Monday 14 December, 2009

Numbers: From -1 to 2 raised to the power of infinity

Presented by Dr Daryl Cooper, University of California, Santa Barbara

One cornerstone of mathematics is the concept of number. We learn in primary school that when you multiply two negative numbers the answer is positive. A few years back a prominent columnist claimed that this was wrong and that the answer is really negative. We will start by explaining why the answer is indeed positive. This explanation illustrates a key stepping stone for tonight’s lecture: all numbers are abstractions. From here we will explain exactly what infinity is, how to do basic arithmetic with infinity, why there are different sizes of infinity, and why 2 raised to the power infinity is always bigger than the infinity you first thought of!

Two lessons come from this. First one must have a very  precise understanding of a concept before trying to reason about it. Second, and perhaps most importantly: advanced mathematics is full of amazingly beautiful and intriguing ideas, some of which are far crazier than the weirdest science fiction, or the most bizarre hallucinations. However these ideas are as real and certain as that 2+2=4.

• Time: 6:30pm to 7:30pm (Doors open at 6pm)
• Venue: Ithaca Auditorium, Brisbane City Hall
• Refreshments: There will be complimentary drinks and nibblies following the talk, and Daryl will be available to answer any questions.
• Questions? Contact Lynelle (l.ross@smp.uq.edu.au)

Monday 30 November, 2009

In partnership with the Brisbane Writers Festival, BrisScience proudly presents

Opening the Door to Science

Presented by UK Author, Len Fisher

IgNobel Prize winning physicist, Len Fisher, has captured the public imagination with his personal approach to popular science writing. Topics range from the physics of biscuit dunking to the use of the mathematics of co-operation to help resolve resource depletion and global warming.

WHEN: 6.30 pm – 7.30 pm (Doors open at 6 pm)

WHERE: State Library of Queensland, Auditorium 1

Questions? Contact Lynelle Ross

Tuesday 17 November, 2009

Plugging into our future: the research powering the energy debate

BrisScience in partnership with the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) on the occasion of ATSE’s 32nd National Symposium - Future-proofing Australia: Rising to the Challenge of Climate

Change Australia’s energy requirements are growing every year, with Queensland’s consumption increasing more quickly than anywhere else. But what will feed this growth over the next ten or fifty years? With climate change at crisis point, low emission technologies and renewable energy will be essential for Australia’s energy future.

There is healthy debate, however, amongst environmentalists, engineers, governments, and residents as to what those technologies should be. Should we be building wind generators, installing solar panels or investing in carbon capture and storage? Will geothermal and wave power be viable? What about nuclear energy? Most importantly, what are the costs, benefits and risks of the upcoming technologies, and how will they affect you, the consumer?

Join Dr Joel Gilmore and a team of expert panelists as they discuss the merits and implications of a range of current and future technologies – from wind to solar to clean coal, and more – in this special BrisScience session in partnership with ATSE.

Panelists include:

• John Loughhead, Executive Director, UK Energy Research Centre
• Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg – Director, Global Change Institute, UQ
• Professor Kelly Thambimuthu, FTSE – Director, Centre for Coal Energy Technology (CCETech), UQ
• Peter Meurs – Managing Director, Worley Parsons
• Dr Adrian Williams, Australian Representative, International Partnership for Geothermal Technology NEW ADDITION TO THE PANEL

Venue: State Library of Queensland, Auditorium 1
Date: Tuesday 17 November, 2009 @ 6.30 pm (Doors open at 6 pm)
Questions? Contact Lynelle (l.ross@smp.uq.edu.au)

Monday October 12th, 2009

Are the Laws of Nature Changing?

Dr Michael Murphy
Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
Swinburne University of Technology

What are the laws of Nature? Are they really hard-and-fast “laws”, or just “local by-laws” for the tiny region of the Universe we live in? These questions are among the most basic we can ask, and also some of the oldest. This talk will explore how astronomers are trying to answer these questions of fundamental physics. One fun way is to observe quasars – super-massive black holes sucking in stars and gas from the centers of galaxies in the extremely distant Universe – with the biggest telescopes on Earth. Excitingly, Dr Murphy’s results to date suggest that some laws of Nature might have been different billions of years ago, in the early Universe, before our Solar System and even our Milky Way galaxy existed. Of course, these results are under intense scrutiny and the story continues.

