spending 18 months as rice farmers in Bali.

Dealing with disasters

A different approach to natural disasters

Time frames

PhD researcher Guy Micklethwait explores the facts in science fiction about time travel.

The dark gleam

The expansion of cultivation in Indonesia has accelerated profoundly over the past decade, with increased global demands for vegetable oils and bio-fuels. Dr John McCarthy argues that to address the many social and environmental impacts associated with this oil palm, we need to understand the complex forces at play in this rapid transformation.

Literature, language & learning

Learning a second language can switch from labour to love when stories are used as a motivator

The point of difference

An Anglo-American model of market–oriented corporate regulation is often held out as a prescription for developing countries. But does such a unified model exist? One academic argues that the reality is more complex, and the consequences worth exploring before prescribing transplant solutions.

Folio: On the surface

 
Build. 2008. Screen-print on cardboard. Richard Blackwell
“I wanted to take this unique natural thing – a piece of grainy wood – and make something generic and manufactured. I spent a lot of time in Bunnings looking for the grainiest grain to scan for the printing.”

Theflatcity.com. 2008. Photo of projection. Richard Blackwell
“This website is set up […]

Last word: 400 years of discovery

The coming year marks 400 years since Galileo Galilei turned one of the first telescopes to the sky. He saw many unexpected things: moons circling Jupiter, mountains and craters on the Moon, the phases of Venus, spots on the Sun, that the Milky Way is made of a multitude of stars, and more.
To celebrate this […]

In brief: News from ANU

Word Watch
The Australian National Dictionary Centre is a joint venture between Oxford University Press and ANU. Director Bruce Moore take a lexicographical look at our lingua franca.

Australian English has been curiously unwilling to borrow words from non-English languages. The first opportunity it had to take words was from the vast array of Australian Indigenous languages, […]

ANU congratulates Dodson on national honour

The Vice-Chancellor of The Australian National University congratulates Professor Mick Dodson on being named Australian of the Year for 2009.

Exploring the genius of Emily Kame Kngwarreye

Extracts from a forthcoming documentary about celebrated Aboriginal artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye will screen as part of Asia Pacific Week 2009.

Water the key to gender equality

A free public lecture by Dr Sara Ahmed will analyse one of the most critical issues affecting the developing world – equal access to water.

Flight all in the eyes of a dragonfly

Learning how to see and fly like a dragonfly could be the key to speeding up the development of micro-aerial vehicles according to an ANU researcher.

Asia Pacific students gather for unique event

Over 150 scholars, including 50 from overseas, will gather this week for Asia Pacific Week 2009 – the largest annual international gathering of graduate students researching Asia and the Pacific.

Strong demand for ANU places

The total number of applicants who’ve picked The Australian National University as their first preference is up by 12 per cent on 2008 levels – three times the UAC average increase.