http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/ en celeste.ecuyer@anu.edu.au Copyright 2009 2009-11-05T03:40:10+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/strucure_randomness_in_prime_numbers/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/strucure_randomness_in_prime_numbers/#When:00:07:42Z "God may not play dice with the universe, but something strange is going on with the prime numbers" - Paul Erdos The prime numbers are a fascinating blend of both structure and randomness. It is widely believed that beyond the ‘obvious' structures in the primes, they otherwise behave as if they were distributed randomly; this ‘pseudorandomness' then underlies our belief in many unsolved conjectures about the primes, from the twin prime conjecture to the Riemann hypothesis. This pseudorandomness has been frustratingly elusive to actually prove rigorously, but recently there has been progress to establish new results about the primes, such as that they contain arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions. Some of these developments will be discussed in this lecture. Public Lecture, Mathematical Sciences, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2009-09-29T00:07:42+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/black_holes_and_galaxies/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/black_holes_and_galaxies/#When:00:21:32Z Evidence has been accumulating for several decades that many galaxies harbor central mass concentrations that may be in the form of black holes with masses between a few million to a few billion time the mass of the Sun. Professor Reinhard Genzel discussed measurements over the last two decades, employing high resolution infrared and radio imaging and spectroscopy on large ground-based telescopes that prove the existence of such a massive black hole in the Centre of our Milky Way, beyond any reasonable doubt. These data also provide key insights into its properties and environment. Future interferometric studies of the Galactics Centre black hole promise to be able to test gravity in its strong field limit. He also briefly summarised the cosmological evolution of massive black holes. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2009-09-01T00:21:32+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/fires_forests_and_futures/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/fires_forests_and_futures/#When:06:51:12Z The sustainability of the Ash forests of Victoria is contentious for a number of reasons, not least because of the pressures of population and economic growth, and climate change on their diverse uses. Attempts to take account of the principle of sustainability in weighing alternative uses have not been widely accepted and the methods used are themselves the subject of debate. But those attempts have been largely grounded in deterministic models. Recent experience in the Ash forests of Victoria indicates that planning and management needs to be much more attuned to the role of fire and to examine future paths stochastically. Such an examination suggests that the zero-sum game being played by the conservation and development camps is more likely to risk than help future sustainability of these forests and that new strategies are needed. This lecture was the Seventh Jack Westoby Lecture, presented by ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment. Public Lecture, Botany & Zoology, Environment, ANU College of Science 2009-08-31T06:51:12+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/powering_the_planet/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/powering_the_planet/#When:03:43:22Z The supply of secure, clean, sustainable energy is arguably the most important scientific and technical challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. Rising living standards of a growing world population will cause global energy consumption to increase dramatically over the next half century. Within our lifetimes, energy consumption will increase at least two-fold. This additional energy needed is not attainable from long discussed sources, the global appetite for energy is simply too much. Petroleum-based fuel sources could be increased. However, deleterious consequences resulting from external drivers of economy, the environment, and global security dictate that this energy need be met by renewable and sustainable sources. Of the possible sustainable and renewable carbon-neutral energy sources, sunlight is preeminent. If photosynthesis can be duplicated outside of the leaf - an artificial photosynthesis if you will - then the sun's energy can be harnessed as a fuel. The combination of water and light from the sun can be used to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can then be combined with the oxygen in a fuel cell to give back water and energy. This lecture placed the scale of the global energy issue in perspective and then discussed how an artificial photosynthesis to power our planet might be achieved. This lecture was the 2009 Birch Lecture, presented by the ANU Research School of Chemistry. Public Lecture, Chemical Sciences, Environment, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2009-08-19T03:43:22+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/origin_elements_life/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/origin_elements_life/#When:02:36:39Z Human beings are, by nature, curious about their beginnings. Often, such questions of "how we came to be" are confined to the origins of modern society, or the development of human beings