research – Australian Science

The Science behind Architecture

Editorial Board — Sat, 12 Apr 2014 00:15:14 +0000

Architecture, in various forms, dates back to early man. But it wasn’t until the late Renaissance period that modern architecture that we know today came about; when engineers, artists and architects separated and formal architecture training began in the 19th century. It became less focused purely on its artistic merit, and more on its quality and function.

The Oxford Dictionary defines architecture as being: ‘the art and science of designing buildings and (some) nonbuilding structures’. (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993). And now, there is more science behind architecture than ever before – from earthquake and hurricane proof to advanced soundproofing and more, a building is no longer ‘just a building’, and the design needs to be more than just aesthetically pleasing – it needs to be functional too.

Here, we take a look at some of the common problems faced by architects and the scientific developments that are used to overcome them.

Sustainability

The word sustainability has been a hot topic for several years now. Sustainable products are both environmentally friendly and more economical. From energy and transport to clothing and agriculture, engineers and scientists are constantly looking for ways to make things more eco-friendly and sustainable. Architecture is no different. There are several elements of building design and construction that can be more sustainable – including the materials used and machinery involved.

In Australia, the Green Building Council of Australia gives green ratings to new buildings, based on the environmental impact that they have. Launched in 2002, the not-for-profit Green Building Council aims to help promote more sustainable and green property developments, such as those advocated by Dion Seminara, who is looking to promote what he calls ‘intelligent architecture’.

“The Queensland homes offered many advantages, particularly in terms of lower running costs for heating and cooling. The architectural design responded directly to the local climate using simple materials to create comfortable homes.

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Weekly Science Picks

Markus — Sun, 24 Nov 2013 12:42:52 +0000

Well, it’s my turn to pick my favourite science news this week on Australian Science. And I must apologise for being slightly late with this. The reason is that I’ve only just got home to Tokyo after spending all week in Taipei for a conference on interstellar dust! As with any good conference, it’s been fun and fascinating but also rather tiring. If anyone’s curious to know more about what went on, the twitter hashtag #lcod2013 is where myself and others were giving internet commentary over the past week.

Also, between talks, twitter is where I heard most of this week’s worldwide science happenings. So here are a few of the things which caught my eye…

Firstly, Katie Mack (a long term inspiration to me) wrote an article for The Research Whisperer on the perils of the academic lifestyle and being a science nomad – and how that affects your personal life. Being still very recently relocated to Japan myself, this strikes something of a chord with me. It’s worth reading for anyone considering a science career themselves. while I personally rather enjoy the nomadic nature of this job, it’s certainly not for everyone. And I have yet to see how I feel about it a couple more years down the line…

Academic scattering

As for me, I confess I haven’t figured it out. I have two years left on my contract in Australia and no idea whatsoever which country I’ll end up in next. I’m applying broadly, and there’s no guarantee I’ll have a choice about location if I want to stay on the path toward becoming tenure-track faculty at a major research institution. When it’s not unusual for a single postdoc job to have 300 applicants, and faculty jobs are even more selective, getting even one offer is considered a huge win.

Moving on to life of a different kind, a brand new species has been discovered in the waters off the coast of California. And anyone who’s been reading my articles awhile will know how exciting I find the discovery of new species! This time around, it’s a somewhat scary looking new species of crustacean. Don’t worry though. It only eats copepods.

New Alien-like Crustacean Species Identified in California Waters

The frail crustacean, which is only a few millimeters in length, was discovered by scientists from the University of Seville in Spain and the Museum of Natural History in Canada, who had published a taxonomic description of the new species in the journal Zootaxa.

Meanwhile in space… When people talk of space stations and lasers, a lot of us will immediately think of Star Wars. Or whatever other sci fi we might prefer. However, up in orbit around Earth, our own space station is preparing to use lasers for a rather less destructive purpose – to transmit video back to use down here on the ground.

Pew! Pew! Laser On The Space Station Will Beam Video To Earth

“Optical communications (also referred to as ‘lasercomm’) is an emerging technology wherein data is modulated onto laser beams, which offers the promise of much higher data rates than what is achievable with radio-frequency (RF) transmissions.

Cite this article:
Hammonds M (2013-11-24 12:42:52). Weekly Science Picks. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 05, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/news/weekly-science-picks-55/
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The Future of Fertility Treatment: Advanced Embryo Selection

Dunya — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 00:08:03 +0000

It is incredible just how far science and technology have come over the last few decades. In the past, men and women with fertility problems had very few options. Nowadays, there are more options than ever before and fertility treatments are becoming increasingly advanced and reliable.

