05/05/2016 04:33 PM EDT
After delivering almost 7,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station, including the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is set to leave the orbital laboratory with valuable science research and return to Earth on Wednesday, May 11. NASA Television will provide live coverage of Dragon’s departure beginning at 9 a.m. EDT. (Wednesday, 11 May 2016 at 11:00:00 PM AEST)
A survey of more than 780,000 cattle slaughtered in New South Wales between 2013 and 2015 revealed that 5.5 per cent were infected with hydatid disease. Hydatid disease results from accidental ingestion of eggs of the tiny “hydatid” tapeworm that infects domestic and wild canids.
According to Dr David Jenkins, who will discuss the impact of the disease at the Australian Veterinary Association’s Annual Conference, these figures represent a financial loss to the abattoir of more than $450,000 from disposal of offal not fit for human consumption.
“Other annual losses included $1,200,000 due to reduced body weight of animals infected with hydatids –an unrealised loss for farmers.
“These results suggest that there are important financial impacts in cattle production due to hydatid disease. A vaccine developed for sheep against the disease has been trialled with cattle but it will be sometime before this vaccine could become commercially available,” Dr Jenkins said.
Hydatid disease leads to fluid-filled cysts in the lungs and liver, and less commonly in the spleen and heart. The major source of infection in cattle is from worm eggs shed by wild dogs and foxes, not domestic dogs.
03/02/2016 12:10 AM EST
NASA astronaut and Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth Tuesday after a historic 340-day mission aboard the International Space Station. They landed in Kazakhstan at 11:25 p.m. EST (10:25 a.m. March 2 Kazakhstan time).
Australian solar company Natural Solar, has led the charge when it comes to battery power, as one of the first authorised installers to install the highly anticipated Tesla Daily Powerwall into a residential home in Australia this week.
Attracting worldwide attention, Australia has been one of the first regions globally to receive the Tesla Powerwall Home Battery. This long awaited installation, the first of many scheduled around the country, has occurred after the initial Tesla Powerwall shipment arrived in Australia this week.
“Since being announced as a Tesla Powerwall installer at the tail end of last year, Natural Solar has received an unprecedented number of enquiries about the Tesla Powerwall, indicating the Australian public is well and truly ready for this new frontier in renewable energy,” says Chris Williams, Managing Director of Natural Solar.
One of the first Australian families to have their very own Tesla Powerwall installed is the Pfizner family, based in Sydney’s Hills District. Their personal renewable energy solution includes the Tesla Powerwall Home Battery, an array of 5kWp, a SolarEdge inverter and monitoring software to see the direct output of energy from the entire system and the Tesla Powerwall.
Australians will have the chance to have their very own Tesla Powerwall installed with or without solar panels. Alternatively, for those with panels already installed, there is the opportunity for a retro-fit to occur allowing a Tesla Powerwall to be added along with a compatible inverter to an existing solar system.
“There are already 1.5 million Australian households that are using solar energy. The Tesla Powerwall is highly developed technology that will allow users to save money, and reduce their residential carbon emissions from day one,” continued Mr Williams.
The functionality of the Tesla Powerwall Home Battery is simple, with this device storing solar energy during sunlight hours allowing homeowners to use it at night, avoiding the need to sell excess energy back to the grid.
The Powerwall, which carries an impressive 10-year warranty period, has such a range of new and varied functionalities. It is also extremely affordable, with a number of payment plans and options from Natural Solar allowing customers to be cash flow positive from day one.
“Installations have been scheduled in each of the major states and territories starting from as early as next week,” commented Mr Williams. “For Natural Solar, as one of the first installers to bring the Tesla Powerwall to mainstream Australia is truly exciting and invigorating, and cements our position as leading experts in renewable energy and battery power. We are delighted to be working with Tesla Energy to drive the growth of battery power in Australia.”
Wednesday 09 December 2015
Researchers at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre are pioneering the development of a new combination drug therapy to treat advanced blood cancers which has doubled survival times in pre-clinical laboratory models.
