Media articles

Introduction

Below are the links to Derek Abbott's engagement with popular print media that are maintained on this wiki page. The wiki concept is exploited, for the purpose of quickly updating the information with ease. To return to the previous page, click the "back" button on your browser or to return to the Abbott Homepage scroll down to the links at the bottom of this page. If you see any errors feel free to edit this page yourself.

2026

Eugene Boisvert, "SA Police report to coroner into Somerton Man case complete 'very soon'," ABC News, July 6, 2026.

2024

[Staff reporter], "Grants support transformative research," University of Adelaide Newsroom, May 29, 2024.

2023

Derek Abbott, "Finding Somerton Man," IEEE Spectrum, Vol. 60, No. 4, April, 2023. (Published online March 20, 2023 as "How an electrical engineer solved Australia's most famous cold case.")

2022

Daniel Keane and Gabriella Marchant, "Somerton Man identified as Melbourne electrical engineer, researcher says," ABC News, July 26, 2022.

Hilary Whiteman, "Somerton man mystery 'solved' as DNA points to man's identity, professor claims," CNN, July 26, 2022.

Alan Yuhas, "Somerton Man identified through DNA, researchers say," The New York Times, July 26, 2022.

Natasha May, "Mystery of Somerton man's identity solved after 73 years, researchers in Australia say," The Guardian, July 27, 2022.

Tiffanie Turnbull, "Mystery of Australia's 'Somerton Man' solved after 70 years, researcher says," BBC News, July 27, 2022.

Julian Mark, "A body found in 1948 became an Australian obsession. Now, there's an ID," The Washington Post, July 27, 2022.

[Staff reporter], "Somerton Man's identity revealed, professor says," InDaily, July 27, 2022.

[Staff reporter with AAP], "Somerton Man identified by Adelaide researcher Professor Derek Abbott," The Canberra Times, July 27, 2022.

[Staff reporter], "Potrebbe essere stato identificato 'l'uomo di Somerton'," Il Post, July 27, 2022.

Natasha May, "Solving the Somerton man mystery: no Russian spy, just a bit of a loner who wrote poetry?" The Guardian, July 31, 2022.

Meilan Solly, "Have scholars finally identified the mysterious Somerton Man?" Smithsonian Magazine, August 8, 2022.

Sara Garcia, "Is Carl Webb really the Somerton Man and if so, was he a spy?" ABC News, September 2, 2022.

Sara Garcia, "What do we know about Carl Webb? Researchers find ads, photographs to paint picture of well-to-do man," ABC News, September 8, 2022.

Ben Cheshire, "Somerton Man Charles Webb's true identity revealed in family photographs and divorce papers," ABC News (Australian Story), November 21, 2022.

2021

Daniel Keane, "'Tamam Shud' and the five other clues that have failed to solve the Somerton Man mystery," ABC News, May 19, 2021.

Tom Mann, "Somerton Man mystery," Radio Adelaide, June 13, 2021.

2020

Meagan Dillon and Daniel Keane, "Somerton Man brought back to life in new animation by Star Trek special effects artist," ABC News, October 8, 2020.

2019

Ben Cheshire and Susan Chenery, "Marriage and a mystery: Somerton Man's romantic twist," ABC News (Australian Story), October 15, 2019.

2018

[1] Andrei Gorbunov and Roman Lyalin, "Who was the mysterious man without an identity, whose body was found on a beach in Australia 70 years ago" [Кем был загадочный человек без личности, чье тело 70 лет назад нашли на пляже в Австралии], Komsomolskaya Pravda (Russia), February 2, 2018.

[2] Michael Savvas, "Adelaide and the Somerton man: Stephen King's dirty little secret," Adelaide Review, April 23, 2018, pp. 12–13.

[3] Alice Klein, "Who was the Somerton man?" New Scientist, Vol. 238, No. 3180, 2018, pp. 33–35.

[4] Mitchell Bennett, "Understanding Curiosity," Western Independent, November 30, 2018.

Daniel Keane, "Unlocking the secrets of the Somerton Man," ABC News, December 1, 2018.

[5] [Staff reporter], "M.A. Sargent Medal 2019," Adelaide University Staff News, December 18, 2018, p. 3.

