Adventure Ausrama Blog

Nuclear physics used to track australian waterbirds. Australia's native birds are on the decline - those damn humans! Yes, we are destroying the planet and we have to do something about it.  Obtaining data on bird numbers is paramount. Nuclear physics is the answer.  Researchers are examining feathers recently dropped by waterbirds. It provides information on where birds have been and what they have eaten.  The I-TRAX Core Scanner shows chemical changes over time. A mass spectrometer is also used to determine oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen isotopes. Feathers are composed of keratin like hair. Water sources have different chemical composition. This is stored in the keratin, so a map can be created of where birds have been living. The method of feather analysis is much cheaper than leg banding or satellite tracking. Members of the public can contribute. At present scientists are picking up feathers then posting them to the Australian Nuclear Science and Te...

Many answers have been found for mysterious things in nature. As time moves on most of the reasons why things are have been answered. A few common scientific "happenings" still persist. If sodium is placed in water it explodes. The why has now been identified. A sodium-water explosion was filmed on high-speed cameras. The flash is caused by sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gases being release when water upsets the balance. Heat creates a point of ignition. The mystery is that released hydrogen gas should enclose the sodium thus stopping the explosive reaction. Like life itself the answer lies in electricity. All life, such as the nervous system, functions by the flow of electrical current. When the film of a sodium-water explosion was slowed down electrons (as metal spikes) were seen to jump from sodium into the water. The sodium becomes positive while the water also remains positive because of its mass. Like with magnetism two positive poles repel. ...

You may stop fearing an asteroid colliding with the Earth. Man himself could be the cause of the next mass extinction. People who harp on about climate change being a religion and an article of faith are like those who ignored Noah. Remember that humans got down a few hundred individuals in the past. We are very lucky to be here today. Of course the world would have gone on without us: it would be a very different world. There would be no pollution anywhere. Ebola is out of control. Antibiotics are failing. A world-wide plague could be on the cards. Danger to Man is not the only issue. Twenty five per cent of mammals could soon disappear. Forty per cent of amphibians are at risk. Because species are already dying off, a mass extinction could have already begun. The hottest decade on record shows that life is declining. When animals die off the food supply for other creatures also goes. So the path of extinction of predator species becomes real as well. Carbon is the...

A young 22 year old Australian lady finds the answer to missing mass in the universe. Amelia Fraser-McKelvie is not even a post-graduate researcher. She is studying for an Aerospace Engineering/Science degree. She was in a research team when the mysterious substance showed up in her data. In theory, there should be a lot more observable mass in our local universe. It was thought to be "hidden" in shoelace-like filaments. When the data were first analysed they were dismissed in the usual manner as not showing anything, but Amelia suggested they check it again and the strings were there for all to see in the X-ray wavelength. Though the achievement was mainly her's, Amelia gives credit to Dr Kevin Pimbblet and Dr Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway the other members of the team. This is a dream start toward a future career for the young student. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustrali...