Australia has taken the podium alongside Japan and China as one of the top three science performers in a dynamic Asia-Pacific region. The Nature Publishing Index is a snapshot of the region’s scientific research in the past year based on publication output in Nature and the 17 Nature research journals.
And from chart topping to myth busting – the Mythbusters are coming to Australia during National Science Week.
Read on for more…
Australia has taken the podium alongside Japan and China as one of the top three science performers in a dynamic Asia-Pacific region.
The Nature Publishing Index 2013 Asia-Pacific released the news in the wee hours of this morning.
The index is a snapshot of the region’s scientific research in the past year based on publication output in Nature and the 17 Nature research journals.
According to the index, Australia came in at third place, behind Japan (first) and China (second) – but we had the second highest level of international collaboration in the region.
The University of Melbourne topped Australia for the third consecutive year and the University of New South Wales was the rising star, up to fourth place from eighth.
And from chart topping to myth busting – the Mythbusters are coming to Australia during National Science Week.
I’m told they’ve blown up 146 vehicles, caused 792 explosions and tested 23 shark myths. But they’re also keen to get all of us thinking about science – and art – in a different way.
Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku is also heading out here for public talks in June.
Aside from his work building on Einstein’s theories, he’s also a New York Times bestseller. In his latest book, The Future of the Mind, physics meets neuroscience. Could we download our memories? Upload a text book?
From solar panels based on Buddhist ‘singing bowls’ to the world’s tiniest outboard motor… hear more over a drink in Sydney tonight, Melbourne next week.
We’re on the road with FameLab Australia. Journos in each state are helping these passionate early career researchers perfect their performance before we unleash them on the public.
Nature Publishing Index: Australia performs strongly in earth and environmental sciences
Australia retains third place in a dynamic Asia-Pacific region, with its greatest strengths still in earth and environmental sciences, according to the Nature Publishing Index 2013 Asia-Pacific released today as a supplement to Nature.
The country improved its NPI score by almost every measure, with the second highest level of international collaboration in the region. Its contribution to Nature journals grew by more than 50% in 2013.
In the life sciences, Australia ranks third in the NPI Asia-Pacific behind China and Japan. However, it is persistently strong in immunology. Four of the top five regional institutions contributing to Nature Immunology were Australian.
The University of Melbourne held top spot in Australia for the third consecutive year, followed by Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Queensland (UQ) in second and third places, respectively—the same positions as 2012.
Australia recorded 29 institutions in the Asia-Pacific Top 200, with the University of Melbourne coming in at number eight.
Those that also came in the Australian top 10 institutions include:
- the University of New South Wales (UNSW) – this year’s rising star. It comes in fourth place, up from eighth, with contributions including those from two winners in the 2013 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science Awards, quantum computer scientist Andrea Morello and plant ecologist Angela Moles
- the University of Sydney in fifth place, which dropped one place despite its increased output
- Monash University up one spot to sixth place, with a high proportion (three-quarters) of its papers involving co-authors from international institutions
- CSIRO which dropped to seventh from fifth despite increased output. CSIRO was the top Asia-Pacific contributor to Nature Climate Change, with 12 papers that included subjects such as climate change models and the effects of a changing climate on species distribution
- the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research (WEHI), back in the top 10 with eighth place and a 250% increase in output over the year
- the University of Western Australia (UWA), which retained its ninth spot with two high-scoring climate change papers, among others
- Macquarie University, which joined the top group in tenth place. Macquarie is notable for all of its collaborative publications with international institutions.
Overall, Australia earned about one third of its NPI output from papers in the earth and environmental field, led by CSIRO, ANU and UQ.
The University of Western Australia and James Cook University, which both dropped out of the top 10, joined CSIRO and UQ in the top five contributors to Nature Climate Change.
The big movers this year among Australian institutions were WEHI (up to 33 from 68) and the two that just missed Australia’s top 10: Swinburne University of Technology (up to 64 from 100) and the University of Adelaide (up to 66 from 125).
The Nature Publishing Index 2013 Asia-Pacific has been released as a supplement to Nature today. It measures the output of research articles from nations and institutes published in the 18 Nature-branded primary research journals over the calendar year to provide a snapshot of research in the Asia-Pacific in 2013.
