Editorial Board – Australian Science

Where Are We On Recycling And Is It Enough?

Editorial Board — Fri, 22 May 2015 11:16:37 +0000

Behind USA, Australia is the largest waste producer, per person, in the world. The average Australian citizen produces over 650 kg of waste per year, making a family of 4 produce enough waste to fill a three – bedroom house, from the floor to the ceiling! Annually, we contribute to over 18 million tonnes of waste, half of it coming from households.

Every day, 1% of households and businesses in Australia change their waste management tactics and focus their efforts into recycling, making Australia one of the global leaders when it comes to recycling contribution. Raising awareness plays a major role to the contributing factors and it will continue to do so until we begin minimising our waste output and maximising recycling and re-production, respectively.

Two recent studies have shown us just how deep of an impact recycling plays on the environment and on general energy consumption.

Life Cycle Assessment for Paper and Packaging Waste Management In Victoria – Melbourne’s research project, lead by a group of universities to investigate the environmental benefits of recycling waste against landfill waste.
Nationwide research, commissioned by the National Packaging Covenant Council (NPCC), called Independent Assessment of Kerbside Recycling in Australia. As the most comprehensive study of recycling ever conducted in Australia, this research report measured the financial, social and environmental impact of recycling by comparing costs and benefits.

Two different methods were used to analyze and compare the impacts of recycling and that of dumping waste into a landfill. Both studies have proven that recycling plays a major role in the preservation of the environment, while cutting down energy, thus lowering the cost of future production.

Lowering Greenhouse Gases

Nearly half of the greenhouse savings created by recycling were found to be from lowering the creation of methane gas: Methane gas is generated at landfills as paper waste breaks down (Around 55% of that methane gas would be held just for generating power). The rest of the greenhouse gas de-escalation occurred by getting rid of of virgin material production (If a product was made from raw material rather than recycled material, more carbon dioxide, with other greenhouse gases would have been generated).

Energy

Savings

Recycled products presented lower levels in embodied energy: energy consumed during every step of the production, from the product retrieval of the raw materials, to the processing and finally the disposal or recycling.

Product Embodied  Energy Savings:

As the initiative to recycle grows globally, Australians have been amongst the first to lead the pack. General awareness is on a high level and the will to contribute rises with it.

A study, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, was conducted in 2012, where 8,692 households were interviewed, The study concluded that out of the total number, 8,422 households took a part in recycling, 6,328 stated that they reused products, while only 183 households admitted that they never recycle and never reuse.

The same study provided us with the most common objects recycled in Australia. Leading the way, paper and cardboard are the most recycled materials nationwide.

Paper and Cardboard

Over 5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard were used from 2007 to 2011, and only 2.5 million tonnes were recycled.
Making paper from recycled materials used 99% less water and 50% less energy than making it from raw materials
Paper breaks down very slowly in landfills due to the lack of oxygen, thus creating methane gas which has a greater greenhouse gas impact on the environment

Steel and Aluminium

In 2010, only 30.3% of steel and aluminium in Australia was recycled. This means that over 50% of steel and aluminuim still goes into landfills across the nation.
Almost every Australian has access to recycling services, yet they do not feel the need to visit them. It has been estimated that in the same year, Australians sent enough steel and aluminium to landfills to make over 40,000 fridges!
Producing one aluminium can from raw material takes up as much energy as producing 20 of them from recycled materials
More than 2 billion cans are recycled in Australia each year
Energy saved from recycling one aluminium is enough to keep a TV running for over 3 hours

Plastic

Australians use over 350,000 tonnes of plastic every year. In the year 2010, 288,000 tonnes were recycled.
While the production of plastic required coal, oil and gas, its production emits greenhouse gasses and contaminates our oceans.
Making plastic bottles from recycled materials uses 84% less energy than that of its production from raw materials.
By creating products from recycled plastic, we use 90% less water, reduce carbon dioxide by 2.5 tonnes and lower energy usage by over two thirds.

Glass

Glass is made from ash, soda, limestone and sand, which make it able to be recycled an infinite amount of times.
Making products from recycled glass uses 75% less energy than from raw materials
25% of new bottles and jars are made from recycled glass

Organics

Organic materials undergo anaerobic decomposition, which generates a potent greenhouse gas – methane.
Food organics in landfills is the second largest source of methane
Around two-thirds of all waste sent to Australian landfills consists of organic materials

On average, every Australian citizen, annually, throws out 330 kg of paper, 552 kg of aluminum cans and 414 kg of food. In today’s society, we are able to virtually recycle anything that we use on a daily basis. Extensive research and advances in technology will push that barrier even further over the course of years. Although we are making great strides towards progress, there is always room for improvement. One of the greatest initiatives taken by the government is the creation of the Perthwaste Green Recycling. Recycling plants such as this one safely exhaust every opportunity to recycle, cost – effectively. Building and using more of these plants will get us to our desired goal in a shorter amount of time.