2017

[6] Roy Bainton, "Tamam shud," Fortean Times, March 24, 2017, pp. 30–35.

[7] Brett Williamson, "War on waste: Why we should recycle our old mobile phones," ABC News, May 24, 2017.

[8] Robyn Mills, "Stroke patient improvement with a brain computer interface," Newswise, August 8, 2017.

[9] [Staff reporter], "Researchers show how brain computer interface improves motor function in stroke patients," News Medical, August 30, 2017.

[10] [Staff reporter], "Stroke patients 'improve' with brain-computer interface," Medical Design Technology, August 30, 2017.

[11] Julia Samuel, "Brain-computer interface might improve motor function in stroke patients," Medindia, September 1, 2017.

[12] Sam Varghese, "Stroke patients 'improve' with brain-computer interface," iTWire, September 1, 2017.

[13] [Staff reporter], "Stroke patients 'improve' with brain-computer interface," SAFE (Stroke Alliance for Europe), September 8, 2017.

[14] Diana Brown, "Codes and a corpse: The Somerton beach man mystery persists," HowStuffWorks, September 15, 2017.

[15] Newsroom, "Stroke patients show improvement with a brain-computer interface," AT Today, September 26, 2017.

Jessica Bineth, "Somerton Man: One of Australia's most baffling cold cases could be a step closer to being solved," ABC News (RN This Is About), December 14, 2017.

2016

[16] Lisa Zyga, "Why too much evidence can be a bad thing," Phys.org, January 4, 2016.

[17] Justin Weinberg, "The paradox of unanimity," Daily Nous, January 7, 2016.

[18] David Ellis, "Overwhelming evidence? It's probably a bad thing," Phys.org, January 12, 2016.

[19] Felicity Nelson, "Study reveals the problem with overwhelming evidence," Lawyers Weekly, January 13, 2016.

[20] Stephen Luntz, "When too much evidence can be bad," IFLScience, January 16, 2016.

[21] Luke Roney, "When everyone agrees, something isn't right," Newser, January 17, 2016.

[22] [Staff reporter], "Nuclear power is not the answer," Global Research, January 19, 2016.

[23] Dana Dovey, "Unanimous agreement is improbable, and usually a clear indication that something is wrong: too good to be true," Medical Daily, January 19, 2016.

[24] Dorairajan Balasubramanian, "Lies, damned lies and statistics," The Hindu, January 25, 2016.

[25] David Post, "The paradox of unanimity," The Washington Post, February 8, 2016.

[26] Laura Moss, "Why do languages have different sounds for the same animals?" Mother Nature Network, February 23, 2016.

[27] Dani Cooper, "Accuracy of criminal identification may be reduced if all witnesses agree," ABC Science, March 23, 2016.

[28] [Staff reporter], "The animal translator," Smith Journal, Vol. 18, Autumn, 2016.

[29] Derek Abbott, "On the trail of the Somerton Man," Huffington Post, June 5, 2016.

[30] [Staff reporter], "2602UMSAU – Unidentified Male," The Doe Network, August 8, 2016.

Dan Vergano, "DNA just tied a mystery death in Australia to Thomas Jefferson," BuzzFeed News, September, 2016.

[31] Craig Cook, "Scientist at centre of DNA breakthroughs in cold case appeals for government to exhume the body of Somerton Man to finally 'give him a name'," Daily Telegraph, October 1, 2016.

[32] Craig Cook, "Why Somerton Man was probably Native American," Adelaide Advertiser, October 2, 2016.

[33] Karin Brulliard, "Why French pigs say groin, Japanese bees say boon and American frogs say ribbit," The Washington Post, October 12, 2016.

[34] Derek Abbott, "Nuclear power: Game over," Australian Quarterly, Vol. 87, No. 4, October–December, 2016, pp. 8–16.

2015

[35] Doug Robertson, "Forensic experts mount new case to exhume body of Somerton Man to establish his identity," Adelaide Advertiser, April 14, 2015, p. 10.

[36] Leesa Smith, "Mysterious dead body known as 'Somerton Man' that washed up on a beach 67 years ago with a strange note in his trouser pocket will be exhumed," Daily Mail, April 15, 2015.

[37] [Staff reporter], "T-rays to the rescue," International Innovation, Vol. 175, 2015, pp. 60–62.

