Science Updates is a weekly email alert from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
== ASK AN EXPERT: HOW DOES GPS WORK? ==
I've just bought a new phone that is GPS-enabled and it got me wondering, how does GPS actually work? And how accurate is it?
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10416/0/
== PHOTO COMPETITION: REFLECTIONS ON THE MOON ==
Don't forget to enter our photo competitions celebrating nearly forty years since humans first walked on the moon. Send us your photos reflecting on the moon and you could win a $100 ABC Shop gift voucher!
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10119/0/
== HOT TAG OF THE WEEK: FOSSILS ==
Could dinosaurs help explain bird evolution? And just what exactly did ancient Arctic beasts eat? Find out on our fossils tag page.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10417/0/
== CATALYST'S 300TH EPISODE ==
If you missed Catalyst's 300th episode last week check out the special online edition celebrating 10 seasons on ABC TV. Watch interviews with Catalyst reporters talking about their experiences on Australia's premier science show, watch a selection of our favourite stories and revisit 50 years of science on television.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10418/0/
== DR KARL: CAR BRAKE TECHNIQUE SPINS OUT OF CONTROL ==
Dr Karl loves driving and values regular practice. And the most important skill to master is correct emergency braking.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10419/0/
Add your comments to this week's Great Moment in Science http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10420/0/
Follow Dr Karl on Twitter: http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10121/0/
== DR KARL ON TRIPLEJ: DR KARL AND HEADS IN JARS ==
Could a head survive without its body? Also: Why don't sharks eat the other fish in aquariums? Could a double-yolked egg give rise to twin chicks? And why do we make silly faces when we're exercising?
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/9919/0/
== TOP STORIES FROM NEWS IN SCIENCE == http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/1759/0/
JELLYFISH ANTIVENOM LIKELY 'INEFFECTIVE'
A long-used box jellyfish antivenom is unlikely to actually save lives, suggests new Australian research.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10397/0/
MOON CASTS SHADOWS ON SATURN RING
Tiny moons embedded in Saturn's ring system create gravitational speed bumps that redirect the flow of particles, new findings from the Cassini spacecraft show.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10421/0/
FALLING RAINDROPS PROMPT RAINFALL RETHINK
Meteorologists may be overestimating rainfall, according to a new study that shows small raindrops can fall faster than previously thought.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10422/0/
STRESSED GENES BRING ON GREY
DNA damage caused by the sun, smoking or an unhealthy lifestyle causes hair to turn grey, a new study has shown.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10400/0/
== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ==
Winter solstice (where the night is longest) is Sunday June 21. The new Moon is Tuesday June 23. Saturn is visible in the early evening and can be easily seen as the second brightest object above the north-eastern horizon. It is about a quarter of the way between the bright stars Regulus and Spica. Jupiter can be seen just clearing the horizon before 10pm local time, but is still best seen in the morning with the other bright planets (Venus, Mars and Mercury).
Between Friday June 19 and Sunday June 21 you can see an intricate and beautiful planetary dance. On June 19 Jupiter is glowing in the western sky, to the north-east is the waning Moon forming a long thin triangle with Venus and Mars close together. Below that Mercury is between the Hyades and Pleiades clusters. The morning of Saturday June 20 sees a closer grouping of the Moon, Mars and Venus, with Mercury creeping closer to the bright red star Alderbaran in the Hyades, a fiery eye in the head of Taurus the Bull. On June 21 the Moon is close to Mercury, which now is in the Hyades next to Aldebaran, making a second eye for the Bull. Despite the cold, this is well worth seeing, you might even see a satellite or two!
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/1764/0/
== STARSTUFF PODCAST: SHRINKING SUPERGIANT PUZZLES SCIENTISTS ==
Will the red giant, Betelgeuse, become the nearest supernova in modern history?; Mount Stromlo's new Skymapper Telescope to survey the southern skies; and how orbital chaos could set Earth on a collision course.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/4567/0/
== ABC HEALTH & WELLBEING == http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/1765/0/
== FEATURE: FUNCTIONAL FOODS: HEALTHY OR HYPE? ==
Functional foods, foods with extra 'healthy' ingredients added, are being touted as the answer to a range of conditions from high cholesterol to iodine deficiency. But are they real health food or just hype?
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10387/0/
== CATAPULT == http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/2337/0/
== YOUNG GUNS: GETTING HOT DOWN UNDER ==
Donald Payne is installing the first geothermal pumps into Australian homes. Listen to the Catapult Young Guns podcast to find out how tapping into this clean source of energy can become a viable business.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10423/0/
== TRANSCRIPTS NOW ONLINE ==
FROM LITTLE THINGS... (Future Tense: 11/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10424/0/
GRAVITY PROBE (Catalyst: 11/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10425/0/
URANIUM MINERALS (Catalyst: 11/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10426/0/
SECRETS AND LIES: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ADOPTION (All In The Mind: 13/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10411/0/
HEAVEN + EARTH - REVIEW BY DAVID KAROLY (Science Show: 13/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10427/0/
JAMES LOVELOCK: IN SEARCH OF GAIA (Science Show: 13/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10428/0/
THE WORLD WITHOUT US (Science Show: 13/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10429/0/
THINKING ABOUT MEMES, MINDS AND CULTURAL EVOLUTION (Ockham's Razor: 14/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10430/0/
THE GREAT DISRUPTION (Background Briefing 14/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10431/0/
PREVENTION OF DEPRESSION IN AT-RISK ADOLESCENTS (Health Report: 15/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10406/0/
STRETCHING TRIAL RESULTS (Health Report: 15/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10407/0/
LOW BACK PAIN STUDIES (Health Report: 15/06/2009)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10405/0/
== COMING UP ON ABC RADIO ==
THE SCIENCE SHOW - Making or influencing a million from science
Saturday 20 June, 12.05pm & Monday 22 June, 7.05pm RN
What do we dream from science? To make a million dollars? Or perhaps to influence a million people… or more! The Science Show this week presents a forum where successful science researchers and entrepreneurs describe how their work has changed the world, how the products that have come from their research have influenced a million people, and quite often, made a million… or more!
