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contents
WHY SCIENCE? 4
Foreword 5
FRONTIER SCIENCE
The cutting edge 6
In focus Regenerative medicine at Monash University 7
In focus Nuclear science at ANSTO 8
BIOLOGY, health & Life SCIENCES
Biology & the science of life 10
BEHAVIOURAL & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE 12
In focus Melanoma research at Edith Cowan University 15
PHYSICS, MATHS & CHEMISTRY
PHYSICS & MATHS The hard stuff 18
In focus Synchrotron science
at the University of Melbourne 20
chemistry Get your hands dirty 23
EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
boom-time science 26
In focus Sustainable agriculture at UQ 28
WHERE SCIENCE CAN LEAD
The travel bug 30
Break it down 32
ASTRONOMY, ICT & ENGINEERING
a stellar career 36
In focus Exoplanet research at UNSW 38
In focus Radio astronomy at Curtin University 39
In focus Smart building at Griffith University 40
COSTS & FUNDING
can i afford uni? 42
where to study
degree finder 46
UNI COURses at a glance 48
“What really drew me to science
is that you are able to work on
some of the biggest global issues
in today’s society, such as cancer
research and climate change.”
Jeremy Baldwin,
QUT science graduate
and PhD student
Real-world
science and
engineering
Discover answers to some of the big issues that are shaping
the world today. You will experience real-world learning and
relevant, up-to-date courses that have been developed
alongside leaders in your field.
QUT’s winning balance of theory and practice will equip you
with skills and knowledge you can use straight away in your
chosen career.
Science and Mathematics
Biological | Chemistry | Earth | Environmental Physics | Mathematics
Engineering
Aerospace Avionics | Civil | Civil and Construction |
Civil and Environmental | Computer and Software Systems |
Electrical | Mechatronics | Mechanical | Medical
More information
To find out more visit www.qut.edu.au/science-engineering.
SCI-12-122 CRICOS no. 00213J

STRAP HERE
why study science?
WITH SO MANY career
and study options, figuring
out what you want to study
can be overwhelming. Tara
Francis has prepared this
checklist to see if science
or engineering is your best
career path.
do
you...
✓love watching
documentaries
You always learn random facts
watching documentaries, and the
same goes for studying science
and engineering. Some of the
things you will learn about the
world are fascinating and you can
choose your courses to focus on
exactly what you find interesting
– a little like finally getting the
remote control.
✓like lying
in the Sun
There’s minimal reading preparation
✓
for science and engineering claSSes,
have a
so you can chill out in the sunshine
curious mind
for hours before your claSS while
If you are always wondering
others are cramming in the library.
‘Why?’, then science and engineering
can give you the answers (or
maybe just more questions) about
everything from tiny atoms to the
infinite universe.
✓want to Travel
the world
You can travel while you study,
or attend conferences and
collaborate with colleagues
overseas. Better yet, science
and engineering careers
aren’t limited to particular
countries – you can find science
and engineering jobs pretty
much anywhere in the world.
✓dream
of being a scientist? Or not
You can go into research, of course, but another benefit of studying
science and engineering is that it can lead to a diverse range of careers,
not just in science but acroSS the board. You develop great skills that are
viewed highly by employers, even in the busineSS world. Having a double
degree or minor in science will give you that extra edge and specialist
knowledge when you start your career.
iSTOCK
✓talk during
your claSSeS
Let’s face it, listening to someone
talk for hours on end can be boring.
You’ll love hands-on labs at
university, allowing you to team up
with friends to run experiments and
learn things for yourself.
✓want to
change the
world
It may sound like a cliché but
scientists are working to
understand the world, transform
society and save lives while
engineers keep our economy
booming and our technology
cutting edge. Why would you want
to be anywhere else?
✓have no idea
what you’re doing
Science and engineering are so
flexible that you’re not committed
to one job for the rest of your life.
You can work in a range of fields (and
swap between them) whether it’s
developing new foods, agriculture,
health, law, busineSS or education.
Science and engineering can open
doorways to them all.
✓break all
the rules
ProgreSS and discoveries often
come when scientists agree that
the rules they thought explained
the nature of things have been
broken. Writing your own rules
and discovering which laws of the
universe bend and which don’t
are fundamental foundations of
scientific discovery.