The latest breakthrough in fertility treatments is here in Australia, where a new technique in preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) technology, called Advanced Embryo Selection has shown promising results in reducing a woman’s risk of miscarriage.

What is Advanced Embryo Selection (AES)?

Up to 70 per cent of embryos created are abnormal, meaning that they will not result in a healthy baby being born. AES is a form of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, which refers to genetic profiling of embryos prior to transfer into a patient. Advanced Embryo Selection is a new, more advanced PGD technique that allows scientists to select the best embryos for implantation in advance, decreasing the risk of miscarriage and increasing IVF pregnancy rates by up to 65%.

How does Advanced Embryo Selection Work?

Prior to implantation, all 24 chromosomes of a developing embryo are screened to determine whether or not there are any extra or missing chromosomes, which would inhibit a successful pregnancy.

By studying the individual chromosomes, scientists can identify whether or not a particular embryo would potentially result in a miscarriage, would not initiate a pregnancy at all or might result in birth defects such as Down Syndrome.

It takes approximately 36 hours to do the tests that will determine the potential success rate of an embryo. It is claimed to be the world’s fastest and most precise embryo selection test available.

Benefits of Advanced Embryo Selection

While typical non-selective lVF treatment is more than suitable for a lot of women, there are a range of benefits to using Advanced Embryo Selection as a preferred/additional technique.

The key benefit of AES is that chromosomes are accurately assessed prior to implantation, minimising the risk of miscarriage and failed pregnancies. It can mean less stress for the women involved and the process can be completed overnight so that embryos do not need freezing while results are pending.

Additionally, a patient’s IVF cycle can continue uninterrupted while the AES process is happening, largely due to the quick turn around time for results.

The tests on embryos are done from a single cell, which is biopsied on day three of embryo growth. This means that a patient will have more embryos available for testing.

Who is Advanced Embryo Selection for?

Advanced Embryo Selection is suitable for a lot of people with fertility problems, however it can be particularly beneficial for women who fit the following criteria:

Aged 38 years or over

A history of recurrent miscarriage

A history of failed IVF attempts

There has previously been an abnormally chromosomal pregnancy (e.g. Down Syndrome)

However, it is best to speak to your GP or fertility specialist about whether or not AES is suitable for your circumstances.

What is the Advanced Embryo Selection Process?

As mentioned above, the AES process involves a single-cell analysis from a three day old embryo. This single cell’s DNA is then multiplied thousands of times using comparative genomic hybridization technology, which is placed on a DNA chip.

This DNA is then assessed against normal male and female DNA. It is at this stage that scientists can detect whether or not an embryo is suitable for transfer. Only those that have a normal, healthy chromosomal profile will be chosen.

Further reading:

http://ivf.com.au/fertility-treatment/genetic-testing-pgd/advanced-embryo-selection

http://qfg.com.au/fertility-treatment/genetic-testing-pgd/advanced-embryo-selection

http://www.carefertility.com/genetics-programme-sc2/what-is-pgd-what-is-genetic-diagnosis-sj1/

Image credit: Flickr

PDF Resource Credit: Dr Michael Flynn

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Weekly Science Picks

Kelly Burnes — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 00:03:19 +0000

Light waves, shown evolving in time in this simulation, create a cloaking effect at the middle where the light intensity goes to zero. via Nature.com

Happy June! Happy World Oceans Day! Hard to believe it is June already. I finally have some time on my hands and caught up on some reading this week. So you’ll see two articles below that are from April. It’s a little bit of everything… so grab your coffee, tea or chocolate milk, head to the sofa or venture out to the veranda if it’s nice weather, and enjoy this edition of Weekly Science Picks!

Cyber security, data breaches, governments listening in on the phone calls of their citizens (oh wait, the U.S. claims it’s just unique identifiers…), are all hot topics in this age of data immersion that we found ourselves. Well, read about the ‘time hole’. Engineers are doing some pretty cool things in this realm.

Temporal cloak erases data from history by Zeeya Merali

Electrical engineers have used lasers to create a cloak that can hide communications in a ‘time hole’, so that it seems as if they were never sent.

Brain games are everywhere lately, whole startup companies are devoted to trying to entertain your neurons and increase your brain elasticity. I admit, I like a good competition of Words With Friends, but I’m pleased to see some research has been done on this topic.

