Thu 14 - Sun 24 August, 2008

National Science Week is an opportunity to celebrate the contribution science and technology has made to our society, economy and environment.

As a leader in scientific research and discovery, ANU is pleased to offer a full program of exciting and informative Science Week activities.

And don't forget to enter our National Science Week Competition.

Ages: All

Presenters: Five top Physics PhD students

Venue: The Shine Dome, Gordon Street, Canberra City

Time: 6pm

Bookings: Free to the public. Bookings not required.

6.10pm: Graham Dennis
(Department of Physics)

Few experiments in recent decades have promised the stunning array of applications ranging from precision measurement to quantum computing as Bose-Einstein Condensation of dilute gases. My PhD project investigates theoretically extending these experiments to create the ultimate coherent source of atoms, an atomic analogue of the optical laser.

6.20pm: Amrita Prasad
(Laser Physics Centre, Research School of Physical Sciences & Engineering)

Optical communication means using light to do what electricity has been doing for several decades now. Light is faster and stronger and my work is to find a material that will replace every existing component of electronic systems with their optical counterparts and ‘say no to delay on telecommunication lines’!

6.30pm: Maurits Evers
(Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering)

The classical deterministic world of everyday life contrasts with the probabilistic world at atomic scales. Where does quantum mechanics end and classical mechanics take over?
Helped by a cat, I am carrying out a novel investigation of decoherence mechanisms leading to paradoxical classical behaviour in sub-atomic nuclear collisions.

6.40pm: Guy Micklethwaite
(Joint PhD with the Department of Physics and the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science)

This thesis is about the understanding of the physics of time. It identifies and compares models of time used in over 100 feature films involving time travel and other temporal phenomena. These will be compared with the models held by the movie-going public and with the physics of time.

6.50pm: Lachlan Rogers
(Research School of Physical Sciences & Engineering)

Quantum Computers, although currently hypothetical, could be the next information revolution. Glowing Diamonds might make excellent quantum devices, but we need to understand how they work. Our recent discovery of infrared light coming from glowing diamonds is a new clue in the Case of the Elusive Diamond Quantum Computer.

Ages: All

Presenters: Wilson da Silva

Venue: Robertson Lecture Theatre

Time: 12.30 – 1.30pm

Bookings: Free to the public. Bookings not required.

We are on the cusp of a new golden age of flight - this time, spaceflight. The next 20 years will likely well see a boom in the commercial development of the high frontier of space, leading to three-hour flights from Sydney to London, hotels in space and a flowering of progress like hat which that gave birth to the airline industry in the 1920s. Science journalist Wilson da Silva - one of the first Australians scheduled to fly into space aboard a Virgin Galactic rocketplane in 2009 - reviews the promise and the challenge of this coming age of spaceflight. Wilson da Silva is the Editor-in-Chief of Cosmos, the award-winning Australian science magazine, and of G, the eco-lifestyle magazine. He is a co-founder of Luna Media, Australia’s first carbon neutral media company whose innovative products have won 26 awards across print and online in the past three years. Mr da Silva is passionate about science and the environment, and believes that with determination and ingenuity we can solve many of the world’s most pressing problems.

Ages: Adults

Presenters: Dr Chuck Hahn

Venue: 3pm Brewing techniques and 5:30pm beer with Chuck at the Beer Garden, ANU Refectory. 4pm Lecture at Manning Clarke Lecture Theatre 1, Union Lane, ANU.

Time: 3pm Brewing techniques, 4pm lecture, 5.30pm beer with Chuck

Bookings: Free to the public. Bookings not required.

Join Dr Chuck Hahn, brewer and creator of popular beers like Hahn Super Dry and James Squire, as he explains the science and art of brewing. He will illustrate his discussion with a range of beer samples for tasting. The Canberra Brewers Society will open the event showcasing their brewing techniques. You can see how science is all around us, even in Australia’s beverage of choice - beer. Afterward, head on to the ANU Bar Refectory for a beer with Chuck and ask those beer questions you have always wondered about.

Armed with a PhD in Chemical Engineering, Dr Chuck Hahn has become a legend in the world of beer. He has crafted some of the finest brews for the biggest names, including Steinlager, Hahn, Lion-Nathan, Coors and most recently James-Squire. Chuck has decades of experience as a brewer, shown through by his award winning beverages. He is also an accomplished public speaker, his passion and expertise ensuring that the audience will go away inspired, amused and more knowledgeable on Chuck's favourite topic: Beer.

