Free ANZAAS talk Melbourne Wed 17th March 6:30pm

All welcome, no booking needed

At: Gene Technology Access Centre, 1H Royal Parade, Parkville

Free drinks and pizza after the talk

“Can experts be trusted?”

Professor Mark Burgman

Director, Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis (ACERA)

Expert judgements are a routine and necessary part of risk analysis because it is usually too cumbersome and costly to collect all the necessary information. We need experts to fill gaps in knowledge, and to provide explanations of how systems work. However, research over the last 40 years in psychology has shown that perception of risk is filtered by memory, context, anchoring, experience, emotion, and other subjective factors. Research on the performance of nuclear risk engineers, geophysicists, ecologists and other professional groups has shown that most experts are overconfident in their abilities to estimate quantities. How can we make better use of experts? Can we anticipate and adjust for their biases and psychological sensitivities? How should knowledge of their foibles affect our trust in their assessments?

***Enter off Story Steet, GTAC is at the western end of University High School’s oval***

These talks are supported by CSL

http://www.anzaas.org.au/ _______________________________________________ ASC-list mailing list list@asc.asn.au http://www.asc.asn.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=115

ANZAAS Vic Science Talk, Free, all welcome (booking not needed) Free pizza and drinks after the talk

At: Gene Technology Access Centre (GTAC), in the grounds of University High School, 1H Royal Parade Parkville, off Story Street

Monday 1st March 2009, at 6:30 pm ***Special Monday Evening Talk***

– Nicola Temple –

Biologist with the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Brisbane

“To Lihou and back: a climate change odyssey”

In December 2009, Nicola joined a group of scientists, filmmakers, conservationists as well as avid birders and divers that set off on an 11 day adventure to Lihou Reef, one of the world’s largest atolls, located east of the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea. This remote area is rarely visited by humans, though this does not mean that it is not affected by human actions. The trip’s mission was to explore the region in search of signs of human induced climate change; to make the connection between these remote cays and islets and our every day lives. Diving with sharks, sea snake encounters, boobies and bleaching…join Nicola as she shares stories from this adventure, and the concerning observations of how we are affecting such remote areas of our planet.

Use the Royal Melbourne Hospital tram stop in Royal Parade. Parking available at RMH, University of Melbourne, and designated places in Park Drive, Royal Parade & Story Street

***We are pleased to acknowledge the support by GTAC, CSL and La Trobe University University for the ANZAAS Melbourne science talks series***

Further Info:

Peter Kemeny: Tel: 0409 028 165 email peter.kemenyATgmail.com

http://www.anzaas.org.au/vic/

http://www.anzaas.org.au/vic/events.php

_______________________________________________ ASC-list mailing list list@asc.asn.au http://www.asc.asn.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=115

ANZAAS Vic Science Talk, Free, all welcome (booking not needed) Free pizza and drinks after the talk. Bring your friends!

Venue: Gene Technology Access Centre (GTAC), in the grounds of University High School, 1H Royal Parade Parkville, off Story Street

Wednesday 18th November 2009, at 6:30 pm

Professor Michael Hynes

Department of Genetics, University of Melbourne

“GENETICS, FUNGI, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY”

Geneticists have a particular philosophy in how they approach the unravelling of fundamental problems in biology. This involves the investigation of the effects of the alteration of genes involved in the process of interest. This methodology was highly successful long before the discovery of DNA structure or the development of modern recombinant DNA techniques. The use of organisms highly suited to rapid laboratory based genetic studies has been fundamental to this. One group of such organisms is the fungi. This will be illustrated by considering some fundamental Nobel prize winning discoveries in Medicine, including the 2009 award, in which the use of fungi for genetic analysis was crucial. Fungi are a diverse group of organisms ubiquitous in the biosphere. They perform essential roles in breaking down organic matter and in plant nutrition. They are sources of food but can also cause spoilage. They are a major source of plant diseases and an increasing problem as human infectious agents. They are used widely in industry as sources of enzymes, antibiotics, chemicals and, of course, alcohol. A personal case history of how my fundamental research interests contributed accidentally to the development and continuing use of DNA manipulations of industrial fungi will be presented.