Curtin University

Australia

Curtin University is Australia’s most collaborative higher education provider and a prominent name in the Nature Index. Established in 1986 in Western Australia, a state rich in land, minerals and biodiversity, the university has campuses across Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai and Mauritius. It leads major international projects in astronomy, sustainability and interconnec-tivity, with a particular focus on solving real-world problems.

Curtin is renowned for minerals and energy research. Groups from across the university undertake fundamental and applied research into mining, materials, fuel technologies and mineral economics.

Curtin is a key partner in the world’s biggest astronomy projects. The Curtin-led Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a low-frequency radio telescope capable of reaching deep into space and far back through time, making the night sky visible with better resolution than ever before. The array is a precursor project to an even larger telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), to be built in Western Australia and in South Africa. When completed, the SKA will give scientists a better understanding of the nascent Universe.

Fast and effective communication is a major challenge for large data-intensive projects like the MWA. Together with the Cisco Internet of Everything Innovation Centre, a partnership between Cisco, Curtin University and Woodside Energy, Curtin is constructing a direct data-transmission line from the radio telescope’s remote location to central Perth. The partners are also building a long-range, low-power network of sensors that can provide farmers with essential information for improved crop management.

Agriculture and sustainable development are critical research programmes for Curtin University. In April 2016, Curtin joined an initiative to establish the world’s first zero-carbon solar-powered neighbourhood.

Committed to urban renewal, the university’s Greater Curtin Master Plan will transform its 114-hectare Perth campus into a major Asia-Pacific innovation precinct by 2030. The plan will drive collaboration and commercialisation, positioning Western Australia at the forefront of the knowledge economy.

As Curtin heads towards 2020, we will position ourselves as a leading global university. For more information on our Strategic Plan for 2017-2020, please visit our website.

1 November 2017 - 31 October 2018

Region: Global
Subject/journal group: All

The table to the right includes counts of all research outputs for Curtin University published between 1 November 2017 - 31 October 2018 which are tracked by the Nature Index.

Hover over the donut graph to view the FC output for each subject. Below, the same research outputs are grouped by subject. Click on the subject to drill-down into a list of articles organized by journal, and then by title.

Note: Articles may be assigned to more than one subject area.

AC	FC
143	34.23

Outputs by subject (FC)

Subject	AC	FC
Earth & Environmental Sciences	63	19.48
Physical Sciences	57	8.91
Life Sciences	17	1.79
Chemistry	22	7.82

Highlight of the month

Meteoric origins of Earth’s oldest rocks

© MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty

The oldest rocks on Earth may have been created by a barrage of meteorites that melted and stirred the planet’s surface.

Rocks from the Hadean eon — the first 600 million years after the Earth’s birth — are very rare, making it hard to discover how the crust evolved.

A team led by researchers from Curtin University studied the chemical composition of four-billion-year-old Idiwhaa gneiss from northwest Canada — the oldest known rocks on Earth. The analysis suggests that the rocks formed at temperatures of 800–900 degrees Celsius, which is far hotter than any natural source in the Earth’s crust. Using computer models, the researchers showed that meteorite impacts could have provided the heat needed to melt and reform the upper 3 kilometres of crust, and form Idiwhaa gneiss.

Meteorite bombardment is thought to have been common during the late Hadean, and so impact melt is a plausible origin of these ancient rocks.

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