Researchers at Graphene Flagship have developed an optical fibre laser that emits pulses with durations equivalent to just a few wavelengths of the light used. The laser is suitable for use in ultrafast spectroscopy and in surgical lasers that avoid heat damage to living tissue. [ + ]

The University of Queensland has been announced as a winner in its 2015 Gender Diversity Awards, in the category of Most Encouraging Student or Non-Profit Group in Gender Diversity. [ + ]

National Instruments has released the LabVIEW 2015 system design software that delivers speed improvements, development shortcuts and debugging tools to empower developers to efficiently interact with the systems they create. [ + ]

A wearable impact and health monitor was named the winner in the 'Sudden Impact' design competition, organised by the element14 Community. [ + ]

Setec, a designer and manufacturer of power solution products, has been named the 2015 Telstra Victorian Medium Business of the Year. [ + ]

Researchers have created a high-performance transistor using black phosphorus (BP). [ + ]

US-based fabless semiconductor company Ozark Integrated Circuits Inc. will be designing heat-resistant circuits for a proposed Venus Landsailing Rover.

The semiconductor industry is witnessing a flurry of M&A activity. In just the first six months of 2015 alone, announced semiconductor acquisition agreements had a combined total value of $72.6 billion, which is nearly 6x the annual average for M&A deals struck during the five previous years. [ + ]

Researchers have discovered a new type of photonic channels, where back and forth are not equal distances. Such a system has been a missing component for building quantum photonic circuits on a large scale. [ + ]

The Office of Naval Research has awarded University at Buffalo engineers an $800,000 grant to develop narrow strips of graphene called nanoribbons that may someday revolutionise how power is controlled in ships. [ + ]

Korean researchers have developed a microelectronics-compatible method to grow 4″ diameter, high-quality, multilayer graphene on desired silicon substrates. [ + ]

CSIRO and Australian aerospace company TAE have signed a licensing agreement to commercialise CSIRO's Guardian Mentor Remote (GMR) wearable technology system. [ + ]

Teledyne Brown Engineering has won a $15 million contract from NASA for space-based imagery. [ + ]

The Olympus 3D system was recently recognised as a finalist in the 2015 Medical Technology Association of New Zealand (MTANZ) Innovation Awards. [ + ]

Researchers have used gallium phosphide to develop a solar cell that produces the clean fuel hydrogen gas from liquid water. [ + ]