Today:

Adding whole grains to chicken food boosts meat production efficiency and could improve global food security. It’s also likely to be good for backyard chickens, says Sydney scientist Amy Moss.

Amy’s research at The University of Sydney’s Poultry Research Foundation showed that replacing some of the ground grain in chickens’ feed with whole grain both improved their digestion and how efficiently they produced meat.

More below.

Amy is available for interview and is presenting her research at the 29th Australian Poultry Science Symposium, which starts in Sydney on Monday 5 February.

She’s the NSW winner of Fresh Science 2017—our national competition helping early-career researchers find, and then share, their stories of discovery.

We’ll be sharing the other winners’ stories via this bulletin in the coming weeks.

On Friday:

Nobel Laureate Steven Chu launches new institute at UTS – 9.30 am Friday 2 February 2018, UTS Great Hall (Building 1).

Instant results at home, at the surgery, and at the bedside for every major medical test. That’s the vision for a new research institute at UTS.

They plan to use quantum dots and other nanotech to make small, inexpensive diagnostics as simple to use as a pregnancy test and as ubiquitous as smartphones.

And with their technology the human eye can now watch a single molecule at work inside a living cell.

More below.

Want more Stories of Australian Science?

Using drones to protect swimmers (and sharks); tracking space junk; detecting toxic algal blooms in Tasmania, China, and France; using silk to repair damaged eardrums; stopping people going into floodwaters; and more.

Each year we pull together a publication with some of the highlights in Australian science from the year. We’ve just published all the stories from 2017 online (along with our previous collections) at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/stories.

You can filter by state, discipline and organisation, as well as search by keyword. If you’d like to speak with any of the scientists, feel free to contact them directly or we can help you make contact.

If you’d like a hard copy of the publication let me know and I can post some to you.

Do your colleagues like science stories too?

Please feel free to share this bulletin with your colleagues, or they can subscribe at: www.scienceinpublic.com.au/category/bulletins/media-bulletin

We send updates like this every couple of weeks with science news and talent from around Australia.

Kind regards,

Niall [click to continue…]

We’re looking for a science communicator to join our team at Science in Public. We need someone who is organised, loves science and wants to help scientists get their work into the public space.

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A focus on cyber security and privacy-preserving technologies.

Macquarie University is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Dali Kaafar as Scientific Director of the Optus Macquarie University Cyber Security Hub.

Prof Kaafar will move from CSIRO Data61 on 3 October 2017.

“It is a pleasure to appoint Prof Kaafar who is regarded worldwide as one of the leaders in cyber security, in particular regarding data privacy issues,” says Dr Christophe Doche, Executive Director of the Cyber Security Hub.

“Privacy is a fascinating and important research area as it cuts across fields of information technology, business, law, criminology, psychology, and ethics,” he says. “This research topic is thus very well aligned with the philosophy of the Cyber Security Hub, which is to tackle cyber security issues with an interdisciplinary mindset. Privacy-preserving technologies are key to enable collaboration amongst organisations and to foster private and confidential data-sharing for wider and more powerful cyber security approaches.”

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We’re looking for a science communicator to join our team at Science in Public for 3 to 6 months with an immediate start.

We need someone who is organised, loves science and wants to help scientists get their work into the public space. Ideally you’ve got a couple of years professional work experience and can hit the ground running.

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Tuesday 15 August 2017

Highlights from Day 4 of National Science Week

454 events and exhibitions, 21 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.

National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.

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New dating of ancient human teeth discovered in a Sumatran cave site suggests modern humans were in Southeast Asia 20,000 years earlier than previously thought.

The international research led by Dr Kira Westaway from Macquarie University and published in Nature, has pushed back the timing of when humans first left Africa, their arrival in Southeast Asia, and the first time they lived in rainforests.

This evidence of humans living in the Sumatra rainforest more than 63,000 years ago, also suggests they could have made the crossing to the Australian continent even earlier than the accepted 50,000 to 60,000 years ago.

Other Australian universities involved in the research included the Australian National University, the University of Queensland, the University of Wollongong, Griffith University and Southern Cross University.

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National Science Week officially kicks off 12 August—but there are a few cheeky events sneaking in early (this week).

Below are some highlights we’ve picked out of the 1,800+ events—you can see all our picks here.

From tonight in Melbourne

There will be ‘Blood’

‘BLOOD: Attract & Repel’—the inaugural exhibition of Science Gallery Melbourne—opens today, exploring the significance and fascination of blood in science, medicine, art, and religion.

Science Gallery Melbourne director Rose Hiscock and ‘BLOOD’ creative director Ryan Jeffries are available for interviews.

