Fresh Science

Dr Alice Twomey – Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Queensland From grey to green: using seagrass instead of seawalls to keep our shorelines where they are As rising sea-levels threaten coastal communities, people have turned from costly infrastructure to seagrass for coastal defence. But most research has stuck to testing similar coasts, grasses and soils.…

Researchers are using naturally occurring algae to trace the source of nutrients polluting our rivers and bays. “We all love to visit our rivers and bays but when it rains and floods, soil is washed from forests, farmland and urban areas and pollutes these waterways. Algae are an important part of these ecosystems, but nutrients…

Recent Australian earthquakes In the past 100,000 years, Australia has been hit by at least five large, landscape-changing earthquakes, a young Melbourne researcher has found. Each was at least 10 times as big as the 1989 Newcastle earthquake, which caused $1.5 billion damage. And he expects there to be more. Mark Quigley, from the University…

Building environmentally friendly mountains in the outback: design of Post-Mining Landscapes For Erosion Control – Gary Sheridan Coal-mining has disturbed over 50,000 ha of land that requires more than $1 Billion to rehabilitate. Scott’s software is being used to design mountains that won’t wash away.