Three Victorian high-school students will visit Google, NASA, and Stanford University on an all-expenses paid trip to Silicon Valley on the 19 January.

They’ll also get to network with other young entrepreneurs from around the world and practice their pitching skills, presenting their business idea to local industry leaders.

The students, aged 14, 16 and 17 from Bendigo, Box Hill, and Mount Waverly, won the trip with their idea for a DIY box-set to teach electronics and programming skills. It was presented at the TiE Young Entrepreneurs competition in Melbourne in late 2016. [continue reading…]

Rediscovering the physicist born a century ago in Far North Queensland who went on to win a Nobel Prize for his role in the invention of the laser.

Australia’s forgotten Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Prokhorov was born 11 July 1916 in Atherton, Far North Queensland—the child of refugee parents fleeing Tsarist Russia.

When he died in 2002, Prokhorov was a national hero in Russia. Here, his Australian roots are largely forgotten.

Australian physicists are now working to change that.

The Australian Optical Society (AOS) sessions at the Congress on Monday morning will be held in honour of Prokhorov— AOS President, Professor Stephen Collins can speak to the topic.

The centenary of Prokhorov’s birth was also celebrated in a series of spectacular laser-shows in Far North Queensland as part of National Science Week.

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• Australian scientists stalking, sensing and trapping elusive dark matter

• Gravitational waves. Have more been found, what is Australia’s role, and why should we care?

• Our neutrino world – explained by 2015 Nobel Prize winner Takaaki Kajita

• The world’s biggest experiment – a multi-billion machine, with first results in 2025, hear from those working on it in Europe and Australia

• We have the technology. Australia set to ride the quantum computing wave

More on these and other stories from this week’s Physics Congress below. [continue reading…]

The biennial Physics Congress in Brisbane
4 to 8 December

Researchers from every State plus international and Asian leaders
All stories embargoed until released during the Congress.

The biggest discovery of 2016 – gravitational waves. Hear from one of the leaders on what’s next.

Einstein said we’d never find them. But we did. Have more been found? What’s Australia’s role, and why should we care? Researchers from Canberra, Melbourne, and Perth will talk about their work on gravitational waves.

Our neutrino world – explained by 2015 Nobel Prize winner Takaaki Kajita

We live in a world of neutrinos. Thousands of billions of neutrinos—mostly created by the Sun—are flowing through your body every second. You cannot see them and you do not feel them. So how did we discover they have mass, and why does that challenge our standard model of the Universe? Kajita will also be meeting with school students.

$20 billion, with a result is expected in 2035. The world’s largest science experiment hopes to crack fusion power.

Speakers from around the world, including senior advisor to the ITER project Jean Jacquinot, will speak about the global race to harness the process that powers our Sun. Researchers from ANU will be available to speak about Australia’s involvement. [continue reading…]

One of the highlights on the Australian Institute of Physics’ (AIP’s) calendar is its biennial Congress, where physicists from all over Australia and overseas come together for a week-long program of plenary, keynote and contributed talks, social events, and the opportunity to network.

We are delighted to announce that the next (22^nd) such Congress will take place in the vibrant and progressive city of Brisbane from 4-8 December, 2016. Brisbane is a significant physics ‘hub’, with major research facilities and groups at the University of Queensland, Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology, and the nearby University of Southern Queensland.

Furthermore, and most importantly, the Congress will be held in conjunction with the 13^th Asian-Pacific Physics Conference, the triennial meeting of the Association of Asia-Pacific Physics Societies that brings together physicists from across the entire Asia-Pacific region. This will be the first time that both meetings have been held jointly, and is certain to enrich the scientific program, as well as facilitate new links to be made between the Australian physics community and those throughout the Asia-Pacific region – something that is a high priority for the Australian Institute of Physics. We are also very pleased that these two joint meetings will incorporate the Annual Meeting of the Australian Optical Society.

We very much look forward to your attendance at this joint 13^th Asia Pacific Physics Conference and 22^ndAustralian Institute of Physics Congress and making it an outstanding success, both scientifically and collegially.

