Author: Kelly Burnes
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What Animals Will Go Extinct During Our Lifetime?
I spent the other day meandering through some of the exhibits on display at the American Museum of Natural History. I checked out the Global Kitchen, Butterflies, and Whales exhibits and the planetarium Journey to the Stars show. Between the whales and the planetarium, I had this thought: What animals will we see extinct during…
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Industrial Food and Evolution
Back in 1748, William Cullen invented the first known refrigeration system at the University of Glasgow. Today, the refrigerator is something many take for granted. Probably, not much thought is given to refrigeration, but when you pause and think about it, heating and cooling has made one of the biggest contributions to modern society and…
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Weekly Science Picks
Happy June! Happy World Oceans Day! Hard to believe it is June already. I finally have some time on my hands and caught up on some reading this week. So you’ll see two articles below that are from April. It’s a little bit of everything… so grab your coffee, tea or chocolate milk, head to…
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World Oceans Day – 7 June 2013, Live Event
Good morning Australians and to the rest of the world! Today is World Oceans Day and to celebrate this important day, a special, world first, 12-hour event will broadcast live from the Great Barrier Reef! Richard Fitzpatrick, a marine biologist and Emmy award-winning underwater cinematographer, along with other marine experts and reef ambassadors will take…
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Weekly Science Picks
These were the science stories that resonated the most for me this week. Gene snipping, CO2 alarms, and brain-controlled prosthetics – an array of stories touching on the impossible, and yet, totally possible. Given the way budgets and financing have always dominated the path of scientific research and with the rise of start-ups and…
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Weekly Science Picks
This edition of weekly science picks is going to be a little different… it’s a smorgasbord of intriguing facts ranging from corporate ownership of our DNA to recycling building materials. Let’s get started. This first story represents the line between scientific research and corporate profits that sometimes leaves the ethical, human components as an afterthought. Hopefully…
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The CO2 Bargaining Business
The Bargaining Table Does anyone think this 2-degree goal is achievable? You know, that we can keep global temperatures from increasing 2°C? It’s time to admit that it cannot be. It’s time to set new goals. Goals not based on single-digit bargaining at the next climate convention. Some of the world’s nations agreed to limiting…
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Weekly Science Picks
Women. This is the theme of this edition of Weekly Science Picks. Yesterday, in case you missed it, was International Women’s Day. And it is important to note the achievements of women in careers such as teaching, neuroscience and engineering because women are still in a tightly contested race with the male counterpart. But who…
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Climate Change, Resilience, Communication
Climate Change Last week I listened to a webinar on climate change discussing findings of the draft report from the National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee. Not much has changed from the year 2000 report, or the 2009 report. Well, a few changes: the science has improved, climate change is now being stated directly…
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Weekly Science Picks
It’s been an interesting week in the world of science, with the predominant story focused on just who our mammalian ancestor might be. Everyone has been covering this, the BBC, the New York Times and national Geographic. But some other newsworthy notes include new developments on graphene, a discussion on just how big the universe…
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Linux – The Open Source Ecosystem
Australian Science travelled to Canberra for the linux.conf.au (Linux Conference Australia) last week and had the opportunity for exclusive one-on-one interviews with a number of the keynote speakers. You may have been a little hesitant reading the first word of the title of this article, ‘Linux’, but perhaps the ‘Open Source Ecosystem’ in the latter part put your mind…
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Australia’s National Science Agency – Focused on the Future
I find myself spending a lot of time thinking about the future of our society and planet – how we can solve problems of today and prevent those of tomorrow. Quite often I draw up battle plans on scrap paper in preparation for those policy battles we don’t even know exist yet, those looming around…
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Science: It’s a Girl Thing?
The role of gender has arisen in many a conversation in my science social circles as of late. Friend and fellow contributor to Australian Science Danielle Spencer sent the video “Science: It’s a Girl Thing!” a few weeks back. (You can view it below.) I had never seen it, but is has sure stuck with…
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Zorbing: Adventures in a Hamster Ball
Zorbing It was a cloudy day, but we headed down the M1 towards the Gold Coast. Arriving at our destination around 9/9:30AM. Destination: OzBall. It was about a year ago I had seen video of this amazing, thrilling ride. A weatherman on Sunrise 7 strapped inside a huge plastic ball rolled down a hill. This…