[ASC-list] BrisScience: The Science of Sustaining our Urban Landscapes- 17 August 2009

Thu Aug 6 03:12:43 UTC 2009

The Science of Sustaining our Urban Landscapes
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PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT WILL RUN SLIGHTLY LONGER THAN NORMAL  
BRISSCIENCE EVENTS
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.

This event is free and open to all. No RSVP necessary
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UPCOMING BRISSCIENCE TALKS
12 October - Dr Michael Murphy from Swinburne University (Astrophysics)
30 November - Len Fisher, UK Author of Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game  
Theory in Everyday Life, How to Dunk a Doughnut: The Science of  
Everyday Life, Weighing the Soul: The Evolution of Scientific Ideas,  
and The Perfect Swarm: The Science of Complexity in Everyday Life
14 December - Dr Daryl Cooper, University of California, Santa Barbara
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OTHER SCIENCE EVENTS
NATURE _ SELL IT TO SAVE IT?
THURSDAY 20th August 2009
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:
           o Prof. Hugh Possingham from the University of Queensland
           o Dr Stefan Hajkowicz from CSIRO’s  Sustainable Ecosystems
           o 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/

SCINEMA - SCIENCE, FAME AND (MIS)FORTUNE
FRIDAY 21st August 2009
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 at gmail.com by the 19th of August for catering  
purposes.
See: http://www.southbank.qm.qld.gov.au/

AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS WOMEN IN PHYSICS LECTURESHIP 2009
Thursday 3rd September 2009 6.30 - 7.30 pm
Room 222, Parnell Building, The University of Queensland, St Lucia
To Planets or just to the shops, Plasmas pave the path presented by A/ 
Prof Christine Charles
Plasmas have existed since the very first moments of the Universe. It  
is the stuff of stars. It fills the space between the stars. It gives  
us the beautiful northern and southern aurorae. Our houses have plasma  
TV displays and plasma lights (fluorescent tubes). Everywhere we look,  
there is plasma. But we stand on solid earth and the solid state  
accounts for less than one percent of the total mass of the Universe.  
The rest is plasma, a hot ionise gas containing positive and negative  
charges (except, perhaps, for dark matter). By properly harnessing the  
plasma state we can make microchips for computers, we can make plasma  
engines (thrusters) to get to the planets and we can make fuel cells  
to take people just down to the shops. The discovery in Australia of a  
current-free electric double layer (a cliff of potential like a river  
waterfall which energises charged particles falling through them) in a  
laboratory plasma is the basis of a new space engine: the Australian  
Helicon Double Layer Thruster. The HDLT has been the focus of many  
documentaries (ABC Catalyst 2004 and 2007, Discovery Channel Canada  
2008, ABC 2 Space Show 2007).

MAHLER PUBLIC LECTURE
TUESDAY 8th September 2009
Professor Terry Tao will be giving a public lecture at Garden's Point  
Cammpus on the evening of 8th September 2009. More details to follow.

AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF ASTRONOMY  
BRISBANE LECTURE
THURSDAY 17 September 2009
Professor Charley Lineweaver will discuss the possibility of more than  
one Universe with Dr Joel Gilmore
Our current ideas of the very early universe are based on quantum  
cosmology.  These ideas suggest that our Universe may be embedded in a  
larger hierarchy of parallel universes called the Multiverse.  Sounds  
crazy but Professor Lineweaver will try to explain why it makes some  
sense. We would like to know how or why the constants of physics (e.g.  
the speed of light, the strength of gravity, the ratio of the proton  
mass to the electron mass, the cosmological constant) have the values  
that they do have. For some cosmologists, these constants have special  
values in our universe which seem to make it “fit for life”. In the  
context of a multiverse, each universe might have different values for  
these constants, and then anthropic selection could explain the  
apparent fitness of our universe to host life. Without a multiverse,  
we just have to accept the constants as given. I will try to describe  
possible tests for the existence of the Multiverse.
Time: 6.30 pm - 7.30 pm (Doors open at 6pm)
Venue: Winterford Room, upstairs at the Regatta Hotel, Coronation  
Drive Toowong.
Attendees will be able to purchase drinks at the bar

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To join or leave our mailing list please email l.ross at smp.uq.edu.au or  
visit BrisScience at www.BrisScience.org
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Please forward this email to friends, colleagues and family!

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 From your friendly BrisScience Co-ordinators, Joel and Lynelle
c/o School of Mathematics and Physics,
The University of Queensland,
Brisbane Australia, 4072
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