August 2013 uestions for discussion
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An event for grey nomads – introducing MicroBlitz, a UWA citizen science project, mapping microbial life in WA soils. Come and learn about the DNA technologies being used in this project, with a session in the lab to extract DNA, talk with the researcher and learn how to take a soil sample. http://bit.ly/1ecjtBK  
Celebrate National Science Week with an explosion of science right by the sea. Come down to the Marine Discovery Centre in Eden to explore the rock pools, undertake Nobel winning science activities, find out about science in your local community and much more! http://www.sapphirecoastdiscovery.com.au/visit/events/science-by-the-sea-scmdc-open-day/  
Join us for Canberra’s first ever BioBlitz, a collaboration of scientists, naturalists, citizen scientists and members of the public working together on Black Mountain to discover, identify and record a snapshot of the region’s biodiversity. Headquartered at the CSIRO Discovery Centre. http://www.csiro.au/Portals/Education/Programs/Discovery-Centre/Whats-on/ACT-Centenary-Bioblitz.aspx Other citizen science projects happening around Australia...
ClimateWatch is the best way to record the seasonal behaviour you see in plants and animals, and help scientists understand how Australia’s environment is responding to climate change. http://www.climatewatch.org.au/mobile 
http://www.birdata.com.au/homecontent.do Participate in the largest continent-wide survey of birds in the world. 
http://fungimap.org.au/ Contribute to the National Australian Fungimap Database - an important and unique collection of information about Australia's fungi - and facilitating research by professionals and citizen scientists alike. 
http://www.csiro.au/Organisation-Structure/Flagships/Wealth-from-Oceans-Flagship/marine-debris.aspx Teachers and school students are working with scientists in a three-year study of marine debris around Australia. 
http://www.ala.org.au/species-by-location/ Explore Australian species and natural history collections. http://www.ala.org.au/get-involved/ Get involved – submit a species record, join a citizen science project or digitise specimen records from your computer. For more information on citizen science projects happening in your area contact your local CSIRO Education Officer, RiAus or your local museum. 8 Related Research Links National Science Week – Science Week 10 - 18 August 2013 http://www.scienceweek.net.au/ The Great Koala Count – About http://koalacount.ala.org.au/bdrs-core/koalacount/home.htm University of South Australia – What is citizen science? http://unisa.edu.au/Research/Barbara-Hardy-Institute/Research-1/Citizen-Science/ CSIRO – ACT Centenary Bioblitz http://www.csiro.au/Portals/Education/Programs/Discovery-Centre/Whats-on/ACT-Centenary-Bioblitz.aspx ABC Science – Explore the Sea Floor http://exploretheseafloor.net.au/ Atlas of Living Australia – Three ways to get involved in citizen science http://www.ala.org.au/get-involved/ National Geographic – The Genographic Project https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/ National Geographic – Citizen Science http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/citizen-science/?ar_a=1 Behind the News – Plastic Oceans http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3591476.htm BtN: Episode 21 Transcript 6/8/13 On this week's Behind the News: Should smacking kids be against the law? We take a look at this stinging debate. Real life war games without a video game controller in sight. And join us on a koala hunt all in the name of citizen science. Hi I'm Nathan Bazley, welcome to Behind the News. Also on the show today we meet a young champ making his mark in a sport normally played by adults. But first the Federal Election has been called! Let's catch up with more on that and the other main news stories of the week in the Wire. The Wire It's go time. It's on. The button has been pushed. Whichever way you want to say it the election campaign has now officially started. Voters will go to the polls in five weeks time on Saturday, September the 7th. PM Kevin Rudd made the announcement after visiting the Governor General, Quentin Bryce. And then the campaigning was on for young and old. KEVIN RUDD, PRIME MINISTER: You, the Australian people over the years have seen me at my highest highs, and some of my lowest lows. I think as a result, you the Australian people know me pretty well, warts and all. TONY ABBOTT, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: I am happy to place myself in the judgement of the Australian people. I am ready, my team is ready. Kevin has claimed the underdog status. But if things happen to come out as a draw again. Tony wants no part in it. TONY ABBOTT, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: If there is a hung parliament, there will not be a coalition government led by Tony Abbott. Expect both leaders to continue speaking about themselves in the third person over the next five weeks. ****** A new report shows Australians are loving solar panels. Around 10 per cent of Australians now use them to help power their homes. That's around 1 million systems up from just 8,000 five years ago. ****** And finally the next Dr Who has been announced and it's, ahh, this guy! His name is Peter Capaldi and his first ep will be shown in the UK on Chrissie Day. Egypt Troubles Reporter: Sarah Larsen INTRO: When you think of Egypt you probably think of pyramids, pharaohs and the Sphinx. They're some of the most recognisable parts of a country that has a long and fascinating history. But lately ancient wonders have taken a back seat to modern political problems. Sarah has more. Egypt has a really long and really interesting history. For 2,000 years it was home to one of the ancient world's most successful civilisations, famous for its hieroglyphs, its mathematics, its farming techniques, its architecture and of course its mummies and pyramids. Eventually other civilisations took over but as history marched on Egypt remained one of the most important