Their study, published overnight in Cancer Discovery, builds on a world-first clinical trial already underway at Peter Mac which uses the drug CX-5461 to treat patients with incurable blood cancers such as myeloma, lymphoma and leukaemia.
The trial has shown promising results to date, however the research team has found that CX-5461 could be even more effective when used in combination with another drug, Everolimus, which is already used to treat other cancers.
According to Professor Rick Pearson, Head of Peter Mac’s Cancer Signaling Laboratory, the research findings significantly enhance understanding of pre-emptive strategies to kill off cancer cells before they have the chance to become resistant to therapy.
WHAT:
Fifty years of space technology at the University of Melbourne-A Symposium
WHEN:
Monday 5 October, from 5.30 till 7.00 pm
WHERE:
Brown Theatre (Room 108), Electrical and Electronic Building, University of Melbourne
To find out more about the University of Melbourne Space Program:
http://space.unimelb.edu.au/
Nearly fifty years ago, a group of University of Melbourne engineering students began construction of the first earth satellite built in Australia.
Construction of the satellite (Australis Oscar 5 –AO5) was completed in 1967, and it was launched into orbit by a US Air Force rocket in 1970.
AO5 carried out a number of measurements in space, and successfully responded to commands from earth. The satellite was tracked by a group of amateur radio operators around the world. In the 45 years since then, no Australian university has repeated this.
Meet the Scientists at Museum Victoria
To celebrate National Science Week in August, Museum Victoria is holding a special series of Meet the Scientists education events aimed at high school students in Years 8 to 10.
Held over four days, at Melbourne Museum and Scienceworks, the Meet the Scientists program is aimed at educating students on the varied careers and endless opportunities open to them within the world of science.
When NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flies by Pluto this July, the spacecraft’s high-resolution cameras will spot many new landforms on the dwarf planet’s unexplored surface. They are all going to need names—and NASA wants you to help.
FULL STORY:
All of us at The Australia Times are saddened by the death of Lizz Rice, a talented young jockey, and a contributor to our Science and GEO magazines.
Lizz suffered serious head injuries in a freak fall at Caulfield race course on January 12th. For two weeks, she was in an induced coma, but her condition did not improve. At the end of January, the decision was made to withdraw the life support medication and she died on the 31st of January.
At The Australia Times, we recognised Lizz as a talented young science writer, who delighted in sharing the wonder of science in a style that everyone could understand. Her seven months with us will not be easily forgotten.
On behalf of everyone at The Australia Times, I would like express our deepest condolences to Lizz’s family and friends.
Margaret Gregory
Science Editor and Editor-in-Chief
The Australia Times
The year of 2015 has been declared the International Year of Light (IYL) by the United Nations. Organizations, institutions, and individuals involved in the science and applications of light will be joining together for this year long celebration to help spread the word about the wonders of light. To recognize the start of IYL, the Chandra X-ray Center is releasing a set of images that combine data from telescopes tuned to different wavelengths of light. In this image, an expanding shell of debris called SNR 0519-69.0 is left behind after a massive star exploded in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way. Multimillion degree gas is seen in X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in blue. The outer edge of the explosion (red) and stars in the field of view are seen in visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope.
http://www.nasa.gov/content/chandra-celebrates-the-international-year-of-light/
On the evening of Wednesday October 8th, Australia will experience a total lunar eclipse as the moon rises shortly after sunset. This will cause the Moon to darken and turn a red colour.
Read more in the latest Tangent Magazine
Image Attribution: from Flickr, by A. Lee © 2014, under attribution licence.
One of the most celebrated of all the celestial fireworks, the Perseid Meteor Shower every year puts on a spectacular light show from the edge of space.
Earth will pass through the shower from 17th of July until the 24th of August, with peak activity between August 12th and 13th.
For more information check out the latest issue of the Science Magazine.
