11 AM | 18 Oct

2007 Tall Poppies of science

Identifying genes that cause cancer, comprehending the impact of pollution on the Great Barrier Reef, treating inherited childhood nerve diseases with vitamin C and developing new molecules to help drugs attack cancer cells… These are just some of the advances in science made by this year’s winners. And this is what they’ll spend the year talking to high school students about.

Selected on the basis of research achievement and passion for communicating their work, thirteen scientists under 40 will be recognised with Young Tall Poppy Science awards on Thursday evening

What makes the Young Tall Poppy Science Awards unique is that instead of winning money or prizes, the scientists win the opportunity to take their research to high school students around NSW, ACT and across Australia. As part of the Tall Poppy Campaign, the Award winners will undertake a program of school visits to inspire a new generation to get passionate about science.

Why? Because the number of students studying chemistry, maths and physics – subjects that feed key areas of workforce demand – are in freefall decline with enrolments now lower than in 1989. And the issue is a long way from simply upsetting science enthusiasts. With issues like climate change and cancer looming over a generation of young people currently in high school, the need for a science-educated population has never been more relevant.

“The Award winners demonstrate to the next generation that a career in science in Australia can make a real contribution to the health, productivity, sustainability and creativity of our society,” says Tall Poppy Campaign Director, Dorothy Davis.

• The Tall Poppy Campaign – Dorothy Davis, Director – (02) 9810 5642. http://www.aips.net.au/tallpoppies/index.html

11 AM | 18 Oct

Robot Chicken

So, what’s the secret sauce in Robot Chicken, a zesty hodgepodge of pop-culture in-jokes that took its name from a Chinese take-out dish? After all, parodies — especially of the goofy Star Wars variety — abound, especially online, where Darth Vader has been drolly recast as a super market manager named Chad and a contestant on The Apprentice. But Chicken serves up a unique, killer combo of stellar geek cred and exquisitely crappy stop-motion animation. “The show looks like what nearly every kid did: You got out your cars and G.I. Joes and smashed them together,” says Chicken fan Mike Johnson, codirector of the 2005 stop-mo blockbuster Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. “The show works because it captures the joy of playing with your toys.”

More>…

11 AM | 18 Oct

$4.4 MILLION FOR CLEVER CLOTHING

Imagine being able to use electronic devices by simply plugging them in to your clothing.

CSIRO has just received funding of $4.4 million to help bring this possibility a step closer.

CSIRO’s Flexible Integrated Energy Device (FIED) was one of eight proposals selected as part of the latest round of Defence Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) Program funding announced last night.

Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO’s Energy Technology Division, Dr Adam Best, said it was envisaged that the technology would be incorporated into a piece of clothing and would comprise three components: advanced, conductive fabrics as part of the battery, vibration energy harvesting device and a rectifier/power management system to power soldiers’ electronic equipment.

“It will look like an ordinary garment but have extraordinary capabilities,” Dr Best said. “As the person wearing the garment moves, the vibrations they create can be harvested and channelled into recharging the battery or powering plug-in electronic device or devices.

“CSIRO has combined its significant capabilities in the areas of energy harvesting, energy storage and advanced fibre development to create the integrated battery technology.”

The device will be used to store and provide energy over a continuous period of time and can be charged by plugging into an electrical power point or through vibration energy harvesting.

“This kind of technology has important applications for soldiers in the field and could mean they no longer need to carry heavy batteries,” Dr Best said.

http://www.csiro.au/ 

07 PM | 17 Oct

GETTING EVEN: REVENGE STORIES

UPDATE: London book launch for GETTING EVEN: REVENGE STORIES – the new anthology edited by Mitzi Szereto

Date: Wed 7 Nov 2007 Time: 7pm for 8:30pm start Venue: Boogaloo, 312 Archway Road, Highgate N6 5AT (nearest tube Highgate) London, UK Free admission

If you’ve ever been betrayed, this is the book for you: GETTING EVEN is a collection of stories about passion and the sweetness of revenge. These are tales of the unexpected for the twenty-first century. If you need a lesson in love, or the end of love, take a cathartic trip through the murky waters of vengeance with these unsettling stories. (Contributors include Danuta Reah, Niall Griffiths, Stella Duffy, Clare Colvin, Vicki Hendricks, Tara Ison, Rosie Jackson, Tony Fennelly, Umi Sinha, Josie Kimber, Becky Bradford, Dee Silman, Jean Lamb, Georgiana Nelson, Madeline de Chambrey, Chris Dunning, and Mitzi Szereto.)

Mitzi will be joined by special guests Bob Boyton and Clare Colvin.

‘A kick-ass anthology – funny, sexy, wicked, sad and positively blood-curdling by turns. GETTING EVEN should probably be banned – it’ll give revenge-seekers far too many ideas!’ – Lauren Henderson

‘Deliciously wicked stories. Revenge has never been sweeter… or sexier.’ – M J Rose

GETTING EVEN: REVENGE STORIES Published by Serpent’s Tail, London (an imprint of Profile Books) Now available from your favourite bookseller as well as available for purchase on the evening.

{Author and anthologist Mitzi Szereto has more than a dozen books to her credit, including Erotic Fairy Tales: A Romp Through the Classics; Dying For It: Tales of Sex & Death; The World’s Best Sex Writing 2005; Wicked: Sexy Tales of Legendary Lovers; the Erotic Travel Tales anthology series, and the upcoming The New Black Lace Book of Women’s Sexual Fantasies. She’s also penned several erotic novels under the name M. S. Valentine. Mitzi has pioneered the erotic writing workshop in the UK and Europe, teaching them from the Cheltenham Festival of Literature to the Greek islands. She’s been featured in publications ranging from the Sunday Telegraph, Independent, Times, Observer, Company Magazine, First Magazine, Family Circle, Writing Magazine, Toronto Star, Scarlet Magazine, and Forum to Bravo UK Television, Telecinco TV 5 (Madrid), and BBC Radio (including the Asian Network). She’s contributed to such publications as Penthouse Magazine, Dazed and Confused, and the Erotic Review. Her work as an anthology editor has earned her the American Society of Authors and Writers’ Meritorious Achievement Award. Her anthology Erotic Travel Tales 2 is the first anthology of erotica to feature a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Originally from the USA, she now lives in England.}

Mitzi Szereto