• Time: 6:30pm to 7:30pm (Doors open at 6pm)
• Venue: Ithaca Auditorium, Brisbane City Hall
• Refreshments: There will be complimentary drinks and nibblies following the talk, and Michael will be available to answer any questions.
• Questions? Contact Lynelle (l.ross@smp.uq.edu.au)

Michael Murphy is an observational astronomer studying the Universe’s properties and evolution on the largest possible scales, i.e. cosmology. He completed his PhD in physics at the University of NSW in Sydney and then spent 5 years at the University of Cambridge in the UK as a research fellow. He returned to Australia in 2007 to take up a lectureship at Swinburne University and began a QEII Research Fellowship there in 2008, funded by the Australian Government.

Saturday 12 September, 2009

In partnership with Brisvbane Writers Festival, BrisScience is proud to present

Moving on from the Boy Scouts

Author and primatologist, Andrew Westoll, spent a year in the jungles of Suriname. He joins Australian Geographic Young Adventurer of the Year, Chris Bray, and Himalayan trekker, Gary Weare, to swap stories.

WHEN: Saturday 12 September, 2 pm – 3 pm

WHERE: Breezeway Stage (between GoMA and State Library of Queensland)

This event is free but BrisScience has 60 reserved seats for our members – email Lynelle to get your seat

National Science Week 2009

Science at the Ekka at the National Science Week Pavilion.

INTECOL will extend ecological debate and presentations into the public realm in Brisbane. Public scientific events during the conference will be held in conjunction with National Science Week Delegates and their families are encouraged to get involved in the scientific culture of Brisbane.

ALL WEEK OF INTECOL
Public posters at Queensland Museum South Bank

INTECOL delegates will communicate their work to the public in the Queensland Museum South Bank during National Science Week. Look out for signs for this event at the museum.

MONDAY 17th August 2009
The Science of Sustaining our Urban Landscapes

A public lecture & panel debate focused on Urban Ecology, sustainable urban planning and development and the responsibility of ecologists in securing our future. In collaboration with BrisScience and supported by the Brisbane City Council.

Speakers include:

• Dr Mark McDonnell – Director, Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology
• Dr Darryl Jones – Director, Centre for Innovation Conservation Strategies, Griffith University
• Prof. Cliff Dorse, City of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape Province, South Africa
• Prof. Hugh Possingham – Director, The Ecology Centre, The University of Queensland as MC

Time: 6:30pm to 8:00 pm (Doors open at 6pm).
Venue: Ithaca Auditorium, Brisbane City Hall
Refreshments: There will be complimentary drinks and nibbles following the talk, and speakers will be available to answer any questions.
Questions? Contact Lynelle (l.ross@smp.uq.edu.au)
See: http://brisscience.org/

TUESDAY 18 August 2009
Australian Rivers Institute Special Lecture 2009

Professor Stuary Bunn, Director, Australian Rivers Institute

Invites you to the Australian Rivers Institute 2009 Special Lecture, presented by:

Mr Rob Freeman (Chief Exectutive, Murray – Darling Basin Authority) and
Dr Cliff Dahn (Lead Scientist, CALFED Bay-Delta Program, California)

The presentations will focus on the role of science in integrated river basin management.

This special event is dedicated to the memory of the visionary environmental scientist Professor Peter Cullen, AO, FTSE.  Vicky Cullen will give a brief overview of Professor Cullen’s inspirational work as an introduction to the lecture.

Time: 5.00pm registration (5.30pm start) – 7pm
Venue: Ithaca Room, Brisbane City Hall (entry from either King George Square or Ann Street)
RSVP: Monday 10 August 2009 to Tanya Tabolkina -  t.tabolkina@griffith.edu.au

Please direct questions about this event to Gina Palmer, Institute Manager (07) 3735 7510

A networking function will immediately follow the lecture.