Image courtesy of Astrophotographer Stefano De Rosa, earthsky.org
Tuesday May 31, 2016
Aries
21 Mar - 19 Apr
Taurus
20 Apr - 20 May
Gemini
21 May - 21 Jun
Cancer
22 Jun - 22 Jul
Leo
23 Jul - 22 Aug
Virgo
23 Aug - 22 Sep
Libra
23 Sep - 22 Oct
Scorpio
23 Oct - 21 Nov
Sagittarius
21 Nov - 21 Dec
Capricorn
22 Dec - 19 Jan
Aquarius
20 Jan - 18 Feb
Pisces
19 Feb - 20 Mar
You dont have to be a slave to your desires. You dont have to act as if you have no choice in what you are doing. The fact is you always have a choice, so take responsibility for your actions and be a good example to other people.
You will be making important decisions regarding investments and the use of joint assets. Talks with financial consultants are favored today. You are honest about your feelings, and have little trouble expressing them. You enjoy keeping busy and initiating new projects and enterprises. Being quite bold and courageous, you will speak your mind and express yourself in a direct and hard-hitting manner in confrontational situations. Others know where they stand with you, as you're always prepared to lay your cards on the table.
You are back on track today where your job is concerned. It will be a time of progress, sharp thinking and productivity. You are highly sensitive and impressionable today and can easily pick up on the moods of others and your surroundings. You tend to have an idealistic outlook on life and can be quite dreamy and content to just go with the flow which can lead to complicated relationships and misunderstandings with others. You need to be cautious of deceptive influences or undermining emotional currents within the family or involving women.
As a Water sign you see deeper and further than most other people and what you discover about the nature of reality over the next few days will astound and delight you. The world is not only a beautiful place, it has meaning too.
It is another day when you will find just what you are looking for when shopping. Your judgment is excellent regarding domestic and financial interests. You can expect power struggles at work, by coming across as overly critical, hard to please or overbearing. Your general health and well being are dependent on your emotional state and dietary habits. Take care that distractions don't interfere with getting things done on the job. Tonight just stay home and relax.
Extra determination and drive make the morning hours a time when you will get a lot accomplished. You will express yourself well in speech and writing. You have great will-power and a real sense of purpose today, which you can direct at projects of personal interest, however you will need to learn how to work with others if you require their assistance. Others perceive you as a person who can be coercive and controlling. Slow down and take a deep breath.
Employers and other authority figures will be impressed by your ability to get things done and get along with a wide range of people, even those you dont think much of professionally. You will make difficult tasks looks easy and yourself look good.
The Sun moving through the most dynamic area of your chart makes this one of the best times of the year for you. You must do something out of the ordinary. You must do something big. It cannot fail, so what are you waiting for?
Extra energy and drive make you a force to be reckoned with. Make new starts, but avoid coming on too strong with others. A business talk goes well. However, you are also a realist when it comes to humanity's inability to create Utopia. The rights of the individual will be tested in your lifetime. You may be attracted to metaphysical subjects and can be inclined to study and explore the mysteries of life. Marriage or partnership can bring you sudden material gain.
Some kind of controversy that erupts today will make will make you sit up and take notice. A challenge is up for grabs. Others could seek you out for your psychological insight and understanding. This could be a time to make changes in your environment. What seems like a strong investment might need some checking before you go with it. Walk a conservative line for a while longer. Trust your judgment, and follow through. But resist going against the conventional wisdom. Be yourself.
Determine to get into better physical shape; perhaps a power walk in the park on this nice fall day will be great. It's super lucky that you can step up your personal responsibility level today. Take advantage of it. Use some of that get-up-and-go to realize a long-term desire. Your goal might be a lot closer than you realize. Take the first step, and before you know it, you've hit a home run. Take your time tonight and celebrate the moment.
Somebody might share a secret with you. This is a private matter that should not be aired in the public. Be sure you keep the confidence .Emotions in particular, or the feelings of those around you, may be very clear. Someone close takes the lead and heads in a new direction. Your sense of well-being comes through thinking carefully. You'll figure out what nobody else can at work, because you approach puzzles from an intuitive place instead of focusing on the obvious clues.
