Veronika Wild

                                                                                                         -Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Australia's new Chief Scientist speaks on techno-optimism, renewable energy and encouraging STEM Tim Dean, The Conversation Dr Alan Finkel took over as Australia’s new Chief Scientist on January 25 this year. He is a respected neuroscientist, engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist, and was the Chancellor of Monash University from ...

    -Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay                                                                                               Brian Martin , University of Wollongong The 2017 March for Science was a powerful political statement by scientists. The marchers opposed political interference, budget cuts and lack of support for science at a government level. More commonly, though, scientists stay in their labs and avoid the public political spotlight. CSIRO scientist John Church – who initially acted as an individual (not a representative of his research institution) to “ stand up for science ” in 2015 – is cited as a recent example of the career ramifications that can flow from public activity. Actually, he’s not alone. For ye...

It seems that Antarctica is the flavour of the month, or at least it will be in September when Hobart’s Australian Antarctic Festival will run from September 8 -11. There is the Antarctic Dinner of course which I’ve already mentioned and Polar Walks, but there will also be several open days, exhibitions and Expos, a special performance by the Derwent Symphony Orchestra in the Town Hall, an Antarctic Photo Competition and the opportunity to do a tour of the two Antarctic vessels , the Aurora Australis and the French L’Astrolabe.  School children are painting penguins to display along the waterfront and the State Cinema is putting on an Antarctic Film Festival which includes drinks, guest speakers, special readings and screenings and an after party. There will also be school tours and special activities for children, not to mention the huskies. Not sure if I will make it back to Tasmania by then, but if you   want to go to the dinner or tour the icebreakers...

Listening to the Stars While I was doing the Southern Wine Trail I was startled to come upon the incongruous sight of a large telescope perched at the end of one of the vineyards. Beneath it was a museum dedicated to one Grote Reber, the world’s first radio astronomer. Since we normally claim anyone who so much as spent five minutes here and went on to be successful or famous, I was very surprised that I had never heard of him. Alas, the museum was closed the day I visited, but I immediately went home to look him up.  Indeed, although born in the USA, Grote Reber (1911 – 2002), inspired by the work of Karl Jansky who discovered faint radio emissions coming from the Milky Way, started building radio telescopes in 1937. In 1954 he moved to Tasmania where magnetic interference was minimal. He was not only a genius in this field but led the way in a number of others including radio carbon dating. When not listening to the stars, he studied the direction in which beans gre...