Ep 104: Invasion Genetics

Dr Katarina Mikac works in an area of science with a fantastic name - Invasion Genetics.

Invasion Genetics is an area of molecular ecology. Molecular ecology is the study of how organisms interact with their environment from a molecular point of view - that is, it examines the roles of DNA and genetics in how species adapt to their environments. It's also part of the larger field of evolutionary biology which looks at the origins of species and how they evolve over time.

Specifically, invasion genetics tracks the movements of invasive species using their DNA - you can't put tracking devices on insects!

One of Katarina's research areas is the Khapra bettle - the world's most destructive seed-eating pest. The beetle feeds on grain and seed kernels, and can decimate storage systems. In fact, heavy infestations can destroy thousands of kilos of stored grain in a matter of weeks. However, it is not present in Australia and this is where Katarina comes in. Australia plays host to the khapra's sister species, from which it is virtually indistinguishable, but by using DNA fingerprinting, Katarina is aiming to develop a species identification test which could identify the beetle at airports and stop it from coming into the country. Another aim is to investigate the sister beetle's genetic diversity and gene flow in order to understand its distribution and movement patterns. This will lead to better understanding of the consequences of the inadvertent introduction of the khapra beetle.

Katarina's current work is on the population genetics of the invasive Western Corn Rootworm which destroys corn if left untreated. In the United States, it is estimated that 30 million acres of corn (out of 80 million grown) are infested andvthat Corn Rootworms cause $1 billion in lost revenue each year.

In 2007, Katarina won the 2007 Science and Innovation Award for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for her work on the Khapra bettle and is just about to leave our shores for a series of conferences in Germany and Croatia on the Western Corn Rootworm - good luck Kata!

Listen to his podcast here:

The Hand of God

With Easter coming up and all sorts of religiosity going on, here are a couple of heavenly photos from space. The first, looking spookily like a hand, comes from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. At the centre of this image is a very young and powerful pulsar, known as PSR B1509-58. The pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star which is spewing out energy to create the shapes we see in this photo, including the one that resembles a large blue hand. In this image, the lowest energy X-rays are red, the medium range is green, and the most energetic are blue. The pulsar is only around 20 kilometres in diameter but the nebula spans 150 light years. For more amazing photos from Chandra, check out their flickr gallery. This image came out on April 3 2009.


The second is one you may have seen before - perhaps in a spam email. It has been dubbed The Eye of God and was featured on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day in 2003. It is the Helix Nebula, which is a planetary nebula created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. Gasses are expelled into space to make it look like we are looking down a helix. The remaining core glows so much so that it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce. It seems God has blue eyes and a lot of redness around the outside, suggesting he stayed out a little too long the previous night.

One of these days someone should put together all these images so we can finally find out what He looks like. Looking forward to someone spotting the beard in space one day...

Ep 103: Climate Science and Policy

In last week's show on Earth Hour, we had a quick chat to Dr. Ben McNeil, a Senior Fellow at the Climate Change Research Centre in the University of New South Wales, about the current state of knowledge on climate change and some of the policies that Australia and the world could implement to tackle the problem. This week I am putting up the longer, more wide-ranging interview I had with Ben on all things climate change. Ben is a very impressive young scientist and one of Australia's renowned climate experts, so tune in to hear about the latest climate change science as well as the current thinking and policy development going into the issue.

After completing his PhD in 2001, Ben worked as a research fellow at Princeton University before taking up his post at UNSW. In 2007, he was chosen as an expert reviewer for the United Nations Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change and briefed his work to the Prime Minister. He was also recently elected to represent young scientists in the Federation of Australian Science and Technological Societies.

Ben's first book, The Clean Industrial Revolution, will be published in May 2009. In this book he discusses the particular challenges Australia faces regarding climate change. Per capita, Australia is one of the most carbon obese countries in the developed world. Our economy is highly dependent upon carbon exports as well as high rates of energy consumption. But Australia is also environmentally fragile - the soils are poor and the rainfall uncertain. If the world starts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Australia will be caught in a trap - our exports will not be acceptable on the international market, and our agriculture will decline due to the effects of climate change. We couldn't talk too much about the book due to an embargo by the publishers, so stay tuned, we'll have another chat later on in the year!

Listen to his podcast here: