News in brief - Spring 2024
The University of Adelaide is a global institution making a positive impact with communities locally, nationally and internationally.
Our stories, and our research, cover subjects as diverse as creating out-of-this-world glass in space, to developing new reefs on the ocean floor to help native oysters flourish.
More of our amazing stories can be found at our University’s Newsroom website.
Opera star joins Elder Con
Teddy Tahu Rhodes is an internationally recognised opera singer who now lends his voice to the Elder Conservatorium of Music – playing a lead role in its Classical Voice department as a teacher and mentor.
“I feel privileged to now be in the position to support students and feel a great sense of responsibility to inspire and mentor a new generation of young singers at Elder,” the famed baritone says.
In one of his first appearances after taking on the role, Teddy Tahu Rhodes was a guest performer at the Waite 100 Gala event in May, celebrating the centenary of the Waite Gift.
W.A. Cawthorne, ‘Inlet’, South Australian Drawings c 1843-1879, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW
Mapping colonial encounters
A new interactive story map exploring colonial encounters in South Australia between Aboriginal peoples and European settlers has been developed.
The South Australian Frontier and its Legacies geo-linked story tool maps encounters up to the late 19th century and records how these events have been remembered from region to region.
Project Manager Dr Skye Krichauff explains:
"We have been working with communities to record oral histories relating to the frontier and its legacies, and by listening to audio and reading transcripts, website users can hear Aboriginal people's and settler descendants' voices"
Cashless payments drive spending
People using cashless methods of payment tend to spend more when shopping, a University of Adelaide study shows.
The study suggests the cashless effect leads people to spend more when purchasing products that are typically used to signal status, such as jewellery. However, the effect was not observed when donating or tipping.
“To prevent spending more than planned, we recommend consumers carry cash instead of cards whenever they can, as it acts as a self-control method,” says University of Adelaide PhD candidate Lachlan Schomburgk, who led the study.
“When using cash, people physically count and hand over notes and coins, making the act of spending more salient. If nothing is physically handed over, it’s easy to lose track of how much is spent.”
Bringing oysters back to life
After a century of functional extinction on the Australian mainland, a Flat oyster reef is now flourishing once more in the waters off metropolitan Adelaide.
“In late 2020, 14 limestone boulder reefs were constructed, and it took just two and a half years for the habitat to become a thriving marine metropolis,” the University’s Dr Dominic McAfee says.
“The rate of recovery of this benthic ecosystem demonstrates the latent resilience of degraded oyster communities and the capacity for effective marine restorations to achieve rapid ecological recoveries.”
Globally, 85 per cent of oyster reefs have been lost.
L-R- Triple negative breast cancer cells before treatment and after treatment
New drug for aggressive breast cancer
A promising drug could lead to a new treatment for the most aggressive form of breast cancer, which affects thousands of women each year.
A pre-clinical study led by the University of Adelaide found the new drug successfully inhibits the growth of triple negative breast cancer without any toxic side effects.
“This is an exciting development in the battle against triple negative breast cancer, which is the most aggressive form of the disease,” says Associate Professor Theresa Hickey, an internationally recognised breast cancer expert at the University of Adelaide’s Dame Roma Mitchell Cancer Research Laboratories.