Brain Games Versus Nature Documentaries by Rachel Kaufman

It seems brain-training games—online tests, quizzes, games, or flash cards designed to improve attention, memory, creativity, and concentration—are everywhere. But do they work? A recent study published in the journal PLoS ONE says … maybe not.

City mouse, country mouse; city bird, country bird. Lately, there appears to be a slate of ‘unique’ research going on in the Animal Kingdom. A lot of it has been appearing on BBC News. Perhaps this research will lead to some exciting new developments in city health technologies.

Biological clocks ‘beat quicker’ in cities by BBC News

City living could have a major impact on the biological clocks of humans and animals, a new study has found.

An ever greater number of people are able to ‘climb’ to the top of Mt. Everest and it is wreaking havoc on the conservation of that area. The terms have changed because the technology and the gear has improved to make it to the summit. Is there a solution? Not without putting some infrastructure and some hard policies in place.

Nepal Himalayas: ‘Decentralising’ mountaineering remains uphill task by Navin Singh Khadka

Figures from Nepal’s ministry of tourism figures show that the peaks Ama Dablam and Everest, both in the Khumbu region of eastern Nepal, see the largest number of expeditions, more than 30 every year.

Another story involving hidden data, only this time it’s the kind that we would like to have out in the open and be able to access.

A Hidden Victim of Somali Pirates: Science by Paul Salopek

Scientists from around the globe, specializing in subjects as diverse as plate tectonics, plankton evolution, oceanography, and climate change, are decrying a growing void of research that has spread across hundreds of thousands of square miles of the Indian Ocean near the Horn of Africa—an immense, watery “data hole” swept clean of scientific research by the threat of Somali buccaneering.

Something a little different to close out Weekly Science Picks – watch the video.

The Lego House is going to be Lego paradise by Rob Bricken

Stay thirsty for knowledge my friends. Stay thirsty.

Cite this article:
Burnes K (2013-06-09 00:03:19). Weekly Science Picks. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 05, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/news/weekly-science-picks-34/
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The Winners of the European Inventor Award 2013

Editorial Board — Tue, 28 May 2013 11:58:05 +0000

European Inventor Award 2013 goes to outstanding inventors from Austria, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and the US

· European Patent Office honours pioneering inventors of LCD technology, nano-capsules for cancer treatment, pyrosequencing, USB, and ‘Blumotion’ damper system for doors

· EPO President Benoît Battistelli: “These inventors have been truly exemplary, not only in coming up with ingenious solutions to the challenges of our time, such as healthcare and climate change, but also in improving people’s lives through the quality of the products and services that we are using every day, and by creating jobs to promote economic wealth”

Amsterdam, 28 May 2013 — The European Patent Office today announced the winners of the European Inventor Award2013, which honours outstanding inventors for their contribution to social, economic and technological progress.

Some 500 guests attended the award ceremony at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam, including Her Royal HighnessPrincess Beatrix of the Netherlands, Sander Dekker, the Netherlands State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science, and Michel Barnier, the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services.

The 2013 awards were presented in five categories, in addition to the Popular Prize:

· Lifetime Achievement: Martin Schadt (Switzerland), inventor of the world’s first flat-panel liquid crystal display, better known as LCD. Schadt’s technology has paved the way for the low-energy devices, such as flat screens, tablet computers and mobile phones, now used by millions of people worldwide.

· Industry: Claus Hämmerle and Klaus Brüstle (Austria) from Austrian manufacturer Julius Blum for their invention of a damper system for soft closing of furniture doors, drawers and wall cabinets. ‘Blumotion’ has seen enormous market success worldwide and has become an industry standard.

· Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Pål Nyrén (Sweden) for inventing pyrosequencing ─ a far faster, less complicated and cheaper method of sequencing DNA strands. Its combination of lower costs and greater speeds has revolutionised the study of the building blocks of life, and opened up new avenues for research into personalised treatments and cures for life-threatening diseases such as cancer.

· Research: Patrick Couvreur, Barbara Stella, Véronique Rosilio, Luigi Cattel (France, Italy), a team at Paris-Sud University, for their invention of nano-capsules – 70 times smaller than red blood cells and protected by a biodegradable coating – which destroy cancer cells without harming healthy tissue.