Media enquiries via Katrina Hall kathall@ozemail.com.

Tomorrow in Melbourne

Is GMO the solution to feeding a growing global population? What does the science say?

A new movie ‘Food Evolution’, narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, explores the facts, fictions and feelings swirling around genetically modified crops and the role of biotechnology in food.

One of the experts featured in the doco Dr Alison Van Eenennaam (University of California, Davis) is in Melbourne for a screening and is available for interviews.

Contact her directly via alvaneenennaam@ucdavis.edu, or via Belinda Griffiths on 0400 042 297.

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We’re looking for an experienced science communicator to join our team at Science in Public, someone:

• who has developed and delivered communication strategies and understands what it takes to make science news
• who loves science and loves working with scientists to get their work into the public space
• who knows who’s who and can list at least ten national science agencies. The more knowledge you have of the science world in Australia the better
• who can hold their own in a discussion about Oxford commas and CMYK numbers.

You must be able to write fluently and accurately, manage a number of projects at once, and work to tight deadlines. A solid grounding in WordPress, Twitter and MailChimp would also be useful.

The position is full-time or near full-time. Pay will be negotiated based on experience and hours can be negotiated to be family-friendly.

If you are interested, please send me a short email summarising:

• your mix of skills (media, outreach, project management, writing etc.)
• your experience in science communication and /or media liaison
• what you want to get out of the role
• examples of your writing and/or media stories that you have been involved in clearly stating your contribution.

Science in Public is a specialist science communication business based in Spotswood, Melbourne. We have a core team of six plus associates around the country. We work with governments, universities, research institutes and individual scientists to help them present their work in public. You can read more about us and our work at www.scienceinpublic.com.au.

If you have any questions, you can give Sarah Brooker a call on 0413 332 489. Otherwise, email your one-pager addressing the above and a CV to sarah@scienceinpublic.com.au by lunchtime Friday 7 April.

Sarah and Niall have a new baby boy, Ben, born 1 December 2016. He’s 3.6 kg and in a hurry to grow up.

Science in Public has no connection with Shac Communications. [click to continue…]

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On Sunday 14 February for journalists at the 2016 AAAS, Washington DC

Forty of the world’s leading science journalists will join me for a good dinner, Australian shiraz, and a briefing on some of the best of Australian science on Sunday 14 February 2016 during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington DC.

Science in Public’s Australian Dinner has become a minor tradition during the AAAS. It enables Australia to build on the links with international science reporters which were created when Melbourne hosted the World Conference of Science Journalists back in 2007.

Our guests in 2015 included:

• The science editors of the Economist, BBC TV News, Financial Times, Asahi Shimbun, The Sun, and reporters from the BBC, Daily Mail, the London Times and others.
• The executive producer of PBS Nova, the ABC’s Robyn Williams and David Fisher.
• Freelancers filing for dozens of publications and websites including Science, Nature, Discovery, National Geographic.
• The heads of Research America and Research Sweden, the director of the World Federation of Science Journalists, representatives of the UK and Australian Science Media Centres, of the EuroScience Open Forum, RIKEN, and the IgNobels.
• Australian scientists speaking at AAAS including representatives of CSIRO and ANU.

Our partners in past dinners have included the Australian Government’s industry department, Australia’s SKA team, Inspiring Australia, COSMOS and the Australian Science Media Centre. We welcome partners who share our interest in sharing the best Australian science achievements with the world.

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Footy player, netballer and ballet dancer available for interview

Re-training the brain with painless exercises may be the key to stopping recurring tendon pain, according to Melbourne researchers.

Dr Ebonie Rio

AFL, basketball and netball players are the major sufferers, with tendon pain in the knee debilitating and long-lasting. The injury can sideline a player or cause them to give up the sport entirely.

“More than 50 per cent of people who stop sport because of tendon pain still suffer from that pain 15 years later,” says Dr Ebonie Rio of the Monash University Tendon Research group.

“Our simple exercise is revolutionising how we treat tendinopathy.”

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Geoff Carr, Science Editor, Economist. Credit: Edge.org

Join us for a conversation with Geoff Carr, The Economist’s Science Editor, hosted by the University of Melbourne on behalf of the Parkville Precinct Communications Group, at a special viewing of the exhibition TRANSMISSIONS | Archiving HIV/AIDS | Melbourne 1979-2014. The exhibition showcases artworks, manuscripts, and other material from private collections and public archives explores the history of AIDS as seen in Melbourne.

Geoff Carr is in Melbourne for AIDS 2014. We have asked him if he could join us for a conversation about science, science journalism, The Economist, and his impressions from AIDS 2014.

