Best of the week — the five most popular stories among readers, May 12 – May 16, 2025

What were the five biggest stories of the week? Here’s what visitors to @AuManufacturing were reading. 5) Researchers develop breakthrough solar thermal technology to reduce industrial emissions UniSA and partners have launched a world-first solar thermal demonstrator that could revolutionise how Australian industries generate heat while slashing carbon emissions, according to a statement released on Monday. The innovative…

Waste-to-energy in Australia: how it works, where new incinerators could go, and how they stack up

By Ali Abbas, University of Sydney; Dominic Bui Viet, University of Sydney, and Eric Sanjaya, University of Sydney Every year, Australia buries millions of tonnes of waste in landfills. But these sites are filling fast, recycling has its own limitations, and most waste export is banned. So councils and state governments are looking for alternatives.…

Scientists accidentally create gold from lead at Large Hadron Collider

In a remarkable case of accidental modern alchemy, physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland have transformed lead into gold during high-energy collision experiments, according to Monash University physics professor Ulrik Egede. Writing in The Conversation, Professor Egede explains that while smashing lead atoms together at near light-speed, researchers at the ALICE experiment…