ScienceNetwork WA

Humans have been taking advantage of earth's natural internal heating system since we first felt the cold! For centuries, hot springs have been used for medicinal purposes in China, whilst volcanic heating has naturally warmed the homes of Icelanders in the middle of winter.

DREAMFIT Foundation, what an inspirational place!  I visited again last week and was once more impressed by the ingenuity and application of its founder, Darren Loman, and his team of volunteers.

IMAGINE my surprise on seeing a phone message to ring the Governor of Western Australia, His Excellency Mr Malcolm McCusker AC! I returned his call with excitement and a touch of trepidation. But it was a marvellous phone call because, to my astonishment, I learned that His Excellency and Mrs Tonya McCusker had selected me as only the second recipient of the Governor’s Giving Award.  I was bowled over! It is such an honour and it came totally “out of the blue” but a very nice “blue” I must say. I had been selected to choose the charity or charities that would between them receive $100,000.

NATIONAL Science Week has been terrific again this year. The week was launched in Western Australia this year at Scitech by the Hon John Day MLA, WA’s Minister for Science and Innovation and the federal Minister for Science, the Hon Senator Chris Evans on Friday August 10.  In keeping with the imperative to ensure Science Week was as regionally inclusive as possible, I spent the day in Albany at the Great Southern Great Science symposium. In its fourth year, the symposium which is organised by the UWA’s Centre for Natural Resource Management and the Great Southern Science Council, has always provided a forum for an eclectic mixture of topics related to, or researched in, the region and was widely acknowledged as the best ever.

AS my Twitter followers (@ChiefSci_WA) know, I have recently returned from a two-week visit to China with Perth Education City (PEC). Their primary mission was to attract Chinese students to study in Western Australia, and, as a group, we also focused on building more economic, research, social and cultural links with China, our largest export destination.

Carnarvon was full of excitement this month, as celebrated astronaut Buzz Aldrin flew into town to acknowledge Carnarvon’s important role in the Apollo moon landing and to officially open the new Space and Technology Museum. I was delighted to be invited and be part of the first Carnarvon Science Festival.