The genesis of a new science-based political party?

An idea that has been tossing around for some time with a friend on Twitter Paul Salanitri was resurrected amid the spectre of Sophie Mirabella as Australia's Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science.

The idea is to form a political party based on building support for Education and STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Not a single-issue party, but a party that is unashamedly and solidly grounded on improving education, and on educating our elected representatives as to the importance and benefits that flow from an educated population.

For far too long, the major political parties in this country have targeted everything they do towards society's "lowest common denominator".

Meanwhile, so many of our nation's scientists, educators and health experts are left seething as their funding is raided yet again to pay for nonsense like marriage bonuses, and their reputations as objective researchers is disparaged in the pursuit of cheap political points.

And along the way, we've managed to make senators of a gun nut because 318,000 people didn't know the difference between Liberal Democrats and Liberal Party, an unheard-of motoring enthusiast on the back of just 3% of a quota or less than 13,000 votes, and a sports party person who got just 2070 votes! These people will hold the balance of power in the Senate from July 2014, and determine what Abbott promises make it into law...

Some people think we should just throw our support behind the Greens. But the stark reality is that many voters will not vote for the Greens no matter how much they try to portray themselves as mainstream. The recent election has clearly demonstrated that an unprecedented proportion of the voting population were casting about desperately looking for an alternative they could vote for. A full 32% of first preference votes went to parties other than the ALP, Liberals and Nationals. That's almost 3.4 million people. For Pete's sake, more than half a million people voted first for Clive Palmer's party!

Ermagawd! School science experiment opens the gates of Hell!

This stunning little clip did the rounds a while back, but I have such a backlog of cool things to blog, and I know this one is in there somewhere. So as it's doing the rounds of social media again, there's no time like the present...

This chemical reaction makes a pretty impressive pyroclastic volcano analog. But that's only just the beginning!


According to The Daily Dot, one of the Polish creators of this abomination described it thus:

We've mixed two well known chemical experiments. Chemical Volcano + Pharaon Snake. Chemical Volcano is burning of NH4Cr2O7 which makes porous, green Cr2O3 as a product. Inside volcano we've hidden 4 tablets with HgSCN. This chemical burns producing N2 which is making a foam 20 times bigger than initial tablet.

It's all very well to know how they let the beast out, but how the hell do they get it back in??

Infographic of nations in the world using SI/Metric versus using British Imperial system

It really is incredible to think that just three countries in the entire world have stuck with the old British Imperial measures.

In particular, what will it take for America to change?

Perhaps it needs to be led by the educators of that nation? The teachers—poor buggers who have to teach that stupid feet/miles ounce/pound nonsense—could combine to push the government, to push Barak Obama to leave a lasting legacy for the US, and by extension the world.

Surely manufacturers globally would get behind it? The conversion costs would be far outweighed by the savings in no longer needing parallel production. NASA could start working effectively with the rest of the world!

I'm struggling to find a down side? In fact I've always struggled to understand why a nation that fought a war again British rule still fights so hard to keep the British Imperial measurement system...

Like to take your astronomy interest to another level? How about some free online university courses through Coursera.org?

Are you interested in more than looking at the pretty space pictures? You can now take university-standard courses for free through www.coursera.org.

I'm in the middle of the Introduction to Astronomy course, run from Duke Iniversity in the USA. It is admittedly a pretty tough course—especially if you haven't done any algebra for 30-plus years like me! There is a lot of maths. Although there were originally some 65,000 people enrolled, and the maths load has taken a heavy toll on them, there are still more than 6500 people who've made it through the first three weeks. That's right—one lecturer, two assistants, 6500 students!

There are two more directly space-related course coming up in January, as well as an interesting sounding one called "Image and video processing: from Mars"! Anyone with a telescope knows it doesn't take long before you progress from looking at the night sky to wanting to photograph it so you can show others what you are seeing. And suddenly your hobby becomes a whole lot more involved...

This link is my wish list, although I think January needs a dose of reality! From that page you can easily browse the upcoming courses and come up with your own list.

(Declaration: other than being a current student, I have no links with Coursera.org)

Night-time satellite images are pretty—like light reflecting off oil scum in wetlands is pretty!

I get a bit cranky every time I see one of these night-time from space photos—especially when they are posted by NASA. Everyone is always going "wow awesome pretty".

Yes—pretty like the refraction off the oil scum polluting the wetlands is pretty.

As a space-interested community, shouldn't we should be saying "it's pretty, but you know what is WAY prettier? The unpolluted night sky."

