Science & Medicine at ANU

29/05/2026

ANU geophysicist Emeritus Professor Malcolm Sambridge has a knack for solving the unsolvable. His pioneering work developing mathematical models has helped solve some of the most significant earth science problems, including helping scientists learn more about Earth’s interior, which holds clues about the planet’s evolutionary history.

A self-professed “algorithm nerd”, Sambridge has transformed how earth scientists extract information from complex data. His contributions to the earth sciences over his 40-year career has seen him elected to The Royal Society, the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.

Sambridge’s election as Fellow of the Society sees him join an exclusive club of renowned scientists including Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Dorothy Hodgkin.

“It’s overwhelming. I mean, I’m giddy as a schoolboy. I feel very honoured, but equally I feel humbled and astonished that this has happened,” Sambridge says.

Sambridge’s path to becoming one of the world’s most eminent scientists started with a fortuitous “sliding door” moment when he decided to uproot his life in the UK, where he was studying at the University of Cambridge, and relocate to Canberra in 1984 to study a PhD in seismic imaging at the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.

Read more: quicklink.anu.edu.au/4sxq

Science & Medicine at ANU

28/05/2026

As Australia expands its ambitions in nuclear technologies, Associate Professor Elizabeth Williams says the country is grappling with a question that doesn’t have a simple answer.

“When working in nuclear science and engineering, we need to think about how to harness the enormous benefits these technologies offer – in medicine, in energy, in research – while also being clear-eyed about the responsibilities they carry,” Associate Professor Williams says.

“That’s not a problem to solve. It’s a balance to keep working at.”

Read more: quicklink.anu.edu.au/euzl

26/05/2026

What’s it really like being a science communicator?

21/05/2026

Our scientists go head to head to see who has the fastest hands in the lab.

Pipette racing with The Man Group

19/05/2026

Go behind the scenes with ANU student Katja Curtin as she experiences life and research at sea, on a 13 day voyage with the CSIRO RV Investigator. The CAPSTAN project is a chance to get hands-on training and learn from the experts in ship-board marine and Earth science research.

18/05/2026

15/05/2026

Cells are more connected than we realised.

A new label-free nanoscale imaging technique has revealed intricate cellular behaviours previously invisible to conventional microscopes.

11/05/2026

Take a behind the scenes tour of Siding Spring Observatory with astrophysics graduate and outreach astronomer Rishika Nair. The observatory is home to Australia’s leading optical and infrared astronomy facilities, as well as some seriously adorable wildlife.

Swipe right to see astrophotography photos of the night sky and the Orion capsule from NASA’s Artemis II mission making an appearance on the Anglo Australian Telescope recently!

06/05/2026

Professor Hrvoje Tkalčić is using seismology to peer deep inside Earth, the Moon, and Mars, to reveal new insights into how planets evolve and what it takes to sustain life.

The ANU researcher has just begun his Australian Laureate Fellowship to lead a research group on deep Earth and planetary seismology.

“It’s a signal to early career researchers that ANU is a place where curiosity-driven research is not only welcome, but it’s actually supported at the highest national level.”

06/05/2026

What’s your favourite medical show? 📺

We asked the experts: ANU medical students and their teachers at the Sydney Adventist Hospital.