The Best of Australian Science: June 2013
FollowThis month, we’d like to welcome our new writer Elizabeth Howell, who’s brought us some fascinating contributions about space and astronomy. She joins us for another month filled with a plethora of interesting things! A wonderful variety of science and technology stories, covering astronomy, education, technology, health, environmental, and more.
Stay curious and scientifically passionate and innovative!
For those interested in science blogging and contributing to Australian Science – contact us and check out the Editor’s note.
From fables to Facebook: Why do we tell stories? by Lauren Fuge
Throughout human history, stories have existed across all cultures in all forms, from ballads, poems, songs to oral history, plays, novels. Some narratives have evolved along with the human species—we are consistently drawn back to ancient parables, fables and fairytales, constantly reworking them into modern contexts.
Narrative is a gift unique to the human species, but how as it survived for so long? Is it a by-product of evolution or essential to survival? What drove us to painstakingly inscribe portraits on rocky walls in ochre and charcoal, to compose and listen to lengthy ballads of heroes’ tales, to nosily read people’s Facebook statuses about their day, to devour novels and films like we’re hungry for fictional worlds? Read more>>
Could The Next Australian In Space Be A Paying Tourist? by Elizabeth Howell
A flurry of press articles went out this week after NASA announced its eight new astronaut candidates. The agency touted these people, who range from doctors to fighter pilots, as a generation of astronauts that will at last be trained for missions beyond Earth’s orbit. The agency is eyeing the moon, and Mars, as eventual destinations for astronauts in the coming decades. The long-term plan for NASA keeps shifting every few years, but right now it is embracing a sort of “flexible destination