School of Natural and Computational Sciences

Musical vibration patterns inspire the search for defects in ultra-cold atomic gases

A European/New Zealand collaboration has resulted in a theory around the physical characteristics of Chladni solitons, proposing experiments to observe them in ultra-cold atomic superfluids.

The work, between Professor Joachim Brand and Antonio Muñoz Mateo from the University of Barcelona resulted in the paper: 'Chladni solitons and the onset of the snaking instability for dark solitons in confined superfluids' published in Physical Review Letters.

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Take it from the birds

Associate Professor Alona Ben-Tal led a project that developed mathematical equations to describe how the avian respiratory system works. In birds, air flows in one direction during both inspiration and expiration, in an area of the lungs where gas exchange occurs. The project provides a new explanation on the way in which this unidirectional flow is generated.

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Coral reef bleaching

Dr David Aguirre, a Massey marine ecologist is helping to uncover the ways the world’s coral reefs could survive in the face of rising global temperatures. Coral bleaching is having devastating effects on coral reefs around the world. The study, led by the Australian Museum is hoping to understand how reefs will respond to climate change and show us where our best efforts to preserve reefs lie.

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Chromosome architecture constrains horizontal gene transfer in bacteria

Horizontal gene transfer is a powerful source of change in bacteria that can significantly aid their ability to survive. These rules are governed by architecture imparting sequences (AIMS), which are in all bacterial chromosomes. A team of international researchers including Massey’s Dr Heather Hendrickson discovered that if sets of AIMS are well matched between a donor and recipient genome, then the DNA moving between those genomes can be maintained. The opposite is true if they are not well matched, effectively establishing the rules of transfer.

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Molecules in extreme environments

In the atmospheres of certain stellar objects such as rotating white dwarfs and neutron stars, extreme magnetic fields exist that cannot be generated on Earth. Knowledge about chemistry and physics under such conditions is indispensable for understanding astronomical observations. Dr Elke Pahl and Prof Peter Schwerdtfeger as well as post-doctoral fellow and PhD students of the Centre of Theoretical Chemistry and Physics joined European scientists at the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 2017/18 to work towards understanding how the chemistry we know on Earth changes under extreme conditions. Exciting new research ideas resulted - one example is a new highly collaborative research project on the study of melting processes in high magnetic fields.

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GDPLive

Massey University has developed a real-time gross domestic product (GDP) tracker, believed to be the first of its kind in the world. Called GDPLive, the online portal was developed by Dr Teo Susnjak of the College of Sciences and Professor Christoph Schumacher from the Massey Business School. It uses machine learning algorithms and the most up-to-date data possible, including live data sources to allow users to instantly see estimates of how the New Zealand economy is performing on a daily basis, and provides GDP forecasts.

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Revolutionary smart measuring optical device

Massey scientists in natural, mathematical sciences and engineering have developed what is thought to be the first-ever ‘smart’ cell density sensing tool. The SMODTM (Smart Measuring Optical Device) was launched by Lifeonics in 2015 and since then has signed a number of international distributors,.

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Genetics of the Galapagos Mockingbird

Nothing is known about the genomic correlate or genetic mechanisms for inter-island diversification of Galapagos mockingbirds. Massey scientist Dr Luis Ortiz-Catedral worked with American scientists to investigate the genomic correlates of phenotypic diversification of this endangered bird.

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Fifty shades of prey

One of the enduring paradoxes of evolutionary biology is: how do high levels of genetic diversity persist within a population? Massey scientists, led by Dr James Dale, working with American researchers, are addressing this major question through detailed genetic and behavioural research on the dramatic colour variation occurring in an abundant, endemic and poorly known marine isopod, Isocladus armatus. The outputs of this project promise to greatly improve our understanding of both evolution and gene flow in marine environments, and will provide hard insight into the processes that maintain biological diversity.

Contact Jim Dale

Bacteriophages – the most numerous entity on the planet

Phages target specific bacterial strains in nature and as a primary parasite of bacteria they are responsible both for bacterial mortality and for transferring genes between bacterial strains. A team led by Heather Hendrickson are investigating, characterising and sequencing these entities in order to learn more about the role they play in the microbial world and their diversity. The group currently study Pseudomonas phages, Lactococcus phages, Paenibacillus phages and Mycobacterium phages.

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