Australian Science

Open access databases, archives, repositories are hopefully present, for almost a decade, in technology, education, science, and the iron gates systems are slowly behind us; we can say that the technology, science, and academia are striving to be more and more open. There is an international movement that uses the Internet to throw open the [...]

Together with being considered as one of the most beautiful countries in the world, New Zealand is also special in being one of the youngest. It was discovered by Europeans as the last huge land mass, and today, this amazing and unspoiled country has many reminders of its rich Maori and Colonial history. Basics: New [...]

This year the World Wide Web conference (or WWW12) is taking place in Europe (Lyon, France) . It was first conceived as an idea in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in Geneva while the first conference of the series was held in 1994. Ever since  then World Wide Webn has became an annual event changing location between North America, [...]

Cattle flatulence is known to contain methane gas. However, until recently there was no way to measure the release of methane gas from cattle. Scientists wanted to devise a way which could be used to measure the methane gas release without interfering with the regular activities of the herd. A recent collaborative research study conducted [...]

Euroscience was born 14 years ago. It was the time when a lot of debate about the future of science in Europe was taking place. Euroscience founders were visionaries in identifying that Europe was in need of a grassroots organization, totally independent of the political power; an organisation of individuals that could speak up. From [...]

All the passengers always opt for the travelling options which are fast, safe and affordable. Among all means of transport travelling by plane usually embodies all these qualities. For those who are not dependent on luxurious ways of travelling there are low cost carriers. Basics: A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (also known as a no-frills, discount or budget carrier or airline) is an airline that [...]

Until recently, it was unknown within the scientific community whether or not there was a master “on/off switch” for the human immune system. Australian scientists, however, have been able to demonstrate with a Supermicroscope the exact molecular “switch” that kicks T-cells into action. T-cells are the front-line troops that give the signal to our immune [...]

Looking back twenty years, I recall what seems like a simpler time. Then the big debate in astronomy was whether the universe was 10 or 20 billion years old, and I thought we would know the answer by 2011. It might, however, be “none of the above”. According to NASA’s WMAP satellite, the universe is [...]

Air travel has evolved into probably the most popular way of transport. Being fast and comfortable and with many cheap-flight companies occurring it is the one hard to compete with. It is often reported that air travel is the safest in terms of deaths per passenger mile. [1] However, there are some downsides to traveling by plane [...]

Although consumers and politicians often blame rising electricity prices on the up-front costs of researching and using more sustainable energy, a new article by Professor Ross Garnaut indicates this is a small factor in driving energy costs up. Research performed by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) supports the recently published work by [...]

Until recently, it was unknown within the scientific community whether or not there was a master “on/off switch” for the human immune system. Australian scientists, however, have been able to demonstrate with a Supermicroscope the exact molecular “switch” that kicks T-cells into action. T-cells are the front-line troops that give the signal to our immune [...]

According to Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization researcher, Dr Whetton, a 4ºC warming might occur by the end of this century if greenhouse gas emissions stay high. According to Dr. Whetton, unprecedented, rapid global warming of 4ºC will present huge challenges to society, in terms of our adaptation ability. A review of recent climate [...]

In 2010, 55 percent of the top grossing movies had no scenes of tobacco use. Between 2005 and 2010, the number of movies that showed tobacco use has declined from past years. In fact, in that six-year period, the number of tobacco incidents fell roughly by 56 percent, but there were still around 2,000 scenes [...]

A plan is being launched that will catapult Australia into the front of International Astronomy for the next five years. It is called The Mid Term Review of the Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan 2006-2015 which was laboriously compiled by the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Astronomy. In summary, this plan is calling for [...]