Blogs

https://vimeo.com/65801294 Media coverage of this week’s stories Brain Scans can identify psychopaths even in childhood Article from Daily Mail UK Climate change killed off megafauna Article from The Australian No, really- Don’t shop when you’re hungry Article from Reuters Health DNA reveals that most Europeans are closely ... Continue Reading »

You've probably heard about peer-review and the peer-review process. This is a cornerstone of the scientific process and an extremely important concept to both understand and adhere to. But it’s coming under threat and needs the protection of vigilance and understanding. If you don’t know what your peers think of ... Continue Reading »

http://vimeo.com/64703358 Australia’s Aboriginal population descended from just 1000-2000 original inhabitants Article from ABC Science Asthma worsened by low fibre and high fat diets Article from DailyRx Genital Warts diagnoses drop by 59% Article from Eureka Science News Marijuana pills more effective for pain ... Continue Reading »

http://vimeo.com/63801262 Fossilized dinosaur embryos give scientists a unique opportunity Article from National Geographic Fruit juice used to replace fat in chocolate Article from Huffington Post Well-preserved remains of 2 million year old human relatives found in South Africa Article from ABC Science L-carnitine contained ... Continue Reading »

http://vimeo.com/63305602 Black hole wakes up and has a light snack Article from the European Space Agency Australian scientists capture the end of giant star Supernova 1987A : Article on Adelaide Now Evidence of Dark Matter found Article from News.com.au Call-packed micro fibres restore ... Continue Reading »

http://vimeo.com/60145306 Russian city witnesses a meteorite strike, Article from Space.com, More from the European Space Agency Arctic sea ice is thinning at an accelerated rate, Article from Forbes Climate change may lead to more extreme rain events Researchers witness the development of a foetal human brain, Article from New Scientist Mosquitoes ... Continue Reading »

I’m quietly bemused by the fact that I went to school, not just in the last century but also in a previous millennium! But when I reflect on what I had hoped would have changed over the last three decades and compare that to what’s actually happened, I’m left deeply ... Continue Reading »

The hot weather that has besieged the nation since the beginning of the year and the associated bushfire threat has, I hope, been something of a cathartic experience for Australia. Finally an event that can be linked to climate change has been of such magnitude and impact that many people ... Continue Reading »

http://vimeo.com/54507543 Systems developed to predict influenza outbreaks Article from ABC Science Super-massive black hole found Article from The Conversation Future climate treaties should focus on consumption, not emissions argues UK expert Article from Nature Traffic pollution may increase autism risk Article from BBC Female birds feed their young less ... Continue Reading »

http://vimeo.com/53574479 Contagious itching - nervous people are more likely to 'catch' it from others Article from The Telegraph Super strong muscles made from a yarn of carbon nanotubes Article from The Conversation Teenage girls report dancing improves their mental and physical health Article from MedPage Today Motivational mobile ... Continue Reading »

http://vimeo.com/53059854 Great Barrier Reef suffered a collapse in coral coverage between 1920 and 1955 Article from NBC News Intestinal worms may help fight autoimmune diseases Article from ABC Regular exercise increases life span Article from Herald Sun Drought may have led to Mayan downfall Article from Nature Pacemaker ... Continue Reading »

http://vimeo.com/51662107 Water found on the moon that may have come from the Sun Article from ABC Science Ancient fish show origins of teeth Article from the London Natural History Museum Cranberries may not prevent UTI’s Article from BBC Milk developed which may prevent HIV infection Article ... Continue Reading »

Wednesday 17 October is an exciting day for bicycle commuters around Australia. It's the day all of us will be celebrating two wheel pedal transport with Ride2Work Day. Our team at RiAus is delighted to frock our bikes and encourage our colleagues and friends to hop on our two ... Continue Reading »

http://vimeo.com/51195441 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology: Shinya Yamanaka and Sir John Gurdon Press release from NobelPrize.org Nobel Prize for Physics: David Whineland and Serge Haroche Article from The Conversation Nobel Prize for Chemistry: Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka Article from The Conversation Carbon emissions rise more during ... Continue Reading »

http://vimeo.com/50740422 The Great Barrier Reef has lost nearly 50% of its coral cover in last 27 years. Article from the New York Times Roman and Chinese empires 2000 years ago caused significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions Article from the Sydney Morning Herald Compound found in Black Mamba snake ... Continue Reading »

