Stories from the Australian Institute of Physics Congress 2022 in Adelaide.
An unlucky star. A new comb. Nuclear jobs – call to action
Boil a kettle with fusion energy. Diamonds in your phone. Mining for dark matter.
Fusion energy
The US fusion news is amazing. But it’s a long way from endless clean power. The researchers probably generated enough excess energy to boil a kettle.
Interviews available with Australian nuclear physicists at the Australian Institute of Physics Congress in Adelaide
[Read more…] about Boil a kettle with fusion energy. Diamonds in your phone. Mining for dark matter.Quantum composer, fusion energy, navigation without GPS, war disrupts physics, nuclear jobs
Listen to ‘Alice’s caffeine rush’ composed by quantum computer, Quanthoven
Find out what it means for quantum AI and understanding consciousness with Bob Coecke, Chief Scientist at Quantinuum, making quantum software and hardware, and Emeritus Professor at Wolfson College, Oxford.
Stories from the physics national congress in Adelaide.
[Read more…] about Quantum composer, fusion energy, navigation without GPS, war disrupts physics, nuclear jobsBefore the Big Bang, nuclear jobs, quantum music…
Monday at the physics national congress in Adelaide
Before the Big Bang, beyond black holes: questions for Christmas lunch
What came before the big bang? Is there an edge to space? What’s beyond the horizon of a black hole? What can the amazing images from the James Webb Space Telescope tell us?
[Read more…] about Before the Big Bang, nuclear jobs, quantum music…Media alert: Nobel lasers, music by quantum computer, before the big bang – Congress preview
- Nobel lasers
- Before the Big Bang, beyond black holes: questions for Christmas lunch
- ‘Alice’s caffeine rush’: music composed by quantum computer
- Are we winning the quantum race?
- Submarines – how many nuclear physicists will we need?
The messy death of a star
- Reconstructed by a global forensic team of astronomers
- Using stunning James Webb Space Telescope images
- Reported in Nature Astronomy today
All images and detailed analysis available from the Space Telescope Science Institute at webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-059.
Around 2500 years ago, a star ejected most of its gas, forming the beautiful Southern Ring Nebula, NGC 3132, chosen as one of the first five image packages from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
A lifetime investigating malaria leads to drugs that push back on resistance… And a CSL Florey Medal
Alan Cowman wins $50,000 CSL Florey Medal for Lifetime Achievement for revealing how malaria parasites infect humans, paving the way for new drugs and vaccines for a disease that infects more than 240 million people a year, and keeps communities in poverty.
Past CSL Florey Medallists include Graeme Clark, Ian Frazer, Ruth Bishop, and Nobel Laureates Barry Marshall and Robin Warren.
- Award presentation: 8.15pm AEDT, 29 November in the Great Hall, Parliament House, Canberra.
- Images available
- Video overlay available
- Supporting information
Melbourne scientist Professor Alan Cowman AC has worked to understand how the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum causes disease in humans and how it evolves to outwit antimalarial drugs. He has also created genetic tools to modify the parasite, which have been used by malaria researchers worldwide.
[Read more…] about A lifetime investigating malaria leads to drugs that push back on resistance… And a CSL Florey MedalUsing stem cells to give sight and controlling rogue blood stem cells
Winners of the 2022 National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia’s Metcalf Prizes announced
SCIENTISTS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS:
Researchers working with stem cells to restore sight and fight blood cancers are the two winners of the 2022 Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research, awarded by the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia.
[Read more…] about Using stem cells to give sight and controlling rogue blood stem cellsUsing stem cells to give sight – Anai Gonzalez-Cordero
Dr Anai Gonzalez-Cordero research aims to restore sight in people with inherited retinal diseases, by repairing or replacing damaged photoreceptor (light-sensing) cells in the eye.
She has already shown that she can grow cultures of healthy photoreceptor cells in a dish in the lab and then use the cells replace the defective cells and restore sight in laboratory models of hereditary blindness. And she has shown that gene therapy can repair diseased human retinal cells grown in the lab as ‘mini-organs’ (or ‘organoids’), providing them with normal light-sensing ability.
Her $55,000 Metcalf Prize will contribute to developing systems to progress both concepts towards clinical trials. She is based at Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) in Western Sydney.
[Read more…] about Using stem cells to give sight – Anai Gonzalez-CorderoControlling rogue blood stem cells – Ashley Ng
Dr Ashley Ng is revealing how blood stem cells are controlled, and how they sometime go rogue, leading to blood cancers. He has discovered how a protein known as ‘ERG’ underpins healthy development of blood cells, and how it also plays a role in Down syndrome-associated leukaemia and a range of other blood cancers.
As a researcher at WEHI and a clinician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter Mac, Ashley will use his $55,000 Metcalf Prize to advance his ideas from the laboratory into treatments for blood and blood cancer diseases.
[Read more…] about Controlling rogue blood stem cells – Ashley Ng