the conversation
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A New Laser Technique Designed to Authenticate Rare Whisky Could Also Detect Disease
Whisky is big business in Scotland. In 2019, the golden liquid accounted for 75% of the nation’s food and drink exports, with a value of almost £5 billion ($9.2 billion) to the Scottish economy. Iconic bottles have sold at auction for over £1 million ($1.8 million). But if you are the lucky owner of such…
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Australians Have Low Trust in Artificial Intelligence and Want it to Be Better Regulated
Every day we are likely to interact with some form of artificial intelligence (AI). It works behind the scenes in everything from social media and traffic navigation apps to product recommendations and virtual assistants. AI systems can perform tasks or make predictions, recommendations or decisions that would usually require human intelligence. Their objectives are set…
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Multiple Sclerosis Patients May Hold the Key to Protecting the Brain Against Viruses
Usually our immune system protects us from harmful microbes such as bacteria or viruses. It does this either by directly attacking a microbe, or producing an antibody which recognises and removes microbes from the body. But, in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), their immune response is overactive, resulting in the body attacking it’s own cells…
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Top 2020 Science Prize Goes to Aussie Physicists Who Helped Detect Distortions in Space-Time
This year’s prestigious Prime Minister’s Prize for Science has been awarded to a team of Australian physicists for their contribution to a stellar, reality-bending discovery. Emeritus professor David Blair and professors Susan Scott, David McClellan and Peter Veitch from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) were recognised for their…