Operations

Our international science journalists’ dinner

On Sunday 14 February for journalists at the 2016 AAAS, Washington DC

Forty of the world’s leading science journalists will join me for a good dinner, Australian shiraz, and a briefing on some of the best of Australian science on Sunday 14 February 2016 during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington DC.

Science in Public’s Australian Dinner has become a minor tradition during the AAAS. It enables Australia to build on the links with international science reporters which were created when Melbourne hosted the World Conference of Science Journalists back in 2007.

Our guests in 2015 included:

The science editors of the Economist, BBC TV News, Financial Times, Asahi Shimbun, The Sun, and reporters from the BBC, Daily Mail, the London Times and others.
The executive producer of PBS Nova, the ABC’s Robyn Williams and David Fisher.
Freelancers filing for dozens of publications and websites including Science, Nature, Discovery, National Geographic.
The heads of Research America and Research Sweden, the director of the World Federation of Science Journalists, representatives of the UK and Australian Science Media Centres, of the EuroScience Open Forum, RIKEN, and the IgNobels.
Australian scientists speaking at AAAS including representatives of CSIRO and ANU.

Our partners in past dinners have included the Australian Government’s industry department, Australia’s SKA team, Inspiring Australia, COSMOS and the Australian Science Media Centre. We welcome partners who share our interest in sharing the best Australian science achievements with the world.

Brain training to give tendon pain the boot

Re-training the brain with painless exercises may be the key to stopping recurring tendon pain, according to Melbourne researchers.

AFL, basketball and netball players are the major sufferers, with tendon pain in the knee debilitating and long-lasting. The injury can sideline a player or cause them to give up the sport entirely.

“More than 50 per cent of people who stop sport because of tendon pain still suffer from that pain 15 years later,” says Dr Ebonie Rio of the Monash University Tendon Research group.

“Our simple exercise is revolutionising how we treat tendinopathy.”

Putting a window and lasers in a ship’s hull

Melbourne and Indonesian scientists work to improve shipping efficiency

Scientists available for interview in Bahasa Indonesia and English. Video overlay and photos of ferry available below.

Read the release in Bahasa Indonesia.

Every shipping manager wages an endless battle against fouling – the bacteria, seaweed, barnacles and other marine life that take residence on the hull of ships. This biofouling is thought to add more than 20 per cent to the fuel costs of commercial shipping. That’s a big cost for the maritime trading nations of Australia and Indonesia.

Using lasers and a window in a ship’s hull, researchers will assess how quickly the efficiency of the ship declines, and then how to balance fuel efficiency and the cost of putting a ship in dry dock to clean it.

A ship travelling between Java and South Samatra has had 30 centimetre windows installed in its hull for the research. Credit: Nadia Astari

Memasang jendela dan laser di lambung kapal

Para ilmuwan Surabaya dan Australia bekerja sama untuk meningkatkan efisiensi perkapalan

Para ilmuwan bersedia diwawancarai dalam Bahasa Indonesia dan Bahasa Inggris. Liputan video dan foto kapal feri dapat dilihat di http://australiaindonesiacentre.org/media

Setiap manajer perkapalan terus-menerus berjuang memerangi fouling (proses menempelnya biota pada permukaan kapal) – yaitu bakteri, rumput laut, teritip, dan mahkluk laut lain yang mendiami lambung kapal. Biofouling ini dianggap dapat menaikkan biaya bahan bakar kapal komersial lebih dari 20 persen. Ini merupakan biaya yang besar bagi aktivitas perniagaan maritim antara Australia dan Indonesia.

Dengan menggunakan laser dan jendela di lambung kapal, para peneliti dapat menilai seberapa cepat efisiensi kapal berkurang, dan bagaimana cara menyeimbangkan antara efisiensi bahan bakar dan biaya parkir di dok apung (dry dock) untuk membersihkan kapal.

The window needs cleaning periodically by a diver. Credit: Nadia Astari — The outside of the window in the hull will need cleaning periodically by a diver. Credit: Nadia Astari

Not to be sniffed at! Nose spray offers pain relief in childbirth

Pain relief during childbirth may soon be delivered via a self-administered nasal spray, thanks to research from University of South Australia midwifery researcher, Dr Julie Fleet.

Well known for its use in delivering pain relief to children and in managing pain in patients being transferred by ambulance, the nasal spray analgesic drug, fentanyl, has now been shown to be effective in relieving labour pain.

Julie Fleet, University of South Australia) — *Julie Fleet, University of South Australia*

In fact Julie and her colleagues at Flinders University and the University of Adelaide have found that fentanyl nose spray is just as effective as pethidine injections, which are commonly used, but fentanyl has fewer side effects for both mother and baby.

Filtering the blood to keep cancer in check

A new diagnostic system used to detect cancer cells in small blood samples could next be turned towards filtering a patient’s entire system to remove those dangerous cells – like a dialysis machine for cancer – says an Australian researcher who helped develop the system.

Dr Majid Warkiani at the Australian Centre for NanoMedicine at the University of New South Wales — *Dr Majid Warkiani, Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, UNSW*

The technique was developed for cancer diagnosis, and is capable of detecting (and removing) a tiny handful of cancer-spreading cells from amongst the billions of healthy cells in a small blood sample.

The revolutionary system, which works to diagnose cancer at a tenth of the cost of competing technologies, is now in clinical trials in the US, UK, Singapore and Australia, and is in the process of being commercialised by Clearbridge BioMedics PteLtd in Singapore.

Kimberley corals are true Aussie battlers

Zoe collecting samples for further molecular analysis. Photo WA Museum

While coral reefs around the world are feeling the heat, little-known reefs in Australia’s Kimberley region are prospering, despite living in some of the toughest conditions—and scientists aren’t yet sure why.

The discovery has particular significance this summer with fears of a severe coral bleaching event to hit our northern waters—the result of steadily rising sea temperatures and a strong seasonal El Niño.

WA researchers have found that while coral reefs all around the world are feeling the heat of rising temperatures, some inshore reefs in the Kimberley region’s Bonaparte Archipelago are prospering, despite living in some of the toughest conditions. [Read more…] about Kimberley corals are true Aussie battlers

Media materials – 2015 CSL Florey Medal

The ageing brain can repair itself

National honour for pioneer who found brain stem cells and is now waking them up with exercise

Professor Perry Bartlett from the Queensland Brain Institute at UQ received the 2015 CSL Florey Medal for his discoveries that have transformed our understanding of the brain, and for his leadership of neuroscience in Australia.

Media opportunities

Perry is available for interview in Canberra on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 November

The award was presented by Health Minister the Hon. Sussan Ley on Wednesday in the Great Hall, Parliament House, Canberra

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