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ABC News
a day ago
- Science
- ABC News
Scientists release seven-point plan to tackle SA's 'catastrophic' toxic algal bloom
An independent group of marine scientists from around Australia has released a seven-point plan to tackle what it describes as South Australia's "catastrophic" toxic algal bloom. The Biodiversity Council, an independent group founded by 11 Australian universities, has outlined seven key actions that federal and state governments should consider to "urgently respond" to the bloom, known as Karenia mikimotoi. It includes spending at least $10 million to immediately kick-start scientific research to assess which species are affected by the bloom, how much, and monitor recovery. It has also warned that the algal bloom is not just a South Australian issue, and the impact will be far-reaching amid increasing marine heatwaves across the country. Biodiversity Council member, professor Gretta Pecl from the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, said the washed up marine life on beaches is just a sliver of the animals killed, with most animal bodies "rotting on the sea floor". "The exact death toll would be impossible to determine as monitoring of marine environments and species is fairly lacking in Australia, but we cannot wait to act," she said. The harmful algal bloom has been ravaging marine life throughout the state since March, disrupting fishing, aquaculture and tourism industries and threatening fragile coastal ecosystems. The state and federal governments this week pledged $28 million to assist in dealing with the bloom, but Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt stopped short of declaring it a national disaster. Professor Pecl said the funding was a "fantastic start" but much more would be needed. She said the scale of wildlife deaths is likely to be equivalent to the Black Summer Bushfires and the impact will be felt across borders. "Although the footprint of the harmful algal bloom at the moment looks like it's limited to South Australia, many of those species there have really important connections to the west coast and the east coast. "The damage that's been incurred … will massively exceed the boundaries of the bloom itself." The report said more than 450 marine species had been observed washed up across South Australian coastlines, with over 14,000 observations by citizen scientists. It also said while natural oceanographic conditions played a role, the crisis has also been driven by human activities. Professor Pecl said harmful algal blooms had also been highlighted many times before amid increased ocean warming. "The scale of each harmful algal bloom event seems to be increasing," she said. "If there isn't something done to mitigate, to reduce climate emissions, warming will continue and these kind of events will be more and more likely." The proposed actions for Australian and state governments to respond to the bloom, and Australia's broader marine heatwave are: The report was produced by a team of scientists from five Australian universities including, The University of Adelaide, The University of Tasmania, Monash University, The University of Melbourne, and The University of Western Australia. Biodiversity Council member, professor Nicki Mitchell from the University of Western Australia's Oceans Institute said Australia must prepare for a more "dangerous climate future". "Due to man-made climate change, the frequency and intensity of natural disasters that harm biodiversity, industries and communities will only increase," she said. "This includes not just harmful algal blooms, but also marine and terrestrial heatwaves, floods and bushfires." Professor Ivan Nagelkerken from the University of Adelaide Environment Institute said Adelaide's coast would always be vulnerable to algal blooms. "South Australia's gulfs are particularly vulnerable to algal blooms due to coastal nutrient inputs, warming shallow waters and poor water exchange," he said. "We must collectively do all we can to reduce coastal nutrient inputs and greenhouse gas emissions. "Locally, we can also build the resilience of ecosystems to recover by protecting and restoring marine ecosystems, like kelp forests and seagrass beds, to support bigger fish populations as well as absorb carbon and improve water quality." Mr Watt earlier this week said the federal funding pledged would likely go to cleaning up and research. "There will need to be some further discussions between ourselves and the South Australian government about exactly the details of how that funding is used," he said. "But it's intended to deal with a number of short-term requirements, and some of the longer-term needs that South Australia is going to face as it recovers from this event." He said it would also assist affected businesses, boosting "community awareness" and investing in scientific research. "This is an unprecedented event and one of the difficulties has been understanding exactly what its impacts are and what sort of response is required," he said.
