Australian and international experts will come together in Canberra next week to explore the diverse Antarctic science endeavours that have emerged since Sir Douglas Mawson led the Australasian Antarctic Expedition in 1911-1914. The Australian Academy of Science Symposium, 100 years of Antarctic Science, will be held at the Shine Dome on 4 May 2012. To be opened by Dr Tony Fleming of the Australian Antarctic Division, the symposium draws together a host of speakers including:
Rheumatoid arthritis medication could also be effective for asthma sufferers, according to Dr Manuel Ferreira of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research.
Dr Manuel Ferreira is the winner of the Australian Academy of Science’s 2012 Ruth Stephens Gani Medal for distinguished research in human genetics.
Dr Manuel Ferreira established the Australian Asthma Genetics Consortium, which recently carried out the largest asthma genetics study in Australia, identifying the interleukin-6 receptor gene as playing an important role in asthma.
New Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Jane Visvader, will today describe her work that has led to the identification of new therapeutic targets for breast cancer, currently being tested in pre-clinical models.
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy to affect Australian women and a leading contributor to cancer-related illness.
New Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science Dr Peter Dodds is designing innovative synthetic rust resistance genes to protect the world’s most important food crops from rust diseases.
Rust fungi cause economically disastrous diseases of cereal crops and are a particular threat to the Australian wheat industry, with the potential to cause losses of up to $300 million per year.
CSIRO’s Peter Dodds has been studying how the plant immune system can recognise and respond to these rust fungi in order to develop novel disease control strategies.
An Australian discovery has led to a portable new way to detect explosives using light emitting molecules, offering an important tool to combat terrorism and remove land mines in war-torn countries.
University of Queensland Professor Paul Burn will present his work after he is admitted today as a new Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, at the Academy’s annual Science at the Shine Dome event in Canberra at 10.00am.
Studying the ways engineers analyse why skyscrapers collapse – such as the fall of New York’s Twin Towers – could help scientists better understand killer earthquakes, according to Professor Gordon Lister from the Australian National University.
Professor Lister, a tectonic expert who looks at the dynamic architecture of the Earth, is the winner of the Australian Academy of Science’s 2012 Mawson medal for research in geology.
“Earthquakes result from catastrophic reduction in the load-bearing capacity of stressed mechanical structures” explains Professor Lister.
Sheep-sized ancient relatives of modern-day wombats lived in Australian treetops 15 million years ago, according to Dr Karen Black from the University of New South Wales.
These 70 kg marsupial diprotodontoids were strikingly similar to koalas, said Dr Black, winner of the Australian Academy of Science’s 2012 Dorothy Hill Award for female researchers in the Earth sciences.
Dr Black researches the diversity and evolution of Australia's marsupials with a focus on the extinct plant-eating diprotodontoids. They were the dominant herbivores of Australia's past ecosystems.
Professor Tanya Monro's research team at the University of Adelaide is working to create a whole range of new high-tech tools that use light for measuring, including new devices for early detection of cancer and smart bungs that monitor wine quality.
Professor Tanya Monro is the winner of the Australian Academy of Science’s 2012 Pawsey Medal for outstanding research in physics.
She has also been recently elected as a new Fellow of the Academy, making her the first person to receive both honours at the same Science at the Shine Dome event.
Dr Charles Barton from the Australian National University, the first and only person to reach both of the planet’s magnetic poles, will explain today how he achieved a feat dreamed about for 169 years since Sir James Ross first attempted it.
Dr Barton will speak at 9.00 am today at the Australian Academy of Science’s 2012 annual symposium on 100 years of Antarctic Science at the Shine Dome in Canberra.
Both North and South Magnetic Poles drift gradually from year to year at a rate varying from a few to tens of kilometres per year.
Recent measurements have confirmed that there has been a massive reduction in the amount of Antarctic Bottom Water, the cold dense water that drives global ocean currents and has a strong influence on climate.
Dr Rintoul, a Southern Ocean specialist at CSIRO and the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystem CRC, will speak about the findings from his latest voyage to Antarctica at the Australian Academy of Science’s 2012 annual symposium on 100 years of Antarctic Science at 2.15 pm today at the Shine Dome in Canberra.
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