*CAFÉ SCIENTIFIC : Manthropology – the science of the inadequate modern male*

A debate about whether today’s modern man measure’s up to men of the distant past has been organised by The University of Queensland and ABC Science for its Cafe Scientific event in Brisbane next week (5 May).

Is modern man evolution’s greatest mistake? Why do we fail to measure up to men of the distant past? Could your husband, brother or father be the worst man in history? University of Queensland alumnus and anthropologist Peter McAllister claims that today’s man isn’t a patch on what he once was: that despite his huge brain, the modern bloke fails to measure up physically, creatively and emotionally with men of the distant past. Peter, who is the author of ‘Manthropology: the science of the inadequate modern male’, gathered evidence from archaeology, evolutionary psychology and ancient history to confirm the unpleasant truth: modern man is sadly inadequate.

Join Peter and other experts for a lively debate on this issue and discover why ancient men were smarter and stronger, and what the future holds for this once-mighty gender.

Presented by UQ Science to celebrate The University of Queensland’s Centenary, the debate will also feature Professor David Lambert, Dr Mark Neilsen and Bernie Hobbs from ABC TV’s New Inventors.

· Professor David Lambert is a UQ science alumnus and an internationally recognised evolutionary biologist at Griffith University. Professor Lambert specialises in the study of species and speciation theory, the nature of Darwinian biology, and ancient DNA.

· Dr Mark Neilsen is a senior lecturer at UQ School of Psychology. He studies the social learning processes of young children and primates to try and understand the origins and evolution of human culture.

· Bernie Hobbs is a science broadcaster, environmentalist and a judge on the ABC’s New Inventors program and was originally a Queenslander.

The bar will be open, so come down for a drink and a chat with some anthropologists, evolutionary biologists and science enthusiasts.

*The debate will be held at The Irish Club, 175 Elizabeth St, Brisbane on Wednesday, 5 May, 7pm–9pm. FREE ENTRY*

*Inquiries – Jackie Mergard at UQ Science: 07 3365 3634*

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At this weeks Friday seminar Sean O’Halloran will discuss his PhD research on

Science, Policy and Roadside Drug Testing

The story of the implementation of legislation dealing with the effects of drugs on road safety is an interesting case study at the boundary of policy and science. The story helps to demonstrate that science is not always the dominant influence in political decision-making, even when scientific issues affect the assessment of the problem or the presentation of solutions.

Technocratic assessments of risk are necessarily balanced by public perceptions of risk, where politicians are under pressure to act, or at least be seen to act, to combat perceived threats to community health and safety. Traditional expectations of scientific expertise are also challenged by a ‘democratisation’ of expertise, where ‘appropriate’ scientific evidence is considered more important than ‘reliable’ scientific evidence.

Rhetorical strategies for communicating the many scientific complexities surrounding the effects of drugs on road safety also help to demonstrate the framing of risk, not only in the context of road safety, but in many other contexts – GMO, climate change, uranium mining, nanotechnology and the like. Risks associated with illicit drugs are often framed in value-laden and emotionally charged language where science is co-opted to legitimise problem framing and legitimise unvalidated technological solutions.

Location:_ Seminar Room, [1]CLT, Physics Building UWA Time & Date:_ 4-5pm Friday 7th April, 2010 Drinks and Nibbles Provided_ Links: 1. http://www.clt.uwa.edu.au/contact

Next Week_: Greg Colgan from the one of Australia’s leading documentary production companies, [2]Electric Pictures, will discuss the science television market, show examples of science films and workshop documentary ideas. Links: 2. http://www.electricpictures.com.au

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Following on from her popular session at the National Conference in February, we’re honoured to have Alison Leigh presenting to us:

WHAT’S THE BUZZ? TRENDS IN SCIENCE DOCUMENTARIES Alison Leigh, Editorial Director, World Congress of Science & Factual Producers

Monday May 17th, 6.30 – 8 PM. Clarendon Hotel, 156 Devonshire St, Surry Hills Members – Free; Non-members $5 Light snacks provided, bar menu available

RSVPs essential: ascnsw@gmail.com

Science and Natural History Programming has become fashionable again in the international market place. So what’s out there breaking new ground and making people talk ? What’s hot and what’s not ? what’s on the way up and what’s on the way down? We take a look at clips from some of the most outstanding and successful science TV programs of 2009 from the perspective of the international production community. What will the Australian science communication industry make of them?

Alison Leigh is Editorial Director of the annual WORLD CONGRESS OF SCIENCE AND FACTUAL PRODUCERS. She played a leading role in producing and commissioning science TV programs in Australia for over a decade, including six years as executive producer ABC TV Science Unit, (QUANTUM, HOT CHIPS, “THE FUTURE EATERS”, “WHAT’S YOUR POISON? – the science of everyday drugs.) She returned to ABC TV in 2007 to run Catalyst for a season. Since then she has worked as a writer for series like Beyond¹s KIDS DETECTIVES and BACKYARD SCIENCE .She is currently writing the companion volume to an upcoming ABC TV series “Making Australia Happy”. Alison is a founding member and past president of ASC.

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Pimp your PowerPoint > > Start designing attention-grabbing presentations that stand out from the > typical snoozers (from The-Scientist.com) > > http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/57186/;jsessionid=00E0D38A84F2977 > F2F180336C81C4255 > >

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RSVP essential – if you haven’t already RSVPed, please do so by the COB today. If you need to update your RSVP, please also advise – we are charged for people who do not make it on the day.

Join the WA branch of the Australian Science Communicators (ASC-WA) for a networking sundowner at Kings Park and for a short AGM, where the activities of the past year and those for the coming year are discussed. We will also vote on the state committee.

If you have any items you wish to discuss, or you would like to nominate for the committee (or a specific committee role), please email Sarah Lau (slau@chemcentre.wa.gov.au).

Where: Botanical Café, Kings Park (parking available behind café and function centre)

Date: Thursday 29 April 2010

Time: 5.30pm

Cost: Free for ASC-WA members, $20 for non-members. Sign up before or at the event and it’s free! (pizza and some drinks included in admission)

RSVP: essential (for catering purposes) – please email Sarah Lau (details below) by the 27 April.

Sarah Lau [slau@chemcentre.wa.gov.au]

Media and Communications Coordinator

ChemCentre

T +61 8 9422 9823

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Sydney Café Scientific: ‘Hello?? Why are we STILL alone in the Universe?’

Basement, Circular Quay, Sydney

6pm, Monday 3 May

Free event

It’s 50 years since we started using radio telescopes to search for signals from extra-terrestrial life, and 25 years since the SETI Institute was established in California. But all we’ve heard so far is a ringing silence. Are we just talking to ourselves?

Join astronomy experts Fred Watson, Charley Lineweaver and Carol Oliver in the groovy, relaxing atmosphere of the Basement jazz club for a fascinating discussion and discover:

+ why we haven’t found anything yet;

+ how likely it is that life is out there in space;

+ what forms this life might take; and

+ what we’d say if ET did make contact!

Hosted by Bernie Hobbs (ABC New Inventors) and Dr Paul Willis (ABC Catalyst)

PANELISTS

Professor Fred Watson is Astronomer-in-charge at the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Coonabarabran.

Dr Carol Oliver manages the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at the University of New South Wales. She is on the International Academy of Astronautics’ SETI Permanent Study Group, and is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

Dr Charley Lineweaver is the coordinator of the Planetary Science Institute at the Australian National University. He holds a joint appointment as an Associate Professor in the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Research School of Earth Sciences.

The bar is open and serving drinks and bar food. Come along, listen and ask your own questions.

Presented by ABC Science

Enquiries: Abbie Thomas, ABC Science 02 8333 5116

Abbie Thomas

abc.net.au/science

02 8333 5116

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The science of…art

Can you picture Einstein’s theories illustrated in clockwork? Or the delicate lacework of a crane fly’s wings captured in ink? Come and explore the nexus of science and art with two leading Canberra-based scientific artists (or artistic scientists?) at this event run by the Australian Science Communicators (ASC) in Canberra. This is part of the Canberra ASC group’s ongoing ‘the science of…’ series.

Join Tim Wetherell, a sculptor and science writer, and Jessica Miller, a visual artist and scientific illustrator, for a colourful and close-up exploration of the links between science and art.

We’ll also be launching the year’s program of events, so come and find out what other exciting things we have planned for the year.

Where: CSIRO Discovery, Clunies Ross St, Acton. When: Monday 10 May from 6pm Cost: $5 for ASC members, $10 non-members Special offer! If ASC members bring a friend, the member gets free entry and the friend gets in at the member’s price! RSVP: asccanberra@gmail.com Free wine, beer and tasty refreshments provided.