Ages: Adults

Presenters: Lecture by Dr Liz Truswell and Professor Patrick De Deckker from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences. Panel moderated by ABC Radio’s Genevieve Jacobs and consisting of Malcolm Burdett (Lerida Estate Winemaker), Dr Douglas Mackenzie (Terroir Australia) and Dr Stephen Trowell (CSIRO).

Venue: Lerida Estate, Federal Highway, Lake George

Time: 2pm – 4pm

Bookings: Essential - (02) 6125 9645 or asi@asi.edu.au.

Discover the history and mystery of the Lake George region and enjoy a glass of great local wine while you’re there. Join leading local wine makers and scientists as they reveal the science and technology behind our local wine industry. Sample wines and test your nose against our experts.


Lecture: Lake George – Weereewa. Its geological history

Lake George has inspired many people over the years and has also attracted much attention among scientists. We will introduce you to the long geological history of the Lake George basin and provide information that is available in the records of the lake with respect to climate and vegetation changes through time.

Dr Liz Truswell is a Visiting Fellow in the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University. She is a palynologist -an expert in fossil pollen grains. Formerly she was a Chief Research Scientist at the Australian Geological Survey (now Geoscience Australia).

She has published many papers that deal with the history of vegetation, both in Australia and Antarctica.

Her work on Lake George dealt with the older,Tertiary vegetation, where rainforest alternates with a more open vegetation.

Patrick De Deckker is a Professor in the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University. He is a micropalaeontologist who has spent much of his career studying salt lakes, the micro-organisms that live in them and which are preserved in sediments for the purpose of reconstructing past climates. He has applied his knowledge to the marine realm also where he has studied past oceanic changes through the remains of microfossils and their chemical composition.

As part of his PhD at the University of Adelaide, Patrick studied microfossils from a sediment core taken by Gurdip Singh at Lake George in the late 70s.


Panel Discussion: Unlocking the mysteries of Lake George

Sample Lerida Estate wines as 3 experts in the fields of Science and Wine discuss a range of topics. Moderated by ABC Radio’s Genevieve Jacobs.

Panelist 1: Malcolm Burdett, Lerida Estate Winemaker
Lerida Estate has already won numerous medals and awards, including the ACT Chief Ministers’ Export Award, and most recently a Commendation in the 2007 Canberra and Region Tourism Awards. The wines are carried in many of Australia’s top restaurants. The quality of the wine being produced by this very young business is testament to the potential for viticulture of the soil and climate (terroir) of the eastern slopes of the Lake George Range.

Panelist 2: Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Terroir Australia
Principal of Terroir Australia, Doug is a professional geologist with 36 years of experience in many parts of the world and in many aspects of geology. He is an acknowledged expert in field geology and geological mapping, as well as in many aspects of igneous rocks (granite, volcanic rocks, etc.), and has a long list of publications in Australian and overseas scientific journals, and in books. Having been a Director of Winewise Magazine for 12 years, Doug has an extensive knowledge of the Australian wine industry and its vineyards, as well as a considerable knowledge - and appreciation! - of wine itself.

Panelist 3: Dr Stephen Trowell, CSIRO
Stephen leads Quality Biosensor research for CSIRO¹s Food Futures National Research Flagship. The goals of the research are to develop an instrument, a Cybernose®, that can objectively measure aroma and to make it available for use in a number of applications, including winemaking. The project draws on multidisciplinary expertise from CSIRO and leading Australian Universities.

Ages: All

Presenters: Dr Karin Geiselhart

Venue: Coombs Lecture Theatre, cnr Fellows and Garran Road

Time: Lecture at 6pm, Film from 7.30pm

Bookings: Free to the public. Bookings not required.


Lecture: Green not Mean - the upside of a low carbon life

The news about climate change is certainly dire. There is no doubt that big changes lie ahead, and they will certainly interrupt the path we have been on. But there will also be much to cheer about, if the transition to a low carbon economy is done well. Al Gore Ambassador Dr Karin Geiselhart will present some of the latest science on climate change, along with local initiatives and ideas for benefiting from mitigation and adaptation.

Dr Karin Geiselhart is a former public servant, journalist and academic, now a green property developer and volunteer who lives in Holder in the ACT. She holds a PhD in electronic democracy and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in E-business at RMIT.


Film: A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash

A theatrical documentary on the planet's dwindling oil resources.

Ages: All

Presenters: Phil Cummins

Venue: Finkel Theatre, John Curtin Medical School, ANU

Time: 5.30pm

Bookings: Free to the public. Bookings not required.

