10 best Sydney science discoveries 2017
MeTro is squirted directly onto the wound and activated with light.
1. Squirtable surgical glue
Biomedical engineers at the University of Sydney working with scientists in Boston, USA, .
Named MeTro, the revolutionary product sets in just 60 seconds once treated with UV light. It also a built-in degrading enzyme which can be modified to determine how long the sealant lasts 鈥� from hours to months, in order to allow adequate time for the wound to heal.
University of Sydney McCaughey Chair in Biochemistry听听said: "The potential applications are powerful 鈥� from treating serious internal wounds at emergency sites such as following car accidents and in war zones, as well as improving hospital surgeries."
2. Fast, safe blockchain
In July, researchers from the School of IT announced they are听听that has the potential to revolutionise the global economy.
By late October, global trials proved the super-fast 'Red Belly Blockchain' can process financial transactions 50 percent faster than first anticipated 鈥� outperforming some market leaders including VISA for world-wide payments.
, who heads up the听, said: "Our tests showed the Red Belly Blockchain can process more than 660,000 transactions a second on 300 machines in a single data centre."听
Turtle-headed seasnake. Photo: Claire Goiran
3. How seasnakes lost their stripes
, working with researchers in New Caledonia, found that听听living on coral reefs.
Professor Shine says that the findings are yet another example of rapid adaptive evolutionary change in action. For him, it鈥檚 also a more sinister reminder that 鈥渆ven on an apparently pristine coral reef, human activities can pose very real problems for the animals that live there鈥�.
Claire Goiran, the study鈥檚 lead author, from Labex Corail & Universit茅 de la Nouvelle-Cal茅donie, got the idea that blacker skin might be related to pollutant exposure after learning that the darker feathers of urban pigeons in Paris store more zinc than lighter feathers.
4. Neutron stars collide
Artist's impression of two neutron stars colliding.
A University of Sydney team was the emanating from the collision of two neutron stars 130 million light years away that produced measureable gravitational waves.
University of Sydney was in the US when the announcement of the gravitational wave event occurred.听
鈥淲e immediately rang our team in Australia and told them to get onto the CSIRO telescope as soon as possible,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e were lucky in a sense in that it was perfect timing but you have to be at the top of your game to play in this space. It is intense, time-critical science.鈥�
5. Brains don't stream, they strobe
An Australian-Italian collaboration found that听.
While our conscious experience appears to be continuous, the University of Sydney and Italian universities study suggests that perception and attention are intrinsically rhythmic in nature.
鈥淭hese findings that auditory perception also goes through peaks and troughs supports the theory that perception is not passive but in fact our understanding of the world goes through cycles,鈥� said .
6. Babies' lives saved by later clamping
Thousands of preterm babies could be saved after birth instead of clamping it immediately - according to two international studies coordinated by the University of Sydney鈥檚 .
鈥淲e estimate that for every thousand very preterm babies born more than 10 weeks early, delayed clamping will save up to 100 additional lives compared with immediate clamping,鈥� said the University of Sydney鈥檚听, the review鈥檚 lead author and a neonatal specialist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Dr Birgit Stiller (left) and Moritz Merklein at the Sydney Nanoscience Hub.听
7. Storing 'lightning inside thunder'
A team at Sydney Nano developed a that allows photonic - or light - information to be stored as acoustic waves. The design will help develop photonic chips, which can process data without producing the heat in typical chips.
鈥淭he information in our chip in acoustic form travels five orders of magnitude slower than in the optical domain,鈥� said听, research fellow at the University of Sydney and supervisor of the project. 鈥淚t is like the difference between thunder and lightning,鈥� she said.
8. 'Bin chickens' like to carb load
A white ibis prepares to tuck in. Photo: Zhixian Sui
Australian white ibis - loved or loathed as Sydney's 'bin chicken' -听.
The research, by PhD student Sean Coogan, shows the ibis abandoning its traditional low-carb, high-protein diet from its western NSW wetland environment when it reaches the city.
鈥淯rban Australian white ibis seem to be taking advantage of the abundance of high-carb human foods available in the city,鈥� Mr Coogan said. The bin chicken came second in this month.
9. Ferals a big threat in the bush
Under threat: the desert mouse,听Pseudomys desertor,听is critically endangered in NSW.
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Feral , research from the University's School of Life and Environmental Sciences found.
Lead author Dr听听said removing introduced cats and foxes could increase rodent population by almost one in 10 in the study area within the Simpson Desert.
In earlier research this year, Dr Thomas 高清福利片ome, found that .
鈥淗umans need a greater tolerance of apex predators if we want to enjoy the environmental benefits they can provide鈥�, said Dr 高清福利片ome.
The prototype microwave circulator next to a five cent piece.
10. Quantum component invented
A team led by 听in collaboration with Stanford University has .
Invention of the microwave circulator is part of the device engineering needed to build a large-scale quantum computer.
鈥淚t is not just about qubits, the fundamental building blocks for quantum machines. Building a large-scale quantum computer will also need a revolution in classical computing and device engineering,鈥� Professor Reilly said.听
Lead author of the research,and PhD candidate Alice Mahoney said:听鈥淪uch compact circulators could be implemented in a variety of quantum hardware platforms, irrespective of the particular quantum system used."
