September 2008 - Issue #3
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Research helps old bodies work smarter
Swinburne researchers are helping to address the challenges of an ageing population by designing new products and adapting existing ones to take into account the effects of ageing.
The sandwich factor for safer cars
Swinburne University of Technology research is opening the way for the design of environmentally friendly, lighter and safer cars.
Housing shortage hits ageing Aussies
Reports about the dire shortage of affordable rental accommodation in Australia's major cities appear regularly in the news. But the impact of this housing crisis on older Australians and providers of public housing is rarely highlighted.
Age brings new romance with byte
The idea that older people are technophobic and asexual is being exposed as a myth, with new research finding that they have a healthy appetite for the internet... and intimacy.
No flatfoots in managing crime response
Researchers who analyse and help define modern business management have been recruited to help law enforcers keep the management of crime fighting similarly 'fleet of foot'.
Einstein's theory stands up to the stars
Einstein's theory of relativity may be almost a century old, but it still provides an accurate explanation of the universe as we know it.
Blast furnace holds key to earth's birth
The birth pangs of the Earth - how it drew its substance from the disc of gas that formed the early solar system - are still not well understood. Swinburne scienists go in search of the solution to this ongoing celestial enigma.
Agency audit raises higher education bar
Professional 'real-world' learning, enthusiastic staff, strong research, vision and efforts to export education worldwide have been highlighted in Swinburne's latest quality audit.
Good vibes need a body clock on song
Our biological clocks are intricately linked with day and night, but if they fall out of sync there can be harmful psychological consequences.
Cultural collaboration to better meld communities
A project involving Australia's Vietnamese community and Victoria Police is helping to build bridges and could ultimately benefit other communities.
Language the bridge across a strange new world
A look inside the Adult Migrant English Program offered at Swinburne University of Technology shows a microcosm of the issues migrants and refugees face after arriving in Australia.
Cognitive therapy just a click away
Mental health patients will soon be able to access therapy from the privacy of their own homes using internet-based services shown to be just as effective as face-to-face therapy.
Biology probed for the secrets of crop survival
While farmers the world over have been struggling under the withering impact of a drying climate, new research is helping scientists crack the genetic code of a family of proteins that could help Australia - the world's driest inhabited continent - continue to see its wheat industry flourish.
Race day art a triumph for media-savvy mad hatter
When her faculty dean likened graduates' degrees to simply foundations on which to build, the words stuck with Marilena Romeo and from that day on they directed her along quite a different career path.
Phone health an elusive call
To investigate whether mobile phones and base stations affect people's health, researchers are having to come up with clever tests that pull together several strands of research.
