Scientists in the news this week: June 12, 2020

Agriculture, food and wine

Associate Professor Matthew Denton was the lead of a collaborative project which produced a nitrogen reference manual for the Southern Cropping Region.

The aim of this manual was to provide support for growers and advisers who want to capture crop yield potential by understanding the in-season nitrogen (N) requirements of crops. This resource was discussed in Rural Business and SeedQuest.

Dr Peter Boutsalis interviews with ABC Ballarat about the survey in South West Victoria in which they have been collecting ryegrass in the area for more than five years. Chemical resistance tests have been done which has detected a tenfold increase in glyphosate-resistance in ryegrass.

Animal and veterinary sciences

Dr Suzan Hazel discusses the abilities of dog's sense of smell and hearing on

• lifehacker;
• The Conversation; and
• MSN.

Biological sciences

Research Centre for Infectious Diseases PhD candidate Vikrant Minhas featured in The Conversation discussing new research that has discovered how deadly bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae use a common plant derived sugar, raffinose, to spread through the body.

Associate Professor Ben Sparrow speaks to Cosmos as the Wild Orchid Watch (WOW) project leader. Associate Professor Sparrow discusses the WOW app which aims to be a game-changer in bringing people together to work toward ensuring the survival of the threatened Orchid species.

Dr Katie Irvine also features in an article by Cosmos about the Wild Orchid Watch app, highlighting its purpose, how it works, and what it hopes to achieve.

The Murray Pioneer featured further coverage of Dr Erinn Fagan-Jeffries who led a project which focused on the discovery and documentation of native Australian wasps. As part of this project she visited primary schools and trained students to catch insects using malaise traps, contributing to the discovery of a new wasp species. The new species is yet to be named.