[38] [Staff reporter], "Solving the Somerton mystery," Adelaide Advertiser, May 25, 2015.

[39] Lynton Grace, "Somerton Man mystery: New details revealed of Jo Thomson, nurse in the case," The Courier-Mail, May 29, 2015.

[40] Lynton Grace, "Nursing a mysterious secret," Adelaide Advertiser, May 30, 2015, p. 29.

[41] Liam Quinn, "Was Somerton Man a US spy who had a secret love child with an Adelaide nurse?" Daily Mail, May 31, 2015.

[42] Lisa Zyga, "After years of forensic investigation, Somerton Man's identity remains a mystery (Part 1: History and Code)," Phys.org, June 2, 2015.

[43] Lisa Zyga, "After years of forensic investigation, Somerton Man's identity remains a mystery (Part 2: DNA, isotopes, and autopsy)," Phys.org, June 3, 2015.

[44] Gary Nunn, "How to sneeze in Japanese," The Sydney Morning Herald, September 4, 2015.

[45] [Staff reporter], "David Dewhurst Award," Engineers Australia, October, 2015.

[46] Uri Friedman, "How to snore in Korean," The Atlantic, November 27, 2015.

[47] Stacy Conradt, "The mysterious death of the Somerton Man," Mental Floss, November 30, 2015.

2014

[48] Lynton Grace, "South Australia's X-Files: Part 2 – the Somerton Man mystery and the secrets of Adelaide's tunnels," Adelaide Advertiser, June 9, 2014.

[49] Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi, Giacomo Indiveri, and Derek Abbott, "Neuromorphic engineering: neuromimetic computation for understanding the brain," IEEE Life Sciences Newsletter, June, 2014.

[50] Lynton Grace, "Has part of the mysterious Somerton Man code been cracked?" Adelaide Advertiser, July 3, 2014.

[51] Peter Butt, "Somerton Man," Catcher Magazine, Vol. 1, October, 2014, p. 6.

[52] Gary Nunn, "Why do pigs oink in English," The Guardian, November 17, 2014.

[53] Lisa Zyga, "Attack on classical cryptography system raises security questions," Phys.org, December 17, 2014.

[54] Juan M. R. Parrondo, "Ganar perdiendo: la paradoja de Parrondo y sus aplicaciones," Nada es Gratis, December 19, 2014.

2013

[55] [Staff reporter], "Author detection tool probes ancient texts," The Daily Telegraph, February 21, 2013.

[56] Ashley Hall, "Software solves author puzzle," ABC Radio PM, February 21, 2013.

[57] [Staff reporter], "New findings on debated authorship," esciencenews.com, February 22, 2013.

[58] [Staff reporter], "New findings on debated authorship," Telecommunications Weekly, March 13, 2013.

[59] [Staff reporter], "Trapping T-rays for better security scanners," Science Daily, July 11, 2013.

[60] Emily Watkins, "After 65 years, new picture could reveal unknown man's identity," news.com.au, July 16, 2013.

[61] Derek Abbott, "Is mathematics invented or discovered?" Huffington Post, October 9, 2013.

[62] Trent Dalton, "Six degrees of separation," The Weekend Australian Magazine, October 26–27, 2013.

[63] James Fettes, "Professor's 15-year search for answers seeks to crack the secret code to the death of the 'Somerton man' found on an Adelaide beach," Herald Sun, October 29, 2013.

[64] [Staff reporter], "Painting picture of Somerton Man," The Advertiser, October 30, 2013.

[65] Renato Castello, "New twist in Somerton Man mystery as fresh claims emerge," Sunday Mail, November 23, 2013.

[66] Renato Castello, "I fear mum poisoned the Somerton Man," The Advertiser, November 24, 2013.

[67] Renato Castello, "Liberals: We will exhume Somerton Man's body in bid to identify him," Sunday Mail, November 30, 2013.

[68] Renato Castello, "Somerton Man's body could still be exhumed," The Advertiser, December 1, 2013.

2012

[69] [Staff reporter], "Wickedictionary," Loughborough University Alumni Magazine, Vol. 25, 2012, p. 26.

[70] Diana Lutz, "Finding solutions to Achilles' heel of renewable energy: intermittency," Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom, March 15, 2012.

