In this edition:
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News From the Dean |
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Lesley Hughes reports in brief on her experience at the Prime Minister's 2020 Summit |
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Paper on the Secret Sexual Behaviour of Orchids Sparks Media Attention Including a segment on Dutch TV... |
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Opportunities |
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Events |
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Snippets | |
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Science News Archive | |
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News from the Dean |
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Dear Colleagues Not much to report this week - the semester is in full swing with assignments arriving thick and fast so lots of marking ahead. In the press last week there was some discussion regarding the financial support for research students. The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations' (CAPA) have called for greater support for postgraduate research students as the APA stipend will drop below the poverty line by the end of 2008. Universities Australia has been calling on the Government to exempt all scholarships and bursaries from inclusion as assessable income for the purposes of Centrelink or other benefits and strongly supports CAPA's call for change. The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation have announced a new inquiry into research training in Australia that will consider the adequacy of support available to research students as port of its terms of reference. So here's hoping that things will improve. MGSM is asking for donations of books for PNG for the Divine Word University and a number of Primary Schools. Divine Word are looking for reference and texts in any subject area from 2000 onwards and the Primary School appeal is looking for any children's books, in picture or novel style and any age group. Further information is available at:- The Wildlife Preservation Society of Australia will provide 10 grants of $1,000 each to honours or postgraduate students conducting research that will contribute to the conservation of Australian wildlife. Further information is available at http://www.wpsa.org.au/pdf/grant/grantUniForm.pdf . Finally, a reminder that the Vice Chancellor and the Provost will be visiting ELS on Friday, May 9 at 10:30 am in the Biology tearoom to update the Division on major initiatives and changes. Till next week
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Lesley Hughes reports in brief on her experience at the Prime Minister's 2020 Summit
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Professor Lesley Hughes from the Department of Biological Sciences, is a specialist in the ecology of plant-animal interactions and the impacts of global climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. A couple of weeks ago Lesley was a "summiteer" at the prime Minister's "Australia 2020" Summit at Parliament House in Canberra. The Summit brought together some of the best and brightest brains from across the country to tackle the long term challenges confronting Australia’s future –challenges which require long-term responses from the nation beyond the usual three year electoral cycle. Lesley shares the following about her 2020 experience: "The weekend of the 19th and 20th of April was a very interesting time to be in Canberra. It was a humbling and exciting experience to be one of the invitees (or "summiteers" as we were called), but also an exercise in frustration. The people-spotting opportunities were second to none, from the captains of industry to the luminaries of the arts and everyone in between. Kevin and his merry band of ministers were everywhere, shaking hands and sharing the boxed lunches. There was much enthusiasm for the sharing of big new ideas and the plenary sessions in the Great Hall were full of entertainment and cheer. But what I really wanted was to have had more time in the actual working sessions to really come to terms with the issues of the day and thrash out the ideas that were being generated. The time spent in the actual "small" groups (in my case, 25 in the "Sustainability group", and then 100 in "Climate Change, Sustainability, Populations and Cities") was quite short, especially in relation to the number and size of the issues at hand. The draft document that was presented to the final plenary was the mandated one and a half pages long, so that the vast majority of the important ideas discussed, albeit briefly, were left out (somewhere in Parliament House there are a lot of sheets of butcher's paper!). But, as frequently pointed out, all this was "just the start of the conversation". I hope that the goodwill and energy generated by the event will truly be the start of a revolution - time will tell."
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_________________________________________________________ Paper on the Secret Sexual Behaviour of Orchids Sparks Media Attention |
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Perhaps not surprisingly, a recent paper from the Department of Biological Sciences entitled "Orchid sexual deceit provokes ejaculation" has provoked some interesting media attention, including a segment on Dutch TV (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqqTadBWctQ). The paper was published in The American Naturalist by biology's own 'Orchid Voyeurs' Anne Gaskett, Claire Winnick & Marie Herberstein.
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Opportunities |
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_________________________________________________________ House Sitting Opportunity Wanted! Ok, so at Science News we don't usually advertise like this however considering the added bonus that the subject staffer might well be able to advise you of whether your residence is flood affected or bushfire prone, we thought it worth a mention... Risk Frontiers has a new staff member who is looking for a house-sitting opportunity in close proximity to Macquarie University. If you are able to help could you please contact Carol Robertson on extension 9683 or email: croberts@els.mq.edu.au. _________________________________________________________
VC Addresses the Division The Vice Chancellor and the Provost will be visiting ELS on Friday, May 9 at 10:30 am in the Biology tearoom to update the Division on major initiatives and changes. No need to RSVP, just show up._________________________________________________________
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Events |
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_________________________________________________________ Speaking of interesting titles for papers coming out of Biology... "SEXUAL SELECTION AND GENITAL EVOLUTION"
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Tuesday 6 May 2008 Juanita Nielsen Memorial Lecture _________________________________________________________
Dr Karl is at it again! At 'Please Explain,' Dr Karl will take you on another thoroughly entertaining exploration of the world around us. Do diamonds really last forever? Is a yawn a silent scream for air? Do you have to be dying to have a near-death experience? Find out at this Sydney Science Forum! Come and hear some amazing stories from the world of science, and at the end of the lecture, ask your own weird and wacky questions – Dr Karl will be ready to explain! At this event, we will also be unveiling our new Dr Karl portrait – it's larger than life! Wednesday 7 May, 2008 _________________________________________________________ ELS Seminar Series Departments in ELS host seminars covering a wide range of topics associated with ongoing research projects and other areas of interest. The seminars are delivered by academics, research staff, and students from within the Division, as well as guest speakers from other institutions and industry. Details of times, dates, locations and topics of seminars to be held over the next few weeks are listed here.
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SnippetsStep closer to safer cancer treatment Soil can clean toxic waste Timber workers risk respiratory disease Elderly often forget dying wishes IT students' gender imbalance explained Smoking causes gum disease ACE2 protein better understood Early intervention could stop crime |
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