12.30 – 2pm Thursday 24 July 

Light lunch is provided followed by discussion in the George Paton Gallery – Level 2, Student Union Building, University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus

M/C: Niall Byrne, Creative Director, Science in Public

After training as a zoologist, Geoff Carr joined The Economist in 1991 as Science Correspondent. He then became Tokyo Correspondent in 1994 and in 1995 moved to his current job as Science Editor.

When he isn’t editing he has particular interests in evolution, genomics, biotech, AIDS and malaria, and renewable-energy technologies.

This is a free forum aimed at journalists, science communicators and researchers. 

Places are limited, RSVP essential to niall@scienceinpublic.com.au

For more information about the exhibition contact or if you’re lost on the day contact Rebecca Scott | Acting Director Media and PR| University Communications Mobile +61 417 164 791, rebeccas@unimelb.edu.au

The first 30 years of bionics in Melbourne; transforming lives, creating jobs

• A Dalek talking inside your head proves the worth of the bionic ear
• And a little flash at first, then cloud-like images are just the start of the potential of the bionic eye.

Two people whose lives have been changed by the work of Melbourne’s Bionics Institute are available for interview ahead of the Bionics Institute lecture on 17 June. The lecture marks the beginning of celebrations of 30 years of the Bionics Institute and of the development of the Institute’s 30/30 vision.

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Hobart’s Kaylene Young believes she can persuade lazy stem cells in our brain to repair brain injuries and even treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.

Melbourne’s Jose Polo is unveiling the details of how stem cells can be produced from adult cells through a process of identity theft and reprogramming.

Today both receive inaugural $50,000 Metcalf Prizes from the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia in recognition of their leadership in stem cell research.

And tomorrow, we release the next of our FameLab stories.

Dr Francis Torres, a physicist at the University of Western Australia, has developed a mirror device which could help find signs of life on Mars, and identify minerals and water deposits here on Earth.

“Our idea is to connect the sensors in existing space exploration tools to our amplifier so they can look deeper underground and find smaller and hard-to-find targets such as hidden mineral deposits, water or other bacterial life,” says Francis, who developed the resonator mirror as part of his PhD.

According to Francis, the amplifier technology could also enhance the detection sensitivity of Earth exploration tools and medical sensors.

And Michael Smout, our FameLab national champion, is now in the UK to compete in the world final talking about worm spit that heals and kills.

Also in national tours:

• The Graeme Clark Oration: Organs on Chips – in Melbourne on Thursday
• String theory with Michio Kaku – Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney
• And the Science of Doctor Who in Melbourne next week

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Cairns scientists have discovered a wound-healing and cancer-causing hormone in the spit of a worm.

The worm lives in the livers of over nine million people and infects adventurous Australian tourists. The Southeast Asian liver fluke munches through the liver repairing the damage as it goes. But after many years of infection it can cause liver cancer and kills 20,000 people each year in Thailand alone.

Now James Cook University researcher Dr Michael Smout has found that a protein in the spit also sends wound-healing messages.

Michael has taken out the inaugural FameLab Australia competition with his discovery. This Friday he’ll pack up his props (a teddy bear, oversized worm and stuffed liver) and jet off to the UK to represent Australia at the International FameLab final.

But he’s available to do some interviews at home beforehand. More below.

Also this week, the National Stem Cell Foundation has released its who’s who of Australian stem cell research – a valuable resource for any journo in need of a stem cells expert at short notice. Next week they’ll also be announcing the winners of their inaugural Metcalf Prizes for stem cell research. Drop me a line if you want a heads up.

Next week, American theoretical physicist and best-selling author Michio Kaku will be in Australia to talk about string theory, the multiverse and how we could re-engineer the brain. And The Science of Doctor Who comes to Adelaide this week.

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We’re looking for a project manager and/or science publicist with 3 to 5 years’ experience to join our team at Science in Public.

Ideally, we’d like someone who’s got runs on the board getting science, health, or environment stories into the public domain. The more knowledge you have of the science world in Australia the better.

You must be able to write fluently and accurately, manage a number of projects at once, and work to tight deadlines. A solid grounding in tools such as WordPress, Twitter and MailChimp would also be useful.

The position is full-time or near full-time and hours are flexible. Pay will be negotiated based on experience and hours can be negotiated to be family-friendly.

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This morning Monash, Melbourne, and UQ have a cracking paper in Nature announcing the discovery of a key that wakes up a poorly understood part of our immune system.

It’s the next step for the research which last year won the Eureka Prize for Scientific Research.

Two years ago they discovered that ‘mystery’ immune cells in our gut detect invaders by reacting to components of vitamin B that are only made by certain bacteria and fungi. Now they have a molecular key to turn this off and on.
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