Food is an absolutely vital part of everyday life - with every morsel that passes our lips having some affect on us. We need to eat so we can have energy to function, as well as have the right amount of vitamins, minerals, proteins and other goodies to keep our ... Continue Reading »

http://vimeo.com/49817866 Some species are already moving polewards as global temperatures increase, more species are predicted to Article from Nature Australian researchers make first working qubit - reading and writing data by controlling electron spin Article from The Register GM corn developed to produce an enzyme which may help fight ... Continue Reading »

Australian’s have only recently started considering the provenance or their produce in a big way and it probably has a lot to do with shows like MasterChef highlighting regional products in primetime TV. This is a good thing and it’s about time we started taking notice because the security of ... Continue Reading »

Dr Vanessa Findlay, as the Australian Chief Plant Protection Officer, is the primary representative of, and an advisor to, the Australian Government on all matters relating to the management, maintenance and improvement of Australia’s plant health system. After completing an Honours degree in science at the University of Queensland and ... Continue Reading »

Prof Chris Rapley CBE may not be a name you’re familiar with, but he provided expert support to Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore in the UK. In this exclusive event, we heard from Chris as he presented the film An Inconvenient Truth and looked at new data which ... Continue Reading »

Professor Chris Rapley CBE is a Professor of Climate Science at the University College London. From 1994 to 1998 he was Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, an international climate change study, and Director of the British Antarctic Survey from 1998 to 2007. During his time with the British ... Continue Reading »

Mark Tester is Professor of Plant Physiology in the School of Agriculture, Food & Wine, University of Adelaide, based in the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics and is Director of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility. Mark led the establishment of the APPF, a $55m organisation that ... Continue Reading »

Farming has been important to our everyday lives for thousands of years. And as the Earth’s human population continues to spiral upwards, it’s becoming more crucial than ever before. Farming provides the food on our plates, the beverages we drink, the clothes on our backs and the timber in our houses. ... Continue Reading »

Bangladesh's people are resilient. At a public forum at the Hawke Centre in Adelaide, one of the scheduled speakers, Dr MA Quassem, was unable to attend due to serious illness. In his place, two academics from Bangladesh stood up to explain the challenges facing their disaster-ravaged country. Ifti Rashid ... Continue Reading »

In a column earlier this year I was taken to task about using the phrase “climate change denial”. The commentator opined that this had a pejorative tone but I pointed out that it seemed a suitable term for those who reject the science. I don’t like the term “climate ... Continue Reading »

David is a research scientist in the Biodiversity Research Group of the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change. His internationally known research spans vegetation surveys, mapping and classification; the effects of disturbance – such as fire and grazing – on native species and vegetation; climate change impacts; and developing ... Continue Reading »

Richard Davis has recently retired as Chief Science Advisor to the Australian National Water Commission. He has had an extensive career as research scientist with CSIRO Australia where he undertook research into environmental flows, catchment management to reduce sediment and nutrient contamination of waterways, land use planning techniques, and development of ... Continue Reading »

While in Sydney recently as part of the Australian Science Communicators conference I hosted a discussion on communicating risk and certainty in science. These are potentially the biggest stumbling blocks in getting the messages of science out into the public arena. There is no certainty in science and there is ... Continue Reading »

Why farm vertically? Even in comparatively open landscapes with large areas of agricultural land, such as South Australia, there are benefits to this style of farming. Despommier lists these advantages as: Year-round crop production with no weather-related crop failures, eg. floods, drought No use of herbicides, or fertilizers and within a closed, controlled ... Continue Reading »

On October 2011 the global population reached 7 billion people, but what you may not know is that since this date we have added nearly 10 million to this figure and by 2050 the United Nations Population Division suggests the global population may be up to 9 billion. In ... Continue Reading »

I had something of a revelation last week, an explanation for a set of facts that didn’t come together quite the way I’d hoped. In hindsight, I can see that this was a few pieces of a puzzle that didn’t really fit the picture as I saw it but I’d ... Continue Reading »