places in the Middle East. But right now Egypt's ancient wonders are taking a back seat to modern political problems. In the past few weeks there have been fights and violent protests. Hundreds have died. So what's going on in Egypt? To find out you have to understand a bit about some people from the country's more recent history. One of them is Hosni Mubarak. For 30 years he was the president of Egypt; not because he was always ultra popular, but because he wouldn't let anyone else beat him in elections. Basically Mubarak was a dictator; a leader who has total power over a country and who won't give that power up. By 2011 a lot of Egyptians were sick of him; especially young people. They wanted a government which would give them more freedom, more rights, a better economy, and real, democratic elections. Using the internet they organised big protests. And eventually the Egyptian army decided it was on their side. That's another character you should know about. Egypt's army is the biggest in the Middle East and the oldest in the world - but it's very different to most armies. It owns land and businesses and factories. It's really powerful and it doesn't necessarily work for the government. The Egyptian army says its duty is to the people of Egypt. And in 2011 it helped the people force out their old leader. Later that year, Egypt held a peaceful election and chose a new president, Mohammad Morsi. He was a member of a group called the Muslim Brotherhood. It's been around since the 20s and has lots of members in different countries. Its goals are to promote the ideals of the religion Islam. But many of the Egyptians who protested for change wanted religion to be kept out of politics. Some felt that the elections weren't really fair because they were held too soon and new political parties didn't really have a chance to organise themselves and compete with powerful groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. Then Morsi started making laws which gave him more power and some worried the country would end up with another dictator. There were more protests. Then, last month, the military stepped in again. They removed Morsi and replaced him with a temporary government. You can probably see why that caused problems. Morsi was a democratically elected president and the people who voted for him are furious. International leaders are asking both sides to stop the violence. It's a tense time for Egypt and for the rest of the world which is watching closely and hoping for a peaceful end to this latest chapter of Egypt's long and complicated history. Smacking Ban Reporter: Nathan Bazley INTRO: How kids are disciplined at home is always a controversial topic. Last week it hit the headlines again after a group of doctors called for smacking kids to be made illegal. But not everyone is in favour of a ban. Let's take a look at the debate. What happens to you if you do the wrong thing at home? STUDENT: If I'm really naughty I get sent to my room. STUDENT: I usually get things taken away from me, maybe video game time. STUDENT: Well I get yelled at most of the time. STUDENT: I usually get my phone confiscated, and I get yelled at a lot, and when I was little I used to get soap in my mouth and I didn't really like that! Part of being a kid is doing some not so good things. That's how you learn right from wrong. But how your parents teach you that lesson can be a controversial subject. Here's a list of some common home punishments. Some of them might look all too familiar to you! But there is one punishment on the list, that while fairly common in Australia, is actually illegal in many countries overseas. Smacking, or as it's technically called, corporal punishment. In the 50's, when these kids were getting up to no good, smacking was an incredibly popular form of punishment. It's said around 99% of families back then used some form of corporal punishment in the home. These days, the statistics are lower. Around 69% of Australian families say occasional smacking is ok. And it's dropping each year. But as we said earlier, smacking is illegal in some countries. Here are the 23 countries that have banned smacking, and the year they decided to make it law. The closest of those countries to us is New Zealand. They banned smacking in 2007. But interestingly, two years later, 90% of adults said they wished smacking was still allowed. Back in Australia, only NSW has rules about what corporal punishment is fine and what goes too far. Hits shouldn't be to the head or neck and can't cause pain for very long. The rest of the country doesn't really have any guidelines, other than it has to be 'reasonable.' That's one of the reasons that a big group of Australian doctors says they've come out in support of laws banning smacking. They say smacking can lead to mental health problems, including depression and antisocial behaviour. DOCTOR: It also teaches children, and this is the most important, that problems can be resolved through hitting other people. But some parents in the community disagree. They say sometimes, a smack on the bottom is the only way to make sure a child remembers a lesson, or snap them out of some bad behaviour. And they say that if smacking is taken away from them, then kids may have more discipline problems in the future. But you're the ones in the firing line on this one, so to speak, so what do you think? STUDENT: I think it should be banned, like smacking a child, but it depends where you're going to smack it. If it's on the hand that's alright but if it gets to the head and the bum, then yeah it's a bit rough. STUDENT: I think smacking can be a good idea because it normally leaves a red mark on your arm, but it also leaves a mark inside you memory, reminding you to not do that or that's the consequence. STUDENT: You can teach people like kids to do the wrong thing if they're smacked, they think violence is okay. STUDENT: I think it should be banned, because if you get smacked on the head you could get some kind of damage, especially if you're only a little kid. Online Poll OK we heard there what some kids think about smacking but what about you? The question is: Should smacking children be banned? To vote just head to our website. Last week we asked if you thought voting should be compulsory. 