News from ANU

In this section:

New technology centre stars at Stromlo
Scientists help hit bee genome honey pot
New appointments enhance ANU executive
Turning to history for the ultimate Ashes series
Bush pockets crucial for biodiversity at ANU
Promiscuity linked to healthier babies

New technology centre stars at Stromlo

New astronomical ‘keyholes’ to the universe will be created at a multi-million dollar technology facility at Mt Stromlo.

The Advanced Instrument Technology Centre (AITC) at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) is the first major building to be constructed at Mt Stromlo since the 2003 bushfires.

The AITC’s spacious Integration Hall will allow technicians to assemble the components required for large telescopes such as the Chile-based Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), of which ANU is a consortium partner.

The building also contains state-of-the-art laboratories, a central meeting area and a walkway that allows members of the public to watch proceedings in the centre.

“In addition to being a founding member of the GMT consortium, we’re also engaged in a number of other collaborative projects that will benefit from the new centre,” RSAA Director Professor Penny Sackett said.

“Every new generation of telescopes demands more complex and efficient instruments. This centre means that Stromlo will long have the facilities to play a role in the development of new technology.”

^^

Scientists help hit bee genome honey pot

Scientists are buzzing at the discovery that honey bee genes are more similar to those of mammals than any other insect so far sequenced.

ANU researchers were part of a pioneering international team to crack the genomic sequence of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, which is a member of one of the largest orders in the insect world.

“The sequencing of the honey bee genome will provide an avalanche of insights into insect biology and the genetic basis of social behaviour in insects. You could say we’ve hit the honey pot,” lead ANU investigator Dr Ryszard Maleszka says.

The research could benefit areas such as venom toxicology, parasitology, and studies into infectious diseases.

^^

New appointments enhance ANU executive

Strengthening support for interdisciplinary projects and backing the next generation of researchers have been listed as key priorities by the two new Pro Vice-Chancellors at ANU.

The head of the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Professor Will Steffen, has been appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), as has the current Executive Director of Humanities and Creative Arts at the Australian Research Council, Dr Mandy Thomas.

“I hope to bring to ANU an increased focus on the next generation of researchers, both in attracting the best graduate students and in developing the research capacity of early career researchers working in the institution,” Dr Thomas says.

Professor Steffen says one of his priorities is to nurture more partnerships between different areas of the University itself.

^^

Turning to history for the ultimate Ashes series

As the world’s cricket-loving nations remain glued to their TV sets this summer, another contest is being fought thanks to online biography resources in Australia and England.

To mark the 2006-2007 Ashes Series, cricket commentators Jim Maxwell (ABC) and Christopher Martin-Jenkins (The Times UK) teamed up with historians at the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) at ANU and England’s Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) to put together history’s ultimate cricket contest.

The Australian side, selected by Maxwell, includes 11 all-time greats drawn from the ADB (www.adb.online.com.au), and the English side, selected by Martin-Jenkins, comprises 11 English legends who are included in the Oxford DNB.

ADB Editor Dr Diane Langmore says an Ashes series quickens Australians’ anticipation of summer like no other event.

“National pride is at stake. The English and Australian historical elevens selected from the Oxford DNB and the ADB would have fought a hard, fair and friendly contest. May the tradition continue in 2006-2007.”

With Sir Donald Bradman out of the team because he won’t appear in the ADB until a later edition, Maxwell selected a player just as worthy of the Captain’s mantle. “In the absence of Bradman, Victor Trumper would always be the first picked for a historical Australian team. Trumper’s legendary reputation was to be overrun by the phenomenal scoring feats of the Don. England’s bowlers may be relieved that Bradman is unavailable for this selection, but Trumper’s elegance and artistry produced many masterpieces, and he was Australia’s crown prince of the Golden Age. Sir Neville Cardus wrote, `he was the most gallant and handsome batsman of them all’,” he says.

“Trumper’s dashing and innovative batting would be complemented by his opening partner, Bill Woodfull, whose seemingly impregnable defence encouraged nicknames such as `Unbowlable’ and `Worm-killer’. Under Woodfull’s resolute and dignified leadership, Australia twice recovered the Ashes; he was the only captain to accomplish this.”

Martin-Jenkins expressed relief that Bradman was excluded. “To choose any England side to defeat an Australian team that had access to Don Bradman, the greatest batsman of them all, would have been tricky. However, it’s my good fortune that the Don will not appear in the Australian Dictionary of Biography until a later edition, so I am hopeful that my England XI will be unbeatable,” he says.

To see who was picked for the historic contest, visit www.oxforddnb.com/public/ashes/

To see the Australian Dictionary of Biography, visit www.adb.online.anu.edu.au

^^

Bush pockets crucial for biodiversity at ANU

Preserving pockets of bush in the heart of Canberra will be essential for the survival of animals in the urban area, a major biodiversity study argues.

The findings of the first comprehensive survey of biodiversity in Canberra’s centre, which includes the ANU campus, were recently launched at the CSIRO Discovery Centre as part of the Life in the Suburbs project.

The four-year survey project was coordinated by ANUgreen and involved 400 community volunteers, students, Scouts, and Work for the Dole and Greencorps participants. This small army helped to record the diversity and abundance of birds, mammals, frogs, reptiles, insects and plants in the 534-hectare site around central Canberra, bordered by Civic West, Black Mountain, Lake Burley Griffin and the inner north.

“Canberra is known as the bush capital, but until now our understanding of the biodiversity that makes up this green image has been patchy,” ANUgreen Biodiversity Projects Manager and survey coordinator Beth Mitchell says. “We wanted to conduct a baseline survey to get a good understanding of the animals and plants in central Canberra, so we could better understand the types of habitat they use in urban areas.”

The survey found that the large patches of native woodland like that around Black Mountain were essential ‘source’ habitats that sustain the greatest diversity of species – including echidnas, wallabies, and a host of native birds – but that urban ‘green space’ including residential gardens and tree-lined avenues can supplement these habitats and provide important corridors for species to move about.

^^

Promiscuity linked to healthier babies

Promiscuous females could be more likely to give birth to healthier offspring, ANU researchers have found.

The team from the School of Botany and Zoology found the first compelling evidence for the theory of sperm competition - which suggests that males with the strongest sperm are more likely to become sires and father better offspring – by studying the antechinus, a mouse-sized marsupial that lives in the forests of south-east Australia. They are rarely seen, because they are nocturnal, and nest in hollows.

“In one year, we released families back into the wild when the babies were still in the mother’s pouch,” team leader Dr Diana Fisher says.

“The result was that survival of babies with promiscuous mothers was almost three times as high as those in the monogamous group.”

“The next year, we kept families in captivity until the babies were almost weaned. Again, babies of promiscuous mothers did much better. Paternity tests showed that the sperm of some males were far more successful than others and, most important of all, that babies fathered by these males were twice as likely to survive.”

^^

ANU Reporter 
Summer 2007