4 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012
4 www.cosmosmagazine.com Cosmos 38

travel
foreword
Our lifestyle and the technologies around us are enabled
by today’s scientists, says Adi Paterson. In the future, you
could be the one transforming how we live and what we do.
Imagine nano-robots delivering
a ‘knock-out’ punch to cancer using
carefully targeted radioisotopes;
computers based on quantum states
of matter that solve ‘impossible’
problems with new techniques; energy
technologies based on new ‘molecular
cages’ that get us out of the carbon
economy of the 20th century and into
the sustainable 21st century; and
learning from frogs, using the slime from
their skin to develop new antibiotics.
Today’s scientists have delivered us a
lifestyle that previous generations could
only dream about, but the innovations
that will shape our future will come from
those of you who choose to pursue a
career in science or engineering.
Science and engineering offer remarkable
career opportunities. From biology
to chemistry, environmental science,
engineering, computer science and physics
– the opportunities are endless.
In nuclear science and technology we offer
an array of exciting career choices utilising
novel technologies from nanotechnology
to neutron scattering. Nuclear science is an
especially exciting area, a science that will
hold the solutions to many of the challenges
of the next generation – allowing scientists
to actually see ‘inside’ materials and build a
deeper understanding of the very fabric of
our lives.
As a scientist or engineer, your office
could be Antarctica or the Great Barrier
Reef and you could travel around the
world collaborating with the brightest
minds and working with the most
sophisticated research instruments on
the planet. In order to find the solutions
to today’s challenges and those that will
arise in the future, we need the best and
the brightest minds to take up the baton
as scientists or engineers. We need people
who push the boundaries, challenge the
norm and have a thirst for knowledge.
There are those who will participate and
those who will watch from the sidelines.
I encourage you to leave your mark on
the future and consider a career in science
or engineering.
Dr Adi Paterson
CEO, Australian Nuclear Science and
Technology Organisation
ansto
D ISCOveR y OUR OPTIONS
at Australia’s most influential university
Courtney Landers is a 3rd year student from Brisbane studying
the Bachelor of Philosophy (PhB) at ANU. The program, which
provides students with research opportunities throughout their
undergraduate career, has given Courtney access to some of
Australia’s top scientists.
‘I will be doing my honours in epigenetics, studying bees. The
simplest description of epigenetics is a system they found
describing how our cells use DNA. They didn’t even believe
something like it would exist ten years ago. It’s a very new field. It’s
pretty exciting. I can get my teeth stuck into something complex.’
Courtney says that one of the great things about studying at ANU
is the extra opportunities students get from being in Canberra.
‘... being on campus makes it so much easier to do things like
debating or to go to Parliament House for political activities. Living
on campus as well is a big thing – because I feel like if I was still
living at home then I wouldn’t have had the chance to get out and
socialise.’
“ There’s so much I would miss out
on if I wasn’t doing the PhB
”
science.anu.edu.au
CRICOS #00120C | 060212COSMOS

Frontier science
>>
the cutting edge
From the genes in our bodies
to the atoms around us,
breakthrough scientific
research is opening up new
and exciting careers.
WE’RE BARELY INTO
the second decade of the
21st century and scientists
have already made many
revolutionary discoveries
that have transformed their fields and created
novel career opportunities and research areas.
In 2003, scientists completed the mapping
of the human genome, allowing researchers
to read the complex code that uniquely
identifies each one of us. Astronomers have
peered further into the distant universe
than ever before. Physicists have unearthed
a wealth of weird and wonderful behaviour
at sub-microscopic levels, and chemists and
engineers have created microscopic devices
and novel materials that will revolutionise
our health and the technology around us.
A kidney cell generated from stem cells
– blue shows the cell nucleus and red
indicates kidney–specific proteins.
On the way, they’ve produced spin-off
technology – from faster Internet and
smaller batteries to better medicines
and pollution-free fuels.
Major frontier science opportunities
exist in medicine, particularly in genetics,
immunology and regenerative medicine, as
well as biotechnology and molecular biology,
nanotechnology and astronomy. Want to be
part of the mix? Then there are burgeoning
new fields out there to consider and many new
centres in which some serious investment is
being made. Examples of these include the
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organisation’s nuclear science facility
and the planned Australian Institute of
Nanoscience, both in Sydney. Then in
Melbourne, there are facilities such as the
Australian Synchrotron and Australian
Regenerative Medicine Institute.