[71] Emily Watkins, "New link in death of Somerton man," Adelaide Sunday Mail, April 1, 2012.

[72] Michael Milnest, "DNA bid to give mystery man a name," The Advertiser, July 28, 2012.

[73] Graham Phillips, "Next Generation Nuclear Power," ABC Catalyst, October 11, 2012.

2011

[74] Peter McClintock, "Quantum aspects of life," Contemporary Physics, Vol. 52, No. 1, January–February, 2011, pp. 71–73.

[75] Tom Kibble, "Quantum aspects of life," International Journal of Quantum Information, February 18, 2011, pp. 1427–1432.

[76] MacGregor Campbell, "Killer codes," New Scientist, May 21, 2011, pp. 42–45.

[77] Rob Black, "Solar-Thermal is best mix," The Observer, June 4, 2011, p. 22.

[78] Mark Buchanan, "Geometric intuition," Nature Physics, Vol. 7, June, 2011, p. 442.

Mike Dash, "The body on Somerton Beach," Smithsonian Magazine, August 12, 2011.

[79] [Staff reporter], "Wreath for remembrance," The Canberra Times, August 30, 2011.

[80] Mike Peake, "The mystery of the Somerton man," FHM, Vol. 161, September 1, 2011.

[81] Nazary Nebeluk, "Abbott's 'Wickedictionary' proves anything but wicked," The Pace Press (New York), Vol. 63, No. 4, October 5, 2011, p. 8.

[82] [Staff reporter], "A comical update to Devil's Dictionary," M2 Communications, October 10, 2011.

[83] Allen Pierleoni, "Abbott's 'Wickedictionary'," The Sacramento Bee, October 10, 2011.

[84] [Staff reporter], "Celebrating 100 years since Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary, author Derek Abbott releases a comical, entertaining update called The Wickedictionary," International Business Times, October 11, 2011.

[85] Emily Watkins, "Rau refuses to dig up body of unknown man found dead at Somerton Beach," Sunday Mail, October 15, 2011.

[86] Emily Watkins, "Exhumation denied, we may never know," Sunday Mail, October 16, 2011, p. 37.

[87] [Staff reporter], "Abbott's 'Wickedictionary'," Mayfair, Vol. 46, No. 13, 2011, p. 27.

[88] Emily Watkins, "Is British seaman's identity card clue to solving 63-year-old beach body mystery?" Sunday Mail, November 20, 2011.

2010

[89] Tom Kibble, "Quantum aspects of life, edited by Derek Abbott, Paul C. W. Davies and Arun K. Pati," International Journal of Quantum Information, Vol. 8, No. 8, 2010, https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219749910006939

[90] Miguel A. F. Sanjuán, "Stochastic resonance: from suprathreshold stochastic resonance to stochastic signal quantization," Contemporary Physics, 2010, pp. 448–449.

[91] Peter Seligman, "Letter to the editor," The Age, April 12, 2010.

[92] Ian Segal, "There was a mööcow coming down along the road," The New Yorker, April 22, 2010.

[93] [Staff reporter], "Cancer drugs offer new hope for Crohn's disease and sarcoidosis," Science Daily, December 5, 2010.

[94] Vlatko Vedral, "Quantum aspects of life," American Journal of Physics, Vol. 78, No. 12, December, 2010, pp. 1435–1436.

2009

[95] Michael Levin, "Quantum Aspects of Life," Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 23, No. 4, 2009, pp. 525–529.

[96] Candy Gibson, "Students aim to crack 60-year-old mystery," The Adelaidean, Vol. 18, No. 3, May, 2009, p. 9.

[97] [Staff reporter], "Plan to power the whole world," The Advertiser, July 14, 2009, p. 18.

[98] Penelope Debelle, "A body, a secret pocket and a mysterious code," The Advertiser, August 1, 2009, p. W14.

[99] Anna Salleh, "Scientists crack 'two-envelope' problem," ABC Science, August 5, 2009.

[100] Lisa Zyga, "Winning while losing: new strategy solves 'two-envelope' paradox," PhysOrg.com, August 18, 2009.

[101] Lisa Zyga, "How a solar-hydrogen economy could supply the world's energy needs," PhysOrg.com, August 24, 2009.