43% said yes it should 57% said no it shouldn't Thanks for voting. War Games Reporter: Natasha Thiele INTRO: Recently news broke that some bombs were dropped on the Great Barrier Reef. But don't worry we're not under attack. They were dropped during a military war game between the United States and Australia. But what are war games? Well as Tash found out they might be called games but they're taken pretty seriously. NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: This intense 21-day exercise involves around 28-thousand men and women from the Australian Defence Force and the US Military. It's held every couple of years to practice fighting a pretend war. That way Australia is prepared in case an emergency situation pops up. It also gives the two countries a chance to share knowledge and build a stronger relationship with one another. But how is this war game actually played? This time Australia and the US are working together to restore peace and security in a made-up island nation called Kamaria. Different scenarios are set up on land, in the air and at sea. Here they're practising a beach landing involving tanks and troops. They need to work under tough battle conditions spending up to 72 hours keeping guard in a trench. GAVIN COLE, AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER: The exercise has been going pretty well. We got some good battle prep conducted on the ship in preparation for this morning's landing. A pretend war wouldn't feel real without gun fire, not that fire real bullets. Troops need to move through the bush and up hills towards the enemy, whilst under attack. 2nd LT ANDREW DIXON, US MARINES: We've located a squad size element that's resting and refitting along the road here and so we're taking the fight to the enemy and pushing an attack on them. In the sea, big warships like this are used to block off areas of the ocean. One of the Australian ships involved is HMAS Choules. It's like a one-stop-shop for supplies and technology. Vehicles and equipment can be stored on the bottom deck. There's also plenty of room in the sleeping quarters. EDY JABRE, AUSTRALIAN SEAMAN: At the moment you're inside my cabin which is a Leading Seaman's cabin, it's also the same sort of cabin a Petty Officer would get on board HMAS Choules. As you can see it's quite big and we get all the luxuries that you can ask for. And to keep everyone energised, there's a kitchen full of food to literally feed an army. Meantime up in the air, super fast jets play a part in the games too. These kinds of war games can cause controversy though. Over the years, people have protested against them. In 2007, there were concerns there'd be environmental damage to Shoalwater Bay in Queensland. And this year, two US jets dropped four bombs near the Great Barrier Reef, after a live fire mission was cancelled. Some were concerned they might explode and destroy Australia's precious marine environment. But the US says they aren't a risk because they're not armed and that they're working on getting them out. War games are really a test of strength and ability. And while it might look like a tough exercise to pull together, it's helping keep Australia prepared for anything. Quiz 1 Some great action shots there. Before we leave the military, let’s have a quiz. The question is: Which Australian city was bombed during World War II? Melbourne Darwin Brisbane Answer: Darwin That happened on the 19th of February 1942 and around 250 people were killed. Citizen Science Reporter: Sarah Larsen INTRO: Next week is Science Week when we think about the many ways that scientists help us to understand the world around us. But you don't have to be a professional scientist to be involved in some serious research. Sarah found out about something called citizen science and met some kids who're giving it a go. Amongst the gumtrees of the Adelaide hills some primary school kids are going on a bear hunt. KIDS: They're not bears. Yeah, I know, but "marsupial hunt" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Call it what you will, this is a serious search for some elusive native critters. KID: Oh look, there's a koala. These guys were amongst the hundreds of South Australians who took part in the Great Koala Count, a project aimed at helping scientists understand more about the local koala population. Koalas have a really interesting history in South Australia. When European settlers arrived they only lived in the state's south-east and by the end of the century they'd been hunted so much there were hardly any left. In the rest of the country koalas were disappearing fast so in the 1920s there was a plan to send them south to keep the species safe. Populations in the eastern states are still in trouble so understanding more about South Australia's Koalas is really important. DR PHILIP ROETMAN, BARBARA HARDY INSTITUTE: What we wanted to do was find out where koalas were and with a small team of scientists that's really hard so we asked people, the general community and school kids to get outside on a particular day and then report where they were using a smart phone app. KID: This is the app here you take a photo of it. The koala sightings were recorded online and by analysing all the data scientists can get a pretty good picture of the entire koala population. What these guys are doing is an example of something called citizen science. That's when ordinary people help to do real life experiments which can help scientists draw important conclusions about the world around us. DR PHILIP ROETMAN: Citizen science is really growing around the world there are thousands of projects and millions of citizen scientists involved in those projects around the world. Doctor Philip Roetman works for the Barbara Hardy Institute, a university research centre which has used citizen science to study all sorts of creatures, from magpies to spiders. But he