evolution

Director General CERN announces $25M Australian centre on origins of universe

Media Release

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Isssued by the University of Melbourne

The Director General of CERN, Switzerland, Professor Rolf-Dieter Heuer, has announced a new $25m Australian Research Council Centre to explore the origins of the universe after the big bang at the Australian Institute of Physics Congress today.

Led by the University of Melbourne, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Experimental Particle Physics at the Terascale will explore particle physics at terascale energies (a million million electron volts) through the ATLAS experiment, which is a giant particle detector attached to Large Hadron Collider at CERN. [continue reading…]

Free drinks, crocheted coral reef, film night and more, biodiversity in December

Welcome to our December bulletin celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity (IYOB).

If you are in Canberra next week, join us at CSIRO’s Discovery Centre for a reception and public forum to celebrate the achievements of the International Year of Biodiversity. The forum, Biodiversity and You is chaired by Tony Peacock. The invitation is below.

Here’s a taster of other events occurring in December and into the New Year [continue reading…]

Super crocodilians, ancient cycads, model dolphins and more: Biodiversity in November

Welcome to our November bulletin celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity (IYOB).

October saw the launch of the crocheted coral reef, the discovery of science, policy, leadership and action in Wellington, New Zealand, and discussion of the politics of biodiversity in Canberra.

Here’s a taster of what’s on in November:

  • The Melbourne performance collective ‘The Masters of Space and Time’ are performing at the Australian Museum: Swamped is a razor-sharp black comedy demonstrating how the universe twists good intentions into disastrous consequences.
  • There are more than 25 events taking place around the country over the month including asparagus fern eradication in NSW; biodiversity photography in the Murray Darling; the Dunstan dialogues in SA, discovering Victoria’s marine sanctuaries; and butterfly study in WA.
  • And have you visited the biodiversity website lately? You can find out what would you look like as a snail, fish or bat with Monkey Me! www.biodiversity2010.org.au/?monkeyme.
  • Next month The Ecological Society of Australia will be holding their annual conference ‘Sustaining biodiversity: the next 50 years’. [continue reading…]

Backgrounder: How do we kill rogue cells?

A molecular assassin literally punches its way into rogue cells say a team of Melbourne and London researchers. Their discovery is published today in Nature.


More effective treatments for cancer and viral diseases; better therapy for autoimmune conditions; a deeper understanding of the body’s defences enabling the development of more tightly focused immunosuppressive drugs—these are some of the wide-ranging possibilities arising from research published in the science journal Nature on Monday 31 October by research groups at Monash University and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, and Birkbeck College in London.
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A naked scientist, exploring the oceans, amazing caves and much more: National Science Week biodiversity events

We’ve identified 135 Science Week events around Australia with a biodiversity connection. So we thought we’d share them with you in this special Science Week edition of our Biodiversity Year bulletin.

You can learn how to keep bugs alive, immerse yourself in flora and fauna on a walk through the forest, hear about the unique environment of Barrow Island in Western Australia and discover how a genetic disease in the Royal Family relates to biodiversity.

[continue reading…]