Life on Mars Scientists have being trying to find life on Mars for years. First they found water. Another glimpse of hope came when methane was detected, which scientists suggest could be produced by living microbes. Lewis Dartnell is studying the cosmic rays that beat down on Mars, to determine how far into the Martian surfaces scientists may have to dig to find life. Planet formation Sarah Maddison is studying how planets form. She´s looking at young planetary systems outside our own, which have revealed significant insights into how the planets in our own solar system formed. Listening to ice break When an iceberg moves in the Southern Ocean, or an Antarctic ice shelf calves Kim Klacka and Alex Gavrilov are listening. The two men have been recording the sounds of ice breaking and moving for the last seven year. Only they´ve been listening from the comfort of their office in Perth. They´re trying to establish whether the calving rate of Antarctica´s ice shelves is staying within natural bounds or steadily increasing. Nature and gender Faith Ochwada loves being a girl, she´s loved being a girl all her life. But gender isn´t static in humans or the animal world, and as Faith describes there are some distinct advantages to being able to change sexes. Buffalo in the Top End There are now more than 150,000 wild buffalo in the Top End of Australia. They are reproducing at a spectacular rate: a female can conceive at the age of just over 3; a bull is capable of siring young at 5. As the beasts spread across tropical Australia there is always the fear of disasters such as foot-and-mouth disease, potentially costing over $23 billion. Clive McMahon at Charles Darwin University is studying the threat. Ig Nobel prizes Think of the Ig Nobels as the Nobel Prizes´ cheeky cousins. They were awarded this year for such unusual research as gas-mask bras, naming cows so they produce more milk and diamonds made from tequila. Sarah Castor-Perry reports.

[ Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +1000 ]

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