Good News Notes: “I and University of Sydney colleagues have published a new study showing treating sleep apnea in older adults with mild cognitive impairment can improve memory, but not other areas of cognition, in the short term. As there is no current treatment or cure for dementia, increasing efforts have focused on developing novel approaches to…
Tag: Australia
Koala IVF could help save species from extinction
Good News Notes: “Freezing koala sperm could become a key part of a strategy to save koalas from extinction by 2050. University of Newcastle scientists Lachlan Howell and Ryan Witt say koala “biobanking”, could be harnessed with IVF technology to help the endangered species reproduce. An estimated 64,000 koalas were killed when 5.5m hectares were ravaged by…
The urine revolution: how recycling pee could help to save the world
Good News Notes: “On Gotland, the largest island in Sweden, fresh water is scarce. At the same time, residents are battling dangerous amounts of pollution from agriculture and sewer systems that causes harmful algal blooms in the surrounding Baltic Sea. These can kill fish and make people ill. To help solve this set of environmental…
Solar panel “upcycling” venture gears up for first factory in Victoria
Good News Notes: “A new solar panel “upcycling” plant should be up and running in Victoria by the end of 2023, with further facilities in the development pipeline, according to an update from the team behind the project. A research update published by the University of Melbourne, a partner on the project with RMIT University and…
A New Carbon Capture Method Turns CO2 Into Solid Carbon ‘In an Instant’
Good News Notes: “A new decarbonization technology developed by RMIT University researchers in Australia instantaneously turns CO2 into solid carbon, a press statement reveals. The team claims their method is commercially viable and that it could soon be deployed in aid of global efforts to reduce the ongoing effects of the climate crisis. A ‘radically more efficient’ method…
French Fry Oil-Powered Fast Charger Makes It Possible For EVs To Cross Australia’s Vast Emptiness
Good News Notes: “Australia is a lot like the U.S. — a large country with major cities on the coasts and vast stretches of nothing in between. And, much like in America, convincing car buyers that an EV can handle driving through such large empty stretches has proven a challenge. A retired engineer partnered with…
Ben & Jerry’s 20th Vegan Ice Cream Flavor Is Here. And It’s Bananas.
Good News Notes: “Ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s is starting off 2022 with the launch of not one, but two new vegan flavors—bringing its non-dairy flavor count in the United States up to 20 pints. The newest flavor is Bananas Foster, which is a rich combination of creamy sunflower butter-based ice cream in a…
Nature: World’s rarest marsupial back from the brink of extinction – thanks to the Duke of Edinburgh
Good News Notes: “Thanks to an unwitting intervention by the Duke of Edinburgh 60 years ago, the world’s rarest marsupial has come back from the very brink of extinction. Gilbert’s potoroo — a nocturnal, fungi-loving rat–kangaroo — is named for English naturalist John Gilbert, who first documented them on a visit to Australia in 1838. By the 1870s,…
Australia pours funding into advanced inverter capability batteries
Good News Notes: “Australia is looking to accelerate demonstration of advanced inverter capabilities on battery projects at scale as it continues to search for new ways to provide stability to the electricity system and enable the grid to operate with higher shares of intermittent renewables. Building on its previous investments in both grid scale batteries…
Indonesia leads the way in restoring coral reefs, scientists say
Good News Notes: “With wide-scale deforestation, some of the world’s most polluted cities and rivers, and wildfires so vast they often blanket neighbouring countries in smog, Indonesia is one of the world’s most high-profile environmental offenders. But when it comes to coral reefs, the rapidly industrialising Southeast Asian nation is doing more to restore the…