Science In Public
Science writers, communicators, media, training, and public relations
Mammary biologist Dr Felicity Davis is investigating how breasts change through life: how they develop during puberty, alter during pregnancy and change back after breastfeeding is complete.
A scientist at the University of Queensland’s Mater Research Institute, she is examining the role stem cells play in this remarkable tissue plasticity.
[Read more…] about Stem cells and calcium affect breast function
Bioengineer Associate Professor James Hudson has developed a new way to mass-produce human heart tissue from stem cells.
The achievement will help researchers study diseases, screen new drugs, and investigate heart development and repair.
[Read more…] about Scientist mass produces mini-hearts
A group of snorkelling grandmothers is helping scientists better understand marine ecology by photographing venomous sea snakes in waters off the city of Noumea, New Caledonia.
Two years ago the seven women, all in their 60s and 70s, who call themselves “the fantastic grandmothers”, offered to help scientists Dr Claire Goiran from the University of New Caledonia and Professor Rick Shine from Australia’s Macquarie University in their quest to document the sea snake population in a popular swimming spot known as Baie des citrons.
[Read more…] about Underwater grandmothers reveal big population of lethal sea snakesSee the stories on Seven News, Ten News and the Adelaide Advertiser.
NHMRC invited all Australians to provide their views on the use of a new assisted reproductive technology that might assist in preventing certain rare mitochondrial diseases, but which requires careful ethical and social consideration. Consultation is open until 29 November. An issues paper is available at www.nhmrc.gov.au/mito.
On Saturday 19 October in Adelaide, NHMRC held its first major event of the consultation – a citizens’ panel. Around 20 citizens randomly selected from across Australia met over two weekends to hear from experts and then prepared their own position statement.
Mitochondrial donation might be able to assist in the prevention of mitochondrial DNA disease in an estimated 60 births per year in this country. However, there are social and ethical issues to consider including:
Mitochondrial donation is in limited use in the UK and some other countries, but not Australia. NHMRC is asking the Australian community to consider the social and ethical issues associated with mitochondrial donation and will then provide advice to the Australian Government.
Details on further events will be provided in future announcements.
White sharks form communities, researchers have revealed.
Although normally solitary predators, white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) gather in large numbers at certain times of year in order to feast on baby seals.
These groupings, scientists had assumed, were essentially random – the result of individual sharks all happening to turn up in the same area, attracted by abundant food.
Now, however, a group of researchers including behavioural ecologist Stephan Leu from Macquarie University in New South Wales, Australia, have used photo-identification and network analysis to show that many of the apex predators hang out in groups which persist for years.
[Read more…] about Lonesome no more: white sharks hang with buddies
A titanic, expanding beam of energy sprang from close to the supermassive black hole in the centre of the Milky Way just 3.5 million years ago, sending a cone-shaped burst of radiation through both poles of the Galaxy and out into deep space.
That’s the finding arising from research conducted by a team of scientists led by Professor Joss Bland-Hawthorn from Australia’s ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) and soon to be published in The Astrophysical Journal.
[Read more…] about Not long ago, the centre of the Milky Way exploded
Scientists in the Indian and Pacific Oceans used the El Nino of 2016 – the warmest year on record – to evaluate the role of excess heat as the leading driver of coral bleaching and discovered the picture was more nuanced than existing models showed.
The findings were, in a word, complicated, according to marine researchers led by the US based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The international cohort included scientists from Macquarie University in NSW, the University of Queensland, University of WA and two western Australian state government departments.
A massive galaxy four billion light-years from Earth is surrounded by a halo of tranquil gas.
The finding, which reveals a galactic halo much less dense and less magnetised than expected, was made by a team of astronomers that included two researchers from Macquarie University.
[Read more…] about Fast radio burst provides clues to galactic halo
Bright ideas and beer combine when Australia’s Fresh Scientists strut their stuff at 2019’s Fresh Science Pub Nights.
Fresh Science is annual competition that invites early-career scientists to present their fascinating research in the time it takes for a sparkler to burn out.
[Read more…] about Meet the Freshies at the PubWe’re holding a series of courses at JCU in Cairns and Townsville.
Meet working journalists from TV, radio and online, learn what they need, and how to keep it accurate – Cairns on Tuesday 17 September, Townsville on 19 September and Monday 23 September.
Find out how to talk to business, government and the community: Cairns on Wednesday 18 September, Townsville on Friday 20 September.
[Read more…] about Talk to media, business, government: sessions in Cairns and Townsville this week