CEO, Australian Science Media Centre Susannah has a PhD in cell and developmental biology from Macquarie University, a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and more than 16 years of practical experience in science communication with the science-media nexus as her primary focus. She is currently CEO ... Continue Reading »

Dr Scott Power is a research manager and Senior Principal Research Scientist in the Bureau of Meteorology and a Coordinating Lead Author of the next U.N./IPCC Climate Change Report. Dr Power has published extensively in the international scientific literature on climate variability and climate change, especially on ... Continue Reading »

The RiAus plays host next week to From droughts to flooding rains, a forum on the forces behind the extreme weather events that have lashed Australian cities and towns over the last six months. A number of Australia’s leading experts on weather will examine if these are extreme but otherwise ‘normal’ ... Continue Reading »

With the climate changing, where will the environment and society be in the future? American climatologist and author Curt Stager’s (University of Maine) book “Deep Future: The next 100,000 years of life on earth” not only examines the planet’s climate history, but projects how Earth may change beyond the next ... Continue Reading »

Catalyst was screened from 7:30pm at the Science Exchange, and followed by an expert panel comprising Peter Langridge, Hugh Possingham, Dana Cordell and Mike Young, and hosted by Mark Horstman. The discussion covered issues raised in the program. View ... Continue Reading »

Fifty years from now the sun begins to dim, along with humankind's hope for the future. Although the encroaching darkness seems unstoppable, scientists have concocted a desperate, last-ditch plan. It's up to a crew of eight astronauts to reach the dying star and reignite the fire that will ... Continue Reading »

Tim Jarvis combines his passion for environmental issues and a love of adventure with expeditions to polar regions and many of the world's deserts, mountains and rainforests. He has acted as environmental and sustainability advisor on natural resource management, contaminated land and energy efficiency, for such organisations as the World ... Continue Reading »

As Santos Principal Sustainability Adviser, Susie Smith stewards sustainability management and climate change policy and strategy. Smith published Santos' inaugural Sustainability Report in December 2004 and has developed Santos sophisticated approach to integrating and assessing sustainability performance across Santos businesses. Smith also stewards Santos' climate change strategy, ... Continue Reading »

Naomi Oreskes is currently the Provost of the Sixth College at the University of California, San Diego. Her research interests include the historical development of scientific knowledge, methods, and practices in the earth and environmental sciences, and understanding scientific consensus and dissent. She has held ... Continue Reading »

Jon Kellett is the Head of Urban and Regional Planning for the University of South Australia (UniSA). He has taught urban planning and environmental management for more than 25 years at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK and the UniSA. His research interests include planning policy responses ... Continue Reading »

Born: Silicon Valley, US Jeff Goodell is a journalist, author and commentator on environmental and energy issues, who has become an advocate on climate change, particularly in relation to the coal industry and proposed geoengineering technologies. Goodell was born and raised in Silicon Valley, and his early journalistic ... Continue Reading »

Dr Gretta Pecl is a Fulbright Fellow and a Senior Research Fellow leading several projects within the Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Theme at the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute. She completed her Honours and PhD on squid life-history. Her current research activity spans a range of ... Continue Reading »

Next week RiAus will host the last event in the series Thinking critically about sustainable energy: Our energy future 2050. Coincidentally, the UN climate change summit is taking place in Cancun, following on from the conference that took place in Copenhagen last year ... Continue Reading »

The biodiversity of Planet Earth is being slowly degraded by the sixth mass extinction of its time. Each day, more plants and animals are added to the ever-growing list. In each case, humans have been the undeniable cause, be it through direct means such as deliberate wipe out ... Continue Reading »

Prior to the presentation at RiAus by respected science historian Naomi Oreskes, the renowned biologist and educator Dr Paul Ehrlich visited Adelaide with his provocative perspective on the world and life around us. Naomi Oreskes's ultimate message:  Climate change is not a matter of the future, is happening now. The Environment Institute ... Continue Reading »

Hot sulphuric acid particles liberated in the upper atmosphere. Polystyrene balls in the oceans. "Brightening" clouds with sea water. A belief that something more than cutting carbon dioxide emissions is needed to save the planet is gathering momentum. And it's called geoengineering. Full article from The Advertiser: Cool truth on ... Continue Reading »