THURSDAY 20th August 2009
Nature – sell it to save it?

BYO brain, sense of humour and healthy appetite for controversy to the Plough Inn for the INTECOL BYO Science night.  Will the Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme work? Should we sell biodiversity? And if so, how much should it cost? And would we float it on the stock market?  These and many other curly questions on the commercial value of nature and our future within it will be bandied around and debated with some big names in ecology, and expertly handled by the ABC’s Bernie Hobbs. In collaboration with Australian Science Communicators, and supported by the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation.

Speakers include:

• • Prof. Hugh Possingham from the University of Queensland
  • Dr Stefan Hajkowicz from CSIRO’s  Sustainable Ecosystems
  • Dr Nicola Markus from Bush Heritage Australia.

Time: 6:30pm to 8:00 pm.
Venue: The Plough Inn, South Bank. The Plough Inn has great meals, and event will be a cabaret style panel with complimentary nibbles. Drinks at bar prices.
See: Econnect http://www.econnect.com.au/

FRIDAY 21st August 2009
SCINEMA event
Science, Fame and (mis)Fortune

Meet some of the world’s most famous scientists with Australian filmmaker and science communicator Bobby Cerini. Enter the lives and living rooms of influential minds like David Attenborough, Sir Patrick Moore, David Suzuki, Sir Gustav Nossal, Tim Flannery and others.  As well as being privy to some telling interviews with these names, come and be part of the audience for a live interview with the Queensland Museum’s very own Scott Hocknull, dinosaur chaser, geosciences curator and 2002 Young Australian of the Year. As part of the National Scinema film festival, this event is a must for science enthusiasts, science communicators and inquisitive minds! In collaboration with National Science Week, SCINEMA and Queensland Museum South Bank.

Time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm (Doors open just before 6pm).
Venue: Theatre, Level 2, Queensland Museum South Bank.
Refreshments: There will be complimentary drinks and nibbles following the talk, and Bobby will be available to answer questions.
RSVP to earthprojects@gmail.com by the 19th of August for catering purposes.
See: http://www.southbank.qm.qld.gov.au/

Monday 17th August 2009

The Science of Sustaining our Urban Landscapes

National Science Week talk in partnership with

Speakers include:

• Dr Mark McDonnell – Director, Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology
• Dr Darryl Jones – Director, Centre for Innovation Conservation Strategies, Griffith University
• Prof. Cliff Dorse, City of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape Province, South Africa
• Prof. Hugh Possingham – Director, The Ecology Centre, The University of Queensland as MC

The 10th International Congress of Ecology (www.intecol10.org/) is to be held in Brisbane from 16 – 21 August 2009. In conjunction with INTECOL we will be hosting a Public lecture & panel discussion focused on Urban Ecology, sustainable urban planning and development and the responsibility of ecologists in securing our future.

Please note the given the style of this event, we will expect to run until 8 pm.

• Time: 6:30pm to 8:00 pm (Doors open at 6pm).
• Venue: Ithaca Auditorium, Brisbane City Hall
• Refreshments: There will be complimentary drinks and nibblies following the talk, and speakers will be available to answer any questions.
• Questions? Contact Lynelle (l.ross@smp.uq.edu.au)

More information on the guests research and interests

Prof. Cliff Dorse

Cape Town City Biodiversity Report

Dr Darryl Jones

Temporal trends in use of fauna-friendly underpasses and overpasses

Wildlife management in the extreme: managing Magpies and mothers in a suburban environment

Assessing the abundance of freshwater turtles in an Australian urban landscape

Dr Mark McDonnell

Restoring and managing biodiversity in an urbanizing world filled with tensions

Biodiversity

Professor Hugh Possingham and Darryl Jones

Habitat structure is more important than vegetation composition for local-level management of native terrestrial reptile and small mammal species living in urban remnants: A case study from Brisbane, Austalia