I know which sky I'd prefer to see!   http://stellarium.org/img/screenshots/0.10-bortle.jpg

What? You're still listening to audio broadcasts in real time? Discover podcasts.

So you are one of those people eh? Still listening to the radio in real time? Ever stopped to wonder what those podcast things are they keep mentioning?

Podcasts are like the radio equivalent of your PVR - audio on demand, and video too.

I've written before about some of my favourite podcast resources for astronomy brainfood, and there are several others on my subscription list - 36 all up at this point in time. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National have a heap of top picks on world and national affairs, science, medicine, environment, media, history. There are TED Talks, RadioLab, and my friends over at ScienceOnTop.

The things I like most about podcasts are that you can listen to them anytime that suits, anywhere on your smartphone.

And you can listen to them faster. You know what it's like - sometimes they just talk so s l o w l y...

Streetlight repairs? Some of us would be happy to see some of them left broken...

Canberra lights clearly visible from the top of Mt Ainslie.
And a beautiful comet! Photo: Richard McDonald

It appears that Katy Gallagher is copping some flack about slow repairs of streetlights in the older suburbs of Canberra. And understandably so - some of the old "heritage" lights do very little for pedestrian safety. Even less when broken...

But it is precisely the opposite in any newer areas. We have lights on steroids. I can do the gardening at night time by the street lights. Literally!

And forget looking at the stars except in the back yard where the house partially shields some of the worst ones.

The worst of it though is that we can go up to any high point around Canberra and see virtually every street light. What's that about? Any street light so poorly designed as to project light upwards should never be installed - it is just wasting energy and taxpayer money for no benefit at all.

Crikey - 40,000 views! And now I'm 'published' and podcasted...

Thanks Mars Curiosity! You sure helped bump up the viewership of this blog. Some time over the last couple of days, the numbers flew past 40,000 views.

And some of my posts on science and astronomy are now being published and podcasted.

I'm now a writer for Australian Science, with three posts so far, although you may have seen them here first:

The Beach House - readings and writings for the week 10-16 July

Here's the Paper.Li e-mag of my readings and writings for the week.

Free presentation by our own Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt. Get in quick!

Would you like to meet Brian Schmidt and hear him talk about his work that led to the joint discovery that our universe is not just expanding - but doing so at an accelerating rate?

Would it surprise you to find out you can do so for free?

It's part of National Science Week 2012.

But you had better get in quick.
As I write this, there are just 211 tickets left.

Details:

Shine Dome
Gordon Street, Canberra
Saturday 11 August 2012
Refreshments from 10:30 am; Lecture from 11am
Free entry and parking


UPDATE: Online booking site.

If you miss out, you still be able to see him via live streaming from 11am at: http://www.science.org.au/livestream.

Details on other Science Week events are here: http://www.science.org.au/events/science-week/2012.html

Enjoy: "Audacity to Dream" - an inspirational video presentation

Astronaut Ron Garan debuted this beautiful and inspirational video at the TEDxISU conference, hosted by the 25th International Space University Space Studies Program last week.

Enjoy.

But Garran's efforts don't start and end with a video clip, as some notes about his accompanying speech reveal:

What a lovely surprise from a group of enthusiastic young stargazers

Recently I took the telescope to the Harrison School so my daughter's class could witness the Transit of Venus. As I wrote here, it ended up being a LOT more than just her class!

It was a lot of fun on the day. And I hope that it's one of those events that sticks in these children's minds for years to come - like how I vividly remember witnessing Armstrong step on the Moon at Canberra's Red Hill Primary School, even though I was only six years old.

But there was a real surprise in store for me a few days later. Every child in her class made up their own thank you cards.

Click on the picture to see the wonderful messages and pictures from the children. And some pretty good recall of the Dobsonian telescope design too!

Really made my day.

Huge turnout at the museum. The market was so-so, but the stargazing was crisp, clear and OMG!

http://en.iwtb.com.ar/

There was a crazy huge turnout last night for the Silk Road Markets at the National Museum of Australia. You would think it was the only thing that's happened in Canberra for months... Took from 6 to 6:30 to get from Civic to the Museum!

I went there as part of the Canberra Astronomy Society's setup to show people the night sky. At 6 the sky seemed almost 100% cloud, but by the time I got there (couldn't turn around in the gridlock!) it had completely cleared. Putting aside chronic light pollution, the sky was incredibly clear with very good "seeing".

