Operations

Finding new drugs for malaria, reducing the impact of earthquakes, sharing light and neutrons, and more.

Stories of Australia- Japan collaboration, prepared with the Australian Embassy in Tokyo to tell the stories of Australia-Japan links.

Science as news: what are Western journalists looking for in Japanese science?

Symposium at Science Agora in Japan

11 am to 12.30 pm, Sunday 15 November, 7^th Floor, Miraikan

(English language session)

What turns science into news? What makes a science story international? What are the BBC, New York Times, PBS, The Economist and other international media really looking for in a science story?

This symposium will give Japanese scientists and policy makers guidance on how to get their stories into the mass media in Western countries.

Saving coral, predicting earthquakes, fighting malaria – stories of successful Australia/Japan science collaboration

Booth at Science Agora: Japan

Saturday and Sunday, 1^st Floor Miraikan

Exploring Antarctic oceans with elephant seals; sharing neutrons; new drugs for malaria; and the prehistory of tsunamis.

Find out about these and other Australia/Japan science collaborations at our booth on the 1^st Floor at Mirakan.

Schoolgirls all ears for physics

80 per cent of girls doing physics in Melbourne pilot program

Monday 14 September

Photo opportunity 12 noon: Scientists, teachers and schoolkids available for interview at La Trobe University where they will be 3D-printing cochlear bones.

Growing Tall Poppies is getting schoolgirls into physics by doing real science, with real scientists.

In their pilot program at Melbourne’s Santa Maria College they’ve increased the retention of girls to Year 12 physics to 80 per cent—and now the program is expanding to other states thanks to Federal Government funding.

The current crop of Tall Poppies are this week participating in hands-on experiments, learning how to image and 3D-print cochlear bones at La Trobe University.

Cochlear bones 3D-printed by students in the Cochlear Project at La Trobe University (Credit: Nicholas Anthony)

With mentor scientists they’ll be learning about the tiny cochlear bone and how it helps us hear; how X-rays can be used to create 3D models without the need for surgery; as well as seeing 3D-printing in action.

“Some students are really surprised that there are women doing this kind of science—that it’s not just old men in lab coats,” says mentor Hannah Coughlan, nanotechnology PhD student at La Trobe University and CSIRO.

“It’s all about letting them know that anyone can be a physicist and anyone can do research.”

Winners of the 2015 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Australia & New Zealand Fellowships

The winners of the 2015 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Australia & New Zealand Fellowships are studying sharks, future memories, heavy stars, and climate change.

The Australian Fellows are:

A hot future for sharks: marine biologist Jodie Rummer, Townsville, swims with sharks for her research
How we imagine the future: cognitive neuroscientist Muireann Irish, Sydney has discovered the importance of future memory in daily life and dementia
The short lives of hard-living, fast burning, high mass stars: astronomer Shari Breen, Sydney drives The Dish at Parkes to find the stars that make the starstuff that makes us all.

The inaugural New Zealand Fellow is:

When the oceans were 20 metres higher: past and future climates: geologist Christina Riesselman, Dunedin

Read their profiles at Stories of Australian Science

For media enquiries and information on the 2016 Fellowships visit www.forwomeninscience.com.au

Head to tail: the molecules that tell you how to grow a backbone

Growing the right number of vertebrae in the right places is an important job – and scientists have found the molecules that act like ‘theatre directors’ for vertebrae genes in mice: telling them how much or how little to express themselves.

The finding may give insight into how the body-shapes of different species of animals evolved, since the molecules under scrutiny are present in a wide range of animals – from fish to snakes to humans.

An international team led by Dr Edwina McGlinn of EMBL Australia [1] at Monash University found that de-activating a small group of microRNA (miRNA) molecules sent things awry for different parts of the backbone.

No need to shed tears over Australia’s scientific future

Why onions make you cry, and how to avoid the tears
Why you shouldn’t get your appendix out

These questions were answered by the winning videos for the University of Sydney Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize.

Last night the 2015 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes winners were announced at a gala Award Dinner at Sydney Town Hall, affectionately referred to as the Oscars of Australian science. A total of 16 prizes were given for outstanding contributions to Australian science.

Sponsored by the University of Sydney, the Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize is named in honour of Dr Karl (Kruszelnicki) and Adam Spencer.

The Prize recognises excellence in communicating scientific ideas ‘painlessly’ or, as the Sleek Geeks like to say, “help people to learn something without even noticing.” It rewards the best of hundreds of submitted short films – each communicating a particular scientific concept in an accessible and engaging way.

Prize-winning medical research

Time to die: killing cells to save lives
World’s smallest, brightest nano-flashlights finding a diseased needle in a haystack
The much-maligned appendix: not just for grass eaters
Making blood on demand with stem cells?

Last night three outstanding medical researchers were among the winners of the 2015 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes, announced at a gala Award Dinner at Sydney Town Hall. And an up-and-coming medical researcher won the secondary school prize for unveiling the secrets of the appendix in her video – in which her Nobel Prize-winning grandfather also makes an appearance.

A total of 16 prizes were given for outstanding contributions to Australian science.

Established in 1827, the Australian Museum is the nation’s first museum and one of its foremost scientific research, educational and cultural institutions. The Eureka Prizes are the most comprehensive national science awards, honouring excellence in Research and Innovation, Leadership, Science Communication and Journalism, and School Science.

Environmental science recognised

Speaking science underwater
Vaccines for oysters
A global standard for environmental threats, from coral reefs to desert dunes
Melting salt to store solar power

Last night four outstanding environmental researchers were among the winners of the 2015 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes, announced at a gala Award Dinner at Sydney Town Hall. A total of 16 prizes were given for outstanding contributions to Australian science

Battlefield communication by mobile, wi-fi and satellites

Defence Science and Technology Group Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science for Safeguarding Australia

Winner: Northrop Grumman M5 Network Security

Secure, handheld communication tools developed in Canberra simultaneously use multiple available mobile-phone networks, wi-fi and satellites to ensure the signal never drops out.

Yet despite using these easily accessible public networks, the tools remain secure enough for use by military or intelligence personnel.

For development of the Secure Communications System suite of tools, Northrop Grumman M5 Network Security have been awarded the Defence Science and Technology Group Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science for Safeguarding Australia.

Designed for situations when secure, reliable communications are paramount, the tools are part of a whole suite of secure communication tools.

The lightweight SCS-100 is the smallest of the tools –handheld and easily packed into carry-on luggage, but carrying everything needed for one person’s self-contained, secure communication.

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Operations

80 per cent of girls doing physics in Melbourne pilot program

Defence Science and Technology Group Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science for Safeguarding Australia

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