· Non-European Countries: Ajay V. Bhatt, Bala Sudarshan Cadambi, Jeff Morriss, Shaun Knoll, Shelagh Callahan (USA), for creating and developing Universal Serial Bus (USB) technology, one of the most important advances in computing since the silicon chip. An industry standard today, USB not only allows users to more easily connect devices to a computer, it also streamlines work for hardware and software developers. It is found in billions of electronic devices all over the world, from webcams to cell phones and memory sticks.

José Luis López Gómez (Spain), winner of the Popular Prize award on the stage of the European Inventor Award 2013

· The winner of the Popular Prize was José Luis López Gómez (Spain), whose invention to use a unique ‘independent guided’ wheel design rather than a standard axle on high-speed passenger trains makes those trains some of the most comfortable and safe in the industry. The new technology also helps to reduce energy consumption, premature wear and costs of maintenance. An electronic system monitors the speed at which the wheels are rotating. Due to the wheels’ slightly conical shape and the difference in length between the inner and outer tracks on a curved section of track, the system can determine the wheels’ exact contact point. Pneumatic struts attached to the wheels then move the wheels to the best position.

“Innovation holds the key to safeguarding quality of life and economic prosperity in Europe,” said EPO President Benoît Battistelli at the award ceremony. “All of the inventors honoured here today have been truly exemplary, not only in coming up with ingenious solutions to challenges of our time, such as healthcare and climate change, but also in improving people’s lives through the quality of the products and services that we are using every day, and by creating jobs to promote economic wealth. They demonstrate Europe’s creative drive and inventive spirit, and the role played by patents in supporting this.”

About the European Inventor Award

Launched in 2006, the European Inventor Award is presented annually by the European Patent Office. The Award honours inventive individuals and teams whose pioneering work provides answers to the challenges of our age and thereby contributes to social progress, economic growth and prosperity. Nomination proposals are submitted by the public, and by patent examiners at the EPO and Europe’s national patent offices. Fifteen finalists and, subsequently, the winners are chosen from among the nominees by a high-profile international jury which includes experts from business, politics, media, academia and research. The Award is presented in five categories: Industry, Research, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), Non-European Countries, and Lifetime Achievement. This year, for the first time, the general public was invited to vote for the Popular Prize from among the 15 finalists.

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Combating the rise of the superbugs: The health and scientific challenges of antibiotic resistance

David Borradale — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:01:17 +0000

It’s hard to imagine the world prior to antibiotics, a world where even a deep laceration could frequently spell significant illness or even death due to infection. Thankfully, since the discovery of penicillin in 1929 by Alexander Fleming, we now have a range of potent antibiotics to treat many of the various types of bacterial infection.

There is a problem though, bacteria are great survivors and have been competing against other bacteria and microorganisms for billions of years. As Professor Matt Cooper from the University of Queensland puts it “Billions of years ago, bacterial species were engaged in an arms race against each other and the chemicals they developed to kill one another have been modified into today’s antibiotics”.¹

Multi-Drug resistant Tuberculosis is a particular concern for health authorities and clinicians due to limited treatment options.

Unfortunately it’s our overuse of these important drugs which has driven the rapid development of antibiotic resistance, the process whereby bacteria containing mutations in their DNA, that provide some protection from an antibiotic, have an enormous survival advantage when exposed to the antibiotic and pretty soon dominate. Frequent exposures to the antibiotic may further strengthen these survival traits via the selection process, rendering the the drug less effective over time. It’s a great example of random variations leading to non-random adaptions through natural selection, although one with profound consequences for human health.

Of particular concern are bacteria that have developed resistance to multiple types of antibiotics, resulting in particularly dangerous resistant bacteria such as the multi-drug resistant variants of tuberculosis, that are extremely difficult to treat. Indeed leading health authorities are so worried about the problem that the Chief Medical Officer of the UK, Professor Dame Sally Davies, has recently labelled the threat as “catastrophic

Cite this article:
Borradale D (2013-03-14 00:01:17). Combating the rise of the superbugs: The health and scientific challenges of antibiotic resistance. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 05, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/biology/combating-the-rise-of-the-superbugs-the-health-and-scientific-challenges-of-antibiotic-resistance/
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Asteroids, extinctions, and biodiversity: Wiping the slate clean for new life to flourish

Markus — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:24:56 +0000

The recent meteor strike in Russia has been a rather sobering reminder that Earth has been regularly battered during its history, by space rocks. Actually, the amount of meteoritic material constantly landing on Earth is startling – on average, over 100 tons every day which we don’t even notice. Now, most of that is in the form of tiny rock fragments and dust; with most being small enough to be vapourised as they burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, relatively few meteorites ever end up on the ground. The part which may make us uneasy, however, is the fact that occasionally something larger crosses Earth’s path. Something much larger.