as a species. In this lecture, Professor Timothy Beers will endeavour to take the discussion all the way back to the VERY beginning, to the origin of the primary elements required to construct life as we know it -- carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and oxygen (O).Over the past few decades, astronomers and physicists have outlined plausible pathways for the astrophysical production of these elements (and others), from the explosive burning associated with massive stars and the slower contributions of lower-mass stars like the Sun over the history of the Universe. Professor Beers explains how the chemical signatures which can be read in the spectra of stars that are still shining today have provided the clues needed to reconstruct this remarkable story, and how future observations (many of which involve the work of Australian astronomers) will be used to fill out the rich detail of this map of creation.   Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2009-05-29T02:36:39+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/quarry_vision/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/quarry_vision/#When:02:00:17Z In this lecture Dr Guy Pearse will spoke about the mindset that sees Australia's greatest asset as its mineral and energy resources - coal especially, asking how has this distorted our national politics and our response to climate change and what happens now that our coal-fired resources boom has gone bust? He also discussed the future of the coal industry and argued with the current economic orthodoxy. He looks at the shadowy world of greenhouse lobbyists; how they think and operate. Quarry vision, he argued, is a carbon-laced trap and a blind faith and a mentality we can no longer afford. This lecture comes from the March 2009 Quarterly Essay by Guy Pearse of the same name. Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Science, Asia and the Pacific, Medicine and Life Science 2009-04-02T02:00:17+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/new_horizons_mission_pluto_kuiper_belt/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/new_horizons_mission_pluto_kuiper_belt/#When:03:50:50Z New Horizons is the first scientific investigation to obtain a close look at Pluto and its moon Charon. Scientists hope to find answers to basic questions about the surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres on these bodies, the last in our solar system to be visited by a spacecraft. The mission could also visit one or more Kuiper Belt objects.  New Horizons launched on January 19, 2006. It will swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost & scientific studies in early 2007 and reach Pluto in July 2015. Then, as part of an extended mission, the spacecraft would head deeper into the Kuiper Belt to study one or more of the icy mini-worlds in the region a billion miles beyond Neptune's orbit.   To get to Pluto, which is 3 billion miles from Earth, in just 9.5 years, the spacecraft will speed by the planet at a velocity of about 27,000 miles per hour. The instruments on New Horizons will start taking data on Pluto and Charon months before it arrives. About three months from the closest approach - when Pluto and Charon are about 65 million miles away - the instruments will take pictures and spectra measurements and begin to make the first maps.  This Toyota-ANU Public Lecture described the New Horizons mission and its progress since its launch on January 19 2006. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2008-11-20T03:50:50+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_14th_annual_lions_oratory_competition_2008/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_14th_annual_lions_oratory_competition_2008/#When:02:06:30Z The 14th Annual Lions Oratory Competition saw selected ANU students from across the University present eight minute orations to convince the judges and the audience that they deserved to win the ANU Lions Oratory Trophy and prizes totaling $3,000 in cash. The event was hoseted by Esther Sainsbury, last years winner of the 2007 Lions Oratory Competition and judged by an esteemed panel of public-speaking experts. The oratory saw speakers addressing a range of subjects incorporating the Lions' messages of truth, righteousness, peace, love and non-violence - the core values of all major religions.Prizes included: First prize - The ManikKam Reddy Award: $1,500Second prize: $800Third prize: $500Donated by the Lions Club of Canberra Woden People's Choice Award: $400Donated by the Australian National University and the Lions Club of Canberra Woden Public Lecture, Humanities, Society & Culture, Student Life, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Business and Economics, ANU College of Law, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, ANU College of Science, University, Arts and Social Sciences, Asia and the Pacific, Business and Economics, Campus Life, Law, Medicine and Life Science 2008-09-24T02:06:30+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_kepler_mission_searching_for_other_earths_in_the_cosmos/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_kepler_mission_searching_for_other_earths_in_the_cosmos/#When:01:44:19Z Dr Fanson speaks about the Kepler project, NASA's first mission capable of discovering Earth-size planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy. Scheduled for launch in early 2009, Kepler seeks to answer an age-old question: Are there other habitable worlds in the cosmos? The centuries-old quest for other worlds like our Earth