Stories of Australian Science 2012

We’ve put together this collection of Australian science stories to give journalists and others around the world a taste of the breadth and depth of research activity in Australia.

You’ll read about uniquely Australian work: a new form of chlorophyll found at Western Australia’s Shark Bay; the immune tricks of wallabies; protecting lives and buildings from bushfires; and the role of synchrotron light in making great Australian wines.

This year, as we reviewed the collection, we realised that there was a strong physical sciences theme. That wasn’t deliberate. But it’s been a good time for the physical sciences in Australia. The nation will share constructing the world’s largest radio telescope with South Africa. A precursor, the SKA Pathfinder telescope, is already booked out for the next five years. And Australia’s high energy physicists shared in the announcement of the Higgs boson in July this year

The renaissance in the physical sciences in Australia also reflects the growing convergence of the physical and life sciences

The Australian Synchrotron, for example, has been a boon for life scientists. They’ve been queuing up for access to its powerful beams. And a dedicated life sciences supercomputer has been contributing to cancer genetics. These are just two of a series of substantial infrastructure investments that have underpinned Australian science recently.

Billions of dollars have been invested by the Federal government over the past decade. Now those investments are bearing fruit. In these pages you’ll read how non-scientists are turning their ideas into reality thanks to a national fabrication facility; and how shared data is fast-tracking discoveries in astronomy, and giving the public access to 18 million observations of Australia’s flora and fauna.

We also present the winners of some of Australia’s leading science prizes.

Please feel free to use the stories for your own social media, website, or publications. Everything is available for reuse under a Creative Commons licence.