We already know with some degree of certainty that a gigantic asteroid impact may have played a role in wiping the dinosaurs off the face of our world, and we also know it’s not the only such large impact in Earth’s history. Now there’s evidence of another huge impact – and this one was in Australia!

With a diameter spanning around 200 km in South Australia’s East Warbuton basin, an ancient impact site has been uncovered. Created by an asteroid which was probably between 10-20 km in diamater, affecting an area of terrain of around 30,000 km, this impact zone is the third largest currently known. When this particular asteroid struck Earth some 360 million years ago, its effects would have been profound and global.

Andrew Glikson, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University, first started investigating the area after hearing about structural abnormalities in the rocks there. He spent time in a crystallography lab, studying the orientation of crystals in rocks collected from the site, and found that the most likely cause for what he was seeing was the result of the rocks being subjected to a huge shock. Given the extent and area of the shocked rocks, the most likely explanation is a giant extraterrestrial impact.

The most well known giant impact, known as the Chicxulub Impact Event, occurred about 66 million years ago causing the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, and quite probably being the final nail in the coffin of the dinosaurs. This newly discovered Australian impact site, however, is much older. In fact, when this asteroid struck Earth, it was around 100 million years before any dinosaurs had even evolved. In fact, it would have likely been during the Carboniferous Period in Earth’s geologic history. Interestingly enough, there was a minor extinction event during the Carboniferous. A minor extinction caused by a change in Earth’s climate.

Glikson went on to explain that this impact was likely one of part of a cluster which caused a number of impacts around that time. This cluster of impacts was very likely behind an extinction event. Simply, a huge impact like the one discovered in the middle of Australia would cause devastation. The effects locally would be severe, splattering molten rock into the air which would then rain back down to the ground hundreds of kilometres away, and a blast wave of superheated air would cause widespread forest fires near the impact zone – particularly in the oxygen rich atmosphere of Earth’s Carboniferous forests.

The global repercussions of such an impact, however, would be much worse. A huge amount of dust would be thrown up into Earth’s atmosphere, choking out the sunlight. This would cause Earth’s surface to cool, and the reduced light would make plants die off. A big enough impact – or a series of them – would throw enough dust into the skies that this could happen on a global scale. With the food chain cut off at the plants which are its source, a mass extinction would follow as animals would have trouble finding food to survive on.

These events are mercifully rare. A giant impact may happen on Earth once every ten million years or so. Interestingly enough though, researchers in a different study have found evidence that extinction events on planet Earth may actually be beneficial to biodiversity.

Kale Sniderman, part of a group of researchers working at the University of Melbourne and the University of Tasmania, focussed on an event much more recent than the East Warburton impact. Instead, he and the others looked at the last ice age, around one million years ago and together they constructed a hypothesis that extinction events may be even more important for biodiversity than rapid evolution. While their work concerns species which went extinct during ice ages as opposed to impact events, a suitably large meteor strike may be a factor in what causes an ice age to begin.

The traditional view of most biologists is that some areas have greater biodiversity due to evolution in those places progressing more rapidly. Evolution has always been the only thing emphasised in biodiversity studies, but Sniderman and his colleagues have taken the first step in overturning this picture.

Their work looked at regions in South Africa and Australia – notable as two of the most diverse areas on planet Earth. South Western Australia is known among botanists for having a huge variety of plants, particularly tough leaved shrubs and trees. The very tip of the South African cape is even more diverse, populated by very similar types of plant. For a long time, biologists have theorised that the diversty in these rather similar areas was down to the dry, arid summer conditions and the nutrient poor soils in these areas. The exact connection, however, has never been entirely apparent.

As it happens, the status may not be quite so quo here. Studying fossils from an ancient lake in South Eastern Australia, it was found that plant life in Australia tended to die off as the continent has gradually become drier – a process taking millions of years. In particular, during the last ice age, a huge amount of rainforest plants died off. This allowed other hardier plants to fill the space they’d left and plant diversity expanded as they did so – creating what was described by University of Tasmania’s Greg Jordan as “a remarkable number of tough-leaved, shrubby plants.” Thinking about this process logically, it seems to make perfect sense. In any place on Earth where there’s a vacant ecological niche, life will typically evolve to try and fill that niche. Where an extinction occurs, a huge niche will suddenly become empty. This would prompt a veritable explosion of new life forms to fill in the gap.

