Today at ANSTO’s Discovery Centre at Lucas Heights, 14 of NSW’s future science leaders are participating in the NSW Fresh Science state final.
In total, 60 state finalists have been chosen competitively for their discovery and for the quality of their research.
Today, they will be trained in how to talk science to journalists, business and the public at a one day media and communication workshop.
And this evening, we’ll wrap up their training with a small networking reception where they’ll have one last challenge. Can they excite and inspire over a canapé?
The 2013 NSW state finalists are: [read more...]
Today, 7 of Queensland and the ACT’s brightest young scientists are in Brisbane participating in the Fresh Science state final.
The 60 state finalists have been chosen competitively for their discovery and for the quality of their research.
Today, they will be trained in how to talk science to journalists, business and the public at a one day media and communication workshop.
And tonight, they’ll join guests for a networking reception, and meet one final challenge – can they excite and inspire over a glass of wine?
The 7 Queensland state finalists participants are: [read more...]
Today, 11 of South Australia and Tasmania’s brightest young scientists are in Adelaide participating in the Fresh Science state final.
The 60 state finalists have been chosen competitively for their discovery and for the quality of their research.
Today, they will be trained in how to talk science to journalists, business and the public at a one day media and communication workshop.
And tonight, they’ll join guests for a networking reception, and meet one final challenge – can they excite and inspire over a glass of wine? [read more...]
Today, 12 of Western Australia’s brightest young scientists are in Perth participating in the Fresh Science state final.
The 60 state finalists have been chosen competitively for their discovery and for the quality of their research.
Today, they will be trained in how to talk science to journalists, business and the public at a one day media and communication workshop.
And tonight, they’ll join 40 or so guests for a networking reception, and meet one final challenge – can they excite and inspire over a glass of wine?
[read more...]
How might tooth stem cells help repair damaged brains? How do trees cope with thirst and starvation? Do whales need personal space? And is there an early blood test for Alzheimer’s? [read more...]
Nominations for Fresh Science 2013 are now closed.
We look forward to reading about the work of the 2013 nominees and we’ll notify applicants of the results by email during the week starting Monday 25 March 2013.
Successful applicants will participate in the state finals which will be held around Australia in April and May. Final dates will be announced shortly.
Nominations for Fresh Science 2013 have been extended to Thursday 7 March 2013.
We’re looking for the best and brightest early-career researchers who have made a peer reviewed discovery and received little or no media attention.
Successful applicants will participate in the Fresh Science 2013 state finals, a one-day communication boot camp for early-career researchers where they will learn essential communication skills.
Applicants can be researching in any field of science – from medicine to mathematics, from environmental science to computer science.
Plus, the 12 top candidates from the state finals will then be flown to Melbourne in July for the Fresh Science national final.
Nominating is easy, the key information we need is:
- Nominee’s qualifications, including granting institution and year awarded.
- A 60 word project summary
- A 400 word project description
- Evidence of peer review supporting the quality of your science.
The whole process is online via SurveyMonkey, and the young researchers are expected to fill in their own application.
[read more...]
Fresh Science takes young researchers with no media experience and turns them into spokespeople for science.
More than 60 early-career researchers get a taste of life in the limelight, with a day of media training and a public event in their home state.
Then we throw the media spotlight on 12 of the best and brightest young scientists, putting them through a four-day media bootcamp in Melbourne.
Nominations are now open and close 5pm, Friday 1 March 2013.
Read on for more information, or jump straight to the nomination page.
[read more...]
Termites and ants are stockpiling gold in their mounds, new CSIRO research has found.
Australia’s smallest and most numerous mining prospectors can show us where new gold deposits are. [read more...]
Cooking minerals in huge mixing tanks can turn them to jelly, and an Adelaide researcher has found out why. The work could save the industry millions of dollars a year in lost production and cleaning costs.
Sticky gel-like materials form during the liquid processing of mineral ores, when clays present in the deposits release elements such as silicon and aluminium into the liquid under particular conditions of temperature and acidity. That’s what Dr Ataollah Nosrati, a research associate at the Ian Wark Research Institute (The Wark) of the University of South Australia has found. [read more...]
A psychology researcher from Canberra has collected some of the first scientific evidence that video gaming can be addictive in a way similar to gambling and alcohol.
“People who spend an excessive amount of time playing video games are powerless to stop themselves from thinking about gaming,” says Olivia Metcalf, who did the research for her PhD at the Australian National University. “This is a pattern typical of addiction,” she says.
[read more...]
A new land management tool using Aboriginal knowledge
Ngan’gi speakers know it’s time to look for freshwater crocodile eggs when the red kapok trees near the Northern Territory’s Daly River burst into flower.
This can occur at a different time each year, but the environmental link is solid.
A Darwin-based scientist has converted this link and other intimate Aboriginal knowledge of Australia’s landscape into an environmental management tool.
CSIRO’s Emma Woodward worked with Aboriginal elders as part of the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge research program to develop six seasonal calendars from six different language groups from the Northern Territory and Western Australia. [read more...]
In a quest to learn more about our own galaxy, a Sydney astronomer has identified dozens of previously unknown galaxies in a distant cluster.
Using one of the world’s largest optical telescopes, Dr Amanda Bauer—an ARC Super Science Fellow at the Australian Astronomical Observatory—and her team around the world have been studying this cluster closely. They have found that the galaxies close together in the crowded centre of the cluster mature faster than those in isolation on the cluster’s outskirts.
“We are trying to find out why galaxies stop growing and mature, because this will tell us something about the ultimate fate of our own galaxy, the Milky Way,” Amanda says. [read more...]
Melbourne researchers have developed cows’ milk that protects human cells from HIV.
The milk contains antibodies which defend against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
The next step will be to develop it into a cream which women can apply to protect themselves from contracting HIV from sexual partners.
[read more...]
Compounds that affect respiratory health have been found in biodiesel exhausts. This might lead to restrictions on the use of this form of biofuel as an alternative to fossil fuel, according to researchers from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
“With fossil fuel reserves dwindling, developing renewable alternative fuels is important,” postdoctoral fellow Dr Nicholas Surawski says, “but we should be particularly careful to protect against unwanted respiratory illness when we adopt new transport fuels.” The team is now looking at ways of cleaning up biofuel exhausts. [read more...]
Nirajan Shiwakoti claims his prize for best science limerick. Credit: Thami Croeser
How do you interpretively dance video game addiction?
What rhymes with galaxies?
Describe milk without saying cow?
This is what we made the freshies do at Fresh Science at the Pub 2012.
[read more...]
Adelaide scientists have found that mice with gum disease develop worse arthritis.
The scientists are using this knowledge to investigate whether treating mouth conditions could help relieve arthritis.
As part of her PhD studies, Melissa Cantley worked with colleagues at the University of Adelaide to develop a new way to study these two diseases and their relationship. She is presenting her research this week as part of Fresh Science — a national program for early-career scientists.
[read more...]