Sharon Ricardo knows what it’s like to be
at the front line of science. She’s involved in
regenerative medicine research at Monash
University, investigating how stem cells –
which are able to differentiate into other
cell types – can repair kidney tissue. It’s a
fast-moving field, agrees Ricardo. “For science
students I think it’s very exciting. There are
so many questions to address.” Research on
stem cells was transformed just five years
ago by the discovery that adult stem cells
can be used to repair organs, from the brain
to the liver. “It’s a huge, growing area,”
Ricardo says. “You really are redefining
textbooks.” – Heather Catchpole
SHARON RICARDO
NAME Benjamin Norton
POSITION PhD Student in
atomic physics
LOCATION Griffith
University, Brisbane
QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor of photonics and
nanoscience (Honours), now
undertaking PhD in atomic
physics at Griffith University’s
Centre for Quantum Dynamics
“IF YOU LIKED playing with Lego when you were
younger, this is big kids’ Lego,” says Benjamin
Norton, a PhD student in atomic physics at the
Centre for Quantum Dynamics, at Queensland’s
Griffith University.
Norton is talking about atom physics – where
you study fundamental interactions and processes
at super-small scales. As part of
his PhD, Norton helped build a
trap for charged atoms. This
device has been able to isolate
individual atoms of ytterbium
– a rare earth element – and
has produced the highest
resolution images ever made
of an atom.
The images earned Norton
runner-up in an extreme imaging
science competition, in February. His
research team is now hoping to use the images to
gain a better understanding of how atoms might
behave in quantum computers – novel technology
that will potentially change the world. Quantum
optics could lead to superfast computing and
encrypt information – such as bank details – so
securely that it would be impossible to decode.
An interest in science and a curious mind are
the building blocks of a great scientific career,
Norton says. “As an experimental scientist, you’ve
got to have the skills to build things up and the
drive to actually do something new.”– Renae Soppe
The highest resolution image yet made of
an atom shadow, produced by a device that
Benjamin Norton helped make.
GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY/BENJAMIN NORTON
6 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

in fOCUS monash university
frontier SCience
Made-to-order medicine
Regenerative medicine is using exciting new advances in cell science to develop new
therapeutics, says Tara Francis.
CHOP A LEG OFF an axolotl and it won’t
mind that much; it will just regrow
another. Chop an arm off a starfish
and not only will it regrow, but the lost arm
could also grow an entirely new body! Some
creatures show a remarkable ability to heal
themselves and scientists are trying to emulate
this in humans using regenerative
medicine. This new field aims
to repair damaged tissues
through transplants or by
inducing cells to begin
regrowing tissue.
It may seem
like science
fiction, but this
is what Nicolas
Plachta from
the Australian
Regenerative
Medicine Institute
at Monash
University, in
Melbourne, is working
towards. Plachta is
studying how single
cell embryos differentiate
and turn into the human body.
“Developmental biology is perfect for
regenerative medicine because it’s basically
trying to understand how things were built
up during embryonic development. We need
to understand that before we try to repair
[tissue],” Plachta says.
Working with mouse embryos, Plachta is
trying to observe proteins as they direct embryo
growth. “We want to see how these proteins
move because these are the proteins that
activate genes, they decide which genes get
turned on or turned off,” he says. And these
genes define what type of tissue the cell will
eventually become.
Plachta extracts and manipulates mice
embryos to label specific proteins with a
fluorescent marker that glows when hit with
laser light of a certain wavelength.
Seeing inside embryos doesn’t come cheap:
the laser scanning microscope Plachta uses
A 3-D image of cell division
iSTOCK
costs $1.5 million, but it’s definitely worth it.
“In the microscope we take an image of the
nucleus deep inside the cell of the embryo. We
take many images at different focal lengths – it’s
like slicing the embryo with lasers – so we are
scanning the entire thing without damaging the
embryo,” says Plachta. These images form a
map, so that the protein fluorescence
can be compared in different parts
of the nucleus over time.