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/902/0/
ALL IN THE MIND - David Eagleman: The afterlife, synesthesia and other tales of the senses
Saturday 20 June, 1.05pm & Monday 22 June, 1.05pm RN
Neuroscientist by day, novelist by night - David Eagleman has written an extraordinary little novel about the afterlife. He's also a leading researcher in synesthesia, studying people who taste sounds, hear colours, and live in a remarkable world of sensory cross-talk. He joins Natasha Mitchell in conversation about life, death and the in-between.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/903/0/
OCKHAM'S RAZOR - Group A streptococcus - the bacterium that links the heart and the throat
Sunday 21 June, 8.45am RN
Dr Melina Georgousakis from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research focuses her attention on Group A streptococcus which is responsible for the onset of three post-infection diseases: rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease and acute post-streptococcal glomerulo-nephritis. This particular germ has intrigued scientists since Hippocrates in the fifth century BC and it still perplexes scientists today.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/910/0/
BACKGROUND BRIEFING - Synthetic life and gene mining
Sunday 21 June, 9am & Tuesday 23 June, 7pm RN
Not only can we create new life forms, but our own genes are starting to show us all the diseases we're likely to get during our lives. Do we want to know and what are the costs?
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/911/0/
THE HEALTH REPORT - New treatment for a pre-cancerous condition of the oesophagus
Monday 22 June, 8.30am RN
In this week's program Norman Swan talks with Dr Nicholas Shaheen from the Center for Esophageal Diseases and Swallowing at the University of North Carolina, School of Medicine, about a new treatment for a very common, in fact increasingly common, pre-malignant condition of the oesophagus related to reflux called Barrett's oesophagus.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/920/0/
REAR VISION - The end of fish
Monday 24 June, 8.30am & Sunday 28 June, 1.30pm RN
We seem to have eaten all the fish in the sea. We explores the role played by technology in the disappearance of wild fish and look at some of the reasons why attempts to maintain fish numbers have had limited success.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/913/0/
FUTURE TENSE - The power of Tribes
Thursday 25 June, 8.30am & Friday 26 June, 12.30am RN
We talk with Dr Genevieve Bell, the current South Australian thinker in residence, about the way we communicate in this digital age. We also talk to Seth Godin about the power of Tribes and why 'lasting and substantive change can be best effected by a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea'.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/7172/0/
INNOVATIONS
Sunday 21 June (0830hrs UT), Monday 22 June (1330 & 1705hrs UT), Wednesday 24 June (0430hrs UT), Radio Australia
A local automotive component supplier gets into gear internationally; a non-invasive technique to replace heart valves; and the latest research on the link between sleep apnoea and brain damage.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/1775/0/
== HIGHLIGHTS ON ABC TV ==
NATURE'S GREAT EVENTS - THE GREAT SALMON RUN
ABC1, 7:30pm Sunday, 21 June 2009
The return of the Pacific salmon every year to the rivers from which they were born is one of the greatest natural events on the planet. More than half a billion salmon travel up to 20,000 miles to return to the exact patch of gravel in the river from which they were born, to spawn and die. Using high speed cameras and specially designed digital underwater kits, Nature's Great Events amazingly capture the salmon swimming upstream and against powerful torrents. Salmon have an incredible sense of smell and can detect just a drop of the water from the river they came from among billions of litres of sea water.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10432/0/
THE NEW INVENTORS
ABC1, 8:00pm Wednesday, 24 June 2009 & ABC2, 4:30pm Friday 26 June 2009
Featuring new ideas on how to update your skates for the 21st century; grasp the future of simulation training; and easily fit temporary and permanent downpipes.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/1151/0/
CATALYST
ABC1, 8:00pm Thursday, 25 June 2009 & ABC2, 5:30pm Friday, 26 June 2009
A special stem cells edition of Catalyst. What are stem cells? The life saver of the future? Could stem cells in the brain increase our life expectancy? And Australia's first injection of donor stem cells for an arthritic knee.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/834/0/
BEN'S ZOO
ABC2, 8:00pm Wednesday, 24 June 2009
When Ben and his family buy a zoo, they meet with unexpected problems. The escape of a wolf shows Ben just how desperately the zoo is in need of repairs, but buying the park has used up all the family's savings. Time is running out. They have just 4000 pounds left in the bank account and the zoo is already costing 3000 pounds a week to run. Ben has to find someone who will lend them 500,000 pounds as they still need to pay for the repairs and renovations. If he fails, the zoo will be back on the market and the animals' lives will be in danger once again.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10433/0/
BOMB HARVEST
ABC2, 10:25pm Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Explores the work and relationships within a bomb disposal unit on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Southern Laos - the most heavily bombed place in world history.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/496838/686964/10434/0/
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