The University of Adelaide run the program in mid January each year (15-17 Jan 2013).  Students wishing to undertake the program should refer to the website below. The program is offered to students in years 9 & 10.

Registrations are still OPEN so students who are interested can still sign up for January’s session. Sponsorship for the program can be gain by inquiry with local Rotary clubs who strongly support this program.

http://www.scienceexperience.com.au/

The authors of this work, published this week in the prestigious journal Science, say this provides insight into the evolution of embryo growth regulation in mammals.

Associate Professor Briony Forbes and Associate Professor Frank Grützner, both from the University of Adelaide’s School of Molecular & Biomedical Science, are co-authors of this work, which has been led by researchers at the universities of Oxford and Bristol.

“This research is a great example of how Australia’s unique native animals can shed light on mammalian evolution,” Associate Professor Grützner says.

“Echidnas and platypuses are unique egg-laying mammals that evolved much earlier than humans, but interestingly they still feature a period of fetal maternal exchange during their short 2-3 week ‘pregnancy’. The unique Australian monotremes can therefore be regarded as ‘intermediates’ between egg-laying birds and intrauterine mammalian development and have been crucial for this discovery.”

The change from egg-laying to extended pregnancy sparked the evolution of what scientists describe as a “parental conflict” over the maternal resources provided to the fetus in mammals.

“On the molecular level, the growth factor IGF2 and its inhibitor, the IGF2 receptor, play a central role in this conflict between father and mother, which is thought to result in parent-of-origin dependent gene activity. This means that of the two igf2 gene copies, the one inherited from the father is active, thereby promoting growth and energy extraction from the mother, whereas the mother’s copy is inactive, to limit growth of the embryo and save her energy for future offspring,” Associate Professor Forbes says.

“For the growth-inhibiting IGF2 receptor, the switch settings are opposite: off from the paternal gene and on from the maternal gene.

“Until now it was unclear how IGF2 and its receptor became involved in this parental ‘tug-of-war’ found uniquely in mammals.

“This new paper in Science reports the detailed structure of the igf2 receptor in birds, monotremes, opposum and humans, and reveals how the structure of the igf2 receptor protein has changed in mammals in a way that has enabled IGF2 binding and inhibition of its action,” she says.

“It is amazing that egg-laying monotremes provide us with such a fascinating new insight into the molecular basis of embryo growth regulation during pregnancy.

“This is the first molecular evidence about how these two genes became the means of a parental conflict over embryo growth in mammals. It is a major stepping stone in understanding why some genes are regulated differently between fathers and mothers.”

“Low immune gene diversity in modern devils has been linked to the spread and devastating impacts of Devil Facial Tumour disease (DFTD),” said senior author Katrina Morris, a PhD candidate at the University’s Faculty of Veterinary Science and senior author of the study published in the journal Biology Letters today.

“It is well known that low genetic diversity is a major extinction risk factor, but when and how devils lost their immune diversity has remained a mystery until now.”

“Devils once lived across much of mainland Australia, but became extinct sometime in the last few thousand years,” said Dr Jeremy Austin, from the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide.

“We looked at subfossil bones of these extinct mainland devils, as well as museum specimens of Tasmanian devils collected over the last 200 years. They capture the genetic diversity of the past allowing us to see how the immune gene diversity has changed over thousands of years.”

The genes the researchers studied included the oldest marsupial genes to have ever had their genetic code sequenced, taken from mainland devil specimens at least 3000 years old.

Surprisingly, the immune diversity in devils was low in all Tasmanian samples dating from the 1980s back to before European arrival in 1800. Mainland devils, isolated from the Tasmanian population by sea level rises at the end of the last ice age, also had low and very similar diversity to Tasmanian devils.

“Low immune diversity would have made devils susceptible to disease outbreaks,” said Katrina Morris. “This may explain their history of population extinctions, population crashes and disease outbreaks in the 1800s and early 1900s.”

The research was supported by funding from the Australian Research Council, the Save the Tasmanian Devil Foundation and Zoos SA. Associate Professor Kathy Belov from the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney is team leader.

• How soil science is used to solve criminal investigations
• How we can feed the world sustainably
• Why junk food is so hard to resist
• How hot rocks in the earth can provide energy

Also new are short research bytes on recent scientific discoveries, links to hot Apps and websites!

We listened to what you want, and you can now view Issue 2 in A (portrait) or B (landscape) page formats.

Download it for free here: iPad  or Web version

The number of students studying science subjects in Australian tertiary institutions is on the decline.

Over the last few years several people in the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Adelaide have been working hard at trying to address the issue of the relevance of science in education.  Having introduced an Enhanced Learning in First Year Science program, which bases their curriculum on 10 Big Questions, demonstrates to students the relevance of science in the world.  Also from a result of feedback from teachers, regarding how else we might support their valuable work, the Faculty has created a free Science magazine, called e-Science, which is  designed primarily for teachers, featuring  articles written by key researchers linked to the 10 Big Questions in science.

To read further head to Prof Robert Hill’s blog which talks about what the University of Adelaide is doing to keep science eduation relevant.  Go to Open Forum-  Robert Hill’s blog.

The Faculty of Sciences at the University of Adelaide has created a free Science magazine, e-Science.   e-Science, designed primarily for teachers, appears to be unique not only nationally but internationally. It is a free magazine that offers:

• Feature articles written by key researchers linked to the 10 Big Questions in science
• Interactive elements in each article which bring the science to life
• Resources available “at your finger tips”, ready for use in the classroom
• Interactive links to other useful science resources and information
• Availability on multiple platforms: iPad and web

 Access e-Science Magazine here via iPad or web/android formats

ChronoZoom was developed to make time relationships between different studies of history clear and vivid. In the process, it provides a framework for exploring related electronic resources. It thus serves as a “master timeline” tying together all kinds of specialized timelines and electronic resources, and aspires to bridge the gap between humanities and the sciences and to bring together and unify all knowledge of the past. For more information to go:  http://www.chronozoomproject.org/#/t55.

The effects are remarkable, with the fluorescence adding splendour to beauty.

Bioconst also aims to develop luminescent plants, which will emit light without the need for any external illumination. These plants will be used for lighting in a range of environments, reducing the use of electricity and thus help our planet for future generations.

For more information, visit Katrina Stokes’ article in the Advertiser on 01.02.2012:
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/flowers-that-brighten-up-anyones-night

To find out more about how scientists are attempting to discover innovating ways of feeding the world sustainably, read Rhiannon Schillings’ article about this 10 Big Question.
Rhiannon is from The Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics and the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, the University of Adelaide.

This Advertiser article was published on Tuesday 28th June 2011.

One hundred years ago the electricity system hardly existed, with most people reliant on oil lamps, iceboxes, fireplaces and so on.
Industry burned coal on-site to run steam turbines for mechanical power. Mining operations were primitive compared with the extraordinary scale and sophistication of today’s operations.

Dr Francis Clark talks further about how renewables and where we are heading globally but also what will electricity systems be like in another hundred years, with the global need of electricity supply to quadruple by century’s end, driven by the spread of affluence and a world population heading for about nine billion.

To find out more Dr Clark’s 10 Big Question go to his Advertiser article – ‘Our big power struggle‘. Published on Tuesday 21st June 2011.