Astronomy 141 - an entire introductory university course available online and free

The internet has entered an amazing phase. All manner of materials that once cost extraordinary amounts of your hard-earned are now being posted for free.

Having finally caught up with all episodes on my list of 34 (!) regular podcast subscriptions, I'm now listening my way through this little brainfood goldmine: Astronomy 141 - Life in the Universe is an entire course from Ohio State University. The lecturer's description sums it up:

...an introduction to Astrobiology. The topics covered in this course lie at the interfaces between astronomy, chemistry, biology, geology, and the earth and planetary sciences. We will learn about scientists' ongoing quest for answers to some of the most fundamental human questions: How did life originate on Earth? Is there life on other worlds? Are we alone in the universe? What is the long-term future of life in the universe?

But it isn't just about the potential for life in space.

What a huge day for stargazing - in the daytime. More of my Transit of Venus photos.

The Transit of Venus proved a great education opportunity for me when I was asked by the teacher of one of my children if I'd like to talk to the class about "what is happening today."

Both children had take their eclipse glasses to school so friends could see Venus, and it all got going from there.

Gail Mabo discusses her art - and the meaning of reconciliation

Gail Mabo - the photo does not do justice
to the beautiful vibrant colours in the artwork

This National Reconciliation Week, my dayjob workplace (the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations) held a panel discussion featuring people from the department's executive, Reconciliation Australia and Gail Mabo.

Gail is the daughter of Eddie Koiki Mabo and Boneta Mabo - her father being the person with his name forever bound to Native Title rights thanks to his tenacious activism and Australia's High Court.

Gail is an accomplished painter, and three of her pieces were on display at the event. She talked with me afterwards about the stories behind them. And I learnt a few things along the way:

Interview with Dr Brian Boyle on the Square Kilometre Array project

In a first for this blog, an exclusive face-to-face audio interview with Doctor Brian Boyle - Project Director of the Australia and New Zealand bid for the Square Kilometre Array.

I met Brian when he gave a presentation on the SKA bid to those of us fortunate enough to be at the Mars Curiosity Rover Launch Tweetup at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Centre. So it's something I've followed very closely since, including following Brian via Twitter (@BrianBoyleSKA).

In the interview, we cover the bid and outcome, what it means for Australia and indeed world science, the technology and supporting infrastructure, science in the media, inspiring new students into astronomy, and even some joking around maybe a sequel to The Dish - Dishes...

The interview was conducted in a (kind of noisy sorry) cafe in Canberra on 29 May 2012. Apologies for a couple of bits that could stand being cropped out due to lack of editing software. The interview is in two parts over 35 minutes:

Star Stuff podcast and survey fun

There are a lot of good podcasts available these days, with - just like with TV - little reason for listening to radio live. You can now pick the subjects you want to listen to, when and where you want. You can use the iPhone's double speed option to double your listening productivity. And you may even find listening to normal speed radio maddeningly slow!

There are quite a few podcasts covering space research and astronomy. But most are from overseas, with Northern Hemisphere biases and information. However, ABC Radio sponsors a very good local podcast called StarStuff, by Stuart Gary.

Stuart started a survey to understand the level of knowledge of his audience. I wrote to him suggesting manual responses would cause a lot of compilation work compared to using SurveyMonkey. He agreed but doesn't seem to have gotten to that yet, and there's no link any more for the original survey.

But answering the original was a fun test of knowledge. So here are my answers - just for fun. Test your own knowledge while you are at it. No guarantees on my answers - I haven't checked them.

How big is everything? How small? This nifty scaling demonstration will amaze you.

That Pluto really isn't that big is it?

This seems like a simple little tool. Slide left and check out how small some things are. Except they just keep getting smaller and smaller. And smaller. And...

Slide right, and you get big, bigger, and so on in scales you will have trouble comprehending.

And that's fine, because the sorts of scales that exist in our universe are quite simply beyond our ability to comprehend. So we need to just acknowledge it, marvel at it, and then leave it to the scientists!

Unfortunately, the tool is in Flash, so iThing users will need to find a desktop PC.

Hat tip to my sister Michelle who passed on the link.

Interested in learning more about the sciences? Don't miss the Cosmos Ultimate Science Guide

If you (or yours) are yearning to learn more about any of the sciences, then you really need to download this. That wonderful Australian science magazine Cosmos has compiled a great guide to undergraduate science courses available at Australia universities.

Actually, you should check it out regardless - there are some good articles throughout, so it's worth it just for them.