Category: Other

HeadStartSwiss: early career opportunities to study or work in Switzerland

Laura Boland on 11 September, 2023

Early career researchers and young professionals are invited to apply to undertake study, work experience and/or research in Switzerland, through the following programs:

Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships – for doctoral and postdoctoral candidates, as well as candidates wishing to undertake research in the realm of their PhD or medical specialisation. Open now.
Mertz Fellowship – for early-career researchers from the polar and high-altitude science fields. Now closed.
Young Professionals Programme – for Australian citizens aged 20-30 who have completed vocational training (apprenticeship or university degree) now working in the profession in which they trained. Open for applications year-round.
ThinkSwiss program for students who have completed their second year of under-graduate studies or are currently enrolled in a post-graduate (Master’s) degree. Open now.

Hear from past scholars below:

Stories from CSIRO at the World Mining Congress 2023

Laura Boland on 29 June, 2023

Clever machines making mining safer on Earth and, one day, in space
Deadly slopes revealed with computer vision and radar
From finding cancers to sorting minerals
Hunting for critical minerals with Sandra Occhipinti
Blasting for net zero emissions
The mines of the future: on Earth, on the Moon, and in space

Mining between a rock and a hard place – Wednesday at the World Mining Congress

Laura Boland on 28 June, 2023

Mining between a rock and a hard place

With more storms, fires and floods

Hydrogen economy, rock cutting, automation, sharing water…

Plus Rio, Allkem, Bechtel and Newmont leaders

It’s Day 3, Wednesday 28 June at the 26th World Mining Congress, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre

Media welcome.

Prizes, awards and opportunities

Operations on 9 March, 2023

Nominate your top scientists, science communicators, and research leaders for one of 18 Eureka Prizes. Nominations open until 14 April.
ATSE awards are open until 29 May, for excellence in technology, applied science and engineering.
Look out for the ABC Top 5 Media Residency Program, opening soon. For early-career researchers across science, arts and humanities with a flair and passion for communicating their work.

Wow, wow, wow. Galaxies collide and tumble in a cosmic dance: Webb reactions

Niall on 13 July, 2022

Aussie astronomers react to NASA Webb first images.

Media contacts: Niall Byrne, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au, or
Jane Watkins, jane@scienceinpublic.com.au,

Nearly 40 researchers across Australia are eagerly awaiting data from Webb for their projects. Many of them are available to talk on Tuesday about what they hope to see with Webb and about their reaction to the first pictures

President Biden to release first pics from the $US10 billion James Webb Space Telescope Tuesday 12 July, 7.30 am AEST

Niall on 12 July, 2022

What will Australians see with Webb?

Aussie astronomers available for interviews in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra.

They’re using Webb to look for the first stars, the first galaxies, baby planets, massive black holes.

Media contacts: Niall Byrne, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0417-131-977 or
Jane Watkins, jane@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0425 803 204

Over the past 30 years, Hubble has transformed science and culture, revealing a Universe of 200 billion galaxies. Webb will see further, solving today’s mysteries and creating new ones.

Image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. Courtesy of NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

On Tuesday morning Joe Biden will release ‘the first picture’ then NASA will release a suite of images early Wednesday morning from the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble.

Nearly 40 researchers across Australia are eagerly awaiting data from web for their projects. Many of them are available to talk on Tuesday about what they hope to see with Webb and about their reaction to the first pictures.

Much of the Webb data is flowing back to Earth through Tidbinbilla, and some comes from an instrument designed by Peter Tuthill at the University of Sydney. He is relieved and excited. “This is a day I have been looking forward to for a big part of my career. Everything about the Webb is so over-the-top audacious – from the titanic articulated mirror down to its orbit out in the cold voids of interplanetary space.”

First James Webb pictures – comments from Australian users

Niall on 11 July, 2022

Professor Karl Glazebrook, Swinburne University/ASTRO 3D

Dr. Elisabete da Cunha, UWA/ICRAR/ASTRO 3D

Dr Nicha Leethochawalit, University of Melbourne/ ASTRO 3D,

Dr. Kathryn Grasha, ANU/ASTRO 3D

Professor Peter Tuthill, University of Sydney

Dr Benjamin Pope, University of Queensland

Professor James Miller-Jones, Curtin University

Dr Christophe Pinte, Monash University, Melbourne

Professor Simon Driver, UWA, Perth

Associate Professor Kim-Vy Tran, Astrophysicist, UNSW

Professor Orsola De Marco, Macquarie University

Tidbinbilla (Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex)

Scent of life on Venus

Operations on 15 September, 2020

Artist’s impression of Venus, with an inset showing a representation of the phosphine molecules detected in the high cloud decks.
Credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser / L. Calçada & NASA / JPL / Caltech

Microbial life may be present in the atmosphere of Venus, according to a paper published in Nature Astronomy today.

(Written by Rohan Byrne, our resident geoscientist. Follow him at @buildmeaplanet)

Traces of a telltale gas called phosphine have been detected in sunlight bouncing off the planet. The gas, a rare chemical sometimes used as a pesticide, has never before been observed on rocky planets other than Earth, where it is almost always a product of life.

National Science Week

Operations on 10 August, 2020

Satellite selfies, sauteed spiders and deep fake videos; National Science Week 2020 will take place from August 15 to 23, with hundreds of events and activities around the country.

See our pick of highlights state-by-state: ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA

And see our highlights by round or theme: Arts, entertainment, wildlife, education, beer, health, food, disability, environment, lifestyle, Indigenous, women in science.

For knee injuries, surgery may not be the best option

Operations on 21 May, 2020

Research finds rehab-only treatment yields better long-term results

Image credit: Jack Moreh / Stockvault.net

Knee reconstructions may lead to more problems later in life than non-surgical rehabilitation, researchers have found.

A team led by Dr Adam Culvenor from La Trobe University looked at health outcomes for athletes with damaged anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) – a devastating injury, particularly common among footballers.

ACL injuries require lengthy rehabilitation and up to 12 months on the sidelines. However, many athletes also opt for surgery to reconstruct the torn ligament in the hope that this will get them back to sport sooner and prevent the development of knee arthritis.