Suzanne Cory, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
Australia faces many big challenges – in the economy, health, energy, water, climate change, infrastructure, sustainable agriculture and the preservation of our precious biodiversity. To meet these, we…
Dr Bernado de Bernardinis told residents to go home and enjoy a glass of red. Now he’s in the dock.
AFP PHOTO/ TIZIANA FABI
This week, a committee of six scientists (including Dr Enzo Boschi, formerly president of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology) and one government official, whose role was to advise…
Students who are allowed to draw to explain science terms are more likely to understand key concepts than those restricted…
Scientists who have paved the way for a vaccine that could stop a deadly face cancer killing off Tasmanian Devils were among last night’s winners.
Flickr/DrewOtt
Scientists hoping to fix a deadly cancer killing Tasmanian Devils and researchers behind a new needle-free immunisation technique were among the scores of Australian researchers celebrated at the Oscars…
We can’t afford to leave so many of our best brains behind.
Kaneda99
Why are there fewer women working in science than men? Things have certainly improved, with participation in many branches of science at undergraduate and graduate levels now broadly balanced between the…
The BBC is finally at one with science on climate change.
BBC One Wales
On Wednesday the BBC Trust released their report “Review of impartiality and accuracy of the BBC’s coverage of science”. The report has resulted in the BBC deciding to reflect scientific consensus about…
It is possible to make a difference, so be courageous.
Joe Dunckley/Flickr
Environmental scientists are partly motivated by a desire for better management of the Earth’s resources. They usually aim to effect change by going about their research quietly, and hoping that government…
Al Gore’s launched a new campaign, but is anybody listening?
Juampe López/flickr
With the momentum of his Inconvenient Truth gradually fading, Al Gore has launched a new climate change action campaign - the Climate Reality Project. The centrepiece of the campaign is a day of action…
Sure, life’s a beach, but education broadens your horizons.
Stoofstraat
It seems the popular Aussie cultural outlook is not compatible with the rigorous nature of science. In fact, it would seem “tall poppies” need to be taller, and that “no worries” is actually a worry, because…
Demanding climate data won’t provide a new window into global warming.
nasa hq photo/flickr
When it comes to obtaining research data, Canadian academic Steve Easterbrook said it best: “Any fool knows you don’t get data from a scientist by using FOI requests, you do it by stroking their ego a…
How we frame the climate change debate is important.
Modified image: HamishM/muffet/flickr
Mike Hulme of the University of East Anglia, the institution at the centre of “Climategate” and the focus of a recent data Freedom of Information request, responds to Clearing up the Climate Debate. There…
Chubb: “You’ve got to be prepared to take the rough with the smooth.”
AAP/Alan Porritt
Welcome to In Conversation, our series of discussions between leading academics and major public figures in Australian life. In this, the second instalment, Rod Lamberts, deputy director of the Australian…
Christopher Monckton deliberately misleads the public on climate change.
AAP
CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Associate Professor John Abraham puts Christopher Monckton’s climate claims to the test. This summer, the people of Australia will yet again be treated to a circus tour…
A jury of one’s peers should assess scientific claims.
CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Director of the Global Change Institute, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg submits some climate “sceptics” to peer-review and finds them wanting. Peer review is the basis of modern scientific…
When the rich are scared to talk, something’s clearly going wrong.
Paul Miller/AAP
Iconic Aussie entrepreneur Dick Smith is feeling intimidated. Not by growing population pressures, nor by climate change or carbon prices, but by the bullies at News Limited. In a recent interview, Smith…
Are carbon campaigns failing miserably on strategy?
jondoig/Flickr
Braying climate naysayers are annoying; but so are all those well-intentioned carbon tax advocates who fail to address the core problems and make the same mistakes time and time again. If we’re going to…
Be honest: when’s the last time you googled “science”?
teotwawki/Flickr
Ask us what we mean by “science” and you’ll find us a little circumspect. In fact, we think the word “science” is close to useless. This might seem odd, given we work at the Australian National Centre…
Anyone expecting undying gratitude from scientists should think again.
MacGeekGrl/Flickr
The post-budget political rhetoric to me reinforces the underlying, ongoing, disdain that this, and indeed many previous, governments have for science-related matters in Australia. Minister Carr is reported…
Could artists and scientists be enjoying a more fruitful union?
Ben Stansall/AFP
When art and science come together, the relationship tends to be uneven, and too often art becomes the unintended junior partner. As researchers working at the interface between art and science, we have…
Scientists need to do a better job of communicating with non-scientists.
Brewbooks/Flickr
Do scientists have a language problem? Do policy makers have hearing issues? It would certainly seem so. Of late there have been frequent lamentations about scientists’ failure to make their case to the…