has been rejuvenated by the intense excitement and popular interest surrounding the discovery of giant planets like Jupiter orbiting stars beyond our solar system. With the exception of the pulsar planets, all of the extrasolar planets detected so far are gas giants, approximately 150 as of 2005. The challenge now is to find terrestrial planets (habitable planets like Earth), which are 30 to 600 times less massive than Jupiter. The Kepler Mission, a NASA Discovery mission, is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to detect and characterize hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone. The habitable zone encompasses the distances from a star where liquid water can exist on a planet's surface. Results from this mission will allow us to place our solar system within the continuum of planetary systems in the Galaxy. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Engineering and Information Technology 2008-09-24T01:44:19+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/physics_students_uncovered/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/physics_students_uncovered/#When:05:29:28Z As part of National Science Week, the ANU College of Science recently pitted 5 Physics PhD students against each other in a competition to showcase their presentation skills, passion and ability to communicate their phd topic.     Seminar, Physics, The University, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2008-08-22T05:29:28+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_dark_side_of_the_universe/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_dark_side_of_the_universe/#When:05:39:00Z Professor Silk discusses how our understanding of cosmology has evolved in recent years from the old Big Bang cosmology of the Einstein era. Observations have shown us that the universe is mostly dark. This is one of the greatest mysteries in the cosmos. Not only is the observed night sky dark, but also most of the matter in the universe is dark. Astronomers today are seeking to unravel the nature of the mysterious but pervasive dark matter and dark energy, which account for two-thirds of the mass-energy density of the universe. Public Lecture, Earth & Marine Sciences, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2007-08-24T05:39:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/emissions_trading/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/emissions_trading/#When:00:00:01Z Will emissions trading harm or benefit the economy? Can emissions trading get Australia to a low emissions future? What is the right way toward an effective post-Kyoto international scheme? This is an opportunity to engage with leading experts as they present their perspectives.   Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, ANU College of Science, Arts and Social Sciences 2007-08-21T00:00:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/debunking_global_warming_swindle/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/debunking_global_warming_swindle/#When:00:43:01Z Leading expert scientists from ANU and Stanford University presented critiques of the ABC televised program from the previous evening entitled 'The Great Global Warming Swindle'. The forum was then opened for general discussion and questions. Public Lecture, Earth & Marine Sciences, Environment, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2007-07-18T00:43:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/geological_perspectives_climate_change/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/geological_perspectives_climate_change/#When:01:16:00Z Throughout Earth’s history, mass extinctions of species were closely related to physical and chemical changes in the atmosphere and the oceans. These variations were controlled by heat from the sun, the distribution of oceans and continents, the extent of ice sheets; volcanic eruptions and asteroid impacts, air-borne particles, the eruption of methane and greenhouse effects. Greenhouse episodes were amplified by carbon dioxide and methane feedback effects from warming oceans and drying vegetation, and by changed reflection effects due to the extent of ice and snow. Current climate changes, triggered by human-generated emissions, will lead to shifts in the Earth’s climate zones toward the poles. The instability of ice sheets melting may lead to significant sea level rises over a time scale of decades. Public Lecture, Earth & Marine Sciences, Environment, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2007-06-25T01:16:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_dirty_politics_of_climate_change/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_dirty_politics_of_climate_change/#When:03:32:01Z 2007 may be the year in which climate change has hit the headlines and the environment has become the political issue, but how much do we know really know about the backroom deals, lobbying and power players who influence environmental policy? Why have our political leaders been so slow to act? Which are the fossil-fuel lobby groups that still set the policy agenda? In this lecture Clive Hamilton, best-selling author of Scorcher, the Dirty Politics of Climate Change , reveals the real influences on the politics of climate change in Australia. Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Science, Arts and Social Sciences 2007-05-17T03:32:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/mars_reconnaissance/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/mars_reconnaissance/#When:03:38:00Z NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was launched in 2005 to search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for a long period of time. While other Mars missions have shown that water flowed across the surface in Mars' history, it remains a mystery whether liquid water existed long enough to provide a habitat for life. After a year’s cruise and aerobraking to reach its science orbit in September 2006, the MRO has begun to study the history of water on Mars with a suite of high-resolution observing cameras, spectrometers and navigational instruments. In this lecture, the MRO team describe their initial findings. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2007-05-07T03:38:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/monkey/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/monkey/#When:04:23:00Z Taking off to mend a broken heart, Vanessa Woods left safe, suburban Canberra and headed for the remote, wild and distinctly unsafe jungles of Costa Rica. She was stung so often by killer bees she developed a lethal allergy, and the monkeys she was to study were evasive, mean and aggressive. The only difference between them and her housemates was that at least she could tell her housemates apart. In this talk, science writer Vanessa Woods will explain how to survive a year in the jungle: a world of love, loss, bitter rivalry and vicious battles – and that’s just the monkeys. Public Lecture, Behavioural & Cognitive Sciences, Biological Sciences, Botany & Zoology, Environment, Society & Culture, ANU College of Science, Arts and Social Sciences 2007-03-14T04:23:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/brightest_explosions/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/brightest_explosions/#When:05:22:00Z The Earth is hit each day by the bright flash of gamma rays lasting from a fraction of a second to several minutes. These bursts originate in distant galaxies as stars collapse and form black holes. The most distant bursts yet observed are from stellar explosions that occurred over 13 billion years ago, when the universe was only a few hundred million years old. Professor Edward PJ van den Heuvel considers whether these bursts provide us with a glimpse of the first short-lived massive stars that formed during the ‘dark ages’ of the universe. He also discusses the potential dangers for life on Earth if a burst occurred nearby in our galaxy. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2006-12-12T05:22:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/it_aint_necessarily_so_bro/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/it_aint_necessarily_so_bro/#When:05:45:01Z Dr Karl explodes our most common ‘mythconceptions’, including whether the daddy long legs is really the most venomous spider in the world and whether a frog will really sit in a pot of gently warming water, and unknowingly boil itself to death. Are virgin births possible? Would cockroaches survive a nuclear holocaust? Will a black hole suck you in? Is the most radioactive device in our homes the microwave? Dr Karl will discuss the answers to these and other fascinating science questions posed in his new book 'It Ain't Necessarily So...Bro'. Part of the ANU 2006 Meet the Author series. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Earth & Marine Sciences, Science Communication, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2006-11-10T05:45:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/earth_history/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/earth_history/#When:06:00:00Z Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago with its initial condition greatly affected by the trauma of giant impacts. In this lecture, Professor David Stevenson discusses how this trauma affects the similarities and differences between Earth and Moon, the core, possible initial layering of the mantle and the conditions for the early evolution, including timing for the origin of life. This lecture was presented by The Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU College of Science. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Biological Sciences, Earth & Marine Sciences, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2006-11-02T06:00:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/sex_chromosomes_the_future_of_men/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/sex_chromosomes_the_future_of_men/#When:05:06:00Z In humans and other mammals, females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y. The Y chromosome is male determining because it bears a gene (SRY) that switches on the development of testes, which pump out male hormones. The X is a decent, ordinary chromosome, but the Y is a genetic wasteland – small and full of genetic junk, bearing only 45 genes, mostly active only in testes. Professor Jenny Graves outlines why the human Y chromosome is running out of time and how it could lose its last 45 genes in just 10 million years. What happens when SRY disappears? Would this be the end of the line for humans? Professor Graves explains the latest scientific research and discuss why, as the human Y runs out of options, new sex determining genes may evolve, potentially leading to different hominid species. This lecture was sponsored by the ANU College of Science as part of National Science Week 2006. Public Lecture, Biological Sciences, ANU College of Science, Medicine and Life Science 2006-09-22T05:06:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/when_art_meets_science/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/when_art_meets_science/#When:04:58:00Z