Today at the Centenary Chemistry Congress

Chemical-free is a myth, says Chief Scientist

“It’s a sad era for chemistry when you can buy chemical-free water, in a chemical-free plastic bottle, to wash down your chemical-free pills, from your chemical-free pharmacist,” says Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel.

More below.

Tomorrow

• Eliminating chemical weapons, His Excellency Mr Ahmet Üzümcü—Director-General, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (2013 Nobel Peace Prize winner)
• Using carbs to fight superbugs—Wisconsin chemist Laura Kiessling on how we can use the carbohydrates that coat every living cell in the fight against antibiotic resistant superbugs
• Sir Martyn Poliakoff (University of Nottingham) is in the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s smallest periodic table (carved into a hair from his head). He’s a star of the YouTube series The Periodic Table of Videos. And in his day job he’s working to use CO2, water and other supercritical fluids to replace toxic solvents in applications such as dry cleaning.

And from last night

Business can solve today’s intractable challenges says Dow CEO Andrew Liveris, but Australia is falling behind..

More below. [continue reading…]

9 conferences and 2,500+ chemists under one roof

• What’s the role of chemistry in shaping the economy, now and in the future?
• What is e-drug discovery and what will it offer medicine?
• Can chemistry help save the planet through energy storage or cleaner production?
• How will chemistry address the challenges of the 21st Century?

In two weeks, Melbourne will host the RACI Centenary Chemistry Congress, celebrating the 100th birthday of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) and bringing nine national, regional and international conferences under one congress roof.

Visiting speakers include:

• ‘Trump’s Aussie mate’ Andrew Liveris – Australian-born, US-based chairman and CEO Dow Chemical Company, who Trump has appointed to lead his American Manufacturing Council.
• Nobel Prize for Chemistry (2005) winner Robert Grubbs (Caltech), who won for his work on a multistep reaction process and catalysts to help it. The benefits can be cleaner, cheaper and faster reactions.
• His Excellency Mr Ahmet Üzümcü – Director-General, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (2013 Nobel Peace Prize winner)
• Frances Arnold (Caltech) – American scientist and engineer, and a pioneer of ‘directed evolution’, which uses chemical engineering to create useful biological systems such as highly reactive enzymes or microorganisms that convert biomass to alternatives fuels.
• Martyn Poliakoff (University of Nottingham) – a green chemistry research leader working with supercritical fluids – gases compressed under so much pressure that they have properties of both gases and liquids. Martyn is also a star of the YouTube series The Periodic Table of Videos.

If you’d like to attend the conference, media passes are available—contact Suzannah Lyons on suzannah@scienceinpublic.com.au to register.

We’ll be tweeting news and interesting content from the Congress from @RACI_HQ and using #RACI100.

For more information about the Congress itself, visit the website: www.racicongress.com.

More than $3 million worth of science prizes, fellowships, grants and awards are open for nominations over the next couple of months, from $5K for young engineers to two CSL Centenary Fellowships worth $1.25million each.

This week, the Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research open—two $50,000 prizes for outstanding mid-career researchers working with stem cells in medicine, agriculture or any other field.

Read on for more.

We can help you make the most of Science Week

Last year, 1.3 million Australians got involved in 1,800 registered National Science Week events around the country. We’re the national publicists for Science Week, providing communication support for event organisers and briefing media outlets with tasty story leads.

If you have an event or topic you think has strong media potential, let us know and we’ll consider including it in our media releases and briefings. Email us at scienceweek@scienceinpublic.com.au.

And it’s not too late to create an event, or to register an existing event via www.scienceweek.net.au/event-holder-registration.

More below.

New media and engagement training dates

Do you (or any of your staff) need help shaping your science into a story for stakeholders, the public, industry, or the media?

Join us for our scheduled one day courses around the country or talk to us about a customised course. More below.

• Sydney – 31 August
• Melbourne – 1 August, 12 September
• Canberra – 5 September
• Adelaide – 19 September
• Perth – 21 September

Also in this bulletin:

• The chemist who has Trump’s ear, several Nobel Laureates, and a Babushka doll of nine chemistry conferences— celebrating 100 years of chemistry at the RACI 100 Centenary Congress in July
• From biofabrication to better batteries: research innovators to pitch problem-solving projects to industry and public at IMPACT7 on 1 August
• Do you want to share your science with policymakers in Canberra? Science meets Policymakers is coming up in August.

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The extraordinary diversity of scientific research and collaboration found in Melbourne is celebrated in a Naturejobs supplement which publishes alongside Nature today. It includes an interactive map – based on data from the Nature Index – that reveals the extensive local, national and international links that make the city Australia’s life science capital, and number three in the world for biomedical research after Boston and London. “Our map shows Melbourne’s top 44 research institutions and charts the links between them,” says David Swinbanks, the founder of the Nature Index, the high-quality research publications database behind the map. “It allows users to dive in, explore the networks, and see the impact of each institution’s research.”

[continue reading…]

• Pouring water on fast food kids’ meals
• The inside story on Syria and eliminating chemical, nuclear, and bio weapons
• WHO guru on what globalisation means for health security
• Labia Library reveals ‘normal’ and fights genital cosmetic surgery trend
• Providing abortion by telehealth: safe and effective
• Making Melbourne a global health epicentre
• Healthy Parks for public health
• From dental health to MasterChef to Sugar Free Smiles

Thursday 6 April at the 15th World Congress on Public Health in Melbourne
Call Niall on 0417-131-977 for interviews

[continue reading…]

• 6 trillion sticks sold per annum
• Killing half its users – over five million people a year
• Australia, UK, and Canada are winning the fight – we’re smoking less and pension funds are pulling their money
• Tobacco’s new ruthless tactics for blocking health policy
• Multinational companies, like mosquitoes, are vectors of disease
• What’s happening for the 800 million smokers in developing countries?

Researchers at the World Congress on Public Health in Melbourne available for interview.

Plus, Mike Daube, the man behind Australia’s plain packaging laws receives the highest honour from the World Federation of Public Health Associations—the Hugh Leavell Award for Outstanding Global Health Leadership.

Contact Niall on 0417-131-977, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au or Tanya on 0404-083-863 for interviews

[continue reading…]

• Could Trump’s rejection of trade agreements be healthy?
• Africa is getting healthier
• Tuberculosis will kill 4,000 people today
• New flu types are appearing faster
• We’re not ready for the next pandemic

Global challenges today, Tuesday 4 April at the 15th World Congress on Public Health

Researchers available for interview, contact Niall Byrne on 0417 131 977 or niall@scienceinpublic.com.au [continue reading…]

At home, on the streets, across the world

Adolescence can be the best years of your life—exploring your freedom to think, party, travel. But it can also be the worst—accidental injuries, street crime, depression, stress, and putting on unwanted weight.

Melburnian George Patton explored these issues for the 2016 Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing.

Wednesday evening George will join a panel of teen health experts for the Melbourne Conversations event The light and dark sides of adolescence for the World Public Health Congress in Melbourne on 5 April.

George is available for interview on how we can help our own children and our city’s children, survive and thrive through adolescence.

Other stories from the World Congress on Public Health include

Risky drinking; what’s making our teens fat; standing desks for schools; sun safety; and more

Researchers available for interview, contact Niall Byrne on 0417 131 977 or niall@scienceinpublic.com.au [continue reading…]

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.