Australian cutting edge research on display

The Academy of Science’s peak annual event, Science at the Shine Dome, will be held from 7–9 May 2007 in Canberra.

The three-day celebration of science attracts over 300 delegates and brings to the spotlight the great research and achievements of some of Australia’s brightest scientists.

Science at the Shine Dome will kick off with Macfarlane Burnet medal winner Prof Rick Shine presenting a lecture on the battle against cane toads in tropical Australia.

As the spread of cane toads continues, Prof Shine and his team have revealed "remarkably rapid adaptive shifts both in the toads and in their Australian victims". He will outline the interaction between cane toads, their parasites and native animals, and how understanding the evolution of this relationship over time provides new approaches to help control them.

The cutting edge research continues with new Fellows of the Academy presenting their work on a variety of topics.

These include:

• Controlling killer T cells, the assassins of the immune system
• Koalas, eucalypts and climate change
• The accelerating universe
• New ways of finding genes for common diseases
• Plant adaptation to increased CO₂ levels
• Understanding birth defects through mouse development
• Boys, girls and children of uncertain sex: the genetics and biology of sex development
• The composition of the earth — are our assumptions correct?
• New developments in quantum computing

This year’s symposium will also showcase the latest Australian research on climate change, and the potential hazards that lie ahead for humanity and the planet. A feature of the symposium will be Dr Neil Hamilton from the WWF’s International Arctic Programme, discussing the effects of climate change in the Arctic and whether dangerous climate change is already upon us.

Also for discussion:

• Can we avoid dangerous climate change? — Dr Graeme Pearman AM FAA FRSV FTSE
• Economic perspectives on climate change — Ms Anthea Harris
• Predicting global sea levels — Dr John Church FTSE
• The challenge to Australia — Mr Roger Beale AO
• Can coral reefs adapt? — Prof Ove Hoegh-Guldberg FAA
• The vulnerability of socioecological systems — Prof Amanda Lynch
• A new geological epoch, the Anthropocene — Prof Will Steffen

Commenting on the scope of the program, Academy president Professor Kurt Lambeck said: “Science at the Shine Dome features admission of new Fellows to the Academy — the pinnacle of achievement for Australian scientists — as well as the presentation of some of science’s most prestigious awards, including the Macfarlane Burnet, Pawsey and Gottschalk Medals. The program also includes special career-development programs for young researchers and science teachers.”

For more information on the event, new Fellows and their talks go to: www.science.org.au/sats2008

Award winners can be found at: www.science.org.au/awards/2008awards