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Science In Public

Science writers, communicators, media, training, and public relations

Operations

Funding for young science leaders and support for PhD students

EMBL Australia is offering secure funding for young science leaders to set up their own research group supported by the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI).

Also high on the agenda is building a bioinformatics community, through the launch of the Australian Bioinformatics Network. And getting feedback from scientists on their bioinformatics needs.

Plus: PhD symposiums, travel grants and training school. And how to get maths students interested in systems biology.

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Nobel laureate presents school science project

Posted on behalf of the University of New South Wales

It’s not every day that school students get to present their science project to a major scientific conference, and rarer still to receive a prize for it from a Nobel Laureate.

That’s the happy experience today for a team of four Year 11 students from Gosford High School, who have won a national competition conducted by UNSW and the Australian Institute of Physics.

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Goodbye twinkle, hello stars – physics in Sydney

Australian researchers are taking the twinkle out of stars for the world’s biggest light telescope, the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile.

And a new optical fibre – which can only be made in Australia – could detect corrosion in the metal of aircraft bodies, ships and bridges.

Hear about these stories and more at the national physics and optics congress in Sydney – AIP/ACOFT 2012, at the University of New South Wales, Kensington this week.

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Accurate time with light and designing the NBN

A new, cheaper way to deliver accurate time across Australia: instead of using hydrogen maser clocks costing hundreds of thousands of dollars we can bounce signals through the national’s optical fibre network according to physics leaders speaking today and tomorrow.

Also today at the national physics congress in Sydney, meet the man whose job it is to figure out how to build the NBN.

And hear about the magic of thermal plasmas, from safer arc welding to saving the ozone layer.

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Unlimited clean power; sophisticated, target treatment for cancer and more – national physics congress in Sydney

These and more at the national physics congress starting today in Sydney. [Read more…] about Unlimited clean power; sophisticated, target treatment for cancer and more – national physics congress in Sydney

Even sceptical farmers are adapting as the weather gets weirder

Climate change will affect how we farm, but we’re not at the point of ‘adapt or die’. Right now the meme is ‘adapt and profit’.

Today’s stories from the agriculture and climate change conference range from farmers sharing practical, on-the-ground experiences, to CSIRO’s take on how ready the industry as a whole is looking. Also: a story about changing fisheries and it’s not good news for the Christmas lobster; prizes announced; and methane – agriculture versus permafrost. [Read more…] about Even sceptical farmers are adapting as the weather gets weirder