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  Melbourne hosts the world’s largest 3D printer—and it’s open for business

The biggest powder bed 3D printed metal aerospace component is on display at the Melbourne International Airshow at Avalon.

  • Press release below, and background information here.
  • Photos and video here
Barrie Finnin, CEO of Amaero, with a hand on the 3D printed door hinge from a Chinese jet airliner
Barrie Finnin, CEO of Amaero, with a hand on the 3D printed door hinge from a Chinese jet airliner

Monash University has commissioned the world’s largest metal printer, and has used it to print a large door hinge from a Chinese jet airliner. The aluminium hinge weighs 11 kg and is 40 by 80 by 39 cm in size. It is the largest powder bed 3D printed metal aerospace component printed to date.

The $3.5 million Xline 2000R printer acquired by Monash University is one of five made to date by German manufacturer Concept Laser. It’s the only one outside America and Europe, the only one based in a university and the only one in the Southern Hemisphere available for contract manufacturing.

[Read more…] about   Melbourne hosts the world’s largest 3D printer—and it’s open for business

The world’s largest 3D printer media kit – supporting materials

[Read more…] about The world’s largest 3D printer media kit – supporting materials

Grants help more Australians celebrate National Science Week

Media release from Senator the Hon. Arthur Sinodinos AO
Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science

9 FEBRUARY 2017

Pop-up science festivals, an astronomical observatory on wheels, and Future Earth innovations are among 39 projects sharing in $500,000 in National Science Week grants.

I want to congratulate the successful grant recipients for their efforts to inspire people about science, technology and innovation.

National Science Week gives people in metropolitan, regional and remote areas opportunities to meet scientists, discuss hot topics and celebrate the contribution of Australian science to society, culture and economy.  [Read more…] about Grants help more Australians celebrate National Science Week

Expert advice: fix the ‘leaky pipeline’ for women in science

Picture by Lesley Martin 08 March 2016 International Women's Day 2016: Pledge for Parity. Heriot Watt University Edinburgh. © Lesley Martin 2016 t: 07836745264 e: lesley@lesleymartin.co.uk
© Lesley Martin 2016

Half of Australia’s science university students are women. Why are only 21 per cent of the professors teaching them women?

40 Australian universities and other research organisations are signed up and working towards a bronze award level of recognition for supporting women in science. What can they learn from the UK’s ten-year experience?

UK chemist Professor Tom Welton is in Australia to share how his team at the Imperial College London Chemistry Department achieved a gold Athena Swan Award for promoting gender equality.

“Australia and the UK both suffer from a ‘leaky pipeline’, with a disproportionate number of women leaving academia at all career stages. This loss of female talent is a loss for science and broader society,” says Professor Welton.  [Read more…] about Expert advice: fix the ‘leaky pipeline’ for women in science

Innovative kids swapping the beach for Silicon Valley this summer

TiE-Vancouver-H-Positive-CMYK Three Victorian high-school students will visit Google, NASA, and Stanford University on an all-expenses paid trip to Silicon Valley on the 19 January.

They’ll also get to network with other young entrepreneurs from around the world and practice their pitching skills, presenting their business idea to local industry leaders.

The students, aged 14, 16 and 17 from Bendigo, Box Hill, and Mount Waverly, won the trip with their idea for a DIY box-set to teach electronics and programming skills. It was presented at the TiE Young Entrepreneurs competition in Melbourne in late 2016. [Read more…] about Innovative kids swapping the beach for Silicon Valley this summer

The quantum manifesto: why quantum is worth one billion Euro to Europe; and is being funded by the US big tech companies

Thursday 8 December 2016

Professor Alain Aspect firmly believes we’ve entered the second quantum revolution—an age which will see radical technological developments across industries, from manufacturing and measurement, to energy generation and computing.

During the first quantum revolution, we discovered the rules that govern the quantum realm, and how they differ from classical physics. Those discoveries, from 1950 onward, led to the invention of lasers, transistors and optical fibres.

Now in the second revolution we’re taking these rules and using them to develop new technologies in communications, measurement, and computing. Today at the Physics Congress, Alain Aspect from Institut d’Optique Graduate School will review how we got to where we are today, and share his hopes for what’s next.  [Read more…] about The quantum manifesto: why quantum is worth one billion Euro to Europe; and is being funded by the US big tech companies

Looking into fly eyes for the perfect solar cell; embracing chaos to improve solar power; and printing high-temperature superconductors

banner Thursday 8 December 2016

On the final day of the Physics Congress in Brisbane we’re hearing about inventions that could change the way we generate and store power.

Researchers available for interview, contact Toni Stevens on 0401 763 130 or toni@scienceinpublic.com.au

QUT researchers spot solar revolution in fly eyes

physics-7

The compound eyes of flies have inspired QUT researchers hunting for the perfect solar cell.

Fly eyes have evolved over millions of years to make the most of the tiny amount of visible light that hits them in a brilliant example of natural nanotechnology. The team’s zinc-oxide replicas pull off the same tricks, using a three-zone structure copied straight from a real-life fly. The bio-inspired nanomaterial captures energy across a wide solar spectrum using only one material, something that conventional solar panels struggle to achieve with a plethora of metals. The fly-eye solution comes “very close to perfection,” says Dr Ziqi Sun, and could readily be incorporated into modern solar cells for an impressive boost in energy harvesting.

At the conference Ziqi will talk about the underlying technology that he and his colleagues have developed to make nano-structures using sheets of metal oxides. The new solar cell design will be published in Materials Today Chemistry. [Read more…] about Looking into fly eyes for the perfect solar cell; embracing chaos to improve solar power; and printing high-temperature superconductors

The biggest discovery of 2016 was gravitational waves, but what’s next?

Wednesday 7 December 2016

Have more been found, what is Australia’s role, and why should we care?

Back in February 2016 it was Professor David Reitze who announced to the world that gravitational waves had been discovered at LIGO, 100 years after Einstein predicted them.

Credit: Matt Heintze/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab
Credit: Matt Heintze/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab

And now they want to find more. Last Thursday LIGO resumed the search for gravitational waves and the world is eagerly awaiting the results.

Today in Brisbane David Reitze will give a first-hand account of what it is like to make a potentially Nobel-prize winning discovery, which is being hailed as the beginning of a new era in astronomy.

[Read more…] about The biggest discovery of 2016 was gravitational waves, but what’s next?