Discoveries in diagnosing diseases, finding new clues to detect climate change and the structural soundness of materials have all emerged from Australia’s nuclear research reactor. Adi Paterson, the director of ANSTO (the body that manages the reactor) spoke about the role that nuclear science will play in Australia’s future.
Are solar flares damaging our ozone layer?
Solar flares could have temporarily worsened the hole in the ozone layer, particularly in the southern hemisphere, says Marc Duldig of the Australian Antarctic Division.
Bursts of energetic particles erupting from the sun during some solar flares can boost levels of ozone-destroying chemicals in our atmosphere. Researchers from the Division are using ground-based sensors to detect the high energy solar particles.
[Read more…] about Are solar flares damaging our ozone layer?
Could space storms blackout our homes and phones?
In March 1989, six million people in the Canadian province of Quebec suffered a nine-hour blackout due to currents induced in their electricity grid by a geomagnetic storm. The currents themselves were caused by charged particles from a solar coronal mass ejection which struck Earth. There are reports of a storm 150 years ago with many times that power.
Today, such events would be even more disastrous, knocking out the electronic and communications systems upon which we all depend.
That’s why the US, Australia and many other developed nations are investing in understanding and modelling the Sun-Earth system to enable us to forecast space weather, according to Colorado researcher Tim Fuller Rowell.
[Read more…] about Could space storms blackout our homes and phones?
Space storms, Aussies at the LHC, home computers find pulsars and more…
7 December 2010
Here’s today’s stories from the physics congress in Melbourne.
Space storms threat to power and phones
Are solar flares damaging our ozone layer?
The future of nuclear science
Superconductors reveal their secrets
Dark matter: detecting the invisible
Pulsar found with 250,000 home computers
Lies, damn lies and climate change sceptics: what has really caused recent global warming?
Australians to play with the Large Hadron Collider
[Read more…] about Space storms, Aussies at the LHC, home computers find pulsars and more…
Director General CERN announces $25M Australian centre on origins of universe
Media Release
Tuesday 7 December 2010
Isssued by the University of Melbourne
The Director General of CERN, Switzerland, Professor Rolf-Dieter Heuer, has announced a new $25m Australian Research Council Centre to explore the origins of the universe after the big bang at the Australian Institute of Physics Congress today.
Led by the University of Melbourne, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Experimental Particle Physics at the Terascale will explore particle physics at terascale energies (a million million electron volts) through the ATLAS experiment, which is a giant particle detector attached to Large Hadron Collider at CERN. [Read more…] about Director General CERN announces $25M Australian centre on origins of universe
Award-winning physics builds a new world
What technologies will surround us in 2060? The clues are in the work of four physicists recognised with awards at the annual conference of the Australian Institute of Physics held in Melbourne in December. Working in fields that will become household names – plasma nanoscience, quantum optics, acoustics and coherent radiation—these scientists are literally creating tomorrow’s world.
For example, 50 years ago the laser was an esoteric research tool and the stuff of James Bond. Today we use dozens of lasers every day in computers, cars and telecommunications. And 30 years ago wireless computing was a dream, now it is taken for granted. You can add to that plasma TVs, computer chips, USB sticks, solar cells, smart phones, and MRI scans—they all stem from research in physics. [Read more…] about Award-winning physics builds a new world
Northern lights in the lab
By James Mitchell Crow
Australian-based researchers have recreated inside their laboratory the atmospheric conditions that cause auroras. One day the results of their experiments could power a mission to Venus or Mars.
Christine Charles from the Australian National University told delegates at the Australian Institute of Physics conference in Melbourne that their work will help physicists to understand the formation of the auroras—the undulating bands of lights visible in the night sky over the north and south poles. [Read more…] about Northern lights in the lab
A cubic kilometre ice telescope, silk for blood tests, stirring coffee and rocks…
Stories today at the physics congress in Melbourne
A cubic kilometre of South Pole ice looking for dark matter
From the chaos of stirring coffee to stirring rocks and cleaning up polluted ground water
Silk microchips for instant blood tests
Diamond’s light touch
Enlightenment on a chip
A single electron reader for silicon quantum computing
[Read more…] about A cubic kilometre ice telescope, silk for blood tests, stirring coffee and rocks…
Air, fire, earth and water – understanding our planet in all its moods
In 2011 Australia will hold one of the world’s largest meetings of earth scientists. They will explore all the physical aspects of our planet, from deep in the Earth’s core to our place in space.
Given recent natural disasters—such as the Pakistan floods, Black Saturday bushfires, Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, 2010 Chile earthquake, Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano—the Earth seems ever more restless and destructive, and the impact on human life and infrastructure is increasingly heavy.
So it is important to understand how the Earth works—which means the 25th General Assembly of the International Union of Geophysics and Geodesy in Melbourne from 28 June to 7 July 2011 will be a focus of attention, not only for the 3,000 delegates expected to attend, but for many others besides. [Read more…] about Air, fire, earth and water – understanding our planet in all its moods
PM's Prizes on radio
This week Niall talked about the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science. You can read about the winners at http://www.scienceinpublic.com/blog/prime-ministers-prize/pmprizeinbrief