Posts tagged University of Melbourne

AI forecasting deployed to predict Nepal landslides

0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Health & Science
As the monsoon season approaches, landslides pose a major risk in many countries of the Asia Pacific region. Photo Credit ©Ritu Dak in Ghes Village (Uttarakhand) India

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 07.06.2024 (SciDev.Net): A landslide forecasting system driven by artificial intelligence (AI) is being rolled out in Nepal, one of the most landslide prone countries in the world, as the monsoon season approaches.

Devastating landslides in Papua New Guinea last month show the need for better forecasting and early warning systems to protect lives and properties, especially in mountainous developing countries in Asia Pacific which lack dedicated disaster monitoring systems and the means to communicate risks to the population.

In Nepal, more than 80 per cent of land is on a slope and much of it was destabilised during the 2015 earthquake in Gorkha, which killed around 9,000 people, according to project lead Antoinette Tordesillas from the University of Melbourne. “With the monsoons due anytime now, we are helping policymakers and risk managers better prepare for future monsoons when increasingly frequent and heavy rains can trigger more devastating landslides,” she said.

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Asia Pacific tops list of most impacted by weather perils

0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 08.03.2024 (SciDev.Net): Climate change will be the main driver of future economic risks, with countries in the Asia Pacific region among the most vulnerable to extreme weather events, according to new analysis.

Four weather perils –– floods, tropical cyclones, winter storms and severe thunderstorms –– account for the largest share of economic losses from natural disasters globally, according to a report by the Swiss Re Institute, the research arm of global insurance firm Swiss Re. Of 36 countries studied, the Philippines is the most impacted by tropical cyclones, severe thunderstorms and floods, and these hazards are highly likely to intensify here, the report says. This causes the Philippines annual economic losses (based on property damage) of 3 per cent of GDP –– eight times more than any other country.

The analysts argue that private sector finance must be mobilised to mitigate these risks and adapt to climate change.

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Nanotech tool may help detect diseases using a smartphone

0 Comments read Health & Science
A 3D model of the nanostructure fabricated by the scientists at the University of Melbourne. Shown is a less than 200nm thick array of so called ‘nanorods’ that allows the device to visualize transparent objects like biological cells. Photo Credit: University of Melbourne & ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems.

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 12.05.2022 (SciDev.Net): A nanotech imaging device, tiny enough to fit on a smartphone camera lens, has the potential to make the diagnosis of certain diseases accessible and affordable for people in rural and remote regions, say Australian scientists who developed it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought diagnostics into sharp focus and the World Health Organization has called on countries to prioritise investments in quality diagnostics as the first step in control, treatment and prevention of disease.

The scientists from the University of Melbourne and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS) published details of the device in the journal ACS Photonics.

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