This study not only gives new insight into how extinction events can affect diversity of life forms, but also has implications for current and future climate change, and how species may be able to cope with it. As I mentioned previously when talking about the Great Barrier Reef, Australian wildlife is already suffering from climate change. However, at least for plant life on land, there’s a good chance that the species most easily affected by rapid environmental changes may have already died off during the last ice age.

To loop this discussion back to the beginning, if an extinction due to an ice age could help to boost biodiversity, logically an extinction due to an asteroid impact event could do the same. To my knowledge, there are no studies in this context concerning what happened to biodiversity after the Chicxulub impact event (though I’ll admit that I may be wrong on this), but it would be very interesting to see what such studies might find. Similarly, it would be interesting to know if any such flourishes of biodiversity occurred after the newly discovered East Warbuton impact too. It could be that only certain types of extinction event can boost diversity of life on a planet. That said, if the same thing can occur after an asteroid impact then it may have implications reaching beyond Earth.

If a giant impact event could serve to actually boost life on a planetary scale, then it may imply that once life has taken hold on a planet, it’s more robust than we’ve been giving it credit for. The implications for astrobiologists and the search for life elsewhere in the galaxy are quite clear.

To end on an aside, a large enough asteroid strike even on Earth today would cause widespread fires kilometres away from the impact site. Back in the Carboniferous Period, around the time when the East Warbuton impact occurred, the situation would have been much more dramatic; the oxygen content of Earth’s atmosphere was up to 15% higher then, than it is today. In such a combustible atmosphere, where fires could have been started by a simple lightning strike, a large asteroid impact could cause a widespread inferno. However, South Africa (one of the places considered in the biodiversity study) is home to a number of species which have evolved specifically to survive fires. In particular, the highly diverse Fynbos region is known for a number of plants for which fire is actually an integral part of their lifecycle. Some seeds belonging to protea species simply don’t germinate unless they’re exposed to the intense heat of a wildfire. Provided they could gather sufficient amounts of sunlight under the darkened skies, plants like these may be able to rapidly repopulate an area after an impact event.

Life on Earth, evidently, has resilience which can still surprise us.

Image credits:
Top – Artists impression of a large scale impact event – Don Davis/NASA
Upper Middle – Australia seen from orbit – NASA
Lower Middle – League Scrub sub tropical rainforest, near Bowraville NSW, Australia – Peter Woodard/Wikimedia Commons
Bottom – Garden – https://croatia-real.estate

Cite this article:
Hammonds M (2013-03-08 00:24:56). Asteroids, extinctions, and biodiversity: Wiping the slate clean for new life to flourish. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 05, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/environmental-science/asteroids-extinctions-and-biodiversity-wiping-the-slate-clean-for-new-life-to-flourish/
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Connecting the Quantum Dots

Danica Radovanovic — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:01:24 +0000

Last week, after I spent a couple of days in Brest, Brittany at a ESF, EU workshop/seminar brainstorming with other internet and scientific researchers on interesting topics related to internet science and innovation, I got myself back to Paris. I visited a French national institute with an international reputation for scientific excellence – ESPCI (École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles) and the CNRS department of Physics, Quantum Foundations – a group dedicated to research on quantum effects in materials. Also, I took the opportunity to meet up with two Australian Science writers who reside in Paris: Rayna, and Charles.

ESPCI Paris Tech stands for Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution (a French “Grande École d’ingénieurs”). Founded in 1882, ESPCI is a major institution of higher education – an internationally renowned research center, gathering leading scientific innovators like Nobel Prize laureates Pierre and Marie Curie, Paul Langevin, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, and Georges Charpak.

ESPCI ParisTech

At ESPCI, I met with Arjen Dijksman, a physicist and researcher interested in tiny semiconductive nanoparticles, known as “quantum dots

Cite this article:
Radovanovic D (2013-02-22 00:01:24). Connecting the Quantum Dots. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 05, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/science-2/connecting-quantum-dots/
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Could the next generation of electronics be made with graphene?

Markus — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:19:58 +0000

While it may look like little more than molecular chicken wire, graphene really is wonderful stuff. A sheet of carbon atoms naturally forms into a geometrically perfect set of hexagons and, since it was first chemically synthesised in 2004, researchers across the world have been investigating its potential for uses in a wide variety of ways – everything from DNA sequencing to hunting for it in interstellar space!