Warrick Couch
AIP President and Meeting Co-Chair

Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop
Meeting Co-chair

More at: appc-aip2016.org.au

Innovation successes for Australian universities.

Today I want to share with you news of some great examples of Australian universities getting innovation right.

Monash’s 3D printed jet engine technology has flown into a manufacturing collaboration in Toulouse – with their spin-out company Amaero making aerospace components for Safran Power Units. The Australian Ambassador to France launched the deal in Paris last night. More below.

And UQ researcher Mark Kendall is on track to replace the 160-year-old needle and syringe. He will be recognised in Parliament House in Canberra tonight with the CSL Young Florey Medal. His Nanopatch  uses a fraction of the dose, puts the vaccine just under the skin, and doesn’t require a fridge.

Spin-out company Vaxxas is running human trials in Brisbane and the WHO is planning a polio trial in Cuba in 2017. The Gates Foundation and Merck are also backing Mark.

Last week I was in Tokyo filming more successful innovations:

• Griffith University is partnering with three Japanese companies in the search for malaria drugs.
• The University of Melbourne’s Recaldent is repairing teeth worldwide thanks to their long term collaboration with Japanese dental company GC Corp.
• Solar furnace technology from CSIRO and a South Australian company is being trialled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Yokohama.
• And Komatsu’s CEO told me about the giant robotic trucks that they’re developing with Rio Tinto for the ‘mine of the future’.

Talk to me if you’d like help telling your organisation’s stories of innovation:

• We offer pitching, engagement, presentation, and media training.
• We have the national and global connections to put your stories in front of the right audiences.
• Our 2017 Stories of Australian Science is opening for submissions soon.

In this bulletin:

• After 160 years, it’s time to move on from the needle and syringe
• Melbourne’s 3D jet engine technology flies into production in France
• Should scientists use social media? Event in Melbourne this Friday
• Communication and media training dates for 2017
• We want your stories of Australian science

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After 160 years, it’s time to throw away the needle and syringe
Nanopatch starts clinical trials in Brisbane, with Cuba next

Rocket scientist Mark Kendall (UQ) reinvents vaccination and wins $25,000 CSL Young Florey Medal

Press materials available:

• Media release and backgrounder below
• Full profile here
• Video on YouTube
• HD footage (with and without sound)
• Photos of Mark and his technology
• Photos from the award night

The 2016 CSL Young Florey Medal was presented at the Association of Australian medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) dinner at on Wednesday 9 November in the Great Hall, Parliament House, Canberra

• Professor Mark Kendall helped create a small rocket for vaccine delivery.
• Then he invented a radically simpler concept that could replace the needle and syringe we’ve been using for 160 years.
• A small square of silicon with 20,000 microscopic spikes delivers vaccines directly to the skin’s immune cells.
• It’s painless, requires a fraction of the dose, doesn’t need refrigeration, and eliminates needle phobia.
• Now human clinical trials are underway in Brisbane, and the WHO is planning a polio vaccine trial in Cuba in 2017.

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Professor Mark Kendall, University of Queensland

2016 CSL Young Florey Medal

Professor Mark Kendall is planning to dispatch the 160-year-old needle and syringe to history. This Queensland rocket scientist has invented a new vaccine technology that’s painless, uses a fraction of the dose, puts the vaccine just under the skin, and doesn’t require a fridge.

Human trials of Mark’s Nanopatch are underway in Australia, and the concept has broad patent coverage. It’s being supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck and the WHO. A polio vaccine trial is being planned for Cuba in 2017.  

But it’s not been an easy path. Mark has had to push the science and business worlds to see the value of a new approach to vaccine delivery. It took 70 presentations before he secured funding for the UQ spin-out company Vaxxas.

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Professor Mark Kendall (UQ) winner of the CSL 2016 Young Florey Medal

Mark Kendall (Photo credit: AIBN/The University of Queensland)

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