The US spends $80 billion on defence research but still thinks they can learn from our nanotechnologists. They’re meeting with Australian nano-leaders this week in DC.
More on that below, and also:
Today in Washington DC, the Australian Ambassador Kim Beazley will open a four day workshop with more than 60 US defence researchers and 33 Australian nanotechnology scientists.
The meeting, organised by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF), will explore opportunities for collaboration in nanotechnology and nano-manufacturing.
Oceanographers have identified a series of ocean hotspots around the world generated by strengthening wind systems that have driven oceanic currents—including the East Australian Current—polewards beyond their known boundaries. The hotspots have formed alongside ocean currents that wash the east coast of the major continents and their warming proceeds at a rate far exceeding the average rate of ocean surface warming, according to an international science team, including an Australian. The authors say that while the finding has local ecological implications in the region surrounding the hotspots, the major influence is upon the ocean’s ability to take up heat and carbon from the atmosphere.
Dr Wenju Cai, CSIRO
Nature Climate Change; http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Media/Warming-in-the-Tasman-Sea-a-global-warming-hot-spot.aspx
Welcome back – this is my first 2012 bulletin for journalists interested in science.
And yet the latest research reported in Perth this week suggests they have little to fear from ‘nano-sunscreens’.More than three in five Australians are concerned enough about the health implications of nanoparticles in sunscreens to want to know more about their impact. And while the initial scientific information released suggests little cause for alarm, it does justify the community’s confusion.
That’s the message that emerges from a survey and three research papers on nanoparticles in sunscreens presented at the 2012 International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICONN) in Perth this week. Read the full article →
A previously unnamed species of horse fly, whose appearance is dominated by its glamorous golden lower abdomen, has been named in honour of American pop diva, Beyoncé –member of former group Destiny’s Child, which recorded the 2001 hit single, Bootylicious. According to the researcher responsible for officially ‘describing’ the fly as Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae, the fly’s spectacular gold colour makes it the “all time diva of flies”.
Bryan Lessard, Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO
Australian Journal of Entomology; http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Media/New-species-fly-Beyonce.aspx
Australian researchers have measured the relationship between current climate, climate change and habitat loss on plants and animals on a global scale. Their results indicate that areas with high temperatures and where average rainfall has decreased over time increase the chance of a species being negatively affected by habitat loss and fragmentation.
Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle, Dr Jonathan Rhodes, University of Queensland & Dr Tara Martin, CSIRO
Global Change Biology; http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.html?article=24242
A rapid screening tool developed by a Melbourne doctoral researcher could enable the instant detection of pesticide residues in Australia’s water catchments. He investigated the development of a portable instrument for detecting the presence of commonly used pesticides in water using chemiluminescence – a highly-sensitive technique that allows the detection of minute quantities of an organic compound in bulk waters.
Dr David Beale, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University and CSIRO
http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=5n5t14uh58jo1;STATUS=A
Global carbon dioxide emissions increased by a record 5.9 per cent in 2010 following the dampening effect of the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), according to scientists working with the Global Carbon Project (GCP). The GCP annual analysis reported that the impact of the GFC on emissions has been short-lived owing to strong emissions growth in emerging economies and a return to emissions growth in developed economies.
Contributions to global emissions growth in 2010 were largest from China, USA, India, the Russian Federation, and the European Union, with a continuously growing global share from emerging economies. Coal burning was at the heart of the growth in fossil fuel and cement emissions accounting for 52% of the total growth.
Dr Pep Canadell, Dr Mike Raupach, CSIRO
Nature Climate Change
http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Media/Global-Carbon-Project.aspx
A recent Australian study shows that isolated reefs may have a better ability to regenerate compared to those closer to human activity. The study focused on WA’s Ashmore Reef, located on the north-west shelf, which is home to 275 species, making it one of the most diverse coral systems in the region.
Dr Daniela Ceccarelli, CSIRO
Marine and Freshwater Research
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20112711-22884.html
New research providing critical information about how climate change is affecting Australia’s Pacific island neighbours and East Timor has been released today by the Australian Government’s Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP). The landmark, peer-reviewed publication, Climate Change in the Pacific: Scientific Assessment and New Research, presents the most comprehensive scientific analysis to date of climate change in the Pacific region.
Dr Scott Power, Bureau of Meteorology; Kevin Hennessy, CSIRO
http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Media/New-insight-into-climate-change-in-the-Pacific.aspx
An international study in the prestigious journal Nature Biotechnology reveals new information about human pluripotent stem cells and their genetic stability and has important implications for the development of therapies using these cells. Scientists from the University of Melbourne, University of NSW and CSIRO contributed to this study, which examined how the genome of 138 stem cell lines of diverse ethnic backgrounds changed when the cells were grown in the laboratory.
Prof Martin Pera, University of Melbourne and Stem Cells Australia
Dr Andrew Laslett, Qi Zhou, CSIRO
A/Prof Jeremy Crook, Shirani Sivarajah, University of Melbourne and National ICT Australia
A/Prof Kuldip Sidhu, UNSW
Nature Biotechnology
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.2051.html
Scientists have accounted for all the contributions to global sea-level rise in a study that balances the sea-level rise ‘budget’ and explains the observed rise over recent decades. The researchers also reviewed the related Earth’s energy budget – confirming that 90% of the energy stored in the climate system resides in the ocean and this warming drives one component of sea-level rise.
Dr John Church, Dr Neil White, Wealth from Oceans Flagship, CSIRO
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.csiro.au/news/Sea-level-and-energy-budgets.html
Changing the world one molecule at a timeIn the coming years when you buy a tyre, lubricant, adhesive, paint, computer or any one of hundreds of other products, there’s a good chance that some of its component materials will have been produced using revolutionary chemical theories and processes invented in Australia by research teams led by Professors Ezio Rizzardo and David Solomon.
Their techniques are employed in almost every university chemistry department, and the laboratories and factories of DuPont, L’Oréal, IBM, 3M, Dulux and more than 60 other companies.
Willows are major environmental weeds of riverbank habitats across much of south-eastern Australia. They obstruct water flow, increase water temperature, change water chemistry and can displace native riverine plant species.
A CSIRO project looking at the reproductive ecology and dispersal ability of the most aggressive invasive species of willows in Australia is providing urgently needed information to help land managers more efficiently control this weed. Read the full article →
Published by CSIRO on 4 July 2011
Decreasing autumn and winter rainfall over southern Australia has been attributed to a 50-year decrease in the average intensity of storms in the region – a trend which is forecast to continue for another 50 years.”Our recent work on climate model projections suggests a continuation of these trends over the next 50 years.”
In an address today to the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics conference in Melbourne, CSIRO climate scientist, Dr Jorgen Frederiksen, said these changes are due to reductions in the strength of the mid-latitude jet stream and changes in atmospheric temperatures. The jet stream comprises fast moving westerly winds in the upper atmosphere. Read the full article →
Australian researchers have invented nanotech solar cells that are thin, flexible and use 1/100th the materials of conventional solar cells. Read the full article → 
Melbourne researchers have developed smart bandages that change colour to reveal the state of the wound beneath.
Their invention could reduce the $500 million cost of chronic wound care in Australia. Read the full article → 
More women are studying science at university than men. But they’re not staying in science. We’re losing them mid-career.
We, as a nation, are not successfully supporting their transition into independent researchers and science leaders. The loss of these highly trained smart women is economically and culturally damaging to Australia.
