Science Updates is a weekly email alert from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
== ASK AN EXPERT: HOW FAR AWAY FROM CITY LIGHTS DO YOU NEED TO BE TO ESCAPE LIGHT POLLUTION? ==
Many Australian cities have a tremendous amount of light pollution. So how do city slickers get to view the wonders of the sky?
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8383/0/
COMING UP: 'VOTE EARTH' WITH EARTH HOUR
In 2009, the ABC continues its commitment to a greener future by again supporting Earth Hour - an initiative that encourages people around the world to switch off all non-essential lighting and electrical equipment between 8:30-9:30pm, Saturday, 28 March 2009.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8384/0/
== DR KARL: COLOSSAL CREATURE A HUMUNGOUS FUNGUS ==
Don't be afraid, assures Dr Karl. The largest living thing on Earth has more chance of being eaten alive by you than you by it.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8385/0/
Follow Dr Karl on Twitter: http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/7715/0/
== VIDEO: ACE DAY JOBS: NAVAL SURVEYOR ==
David Gosling spends his life on boats and at naval yards making sure ships are safe and well maintained. Watch Ace Day Jobs to learn about this unusual career.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8386/0/
== TOP STORIES FROM NEWS IN SCIENCE == http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/1759/0/
BUSHFIRE ORIGINS LIE IN INDIAN OCEAN
A weather pattern centred on the Indian Ocean may provide an early warning system for major bushfires in southern Australia, climate experts say.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8387/0/
FINCH HEAD COLOUR AFFECTS MATING OUTCOME
Female finches from northern Australia are controlling the sex of their offspring, according to the head colour of their male counterpart.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8388/0/
RED MEAT UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
A US study has found that people who eat high levels of red meat have the highest overall risk of death from all causes, including heart disease and cancer.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8343/0/
SCIENTISTS FIND PIECES OF A SHOOTING STAR
Pieces of a car-sized asteroid that exploded into a brilliant meteor shower as it crashed into earth's atmosphere, have been found in the Sudan desert, confirm scientists.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8389/0/
== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ==
The new Moon is Friday March 27. Saturn is visible the entire night and can be easily seen as the second brightest object above the north-eastern horizon. It is about a third of the way between the bright stars Regulus and Spica, just under the star beta Leonis. Saturn is now just past opposition, but this is still a very good time to view this ringed world through a telescope. Saturn's rings are edge on, which will not occur again for another 14 years. In the morning Jupiter dominates the early twilight, with Mars below it.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/1764/0/
== STARSTUFF PODCAST: SHUTTLE DISCOVERY DOCKS ABOVE WA ==
Discovery docks with the International Space Station high above Western Australia; Europe set to study Earth's gravity; and the Cassini orbiter finds another Saturn moon.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/4567/0/
== ABC HEALTH & WELLBEING == http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/1765/0/
== FACT BUSTER: WILL A CAESAREAN REDUCE YOUR RISK OF STRESS INCONTINENCE AFTER CHILDBIRTH? ==
For some women the fear of incontinence is enough to make them opt for a caesarean, but will a caesarean guarantee you don't experience incontinence?