South China Morning Post
17-07-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's corruption busters target science sector in research funds crackdown
China's top anti-corruption watchdog has pledged to focus on funding for scientific research in its latest crackdown to help ensure that hi-tech development and innovation remain a driving force for the country's economy. Li Xi, party chief of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), told a meeting of the body's standing committee on Tuesday that it needed to ensure that the country's scientific and technological development advanced 'in the right direction' to create a good environment for innovation. He said this would require a focus on key risk areas, such as the evaluation process for research projects and the way funds were managed and granted. He added that the anti-corruption body must 'resolutely crack down on corruption that abuses project management authority to accept bribes, or colludes to embezzle research funds'. Li also called for new regulations to plug loopholes and improve the governance of the sector, as well as more daily supervision and guidance that would encourage officials to take the initiative. Technological developments could also bring new opportunities for disciplinary supervision, Li said, and called for a digital system and the greater application of big data and artificial intelligence to help fight corruption and improve efficiency. The CCDI has previously indicated it was using these hi-tech tools to detect crimes that were harder to find through traditional methods. 'Even the most intricate and deeply layered schemes [of corruption] can ultimately be exposed through big data analysis, leaving no place to hide,' the CCDI said in a documentary released online in January.
South China Morning Post
17-07-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's corruption busters target science sector in crackdown on research funding fraud
China's top anti-corruption watchdog has pledged to focus on funding for scientific research in its latest crackdown to help ensure that hi-tech development and innovation remain a driving force for the country's economy. Li Xi, party chief of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), told a meeting of the body's standing committee on Tuesday that it needed to ensure that the country's scientific and technological development advanced 'in the right direction' to create a good environment for innovation. He said this would require a focus on key risk areas, such as the evaluation process for research projects and the way funds were managed and granted. He added that the anti-corruption body must 'resolutely crack down on corruption that abuses project management authority to accept bribes, or colludes to embezzle research funds'. Li also called for new regulations to plug loopholes and improve the governance of the sector, as well as more daily supervision and guidance that would encourage officials to take the initiative. Technological developments could also bring new opportunities for disciplinary supervision, Li said, and called for a digital system and the greater application of big data and artificial intelligence to help fight corruption and improve efficiency. The CCDI has previously indicated it was using these hi-tech tools to detect crimes that were harder to find through traditional methods. 'Even the most intricate and deeply layered schemes [of corruption] can ultimately be exposed through big data analysis, leaving no place to hide,' the CCDI said in a documentary released online in January.
Irish Times
15-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Cern decision by Cabinet opens up particle research opportunities for Ireland
Ireland's long journey to membership of Cern , one of the world's largest centres for scientific research, has reached its destination following a Cabinet decision. It opens up opportunities for Irish companies, scientists, students and wider society to reap the benefits of working in the world's most famous particle laboratory in Switzerland. The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) is home to the Large Hadron Collider, a huge underground ring in which protons – one of the constituent particles of an atom – are accelerated close to the speed of light and collided into one another. It was used to discover the Higgs boson, the so-called 'god particle', which gives matter mass and holds the physical fabric of the universe together. [ Q&A: It promises to boost research, industry and education. So, why has it taken so long for Ireland to join Cern? Opens in new window ] Many technologies developed at Cern have gone on to have applications in medicine, space, energy and ICT, such as the world wide web and touch-sensitive technology in smartphones. READ MORE 'Associate membership of Cern will demonstrate Ireland's commitment to science and reaffirm our reputation as a centre for scientific investment,' said Tánaiste Simon Harris after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. 'It will create opportunities for Irish researchers, students and industry to join world-class teams at Cern, and it will give Cern access to Ireland's talent and expertise.' 'Having personally advocated for Ireland's associate membership of Cern for a long time, it is a pleasure to officially announce [we] will join Cern in October this year. Today's Cabinet approval is a milestone which authorises the final legal steps,' said Minister for Science James Lawless . University College Dublin, whose physicists have been involved in Cern research for many years, said it is to expand its particle research capacity following Ireland's decision to become a member country. UCD vice-president for research, innovation and impact, Prof Kate Robson Brown said: 'This is a very important step for Ireland, to take our place in Europe's largest scientific organisation, which enables collaborations with the best researchers, institutions and companies all over the world.'
Fast Company
11-07-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Is our innovation economy at risk?
