Category Archives: Science

Talking science in 2012

Posted on 26 January 2012 | Leave a comment

Clown fish in waterYou know we’re back into the swing of things when you start doing your regular science chats around the country. As per last year I’ll be chatting to ABC Mid North Coast (Port Macquarie) each Wednesday at 10:10 am (new time), ABC Western Plains (Dubbo) each Wednesday fortnight at 10:35 am, and ABC Central West (Orange) each Tuesday fortnight at 9:35 am. I’m also adding ABC Western Victoria (Bendigo) to my roll call – alternative Wednesday at 10:35 am.

Last week I had my first spot with Angela Owens at ABC Central West. We talked about tiny hard drives and how increased levels of carbon dioxide affects brain activity in fish.

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Pulping Xmas cards into biofuel

Posted on 28 December 2011 | Leave a comment

Scene from Roary the Rcing CarI was preparing yesterday for my spot on Radio National Summer Breakfast with Waleed Aly and I came across this wonderful bit of research from Imperial College, London – Go to work on a Christmas card. The study claimed that if every UK resident handed in their cards and wrapping paper the country could produce enough bioethanol to fuel a double decker bus (very British) to the Moon and back 20 times over. Impressive stuff.

That got me thinking about the old Cards for Ark program that was run by Planet Ark several years ago. It encouraged Australians to recycle their Christmas cards by placing them in special bins at shopping centres. I discovered that it was wound up in 2007 due to everyone (well at least 90%) having curbside recycling.

It still didn’t stop me thinking about how much bioethanol Australia could produce if we all handed in our Christmas cards and used wrapping paper. Time for some ‘back of the envelop’ maths. Continue reading →

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Lunar eclipse almost eclipsed by cloud

Posted on 11 December 2011 | Leave a comment

An almost totally eclipsed Moon

The weather was against me, the batteries on my preferred camera were dead (with the charger 900 km away) and I’d had little sleep the night before. That wasn’t going to stop me. I’m glad I persevered as the shots I got weren’t too bad.

The clouds came in around 11:30 pm and covered the Moon for most of the partial phases. Then at 12:45 am, a small section of the sky appeared and what was sitting in the middle? An eclipsed Moon. Thank you Mother Nature.

A small handful of images are on my Flickr set.

Can’t wait for the next eclipse – a total solar eclipse in Cairns next year.

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Total lunar eclipse – 11 Dec 2011

Posted on 27 November 2011 | 2 Comments

Lunar eclipseI love eclipses. Solar are the best and most dramatic, but there is still something quite magical about a total lunar eclipse. The Full Moon fades in brightness and eventually turns a deep red colour.

The second total lunar eclipse of 2011 occurs on 11 December. The Moon will enter the Earth’s shadow at 11:45 pm (Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time) and be fully red at 1:06 am.

More details at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2011_lunar_eclipse

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Mornings with Katya Quigley

Posted on 13 July 2011 | Leave a comment

Snake with tongue outEvery Wednesday morning (around 9:40 am AEST) I chat with the wonderful Katya Quigley from ABC Mid North Coast NSW (Port Macquaire).

I love chatting to Katya as she always asks what I’m up to and what I think about topics that they’ve been discussing earlier on air.

Recently, Katya and Beth (wonderful producer) have started posting our conversations online. Here is the first one where we talk about a a development in the treatment of snake bites and explore the link between volcanoes and atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide.

Mornings with Katya Quigley (29 June 2011)

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