Between years 2007 and 2011 Australians increased their recycling efforts from 21.4 million tonnes to 27.3 million tonnes (all recycled materials – Australians throw out 18 million tonnes of waste per year). We still have to work toward removing waste from landfills and creating new products by reusing the old. By reducing landfill waste, we will preserve our environment and prevent further climate changes, simply by the removal of greenhouse gasses. Reusing waste materials and creating environmentally friendly products will only play a contributing role in saving our planet.

Source: http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/environment-protection/nwp/reporting/national-waste-stream

Source: http://wastech.com.au/case-studies/perth-waste/

Source: http://www.pca.org.au/site/cms/documents/packaging-issuesandpuzzles.pdf

Source: http://recyclingweek.planetark.org/recycling-info/

Source: http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/cb4ad924-aaf8-4127-b8a1-31a30c2eca82/files/national-waste-policy-implementation-2013.pdf

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Assessing the Asteroid Impact Threat: Are We Doomed Yet?

Editorial Board — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 06:19:09 +0000

“Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour,” could be still an actual description of our ability to predict asteroid threats to Earth.

The sentence from the Bible (Matthew 25:13) sound like a reminder of a vast number of more than 1,500 currently potentially hazardous objects, floating in space, meandering around in the Solar System. Some of them may be destined to pay our planet a close visit someday, unexpectedly, Chelyabinsk-style, as the one that hit Russia in February 2013, causing serious damages and injuring about 1,500 people. Who would have predicted that? Lately, one of the potentially hazardous asteroids, named 2014 UR116, created quite a buzz when various media reported that the 370-wide space rock may hit Earth. Its impact would cause an explosion 1,000 times greater than the Chelyabinsk meteor. But the discoverer of 2014 UR116, Vladimir Lipunov, a professor at Moscow State University, becalms the public. “This asteroid will not collide with Earth during the next 100 years,” Lipunov told astrowatch.net.

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100 m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. Currently none of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

Lipunov said it is difficult to calculate the orbit of big rocks like 2014 UR116 because their trajectories are constantly being changed by the gravitational pull of other planets. He noticed that the scientists can’t say precisely when the asteroid will approach the Earth. “We should track it constantly. Because if we have a single mistake, there will be a catastrophe. The consequences can be very serious,

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Kangaroos eating reptiles out of house and home

Editorial Board — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 00:15:08 +0000

Large numbers of kangaroos are threatening an endangered species and are eating some lizards out of house and home, new research has found.

Australian National University (ANU) researcher Brett Howland has found large kangaroo numbers destroy the grassland habitats of reptiles.

“When there are too many kangaroos, they over-graze grasslands until they are like a lawn, which leaves lizards with no shelter,” said Mr Howland, from the Fenner School of Environment and Society.

“Just because kangaroos are native doesn’t mean they don’t do damage. We have to regulate their numbers if we want to retain a variety of reptiles,” he said.

Mr Howland studied lizard populations, which provide a good yardstick for the health of grasslands. Lizards depend on grass cover for both food and shelter, they are an important part of food webs, they are food for birds and small mammals, and provide pest control by eating insects.

“Grass over 20 centimetres tall housed the greatest number of reptiles,” Mr Howland said.

“The current number of kangaroos in some of Canberra’s parklands, over 300 per square kilometre, removes all tall grass. We should be controlling kangaroo numbers to at most 100 kangaroos per square kilometre in grasslands on average, and even less in treed areas.”

The study found that in areas where the grass was higher than 20 centimetres there were more than twice as many reptiles, and nearly three times as many species of reptile, than when grass was short.

“Many reptiles are under threat – species such as the striped legless lizard are on the vulnerable list. They face possible extinction in the near future,” Mr Howland said.

“However, there are millions of eastern grey kangaroos in Australia, making them one of the most populous large mammals in the world.”

Without threats from Indigenous hunters and native predators such as the dingo, kangaroo numbers have skyrocketed, Mr Howland said.

“We are still coming to grips with managing biodiversity,” he said.

“You can’t lock a reserve up and throw away the key, that doesn’t work.”

Source and image.

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Scale-up in effective malaria control dramatically reduces deaths

Editorial Board — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 00:15:02 +0000

The number of people dying from malaria has fallen dramatically since 2000 and malaria cases are also steadily declining, according to the World malaria report 2014. Between 2000 and 2013, the malaria mortality rate decreased by 47% worldwide and by 54% in the WHO African Region – where about 90% of malaria deaths occur.

New analysis across sub-Saharan Africa reveals that despite a 43% population increase, fewer people are infected or carry asymptomatic malaria infections every year: the number of people infected fell from 173 million in 2000 to 128 million in 2013.

“We can win the fight against malaria,

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Unlocking the secrets of stem cell generation

Editorial Board — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 00:15:07 +0000

International scientists have carried out the most detailed study of how specialised body cells can be reprogrammed to be like cells from the early embryo.

