USING A NEW OBSERVATORY BEING BUILT NORTH OF HOBART, RESEARCHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA ARE GEARING UP TO FIND WHETHER THE UNIVERSE HARBOURS MORE PLANETS LIKE EARTH. CREDIT: JOHN GREENHILL, UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA.
How many of the planets scattered across the Universe have the potential to harbour life? An observatory being built in Tasmania is poised to help answer just that question.
New computer models are challenging the conventional wisdom in marine science.
These models have revealed for example that: large populations of jellyfish and squid indicate a marine ecosystem in trouble; not all fish populations increase when fishing is reduced—some species actually decline; and, sharks and tuna can use jellyfish as junk food to see them through lean periods.
The models were developed by the 2007 Science Minister's Life Scientist of the Year, Dr Beth Fulton, a senior research scientist at CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research in Hobart.
Seabirds on one of Australia's remotest islands have plastic in their stomachs.
A recent survey found more than 95 per cent of the migratory flesh-footed shearwaters nesting on Lord Howe Island, between Australia and the northern tip of New Zealand, had swallowed plastic garbage.
As if that wasn't bad enough, plastic has been shown to bind poisonous pollutants. As a result, some shearwaters were found with concentrations of mercury more than 7,000 times the level considered toxic.
Only six of more than 200 nests visited contained chicks. The overall population is plummeting.
Since 1998, a public-private partnership between L'Oréal and UNESCO has promoted women in science. The L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards For Women in Science recognises outstanding women researchers who have contributed to scientific progress.
Climate specialists from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology are helping Pacific nations save precious weather data threatened by decay, vermin attack and tropical weather.
The extreme weather conditions that can turn an already dangerous bushfire into an explosive firestorm can now be better predicted, thanks to the work of a 30-year veteran of the Bureau of Meteorology.
Climate change will impose a complex web of threats and interactions on the plants and animals living in the ice-free areas of Antarctica.
Increased temperatures may promote growth and reproduction, but may also contribute to drought and associated effects. These scenarios are explored in a new book, Trends in Antarctic Terrestrial and Limnetic Ecosystems: Antarctica as a Global Indicator, co-edited by Australian Antarctic Division biologist, Dr. Dana Bergstrom.