Aug 28 2009
Pat Mahony is an Environmental Researcher at ANSTO and former president of the Young Scientists of Australia. This is Part Two in his nuclear power guest blog. Part One is here.
So, is nuclear power a low-emissions technology?
Aug 28 2009
At 3pm tomorrow you could drink your afternoon pick-me-up coffee at your local cafe OR you could head to the ABC Cafe on Harris Street to interrogate a medley of research scientists.
Your choice.
Drink one with a "geek" tomorrow and learn about their world of research
A robot designer, an indoor air pollution expert, a games researcher, and a professor of Integrative Physiology – among others – will be there to answer your questions. It’s called ‘Speed meet and greet a geek’ and, to get you started, we’ve begun the interrogation of two “geeks” here.
So read up and think of a question to really stump them!
Aug 27 2009
A few weeks ago my friend complained she was struggling to lose weight. “All I eat or drink is Boost Juice three times a day!” she whined. When I explained fruit juice is low in fat but is also full of sugar, she was horrified. It was then I started to wonder if a science degree was necessary just to understand how to take care of our bodies.
Especially when people out there are making these creations!
We generally know not to trust advertising, but when it comes to “healthy” products it’s hard not to get sucked in.
Aug 27 2009
[WARNING: if you're not prepared for images of hooks through skin, please don't click]
Hooks, tattoos, blood, electrocutions, muscle control and phantom limbs? Oh – and did I mention pain?
Nope, that's not a pitchfork. Image: Mat McCosker's iPhone
These are the reasons we are in a long looping queue for entry to the Powerhouse Museum. Pain is fascinating and a night where the science behind the agony is de-mystified is too good to miss.
A Powerhouse rep is working her way down the queue, getting people to sign release forms. Wait, release forms? I’m sure it’s a legal thing — but it’s also a good way to raise anticipation levels!
Aug 26 2009
After the Science of Choice talk last night at UTS, my friend Tim and I chanced a visit to the Science of Cocktails. We’d seen a sign indicating its whereabouts while enjoying a pre-lecture G&T at The Loft Bar a few hours before.
That's a great night, right there
The Science of Cocktails was a private, pre-booked affair but when the spirit of scientific enquiry burns bright, who’s to resist?
Aug 25 2009
You are currently participating in a mighty event.
When it is over the world will have moved 2,000 kilometres through the solar system. Mankind will have expended around 30 million megajoules just staying alive and added about four billion grams of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in the process. Approximately 14 hectares of forest will have been cut down and more than 100 people will have died.
Bead, ribbon, staccato, fork, Ground-to-cloud, Cloud-to-cloud, sheet, heat, dry, rocket, positive, ball, sprites, blue jets, elves. The many kinds of lightening. Image: wikipedia
The Earth will be hit by lightning 6,000 times and there’s not a thing you can do to stop it.
Aug 24 2009
Alex Serpo likes particular particles in precise positions. He’s pretty sure that right now Heisenberg is playing chess with Schrödinger in the afterlife.
Let me tell you a secret. In every scientist there is an anarchist. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. What all scientists have in common is they really, really like to break things.
Physics is no exception.
Aug 24 2009
Some snaps from my meanderings yesterday through the Ultimo Science Festival precinct on Harris Street.
The very lovely 'Muse' building (known more prosaically as Ultimo TAFE Building C) & home to four festival exhibitions.
Does anyone know the history of this building? I’d love to know its origins…
Aug 23 2009
By Jon Lomberg
Jon Lomberg imagines a future where humans have colonised Mars.
A few centuries from now, Mars might be a bustling frontier. If our species can survive there, it will spread slowly, pushed by the spirit of scientific inquiry, or the urge to explore. Landing sites will turn into bases and eventually into communities.
Mars
Mars has as much dry surface area as the Earth. Even aided by satellites, it will take a very long time to explore the planet. Meanwhile, all the unmanned landers and rovers from earlier missions will still be where they were centuries before, buried in sand perhaps.
Aug 23 2009
On Saturday August 15, Live Futures 2020 brought scientists, designers and innovators together at the UNSW COFA Campus in Sydney. The theme was “futures” and Dr Saul Griffith, who encompasses all of these professions, called in via Skype to discuss the future of energy.
It was a tremendously thought-provoking presentation; and I captured some of the highlights below…
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