[102] Helga H. Guðmundsson, "Þekkir þú þennan mann?" Skakki Turninn, October 12, 2009, pp. 19–27.

2008

[103] Greg Smith, "Cutting through the animal b-a-a-bel," Toronto Star, January 20, 2008.

[104] Belle Dumé, "Radio-controlled sperm 'tap' turns off vasectomies," New Scientist, January 28, 2008.

[105] [Staff reporter], "Remote-controlled sperm 'tap' may offer reversible vasectomy," Thaindian News, January 29, 2008.

[106] [Staff reporter], "Ferngesteuertes Penis-Ventil soll Samen stoppen," Die Welt, January 31, 2008.

[107] Pat Hagan, "Vasectomy you can switch on and off at the push of a button," Daily Mail, February 5, 2008, p. 44.

[108] [Staff reporter], "Vasectomies to be a thing of the past," United News of India, February 5, 2008.

[109] [Staff reporter], "Remote-control contraception," The Daily Telegraph, February 6, 2008.

[110] [Staff reporter], "Zip..zap..zzz," The Sun, February 6, 2008, p. 7.

[111] Louise Hall, "Remote control birth control," The Sydney Morning Herald, February 10, 2008.

[112] Louise Hall, "It's the vasectomy off-switch," The Age, February 10, 2008.

[113] Louise Hall, "Remote control birth control," Brisbane Times, February 10, 2008.

[114] Billy Adams, "Pass the remote – for the kids' channel," New Zealand Herald, February 11, 2008.

[115] Lynn Lister, "'On-off' vasectomy for men," Independent Newspapers (UK), March 8, 2008, p. e110.

[116] [Staff reporter], "Male contraceptive, remote-control birth control," The Advertiser, June 19, 2008, p. 29.

[117] Clair Weaver, "Vasectomy you can turn off," Sunday Telegraph, June 22, 2008, p. 30.

[118] Helen Crompton, "Making more of nature," The West Australian, June 24, 2008, p. 5.

[119] [Staff reporter], "The new inventors," The Advertiser, June 25, 2008, p. 4.

[120] Liz Hollis, "Sperm warfare," The Times, September 20, 2008, p. 4.

[121] Nik Howe, "Remote control sperm – contraception innovations," Health and Wellbeing, September 22, 2008.

[122] Nathan Bevan, "Fobbed off by de-vice," Wales on Sunday, September 28, 2008, p. 16.

[123] Simon Webster, "It's hip to get the snip," The Sydney Morning Herald, September 29, 2008.

2005

[124] [House of Assembly], "National T-Ray Facility," Hansard, February 14, 2005, p. 1534.

[125] [IEEE South Australia Section], "Our Newest Fellow," IEEE South Australia Section Newsletter, March, 2005, p. 1.

[126] Bernadette Nunn, "The world of T-rays," ABC Asia Pacific, June 6, 2005.

[127] [Staff reporter], "Is Derek Abbott our science 'Idol'?" University of Adelaide News, July 15, 2005.

[128] [Staff reporter], "Nominee for award," The Advertiser, July 19, 2005, p. 24.

[129] David Ellis, "The whole picture: T-rays excite the imagination," Lumen (University of Adelaide), Winter, 2005, pp. 2–5.

[130] Paul Lloyd, "The future science class," The Advertiser, December 31, 2005, p. W04.

[131] [Australian Research Council], "The National T-ray Facility," ARC Annual Report, December, 2005, p. 49.

2004

[132] Jill Pengelley, "Adelaide sleep expert to keep US army alert," The Advertiser, August 12, 2004, p. 26.

[133] [Staff reporter], "T-rays to detect WMDs, cancer," ABC News Online, December 14, 2004.

[134] [Staff reporter], "Cutting edge technology discovered a century ago to be turned on terrorists," Agence France-Presse, December 14, 2004.

[135] [Staff reporter], "T-rays for terrorists," Science Alert, December 14, 2004.

[136] Heather Catchpole, "T-ray vision sees through clothes," ABC Science, December 15, 2004.

[137] Feleta Teo, "Device to track terrorist," Post-Courier (Papua New Guinea), December 15, 2004, p. 8.

