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)

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

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)

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.

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

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/

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

Living at the speed of light

Dr Jesse Shore, Prismatic Sciences

Photonic waveguide inside glass. Image courtesy of Dr Martin Ams, CUDOS, Macquarie University

Whether you know it or not you are living at the speed of light. From mobile phones to microwave ovens, the internet, and soon your home computer, all depend on signals and energy of light travelling at the fastest speed in the universe. Yet modern communications are both enabled and limited by the speed of light. Light travels so fast that our senses feel it moves from place to place instantaneously. But light takes time to travel whether it is moving through the vast distances of the cosmos or optic fibres running down your street. And light doesn’t always travel at the same speed. In fact light can be ‘frozen’ within atoms! Come to this talk to find out which speed of light you want to live by.

The talk will introduce photonics, the science of making, detecting, controlling and using light, and explore why it is one of the important new research areas. A key part of photonics is about changing the speed of light to make better use of it. A range of photonic technologies will use optic fibres to communicate far more information at higher rates while using far less energy than electronic circuits. This will lead to new applications and huge improvements to existing processes which include specialised medical diagnosis and treatment made available to remote areas, increased DVD memory capacity, more powerful computers, speedier access to vast amounts of information of libraries, superior imaging of biological material and the cosmos, improved lasers, chemical processing and things we haven’t dreamed of yet.

Jesse will explain some of the science concepts underlying photonic communication using a number of everyday experiences and then explore some of the more recent understanding of newer less familiar processes. New discoveries about how to interact with light are leading to applications such as invisibility cloaks which previously appeared only in science fiction or fantasy stories. The last part of the presentation will explore some of these future developments and how they might affect society.

• 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 Jesse will be available to answer any questions.
• Questions? Contact Lynelle (l.ross@smp.uq.edu.au)

Jesse Shore juggles science concepts to capture people's interests. This pose was used for an article about the Powerhouse Museum's 'Sport: More than heroes and legends' exhibition, 2003-2006. Image: Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. Photo: Marinco Kojdanovski

Jesse Shore has over 25 years of experience as a science communicator creating exhibitions, public events, a science festival and working with other communications media. He enjoys making science meaningful to a variety of audiences and likes to have a bit of fun in how he presents his content. He was an exhibition project leader during the building of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and their senior curator of sciences for 20 years. He left the museum and started his business, Prismatic Sciences, to develop science based content for television and the web.

From ape to human: Clues about the evolution of the human mind
Celebrating Darwin’s 200th birthday and 150 years since the publication of “On the origin of species”

Associate Professor Thomas Suddendorf
School of Psychology,The University of Queensland

How did the human mind evolve? Ever since Darwin, this has been one of the greatest puzzles in science. Since minds do not fossilize, scholars are often looking at our closest surviving relatives for clues. What mental capacities do we share with other apes, what sets us apart and how did this gap come about? This presentation reviews recent research on selected cognitive abilities in apes and discusses how these results can help us reconstruct the evolution of the human mind.

• 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 Thomas will be available to answer any questions.
• Questions? Contact Lynelle (l.ross@smp.uq.edu.au)

Thomas Suddendorf was born and raised in Germany but spend most of his adult life further South.

He completed his Ph.D. in 1998 under supervision of Prof. Michael Corballis at the University of Auckland before taking up a position at The University of Queensland where he is currently Reader in the School of Psychology.

His research interests include the cognitive abilities of primates and young children, and the evolution of the human mind. Of particular interest to him are representational capacities such as those related to understanding of self, time and mind.

Recent publications include ‘The evolution of foresight’ with Michael Corballis (Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2007); ‘Do chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and two-year-old children (Homo sapiens) understand double invisible displacement?’ with Emma Collier-Baker (Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2006); ‘Self-recognition beyond the face’ with Virginia Slaughter and Mark Nielsen (Child Development, 2006), and ‘Foresight and evolution of the human mind’ (Science, 2006).

He recently received the Early Career Award of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Frank A. Beach Award of the American Psychological Association.

Links from the talk

The video shown at the beginning of the talk www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQOdNY-HdG0

United Nations Great Ape Survival Programme (www.unep.org/grasp)
Jane Goodall Institute (www.janegoodall.org.au)
Australian Orangutan Project (www.orangutan.org.au)
Gibbon Conservation Alliance (www.gibbonconservation.org/)

Australia’s Rift Valley: the archaeology of the Willandra Lakes and investigations of its fossil trackway

Dr Michael Westaway
Curator (Archaeology),Queensland Museum

Trackway at Willandra Lakes

The Willandra Lakes has been described by some archaeologists as Australia’s Rift Valley. It contains some of the earliest evidence in the Australasian region of modern human occupation. The discovery of Mungo Lady forty years ago led to a significant revision of public appreciation of the age and complexity of Aboriginal occupation of Australia. In addition the landscape provides a comprehensive record of human adaptation to dramatic climate change over a 50,000 year period. The recently discovered fossil trackway site from the northern lakes in the system has emerged as one of the most exciting archaeological discoveries from within Australia this millennia. Many of the footprints are perfectly fossilised in a clay unit that is reliably dated to the peak of the Last Great Ice Age around 20,000 years ago. But what else can they tell us about the Aboriginal people that lived in the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area?

In this paper I will discuss the importance of the Willandra for understanding the complexity of Aboriginal occupation and outline some of the main elements of the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental record. I will then discuss the results of further investigations at the Willandra Lakes fossil trackway including the outcome of a ground penetrating radar survey and redating of the fossil trackway, and a re-evaluation of the trackway speeds derived from data recorded by high resolution digital scanning.

• 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)