Science In Public
Science writers, communicators, media, training, and public relations
In this month’s EMBL Australia newsletter:
The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes will be announced tonight Wednesday evening, 4 September at Sydney Town Hall in the presence of 700 science, government, cultural and media leaders.
Winners announced through the evening via @eurekaprizes
Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, Governor of New South Wales, heads the guest list for the 2013 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes Awards Dinner on Wednesday, September 4, at the Sydney Town Hall.
Affectionately known as the Oscars of Australian science, the Australian Museum presents these awards in front of hundreds of guests, including heavyweights from the world of media, science, medicine, industry and defence.
[Read more…] about The Governor, the Great and the Good to make their mark at the Eureka Prizes
– Assoc Prof Maryanne Large speaking at the Big Science Communication Summit
Winter is slowly turning into spring, but science engagement is running hot, fired by the events of National Science Week. Many science communicators are also benefiting from the contacts made and lessons learnt at the Big Science Communication Summit, held earlier in the year.
L’Oréal Fellow Misty Jenkins and her colleagues at the Peter Mac have a paper published on Sunday that reveals how our immune cells kill damaged damaged, virus-infected or cancerous cells taking between one and two minutes to make the hit. Then these serial killers are free to strike again. And although the killer cells themselves are vulnerable to the poisons they use, they are somehow able to protect themselves from damage.
Melbourne researchers call on parents, dentists and other health professionals to act to save children’s teeth.
A recent study has shown that at least one in six children is affected by ‘chalky teeth’, placing them at a heightened risk of tooth decay. Many of the affected children are losing their adult molars and are on a path to years of expensive dentistry and orthodontics.
There’s currently no cure, but with early detection and dental treatment, tooth decay or tooth extraction can often be avoided. However, many cases aren’t getting to the dentist quick enough.
[Read more…] about Chalky teeth: a silent epidemic damaging 1 in 6 children’s teeth
Maths meets Carlton, AFL fights ACL
AFL knee injuries could be dramatically reduced if physiotherapists paid more attention to ankles, a Melbourne mechanical engineer has found. He is now trialling the mathematical models to help Carlton Football Club predict and screen for players at most risk of knee injuries.
Hossein Mokhtarzadeh has demonstrated that the ankle is key to preventing knee injuries that cost the Australian football codes tens of millions of dollars a year. As a University of Melbourne post-doctoral fellow at the Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science, Hossein is hoping to expand his work into protecting the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) against injury by developing exercises to strengthen critical muscles supporting the ankle joint. He also has a vision for a mechanical bracing system for those who may not be able to train their muscles to a sufficient level.
Sydney sea squirts show that there’s more to fertilization and IVF than we thought
For sea squirts the key to a long and happy life is to be fertilized not by a fast sperm, but by one that stands the test of time, Dr Angela Crean, from the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre at the University of NSW, has found.
And her discovery, published in PLoS, also shows for the first time that the influence of sperm extends well beyond the moment of conception. If further studies demonstrate the same effects in human sperm, the finding will change some of the assumptions used in IVF practice.