Link to the Show / Show NotesAttitudes to climate change
Despite the science becoming clearer, a survey has shown up to about 20% of people are still sceptical about climate change; whether it exists, and if it does, whether human activities area related. These figures are from Britain. Scepticism is greater in the United States.
Solar thermal electricity
Sarah Castor-Perry presents an update on research into solar thermal electricity. Colin Duck describes a demonstration plant at the Liddell Power Station in NSW. Rows of mirrors concentrate heat from the sun which turns water to steam in a central tube. This steam then drives turbines producing electricity. Bob Matthews says an area 50km square would be enough to supply all the electricity required in Australia.
Getting the noise out of electric motors
Despite being about 200 years old, some electric motors as still quite noisy. Greg Hynes's aim is to reduce noise. He measures torque, current and other attributes and has been able to reduce some noise by up to a factor of 9.
Water found on the Moon
Scientists have confirmed the presence of water on the moon. Rather than occurring in rivers or lakes, water is found sparsely mixed amongst rocks. It´s suggested the water came from comets, or the combination of incoming protons with oxygen. Jonathan Nally described the latest experiments where spacecraft will be sent crashing into the lunar surface, sending up plumes of dust, which will be analysed for further evidence of water.
Birds - smarter than we ever realised
Chris Bird studies crows. These intelligent birds craft tools to solve problems such as getting worms out of a tube with wire turned into a hook. And amazingly, they can do this without being taught. Hand reared birds do it. The tasks are performed without learning. The birds have the intelligence to solve the problem. They are on par with tasks performed by mammals which have much bigger brains with different architecture.
Australia´s Royal Institution opens in Adelaide
The Royal Institution has just opened in Adelaide. Its aim is to spread the word about science and its role in improving society and the world in which we live. The RI is setting up the Bragg Initiative. Named after the famous father and son team, William Lawrence and William Henry, it is designed to infect people with enthusiasm about science.
Lawrence Krauss - untangling entanglement
Lawrence Kraus attempts to explain quantum mechanics and entanglement. He says the Large Hadron Collider has the potential to open up a whole new perspective on the world. Our picture of the universe has changed so much in the last decade. So is there another universe out there?
Frank Close - getting closer to nothing
Aristotle said there was no such thing as nothing. Was he right? What is left when you take matter away? Anything? Or quantum froth? So what was present before the Big Bang? Anything? Or nothing? For twelve minutes, Frank Close talks to Robyn Williams about nothing.
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