The last few years have been unpredictable for the innovation economy—the ecosystem that sees new science and technology taken through initial development, often in universities and public institutions, and then passed on to the private sector to build products and services using these new innovations. Sometimes, the new technologies create whole new industries, such as the internet or artificial intelligence. The innovation economy is responsible for most new high-paying jobs and economic growth. This is the formula that has resulted in robust long-term U.S. economic growth in spite of setbacks such as the great financial recession in 2008 and the pandemic. It's important to appreciate the true impact of a robust innovation ecosystem. In 2008, the U.S. and EU had roughly the same-sized economies, with economies around $14 trillion to $16 trillion. Fast-forward to 2024, and the U.S. economy is near $30 trillion, while the EU's is under $20 trillion. What can explain this disparity in growth? As always, there are many factors involved, but one critical difference is the higher investment rates in the U.S. in scientific research and development (R&D). According to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, in 2023, the U.S. invested nearly $900 billion in R&D across public and private sectors. Contrast that to the EU, where in 2023, the total R&D expenditure was around $381 billion. This large disparity is certainly part of the explanation for the faster economic growth in the U.S. In both the U.S. and the EU, the majority of investments in R&D are made by the private sector, but interestingly, the real driver of transformative innovation is often the public sector investments. Why? Because that's where the early-stage innovation happens. This type of innovation is extremely difficult, time-consuming, and takes years and decades of trial and error. Private companies and investors often have much shorter time horizons and are not interested in pursuing multi-decade basic research. Private sector R&D investments are mostly focused on applied science, where a foundational technology like the internet or AI is used to build products for consumers and businesses within a couple of years. Even in earlier-stage companies that are often funded by venture capital investors, a three- to five-year time horizon from when the money is invested to when the company goes public or gets acquired is the expectation. This has been the innovation flywheel now for decades: The public sector funds basic and long-term research, and companies funded by private investors develop commercial applications for the newly discovered science. The public is rewarded for funding the basic research with their tax dollars with new jobs, higher wages, products that improve their lives, and more. The private investors are rewarded with handsome returns (hopefully!). While the private sector rate of investment has increased over time, the U.S. public sector investment in basic R&D as a percentage of the GDP has significantly declined over the past few decades. Although it reached a high of almost 2% of the GDP in the early '60s, it is now at around 0.6% of the GDP—and that's before the recent deep cuts in federal government research programs and significant proposed cuts across the board for public institutions and university research programs. This most certainly will mean fewer new products, treatments, and breakthrough advancements. It would, then, make sense to think that the private sector would step up to make up for these cuts. However, this may be impacted by some other worrying trends in the private markets. Back in 2020 to 2022, when the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates to zero percent and the federal government provided significant stimulus to businesses and households, private market investment rates exploded. This was due to the large amount of liquidity in the economy and investors having plenty of cash to invest. While this sounds good, such a major uptick in investments in a short amount of time can result in a lack of discipline. Consequently, much capital was invested in companies that did not have great prospects and often at high valuations, divorced from the company's fundamentals. The private markets have been dealing with the consequences of these investments for the last few years. Many of the companies that were funded struggled to hit their growth milestones, achieve successful exits, or secure follow-on financing. Many were saddled with high valuations and struggled to raise new funding at anything close to those numbers. Also, the higher interest rate environment means a higher bar for investors to deploy risk capital. This mismatch in the operator and investor expectations for valuations meant few IPOs and a slow M&A market, and thus lower capital distributions back to the sources of capital. The results of this go beyond just lower returns for investors and some disappointed founders. When there are low exit rates in private markets and low capital distribution back to institutional investors (e.g., retirement funds, endowments, etc.) and family offices, there is less money to be recycled back into the next generation of companies. Add this to the deep cuts for R&D in the public sector, and you can be looking at a serious threat to the innovation economy. HOW BUSINESS LEADERS CAN RESPOND In an environment of lower availability of capital and uncertain policy, focusing on efficient growth becomes a priority. That means that the old mindset of 'growth at any cost' no longer applies. Company leaders need to carefully think through how each dollar spent will bring in new revenues in the short term and manage their net burn rates. Investors in public and private markets are looking for companies that are disciplined and are adjusting their plans based on market realities. It also means being realistic with valuation expectations and not using assumptions that are too aggressive in growth projections, which are often the basis of valuation negotiations with investors. While we've seen frothy markets before, long-term value creation once again comes down to good fundamentals and planning.