You can download the supplement from http://www.scienceinpublic.com.au/nature or the Nature Asia website http://www.natureasia.com/en/publishing-index/
To see the latest results for the region, and the Nature Publishing Index Global Top 100, visit the Index website at www.natureasia.com/en/publishing-index/. The data posted on the website is updated every week with a moving window of 12 months of data (so it currently shows data for the period 25 March 2013 to 24 March 2014).
For more information and interviews with Nature’s executive editor, contact:
- Niall Byrne, Science in Public, Australia, +61 417 131 977, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au
- Alex Jackson, Corporate Communications Officer, Nature Publishing Group, + 44 20 7843 4850, alex.jackson@nature.com
Mythbusters: Behind The Myths tour coming to Australia
The Mythbusters are coming out for their first tour of Australia this August, during National Science Week, with shows in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
Hopefully Jamie and Adam won’t be flinging supersonic ping-pong balls at us or blowing up their 147th vehicle – although they will have the audience up on stage and show us behind-the-scenes videos.
But they’re not all explosions and duct tape – they really are champions of science and technology. For the past couple of years, they’ve been working with a science outreach website, Tested.
With its founders, Will Smith and Norman Chan, the Mythbusters guys are making a place for people to learn about technology and share their passions. From the art of brewing coffee to the making of LEGO models, the site is full of all the stuff that inspires them.
As Will said when they joined the team: “These guys are the real deal – they’re mad scientists, with 100% emphasis on science.”
Adam also gave a keynote at this year’s SXSW in Texas, arguing that we need to stop seeing science and art as things which are separate from our lives.
The Dainty Group are organising the tour. Let us know if you’d like to chat with Jamie and Adam and we’ll put you in touch with their publicist.
- More details from Dainty at: http://www.daintygroup.com/tour/mythbusters-au/
- And from SBS: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/03/24/mythbusters-explode-australia
- And read more about their new site Tested at http://www.tested.com/about/
String theory and the future of the mind: Michio Kaku
“Imagine a world of time travelling, teleportation, telekinesis, advanced evolution species and galactic colonisation…the possibilities are endless.”
American theoretical physicist and best-selling author Michio Kaku is coming to Australia this June to talk about string theory, the multiverse and how we could re-engineer the brain.
His book, The Future of the Mind, topped the New York Times bestseller list last month, and a recent Facebook chat session drew 10,000 questions from his fans.
When he joined Jon Stewart on The Daily Show a few weeks back, reports are that ‘his mind was blown’ by Kaku’s vision of the future.
But when he’s not on the telly, Kaku is a bona fide physicist. He’s one of the co-developers of string field theory, which carries on Einstein’s quest to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into a single grand unified theory of everything.
More recently he’s turned his attention inwards, to understand the human brain and how we might improve and protect it.
He’s looking at what happens when physics meets neuroscience. Could we download our memories? Upload a text book? Could we store our self outside our body?
Read more about Michio Kaku at his website: http://mkaku.org/
He’ll be giving three talks in Australia in June, and will have time for a few interviews:
- Brisbane: Thursday 5 June at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
- Melbourne: Friday 6 June at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre
- Sydney: Saturday 7 June at Sydney Town Hall
Lights! Camera! Science! Australia’s first FameLab
Passionate Aussie scientists are in the spotlight talking science. No jargon, no lab coats… and they’ve only got 3 minutes.
Join us for a drink in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide for the State Heats of FameLab Australia – a competition that gives early-career researchers the chance to talk about their science in plain English.
Tonight (Thurs) at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum you’ll hear about construction plans for the world’s tiniest outboard motor and how Buddhist ‘singing bowls’ can improve solar panel design.
Next Wednesday 2 April at Melbourne’s Scienceworks find out how jetlag treatments could prevent brain damage in newborns and which trees are best to help us deal with landfill.
And the following week, we’ll be at:
- Fremantle’s Maritime Museum on Tuesday 8 April
- Adelaide on Thursday 10 April
All events are free to attend and all are welcome, but spots are limited. For catering, please RSVP at famelab.org.au
The best from each state will jet over to Perth for the National Final in May, and the overall winner will head to the UK to represent Australia at the FameLab International Grand Final, at the Times Cheltenham Science Festival in June.
FameLab is an initiative of The Times Cheltenham Science Festival. FameLab Australia is presented by the British Council, Cheltenham Festivals and Fresh Science; and supported by Inspiring Australia, the Western Australian Museum and the British High Commission, Canberra.