[138] [Staff reporter], "T-rays to tackle skin cancer deaths," Australian Medical Association, December 16, 2004.

[139] [Staff reporter], "Airport staff can now peep through your clothes!" Hindustan Times, December 16, 2004.

[140] [Staff reporter], "T-rays for tumours," Science Alert, December 16, 2004.

[141] Nick Carne, "T-rays open window to better care," The Independent Weekly, December 19–25, 2004, p. 3.

[142] [Staff reporter], "T-rays: Next step in science evolution," Aljazeera.net, December 22, 2004.

2002

[143] Adrian Cho, "Everyone's a winner," New Scientist, January 5, 2002, p. 13.

[144] David Nankervis, "Smart homes bring sci-fi fantasy to life," Sunday Mail, July 14, 2002.

[145] Chiu Fan Lee and Neil Johnson, "Let the quantum games begin," Physics World, October, 2002, pp. 25–29.

[146] Howard Salkow, "More teaching success for Derek," Adelaidean, December, 2002, p. 8.

2001

[147] Erica Klarreich, "Playing both sides," The Sciences, February, 2001, pp. 25–29.

[148] R. Dean Astumian, "Gamblers paradox," Scientific American, July, 2001, p. 62.

2000

[149] Sherrill Nixon, "SA scientists find a winning way from loser's games," Australian Associated Press, January 5, 2000.

[150] [Staff reporter], "Losing to win," Science News, Vol. 157, No. 3, January 15, 2000, p. 47.

[151] Sandra Blakeslee, "Paradox in game theory: Losing strategy that wins," The New York Times, January 25, 2000, p. F5.

[152] Mónica Salomone, "It turns out that combining two negative things can be positive," El País Digital, January, 2000.

[153] David Ellis, "Gambling study shows it's good to be bad," The Adelaidean, February 14, 2000, p. 4.

[154] Hervé Ratel, "Who win loses," Sciences et Avenir, Vol. 638, April, 2000.

[155] Joachim Laukenmann, "Wer zweimal verliert, gewinnt," SonntagsZeitung, July 2, 2000, p. 79.

[156] Sherrill Nixon, "Lady Luck: treat her bad and still be glad," The Age, July, 2000, p. 4.

[157] Stephen Luntz, "Gambling on mistakes," Australasian Science, Vol. 27, No. 7, August 9, 2000, p. 9.

[158] Rob Morrison, "Cutting the noise out of heartbeats," Science Daily, August 30, 2000.

1999

[159] [Staff reporter], "Inventive minds," Adelaide Advertiser, June 26, 1999, p. 36.

[160] Peter V. E. McClintock, "Random fluctuations: Unsolved problems of noise," Nature News & Views, Vol. 401, September 2, 1999, pp. 23–25, https://doi.org/10.1038/43331

[161] Javier Ochoa, "The paradox of Parrondo," Gaceta Complutense, October, 1999.

[162] Philip Ball, "Good news for losers," Nature Science Update, December 23, 1999, https://doi.org/10.1038/news991223-13

1998

[163] [Staff reporter], "T-radiation threatens to cut X-rays to the bone," The Australian, May 5, 1998, p. 44.

[164] David Ellis, "Potential in new radiation research," Adelaidean, May, 1998, p. 5.

[165] Kurt Moore, "Swarming satbots," World and I, August, 1998, p. 150.

1996

[166] [House of Assembly], "Interactive Multi-media," Hansard, July 9, 1996, p. 1905.

[167] [House of Assembly], "Information Telecommunications and Technology," Hansard, July 25, 1996, p. 2112.

1994

[168] Nina Hall, "Superconductors bearing gifts," The Observer, September 4, 1994.

[169] Roy Szweda, "New retinal chip developed," Biosensors & Bioelectronics, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1994, p. 6.

1993

[170] Wilson da Silva, "New microchip said to give machines bionic vision," Reuters News, November 10, 1993.

[171] [Staff reporter], "Robots may soon be able to see as well as bees," The Straits Times (Singapore), November 16, 1993.

[172] [Staff reporter], "Robots may see like a bee?" The Globe and Mail (Toronto), November 17, 1993, p. B8.

See Also

• Books
• Book Chapters
• Conference Articles
• Patents
• Edited Conference Proceedings

External Links

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