oddlight

Where the bright sparks are

Brainstorm ... Professor Ashley Craig examines electrodes used to trigger brainwave commands.
Photo: Ben Rushton

Hydrogen-powered cars, robot firefighters and computers controlled by thought. Anne Fawcett looks at what Australian scientists have in store for us.

It is hard to argue that Australia is a clever country or a knowledge nation. Australian businesses invest less in research and development than those in the Czech Republic.

We rate better on government investment - as a percentage of gross domestic product we were the fifth-highest investor in R&D among developed countries in 2001.

The Federal Government handed out $400 million to Co-operative Research Centres in its last funding round in December, but was criticised for overlooking researchers concentrating on emerging technologies such as photonics and neuroscience.

Away from the politics, Australian scientists - in CSIRO labs or small commercial operations - soldier on.

Here are some areas in which Australian scientists are likely to make breakthroughs in the next five years.

HYPERSPECTRAL SENSING

Scientists at CSIRO's office of Space Science and Applications are close to capitalising on what they modestly refer to as a "sophisticated digital camera". Hyperspectral cameras can "see" inside objects by analysing different types of light. Attached to a plane or satellite, hyperspectral sensors can detect minerals, chemical pollutants, sediments in waterways and even levels of nutrients in crops and forests, says CSIRO scientist Dr Alex Held. In one experiment, the technology was used to detect the types of grapes planted in a South Australian wine region.

The hyperspectral sensor splits the light reflected by objects on Earth into hundreds of colours or "spectral intervals". Unlike existing remote sensors in space, which analyse only a fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum, leaving scientists to fill in the blanks, the hyperspectral sensor analyses the entire spectrum. This gives a much more precise view of what is on the surface of the planet, so much so that the chemical composition of an object can be determined from space.

Australian scientists are acknowledged as world leaders in the hyperspectral field, says Roger Franzen, managing director of Auspace. "This technology is revolutionary because it will produce an entirely new set of data, allowing precision mapping of minerals and vegetation with very high accuracy which today is not possible."

At present, high resolution hyperspectral imagery collected from aircraft mounted sensors is commercially available through Australian companies such as HyVista Corporation in Sydney. HyVista is about to embark on a mission with NASA to map Costa Rica with hyperspectral sensors.

CSIRO and Australian commercial operations are participating in a Japanese feasibility study involving the use of hyperspectral sensors in space.

If all goes well, the first commercial hyperspectral satellite could be launched by 2008. "We will be able to more accurately manage our environment and agriculture," says Franzen. Mounting hyperspectral sensors on satellites will allow Australia to perform this function for other countries.

PEST CONTROL BY IMMUNOCONTRACEPTION

Mouse plagues occur unpredictably, causing massive disruption to farmers. A major plague could cost more than $150 million in lost production, the Pest Animal Control Co-operative Research Centre estimates. Feral animals cause about $720 million damage each year in Australia.

Scientists at the centre are pioneering a unique method to control these pests on a continental scale, without harming other species. Like all animal populations, including humans, mice carry viruses. Murine cytomegalovirus, a non-lethal herpes virus, already infects 80 to 100 per cent of mice in wild populations in Australia.

By inserting a particular reproductive gene into the virus, scientists can cause the virus to express an egg protein normally found only in the reproductive system of the mouse. Because it is being produced in the wrong place, the mouse's immune system recognises it as a foreign protein and produces antibodies that attack the protein.

As a result, antibodies also bind to mouse egg proteins within the reproductive system, preventing fertilisation of the mouse egg.

Potentially, this process, known as immunocontraception, could be developed to control Australia's four most damaging pest animals, the European rabbit, European red fox, the house mouse and the carp.

The modified virus will be subject to safety testing and review by federal authorities, in particular the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, before any release is considered.

"If we can prevent breeding in about 60 per cent of mice in the field we can avert a mouse plague," says Tony Peacock, head of the research centre. He estimates field trials could occur as early as 2009.

BRAINWAVES

In 1996, scientists at the University of Technology, Sydney, developed software allowing electrical devices to be activated by brainwaves. Electrodes placed on a person's head pick up alpha brainwaves, which are strongest when we close our eyes, and transmit them to switches or appliances via a computer.

In 2002 Professor Ashley Craig led a trial in which severely disabled people learnt to use Mind Switch technology to turn on a television and change channels, showing it had the potential to improve the lives of millions of disabled people around the world.

The team also discovered that children transmitted higher levels of alpha brainwaves than adults. In other words, they send out stronger signals.

"The nature of brain waves changes as we get older," Craig says. "By the time we reach our 20s or 30s, we don't have as much alpha wave activity as our brain is producing more beta waves." That difficulty may be overcome in two to three years as the Mind Switch team tweaks existing technology to amplify the alpha wave signal and make the receptor (for example, on a TV) more sensitive.

The team has also received a Linkage grant from the Australian Research Council to investigate the relationship between personality, stress, fatigue and brainwave activity.

This follows observations that extroverted people generate more alpha brainwaves than introverts. Brainwave patterns are also modified by stress, fatigue and other mental conditions. Children with attention deficit disorder, for example, generate predominantly theta waves.

"In five years' time we'll know how brainwave activity can be used as a measure of personality," Craig says. "On the flip side, we may also begin to understand how to modify brainwave activity to control stress and fatigue, and to alter personality."

HIV PREVENTION

Last year, researchers at the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research began testing the safety and effectiveness of an HIV vaccine.

Associate Professor Sean Emery, head of therapeutic and vaccine research at the centre, hopes a vaccine can be available by 2010. In the meantime, researchers are focusing on other preventive measures including antiviral prevention and microbicides.

"Australian researchers are interested in whether drugs used to treat HIV-positive people may prevent or reduce HIV infection in high-risk individuals," says Emery. This method, known as chemoprophylaxis, may involve daily antiviral medication for some people.

An Australian pharmaceutical company, Starpharma, is testing a series of microbicidal vaginal gels that it is hoped will work as a chemical barrier to protect women from HIV infection during sexual intercourse.

The gels, which contain antiviral compounds, are likely to be on the market in both Australia and the US by 2010, says Dr Tom McCarthy, head of drug development at Starpharma.

The company is collaborating with Reprotech, a US company, to develop a potent combination microbicide.

CLEAN ENERGY

As global warming heads towards the point of no return, a reliable, efficient source of clean energy has become a scientific holy grail. One of the more promising sources of clean fuel is hydrogen, which can be derived in large quantities through a process called "water splitting".

Sunlight is used to split water into its two chemical components, hydrogen and oxygen. Water splitting is possible now but is very expensive and inefficient. Scientists around the world are racing to find an efficient catalyst for the process.

"Hydrogen is the ultimate clean fuel," Dr Ian Plumb, of CSIRO Industrial Physics, says. "All you do is recombine it with oxygen to form water again." Instead of exhaust fumes, a hydrogen-powered vehicle would expel water vapour.

Japanese scientists developed water splitting techniques in 1972. "The problem is that the efficiency of this process is very small," says Plumb.

"The challenge is to get the efficiency up to the level where it could be economically viable as a source of hydrogen fuel."

The current water splitting catalyst, titanium dioxide, does not absorb enough of the sun's radiation to drive the reaction efficiently. The search is on for a new material that uses more of the sun's energy.

"It is not incremental science; we're not looking for a little improvement," Plumb says.

"We're really looking for a breakthrough. It's a race and we're in it with a chance."

\via smh.com.au