Cyanobacteria – a new role?

Are bacteria capable of producing fuel – the building blocks for many industrial processes? A few months ago the Science Show, ABC Radio National, reported on work aimed at producing useful substances from algae. See this link: Scale the trick in getting algal biofuel cost down –  8th March 2014. It seems there may be…

– after a 10-year journey through space  7 June 2014 12:05PM The mission follows up suggestions that the water on Earth was delivered during the early history of our planet by intense bombardment of comets containing water. Were the building blocks of life delivered as well? The water on Earth has a particular ratio of…

Plastic Toxicity Working by Stealth in Oceans

Toxic Effects of Ocean Plastic Far Greater Than Previously Thought When dead seabirds washed up in their thousands along the eastern and southern seaboards of Australia last year, biologist Dr Jennifer Lavers became worried . . . A research fellow at the Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies in Hobart, Dr Lavers had been studying…

Joyce DiDonato is an American operatic lyric-coloratura mezzo-soprano particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Handel – she is also an artist speaking to artists in this recent speech to the Julliard School of Music. Emphasis hers. The world needs you – now, the world may not exactly realize it, but wow, does…

ex Oceano – in Beijing!

  Dr Lisa Roberts of the Living Data Program at UTS was recently invited to visit the Beijing City International School where she shared visualisations, animations and sonic responses to the science of climate change  – including the promotion clip for ex Oceano. Teachers lead their students in workshops to respond in ways that relate…

The Business – on sustainability

The man who Time Magazine has called the world’s best known economist is in Australia this week. Professor Jeffrey Sachs is a senior United Nations advisor and a force behind the UN’s millennium goals and its new Sustainable Development Goals. He has also advised many governments on economic reform and is a best selling author.…

A significant chunk of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has begun to disintegrate and, owing to the ice sheet’s peculiar topography (much of it lies below sea level), this process, having begun, has now also become unstoppable. “Today we present observational evidence that a large section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has gone into…

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography at La Jolla, just north of San Diego in southern California is one of the biggest marine science institutions in the world. It is where Charles David Keeling first started measuring carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, initially looking at seasonal variability. The Science Show’s Robin Williams interviews Director Margaret Leinen who…

The most important living organisms that play the key functions in the biosphere might not seem exciting when it comes to motion. Plants, fungi, sponges, corals, plankton, and microorganisms make life on Earth possible and do all the hard biochemical job. “Slow” marine animals show their secret life under high magnification. Corals and sponges are…

Lessons from diatoms!

 Exploring relationships between nanostructures, properties and functions View a larger version Diatom nanotechnology has recently emerged as a new interdisciplinary area, spawning collaborations in biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, physics, chemistry, material science and engineering in the study of this extraordinary living species. Read about NanoBiotechnology: Biomimetics and Nature Inspired Nanotechnology