Science and art might sound like vastly different disciplines, but Dr Tim Wetherell from ANU believes they are both motivated by a desire to make sense of the world in which we live. A sculptor and a scientist, Dr Wetherell talks about his experiences working with various artists and scientists on a range of interdisciplinary projects - from the monumental sculptures of body arts to growing living cells over a computer-generated head. This lecture was sponsored by the ANU College of Science as part of National Science Week 2006. Public Lecture, Biological Sciences, Creative Arts, Science Communication, ANU College of Science, Arts and Social Sciences, Medicine and Life Science 2006-09-22T04:58:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/seduced_by_dna_from_chromosomes_to_cancer/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/seduced_by_dna_from_chromosomes_to_cancer/#When:04:50:01Z In this lecture, Professor Cory will give a personal perspective on her career, covering how she came to become a molecular biologist and how her fascination with chromosomes led her into cancer research and the quest to develop better cancer drugs. This lecture was sponsored by the ANU College of Science as part of their 2006 Dean's Lecture Series. Public Lecture, Biological Sciences, Medical & Health Science, ANU College of Science, Medicine and Life Science 2006-09-22T04:50:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/window_on_the_brain/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/window_on_the_brain/#When:04:43:01Z There are more nerve cells in the human brain than there are stars in the Milky Way. The brain is probably the most complex thing on earth, and yet we know very little about how it works. New brain imaging technology called MEG allows us to see when and where different parts of the brain become active in response to thoughts or actions.  Dr Kristen Pammer from the School of Psychology in the ANU Faculty of Science outlines what we can expect to learn with this technology about conditions like synaesthesia, which is where some people experience strange sensory combinations like seeing sounds or tasting colours. "Fundamentally I am interested in how the brain works – Why do we cry? How do we see colour? Why do we get tired? How many parents have been embarrassed when their child runs up to a strange man and calls them daddy? How many people have walked into a room and forgotten why they are there? Did you know that if you turned a face upside down it takes you much longer to recognise it – but this is not the case for any other object?" Dr Kristen Pammer This lecture was sponsored by the ANU College of Science as part of National Science Week 2006. Public Lecture, Behavioural & Cognitive Sciences, Medical & Health Science, ANU College of Science, Medicine and Life Science 2006-09-22T04:43:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/submarine_volcanoes_of_the_western_pacific/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/submarine_volcanoes_of_the_western_pacific/#When:04:38:00Z The way the sea floor is mapped has been revolutionised in the last decade by high resolution, multi-beam sonar systems, with follow-ups by manned and remotely-operated submersibles. Using these techniques, research groups from Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the USA are discovering much more about chains of underwater volcanoes in zones of tectonic plate convergence, known as 'arcs'. Researchers have found that up to 40 per cent of these underwater volcanoes in the southwest Pacific Ocean are emitting hot water, sulphur, and dissolved metals including iron.  In this lecture Professor Richard Arculus discusses the implications of these findings for the study of ore deposits, the growth of continents, and for the study of life in the oceans around deep sea hot water vents and the shallow water, pelagic photosynthesisers that critically depend on iron for their existence. Professor Arculus also discusses how the research will reveal more about the potential for underwater eruptions and volcanic collapses that can trigger tsunamis. This lecture was sponsored by the ANU College of Science as part of National Science Week 2006. Public Lecture, Earth & Marine Sciences, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2006-09-22T04:38:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/giant_magellan_telescope/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/giant_magellan_telescope/#When:04:32:00Z In the centuries-old quest to refine human understanding of the universe in which we live, the tools we use to throw light at the dim frontiers of knowledge are evolving rapidly. Australian astronomers, engineers, and technologists have just embarked an international partnership to design and build the most powerful extension to the human eye yet known – the Giant Magellan Telescope. Scheduled for completion in 2016, this telescope will be able to detect cosmic objects 75 times fainter than those seen with the Hubble Space Telescope, and produce images up to 10 times crisper. Using techniques currently being prototyped, this 'giant eye on the sky' will become the platform for unprecedented discovery and insight into the formation and evolution of planetary systems other than our own and the dark forces that shape the very fabric of the cosmos. This lecture was sponsored by the ANU College of Science as part of National Science Week 2006. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2006-09-22T04:32:00+10:00