says it's not just the animal world that can benefit from amateur researchers. DR PHILIP ROETMAN: Also astronomy projects they're very popular, air pollution light pollution, all sorts of projects, waste, lots of environmental projects and also health projects. He says some really important discoveries are being made with the help of ordinary people, using new technology like smart-phones to provide important information to scientists. DR PHILIP ROETMAN: Also it allows us to get out into the community which is fun working with the community and we find kids especially in school kids love to be involved in these projects because they're contributing to research but they're also learning themselves, about what we're researching. These guys have learned all sorts of things about koalas, like how to tell when they've been around. KID: Hey, here's some poo REPORTER: So that's koala poo? KID: yeah if you break it open it smells like eucalyptus KID: Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to most animals. They're nearly the only animals in the world that eat eucalyptus. REPORTER: So, are you guys going to be helping the future of koalas by doing this? KIDS: Hopefully. Quiz 2 We heard all about koalas in that story so let's have a quiz about them. The question is: The name koala is an Aboriginal word meaning what? Marsupial Eat leaves No drink Answer: No drink The koala eats eucalyptus leaves which are high in water so they don't need to drink much. Sport time now. Here's the Score The Score To swimming first and the Australian swim team has finished the World Championships fourth on the medal tally with 3 gold and 10 silver. The golden performances were from Cate Campbell and James Magnussen in the 100m freestyle and Christian Sprenger in the 100m breaststroke. The Aussie girls also nabbed most of the silvers. The team's performance was a big improvement on the London Olympics where Australia placed seventh. ***** In Union the Waikato Chiefs have won the Super Rugby final beating the ACT Brumbies 27 - 22. The New Zealand side had trailed by 15 points with 17 minutes to go but kept the pressure on in the dying minutes to steal the win. ***** And finally, it's a ridiculously long event through some of the most rugged terrain in Australia. "Three, two one, go." It's called the Katherine Ultra Challenge and it features 6 different sports over a 100km circuit. But the first swimming leg is the hardest for a pretty scary reason. ROBBIE WEATHERALL, SWIMMER: Ahhh, is there a crocodile? They guarantee us there is none. First over the line was a 14 year old kid named Matt who clocked in at a gruelling 6 hours! MATT ELLISON, RACE WINNER: A big relief. That last five kay or so you are waiting and waiting for that finish line to come up. Snooker Reporter: Natasha Thiele INTRO: We're about to meet a 14 year old who's doing well in a sport kids don't get the chance to play too much. Arthur Lin is taking the snooker world by storm having recently won the national under 15 and under 18 titles. Tash caught up with him to find out what it takes to be a snooker champ. NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: It's a sport you wouldn't expect to see young people playing, but Arthur Lin is breaking all those rules. He's making a name for himself in the sport of Snooker. ARTHUR LIN, SNOOKER PLAYER: I started playing eight ball with my dad when I was eight years old and then he saw that I had talent in this sport and so when I was 9 we just kept to going to various snooker halls around Melbourne to like find a coach, find a coach so I could improve. He now has a snooker scholarship, which gives him all the coaching and support he needs. Snooker was created by British army officers in India more than a hundred years ago. Over the decades it's become pretty popular, especially when coloured TV came along. Shows like this helped transform the sport into a huge event and it's now a big hit in countries like the UK and China. And players can earn big bucks! There are lots of rules in snooker. But basically, two people play against each other taking turns in potting red and other coloured balls in the table pockets. The person with the most points wins! Arthur knows what it's like to win. He recently took out the Under 15 and Under 18 Snooker Championships in Adelaide. And last month he travelled to China to compete against the world's best young players in the Under 21 World Snooker Championships. And he came third in his group. Arthur hopes to one day become the best player on the planet! ARTHUR: My ambition is to become professional and then break into the top, become number one in the world. I just gotta keep practising and work really hard for it and just play in as many tournaments as I can to get more experience. But to be the best involves a lot of training and hard work. He says there are certain techniques to learn and it can be a real mind game. ARTHUR: There's a mixture of technique and mental side, while the technique you practise it like you've gotta like have the right stance to cue straight, get it into the centre of the cue ball and control the cue ball, so you can make big breaks and win frames in one visit. Yeah it's a lot to remember, but with all the practice it becomes second nature. You also need to be calm and focused especially as it's just you and other competitor. ARTHUR: You gotta think about potting the ball, not missing it because if you think about missing it, you'll miss it and like when you're behind you've gotta think that you can get back into the game and fight, fight your way through it and when you're ahead you just gotta secure the match. While Arthur continues to build up his skills and profile in the sport of snooker, it might not be too long before we see this talented player really hit the big time! Closer That's it for the show. You can jump onto our website if you want to get more info on any of the stories. You can send us your comments and don't forget to vote in this week's poll. I'll see you next time. ©  ABC 2013
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