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8340/0/
== CATAPULT == http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/2337/0/
== YOUNG GUNS: OFF THE BEATEN TRACK ==
Dave Cunningham has turned travelling into a business. Listen to his story to discover how he became a chief exploring officer.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8390/0/
== TRANSCRIPTS NOW ONLINE ==
THE FUTURE OF NATIONAL SECURITY (Future Tense: 19/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8391/0/
SEXUAL SELECTION (Catalyst: 19/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8392/0/
DIAMOND MAGIC (Catalyst: 19/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8393/0/
KRISTIAN LANG (Catalyst: 19/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8394/0/
UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES (Catalyst: 19/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8376/0/
DOCTORING WITH DARWINIAN MEDICINE (All In The Mind: 21/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8375/0/
IMAGING MARS AND BEYOND (Science Show: 21/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8395/0/
CATERPILLARS GET THE ROYAL TREATMENT IN ANTS' NESTS (Science Show: 21/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8396/0/
NANOPARTICLES DELIVER DRUGS TO TREAT CANCER (Science Show: 21/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8397/0/
SATIN BOWERBIRDS SING AND DANCE TO ROBOT FEMALE BOWERBIRDS (Science Show: 21/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8398/0/
FROGS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA (Science Show: 21/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8399/0/
BOAR CROC FOSSIL (Science Show: 21/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8400/0/
A DARWIN TOURIST, SHREWSBURY, ENGLAND, FEBRUARY 12, 2009 (Ockham's Razor: 22/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8401/0/
PROSTATE CANCER SCREENING (Health Report: 23/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8374/0/
POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AND THE MILITARY (Health Report: 23/03/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8373/0/
== COMING UP ON ABC RADIO == http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/1773/0/
THE SCIENCE SHOW - Sex by colours
Saturday 28 March, 12.05pm & Monday 30 March, 7.05pm RN
How can finches fix the gender of their chicks by choosing the colour scheme of their mate's topknots? They do, according to new work from Macquarie University, and with spectacular success. Meanwhile penguins in Argentina are having to travel further to feed their broods. What's happened to the fish? And an engineer in New York who once discovered why astronauts' bones go mushy explains why he's now working on very fast trains.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/902/0/
ALL IN THE MIND - The natural history of adolescence
Saturday 28 March, 1.05pm & Monday 30 March, 1.05pm RN
Monosyllabic, messy, self-conscious and sleepy - science now has the tumultuous teenager in its sights. Are they risk-takers with brains still under construction? Or competent adults grossly misinterpreted by modern science? From evolutionary theories to the bright lights of the brain scan - a provocative debate is being waged.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/903/0/
OCKHAM'S RAZOR - In pursuit of the unknown
Sunday 29 March, 8.45am RN
Ed Wright author of Lost Explorers often wondered why someone would abandon their familiar world and risk their lives to travel to places inhospitable and unknown. Today he tells us the fate of some of the early adventurers. It has to be said many came to a grizzly end - but why? Was it due to the forces of nature, arrogance and a belief in their superiority, or just plain stupidity that caused their downfall?
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/910/0/
THE HEALTH REPORT - Your heart and sleep
Monday 30 March, 8.30am & 8.05pm RN
Next on The Health Report, can sleep affect your heart? A fascinating study has linked insomnia to bunged up arteries. Is it cause and effect or are insomniacs just coronary prone anyway?
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/920/0/
INNOVATIONS
Sunday 29 March (0830hrs UT), Monday 30 March (1330 & 1705hrs UT), Wednesday 1 April (0430hrs UT), Radio Australia
Farming Carbon - one Australian scientist is convinced its time has finally come.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/1775/0/
== HIGHLIGHTS ON ABC TV ==
THE NEW INVENTORS
ABC1, 8:00pm Wednesday, 1 April 2009 & ABC2, 4:30pm Friday, 3 April 2009
On the show this week a mobile crane arm, a software-based alert system, and a hydraulic jack to help fix all the street signs that get bent everyday all over Australia.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/1151/0/
CATALYST
ABC1, 8:00pm Thursday, 2 April 2009 & ABC2, 5:30pm Friday, 3 April 2009
Malaria jumps the gap from monkey to man; Could bubbles be a solution to the hard hit mining industry?; and how a horse trainer applies his skill to the training of elephants - with remarkable success.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/834/0/
MEDICINE MEN GO WILD - THE HOT ZONE
ABC2, 8:30pm Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Two young British doctors, Chris and Xand van Tulleken, who also happen to be identical twins, immerse themselves in radically different cultures in four of the most extreme places on Earth. In this first episode they travel to equatorial Africa to live for a month with the Bayaka pygmies who inhabit the densely-forested, swamp-infested Congo Basin, regarded as one of the sickest places on Earth. Malaria, ebola and HIV all originated here. It's a nerve-wracking environment for a pair of well-informed doctors but they want to learn how the pygmies survive and thrive in such a relentless place.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8380/0/
IDEAL WORLD
ABC2, 9:25pm Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Once upon a time there was a man who had a vision - a vision to create a whole new world...
So begins the story of Second Life, the virtual world that has millions of people around the globe living out their fantasy lives on the Internet. In Second Life or 'SL' as it is known, players create avatars - their 'virtual world' characters and do things they can only dream of in real life. However, there is more to Second Life than meets the eye. Ideal World follows the fascinating development of the website, from its humble origins to the global phenomenon it has become. With more than 10 million active players worldwide - and with Microsoft and Sony pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into video games development - online games have become too big to ignore. Ideal World investigates this phenomenon and reveals the amazing potential - and unforeseen problems - of this brave new world.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/428942/686964/8402/0/
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