One of the biggest potentials for graphene, however, is in electronics. As graphite (a naturally occurring mineral), carbon is semiconductive. Due to the way carbon atoms are arranged in this hexagonal pattern, it leaves some electrons free to move across the material in a way not entirely unlike the way the motion of free electrons allows metals to be conductive. However, pure graphite isn’t really very conductive. Pure graphene is a much better conductor, but a single sheet of atoms is quite delicate and difficult to engineer into anything by itself.

The latest development in the story though, is courtesy of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), where research has been underway to make high grade electronics with graphene. Their recent success came from a layered material made from graphene and tiny crystals of molybdenum oxide. By using a process called exfoliation, the layers in this material are a mere 11 nm thick, and electrons are able to move freely through it without any scattering from impurities in the material (one of the main limiting factors in any system of electronics). Free from such obstructions, electroncs can flow through this new material at high speeds.

You see, electronics is one of the fastest progressing types of technology in the world today. Moore’s Law is a principle which states that approximately every two years, the number of transistors in electronic circuitry – and therefore the overall speed of computers – doubles every two years. This trend has been continuing for over half a century now; the average mobile phone today probably has more computing power than Apollo 11 did when it travelled to the Moon.

But the growth of electronics is predicted to start slowing down, not because technology will stop progressing, but because we’re expecting to reach the limit of what’s possible with our current silicon-based electronics technology. For electronics to continue improving, new and faster materials are required. Graphene-based technology may well hold the key to the future of electronics. CSIRO’s Serge Zhuiykov, spokesman for the Australian researchers involved in this project, believes it could be, stating, “Quite simply, if electrons can pass through a structure quicker, we can build devices that are smaller and transfer data at much higher speeds.

Cite this article:
Hammonds M (2013-02-04 00:19:58). Could the next generation of electronics be made with graphene?. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 05, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/technology/could-the-next-generation-of-electronics-be-made-with-graphene/
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New leader of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science division

Editorial Board — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:03:22 +0000

CSIRO’s astronomy, spacecraft tracking and space science activities will be headed up by a new leader, with the announcement today that Dr Lewis Ball has been appointed as the incoming Chief for CSIRO’s Astronomy and Space Science (CASS) division.

Dr Ball returns to CSIRO from his present role as Deputy Director at the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) located in Chile. There he has led the successful commencement of ALMA’s scientific operation, currently the world’s largest and most complex astronomical observatory and a partnership involving 20 countries.

“I look forward to enhancing and building on CSIRO’s national and international reputation in the fields of radio astronomy and space science. I’m excited and honoured to be leading such a world-class team and thrilled to be a part of the international SKA effort.”

Previous to his ALMA appointment, Dr Ball had been with CSIRO for nine years in a number of management roles including leadership of CSIRO’s astronomy division from February 2009 to May 2010, first as Acting Director of the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) and then as Acting Chief of Astronomy and Space Science.

As the new CASS Chief, Dr Ball will lead approximately 280 staff and be responsible for a world-class national research facility for radio astronomy that includes three existing radio telescopes, as well as the 36-dish Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder which begins operations this year. Dr Ball will also be responsible for driving CSIRO’s contribution to the first phase of the Square Kilometre Array telescope in Australia and for heading up, on behalf of NASA, the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex based at Tidbinbilla.

Dr Ball’s appointment fills the role made vacant by Dr Phil Diamond, who left CSIRO in October 2012 to take up the position of Director General of the SKA Organisation.

Group Executive for CSIRO’s Information Sciences, Dr David Williams, welcomed Dr Ball’s appointment.

“Following an international recruitment search, we are delighted to see Lewis returning to CSIRO. Lewis has had enormous success in his career so far and we’re thrilled to have someone of such high calibre joining our leadership team,” Dr Williams said.

Dr Ball added, “I look forward to enhancing and building on CSIRO’s national and international reputation in the fields of radio astronomy and space science. I’m excited and honoured to be leading such a world-class team and thrilled to be a part of the international SKA effort.”

Dr Ball will commence as Chief of CSIRO’s Astronomy and Space Science division on March 18, 2013 and will be based at Marsfield in Sydney.

Source.

Image: Dr Lewis Ball has been appointed as the incoming Chief for CSIRO’s Astronomy and Space Science (CASS) division. Photo credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), M. Alexander (ESO)

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