The findings are a major advance in stem cell science and could help usher in a new era of regenerative medicine, where a small sample of a patient’s cells could be used to grow new tissues and organs for transplant.

“This kind of work will speed up the development of treatments for many illnesses that currently have no cure,

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Programming, Software Development, Computational Thinking or Coding

Editorial Board — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 00:15:27 +0000

No matter the terminology used, right now educators worldwide are attempting to integrate new ways of thinking into the curriculum. This is no easy task, as timetable pressures, teacher training concerns and equipment funding shortages all make introducing a complex subject all the more difficult.

Instead of seeing Computational Thinking as a problem subject to be integrated, it is regretful that we can’t embrace it as an opportunity to change how we view many projects. Rather than a dry exploration of syntax and logic, Computational Thinking skills could enable students to build interactive narratives to teach literature and language skills, games to assess maths and spelling and unleash the digital creativity skills we desire in our graduates. A student versed in coding has better design skills than a student who only consumes information, better development skills than a student who never attempts to build anything, and better debugging skills than a student who has never had to fix a broken program.

In essence, we must continue teaching the 3 Rs, reading, writing and arithmetic, but also consider teaching the 3 Ds: Design, Develop and Debug. This is not without its challenges, namely what do we teach and how do we teach it? Before suggesting some of the tools that we use to promulgate Computational Thinking, let us preface it with the fact that these are mostly Microsoft technologies. Writing as the Microsoft Ireland Academic Team, this will not be a surprise to you, but please note they are also free technologies and you do not have to pay to enjoy and use them in the classroom.

Probably the most popular programming language for teaching younger students is Scratch from MIT. A block based language that eschews typing complex syntax structures in favour of a Lego-esque design, Scratch is loved by students aged 7 to 77. For students that have reached a high level of competency in Scratch, Kinect for Windows can be added to the mix. The Kinect is a special camera that can track the human body in 3D space. We developed free software called Kinect2Scratch that enables Kinect games and fitness programs to be developed in Scratch with ease.

For students who want to explore more complex computer science concepts, TouchDevelop is a simple but powerful programming language that avoids typing errors by allowing users choose commands from a palette of contextually aware commands. It works best on a touch screen tablet or laptop, and is compatible with virtually all tablet OS, including iOS, Android & Windows. It can also run on traditional laptops and PCs with a keyboard and mouse, but really excels when used on a touch screen. It is free and available from www.TouchDevelop.com.

Finally, if students enjoy Minecraft and learning through creative world building, introduce them to programming through Project Spark. A beautiful rendering interactive game creation tool, Project Spark hides a deep and powerful Computational Thinking environment under the guise of a game creation and playing tool. Available free on Xbox One and Windows 8, download it from the Windows Store to start building and learning. We developed a free course for all Project Spark learners.

Source and image.

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ANU-CSIRO form new food, agriculture science precinct

Editorial Board — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 00:15:00 +0000

The ANU and CSIRO have joined forces in a new collaborative precinct to help build a sustainable future for the environment, agriculture and global food supplies.

The National Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Precinct (NAESP) was launched by the Minister for Industry the Hon Ian Macfarlane MP.

The NAESP will bring together the best research brains from ANU and CSIRO to foster research and innovation essential to food security and environmental stewardship in the face of global population growth, land degradation and climate change.

“The collaboration will transform the way agricultural and environmental research and innovation is conducted in Australia,

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Science Journal Nature Will Make Its Archives Free to View Online (Kind of), Dating Back to 1869

Editorial Board — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 00:15:04 +0000

Nature announced that it will make all of its articles free to view, read, and annotate online. That applies to the historic science journal (launched in 1869) and to 48 other scientific journals in Macmillan’s Nature Publishing Group (NPG). Other titles include Nature Genetics, Nature Medicine and Nature Physics.

But there are a whole lot of caveats. The press release reads:

All research papers from Nature will be made free to read in a proprietary screen-view format that can be annotated but not copied, printed or downloaded… The content-sharing policy … marks an attempt to let scientists freely read and share articles while preserving NPG’s primary source of income — the subscription fees libraries and individuals pay to gain access to articles.

But wait, there are a few more caveats. The archives will be made available to subscribers (e.g., researchers at universities) as well as 100 media outlets and blogs, and they can then share the articles (as read-only PDFs) with the rest of the world. This is all part of a one-year experiment.

Source and image.

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Ancient engravings rewrite human history

Editorial Board — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 00:15:15 +0000

An international team of scientists has discovered the earliest known engravings from human ancestors on a 400,000 year-old fossilised shell from Java.

The discovery is the earliest known example of ancient humans deliberately creating pattern.

“It rewrites human history,

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Wanderers: A Short Sci-Fi Film About Humanity’s Future in Space, Narrated by Carl Sagan

Editorial Board — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 00:15:31 +0000

Swedish animator Erik Wernquist calls his short science fiction film, Wanderers, a speculative look at “humanity’s future expansion into the Solar System,

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