The 2004 Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami was one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. It focused the world’s hope on earthquake science. Dr Phil Cummins of Geoscience Australia describes how tsunami science has been shaken by this quake.

Phil Cummins received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. He subsequently worked as a post-doctorate and research fellow at the Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, where his researched focussed on seismic wave propagation and the structure of the Earth's deep interior. In 1997 he became a research scientist at the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center, where his research interests shifted to subduction zone earthquakes and tsunamis. In 2001 he took up a position as leader of the Earthquake and Neotectonics Project at Geoscience Australia, where he led research into earthquake and tsunami hazard. He is now Chief Scientist of Geoscience Australia's Risk and Impact Analysis Group.

Ages: Secondary and tertiary students and adults

Presenters: Dr Luke Hunter

Venue: Manning Clark lecture theatre 1, ANU, Union Lane, Acton

Time: 5.30pm

Bookings: Free to the public. Bookings not required.

Widely considered an exclusively African animal, the Cheetah once lived in a range that spanned the Arabian Peninsula across central Asia to eastern India. Only a few cheetahs remain in the remote, arid central plateau of Iran. Predator expert, Dr Luke Hunter, will speak of his attempts to conserve the last Asiatic cheetahs, in one of the most mysterious and least understood nations on earth.

Melbourne-born, Dr Luke Hunter graduated with a Bachelor of Science Honours in Zoology from Monash University before heading to South Africa to begin his masters and doctorate.

Formerly the Head of the Great Cats program for the Wildlife Conservation Society, Hunter is now the Executive Director of the New-York based Panthera Foundation, formed to conserve the world’s wild cats.

From tracking to radio tagging and poaching, Dr Hunter has seen it all, in some of the most beautiful, yet deadly countries in the world.

Supported by the ANU College of Science and the Australian Government as part of National Science Week.

Ages: All

Presenters: ANU Research School of Biological Sciences staff

Venue: D.N.F. Dunbar Physics Lecture Theatre, Bldg 39 ANU

Time: 12.30pm - 3pm

Bookings: Free to the public. Bookings not required.


Climate Change & Water: Getting the Big Picture Right

Dr Michael Roderick
12.30-1.30pm

Will the dry conditions in parts of Eastern Australia since 2002 become the norm in future?

Are the current low flows in the Murray-Darling Basin caused by climate change?

Will...?

These are the questions on many minds when climate change is discussed. However, it has become difficult to see the big picture because of claims and counter-claims being made through the media. In this talk we explain what the science underpinning global warming predicts for rainfall.


The paradox of greater frost damage with climate warming

Professor Marilyn Ball
2-2.30pm

Climate warming is affecting the occurrence of frost. The most responsive species occur in the cool to cold climates at high latitudes and altitudes where seasonal temperatures and the length of the frost-free period determine the growing season.

Paradoxically, increasing the duration of the growing season can increase vulnerability of plants to frost damage, and the effects are amplified by elevated CO₂. Indeed, a 2 °C increase in temperature minima will not necessarily decrease the severity of frost damage and, hence, the potential for elevated CO₂ to stimulate productivity may be reduced under future climate scenarios.


The importance of plants in helping store carbon on planet Earth

Dr Owen Atkin
2.30pm-3pm

Plants play a vital role in regulating the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (a major greenhouse gas). This talk will discuss how global climate change is likely to impact on two key plant metabolic processes determining the carbon balance of the Earth’s atmosphere (photosynthesis and respiration).

Ages: Adults

Presenters: Dr Paul Francis

Venue: Mt Stromlo Observatory, Cotter Road, Weston Creek

Time: 6pm – 9pm

Bookings: BOOKED OUT! Sorry, no further places available.

Enjoy a night of adults-only star-gazing at Mt Stromlo. Hear a mini-lecture on 'What happens when you fall into a black hole, and other mysteries of the universe", be entertained by ANU School of Music performers, enjoy a glass of champagne or warm up with a hot chocolate. Then, be guided by resident astronomers in a star-gazing session.

Lecture: "Unsolved mysteries of the cosmos"

What happens if you fall into a black hole? How will the universe end?

Is there life in space? Astronomers do not know the answers to any of these questions, but that sure doesn't stop us arguing about them!

I'll present some of the latest ideas about these questions, and many other mysteries of the universe.

Dr Paul Francis is an astronomer at the Australian National University. Paul’s research looks at comets, quasars, high redshift galaxies, and novel interactive teaching techniques.

Paul grew up in London, studied in Cambridge and has worked with Steward Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, with the University of Melbourne, and has been based at the ANU since 1997.