About the presenters

Tim Wetherell was born near Bradford, Northern England, in 1962 and having completed school went on to gain a PhD in physics at The University of St Andrews. In 1990 he emigrated to Australia and undertook a Graduate Diploma in Sculpture at The Australian National University. Tim now works as both a professional sculptor in Canberra and as a science writer at ANU. See some of his work at www.timwetherell.com.

Jessica Miller is a visual artist and scientific illustrator. She completed a bachelor degree at Newcastle University (Natural History Illustration) and now lives in Canberra. She works full time at the Australian National Botanic Gardens and is currently managing a project to supply weed images to a Government website. She also studies Natural Resource Management at ANU. Jessica has recently worked on botanical illustrations for CSIRO magazines and the Flora of Australia, and is really interested in the debates around the validity of art used for science. See some of her work at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=421145&id=757515149&l=ad711077df.

Liz Yuncken Memberships and Publications Manager CSIRO Education

Phone: +61 2 6276 6264 | Fax: +61 2 6276 6641 elizabeth.yuncken@csiro.au | www.csiro.au Address: PO Box 225 Dickson ACT 2602

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>From Australians stranded in Europe to fresh vegetable growers in Africa, people dependent on the world’s airlines have done it hard in the past two weeks. If the eruption of one volcano in Iceland can disrupt us so badly, what could the Bluebird project do? You are about to find out. >From today, the ABC invites you to enter the world of the experimental science of geoengineering-the deliberate manipulation of the Earth’s atmosphere to counteract climate change. Bluebird AR, an interactive alternative reality story about geoengineering, will play out on websites, in the social media, on ABC programs, and all around you. Bluebird AR is about Kyle Vandercamp, a brilliant, young, Australian researcher employed on a top-secret, privately-financed project to study solutions to climate change. He becomes deeply concerned about the project’s true objectives and finally decides to blow the whistle. You can find out why. He has his own blog at http://www.otakudaddy.net/kyle/. Bluebird AR presents an opportunity to explore the ethical, geopolitical and environmental issues of actions such as blowing sulphur particles or reflective materials into the atmosphere, releasing iron into the ocean, or burying carbon deep in rock. Will they save or destroy the world? Who decides whether we should try them? The story may be fiction, but its background is not. The science foundations of the project were developed with the help of Stanford climate scientist, Ken Caldiera, Canadian environmental scientist, David Keith, and US futurologist, Jamais Cascio. According to Bluebird AR’s creators, during the year it has taken to write and produce the materials, several of Bluebird’s scenarios have come true-just like eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. And the role of philanthro-capitalists is explored. Bill Gates and his peers have made remarkable contributions to global health. But could there be billionaires out there who are willing to go a step further to ‘save the world’? Fictional character Juanita Monte is a journalist and film maker producing an online documentary series Now I Can Change The World on philanthro-capitalism. Her first episode is now online at www.nowicanchangetheworld.com (and is an entirely factual 25-minute doco) and her second episode was to be a profile of fictional emerging philanthro-capitalist Harrison Wyld. But her project takes a turn when Kyle blows the whistle on Bluebird. The program should generate intense interest among thinking young Australians-and worldwide. And it will provide plenty of opportunities for discussion and interaction in all sorts of forms. So why don’t you and your organisation become involved? All it takes to get started is a visit to the Bluebird AR website at www.abc.net.au/bluebird Not only is Bluebird AR an interesting experiment in how to tell a story involving science, but people in your organisation could well be approached to provide background, answer questions, comment or make suggestions. If you want to take the opportunity, you can steer the process. Your organisation can become involved, providing people and information to add to the debate, and at the same time promoting itself and the field in which it is working. If there are people in your organisation who could contribute, or who would like to be briefed as the project develops we would be pleased to hear from them. Join the debate, unlock the drama and explore a whole new form of online storytelling with Bluebird AR. abc.net.au/bluebird For more information please contact Niall Byrne, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0417 131 977.

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Hi all,

Last week I attended the Australian Science Communicators meeting at the RiAus in South Australia which looked at the ³Inspiring Australia: A National Strategy for Engaging with the Sciences² report. I took along my cheat sheet – a diagram of how I felt the report fitted together and how the recommendations met desired outcomes. A few people have asked for a copy so I’ve posted the diagram onto our blog – http://bridge8.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/a-cheat-sheet-for-inspiring-australi a/.

Feel free to access it and change it to meet your needs. Let me know if it’s useful.

Regards, Dr Kristin Alford

Bridge8 Pty Ltd P: 0410 442 629 E: kristin@bridge8.com.au T: @kristinalford W: www.bridge8.com.au

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