Scientists in the news this week: May 8, 2020

University of Adelaide researchers investigating our 'ancient world' featured prominently in the news this week. Here’s your weekly round-up of our scientists in the news.

* Indicates subscriber only articles
 

Adelaide Gin - Michael Hickinbotham and Associate Professor Graham Jones

Agriculture, food and wine

Australian Distilling Co picked up multiple accolades in the 2020 World Spirits Awards in Austria*. You might be more familiar with the name ‘Adelaide Gin’ which was distilled at Waite campus by Adjunct Associate Professor Graham Jones and Michael Hickinbotham (pictured).


Waite Research Institute Deputy Director Associate Professor Matthew Tucker talks to ABC Radio on ‘Country Hour’ about the lifting of the ban on growing Genetically Modified food crops in South Australia. (Jump to the 34-minute mark)


Professor Dabing Zhang led the collaborative study between University of Adelaide and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China which discovered two proteins in rice involved in pollen aperture formation, this is vital in the successful pollination of flowering plants. This was picked up by Scimex and Phys.Org.


Associate Professor Sue Bastian’s virtual wine tasting classes featured on science news website Scimex.


Ongoing coverage of 'tequila' powered biofuels being more efficient than corn or sugar, featuring PhD graduate Kendall Corbin, who was supervised by Professor Rachel Burton.


Continuing coverage of the new French barley variety ‘Laperouse’ featuring Amanda Box, this week in print publications The Stock Journal and The Land.


Dr Maarten Ryder’s advice about inoculating legumes features again, this week in The Stock Journal.


 

Tiah Bampton living her childhood dream working at the Naracoorte Caves (ABC South East SA: Isadora Bogle)

Biological sciences

PhD student Tiah Bampton (pictured) spoke to ABC news about leading a new dig at South Australia's World Heritage-listed Naracoorte Caves National Park.

Image courtesy ABC South East SA - Isadora Bogle


Palaeontologists Dr Liz Reed and Jessie-Briar Treloar go underground and talk about extinct Australian mammals in Only in Oz: Ancient Land on the National Geographic channel.


Science Daily, Scimex and Phys.Org feature research by Associate Professor Bastien Llamas who was a co-author of a global project to sketch the first ever large-scale genomic portrait of Ancient pre-Columbian Andean civilisations.


People are reconnecting with nature says Associate Professor David Paton when discussing the positive environmental impacts of COVID-19 restrictions in The Daily Telegraph and The Advertiser.


Emeritus Professor Roger Seymour features in a Taiwan News article about the efficiency of brain blood flow might be more cognitively crucial than brain size.


The National Tribune and Mirage News feature Dr Jenny Mortimer’s appointment as a new Associate Professor of Plant Synthetic Biology. Read the original story on the Faculty of Sciences news blog.


Following last week’s coverage of the Giant Australian Cuttlefish migration starting in Whyalla, discussion in the media has circled around the fishing ban lifted in Upper Spencer Gulf. Professor Bronwyn Gillanders is an expert on these cuttlefish and gives an opinion on the lifted ban to ABC news.


Dr Tullio Rossi and Professors Sean Connell and Ivan Nagelkerken spoke to Cosmos Magazine about their discovery that as the oceans acidify, the normally noisy snapping shrimp's frequency decreased.


 

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Physical sciences

Kudos to the Department of Earth Sciences, as the Australian Mining magazine mentions the University of Adelaide in a story titled, ‘Australia leads the world of mining education’.


The announcement of the appointment of Carl Spandler as the new Associate Professor in Critical Minerals made headlines in the Mirage News.


 

Alumni

US-based scientist Waltraud (Trudy) Kriven recently accepted an invitation to be a member of the European Union Academy of Sciences (EUAS).

Professor Kriven completed her PhD at the University of Adelaide in 1976 in the field of solid state chemistry; after completing BSc. (Hons) and Baccalaureate degrees in physical and inorganic chemistry, and biochemistry.

 

Tagged in Research, Engagement and Industry, Student & Graduate Stories, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, School of Agriculture Food and Wine, School of Biological Sciences, Environment Institute, Ecology, Environmental Science, Marine Biology, Agriculture, Viticulture and Oenology, Food Science, Scientists in the News, School of Physical Sciences