Introducing proteins
that activate genes
involved in embryonic
development into
human adult cells
could stimulate
tissue regeneration
in humans – for
example, to grow
Like starfish, axolotls can
regenerate tissue to grow new body
parts. Scientists in regenerative
medicine are trying to emulate this
ability to regrow tissue in humans.
new spinal tissue. This would do away with the
need for embryonic stem cells (and the ethical
issues surrounding them), that were previously
used for research into regenerative medicine.
These practical applications excite Gurpreet
Kaur, who just finished her PhD and is now
working in Plachta’s lab. “It is a really exciting
field. I can see an embryo, in real time, dividing
into the different cells of the different tissues.
It really makes you think that you can take
that technology and start applying it
to therapeutics.”
There are many health problems, such as
heart and neurodegenerative diseases, that
would undoubtedly benefit from the ability
to regenerate damaged tissues, Kaur adds.
“In essence, we are trying to find therapeutic
approaches using regenerative medicine to
cure these diseases.”
iSTOCK
COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012 7

Nuclear science
>>
research
ANSTO
SPL
Nuclear science techniques are revolutionising the
way scientists work, helping them to understand
everything from disease to ice-age environments.
trackiNG
cancer
Secondary cancers from a
melanoma are revealed by
a radioactive tracer injected
into the blood stream.
MELANOMA is a type of skin cancer
caused by prolonged exposure to UV
rays. According to Cancer Australia, it is
responsible for 9.5% of all cancer diagnoses
made in Australia. A newly discovered
radiopharmaceutical will help doctors
better detect the spread of melanomas.
Oncologists used the radioactive
compound FDG (fludeoxyglucose) to
locate several types of cancer, including
melanoma. FDG is a glucose analogue
with a high affinity for cancer cells. And
because it’s a radiopharmaceutical it
emits radiation, meaning that doctors
can use a positron emission tomography
(PET) scan to trace it and any cancer cells
associated with it.
Recent research undertaken by
the Australian Nuclear Science and
Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and
the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre is
developing a compound that can more
effectively pinpoint the region where a
melanoma has spread.
The compound, called 18F-MEL050
or simply MEL050, can hone in on a
melanoma by searching for melanin protein
inside cells and binding to it. This also
allows for high-contrast imagery, making
it easier for doctors to see cancerous cells
among normal tissue.
“Using MEL050, we can track and localise
secondary melanoma metastasis [where
a melanoma has spread through the skin
or lymph nodes],” explains Ivan Greguric,
an ANSTO nuclear radiopharmaceutical
chemist. “A lot of [cancer] treatment
options, such as chemotherapy, are very
expensive,” he adds. “A more accurate
localisation of cancerous cells should lead
to a more effective treatment regimen.”
– Oliver Chan
A slice of Fraser
Island sand
collected by a
gravity corer can
provide a record of
climate change over
thousands of years.
TraciNG
fraser
Island’s
past
FRASER ISLAND IS not just a popular
southern Queensland tourist spot. It’s
also a top study site for Pia Atahan, a
post-doctoral research fellow, and Henk
Heijnis, a principal research scientist,
both from ANSTO.
Heijnis and Atahan are interested
in finding out how the climate and
environment of the island has changed
over the past 37,000 years. To study this,
they took samples of tiny fossils from the
sediments of Lake MacKenzie, one of the
island’s most visited sites.
By analysing the samples through a
combination of radiocarbon dating and
nuclear techniques, the researchers hope to
reconstruct the lake system’s hydrology –
the movement, distribution and quality of
its water – and to understand the changes
in vegetation caused by an ice age period.
“Previous work has shown massive
changes [in the Australian environment]
when going into and coming out of an ice
age. Lake systems are unique – they have
unique ecosystems – so we’d like to see
how these lakes respond to environmental
change,” says Heijnis. – Becky Crew
8 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

SPL
frontier
science
Neutrons probe
healthy starch
Starch grains (in green) are easy to
spot in this false-colour scanning
electronmicrograph of a potato slice.
NOT ALL STARCHES are the same, so
Australian researchers have developed a
new device that can ensure food is
manufactured using the types of starches
that are better for us.
Starch makes up 50-70% of our energy
intake and its molecular structure
determines how it is digested. Starch rich
in amylose – straight chains of glucose
molecules – is beneficial for people
suffering from diabetes as it is digested
slowly and gradually releases sugar into the
bloodstream. This type of starch is also a
top anti-cancer food: high amylose starch is
‘resistant’ to digestion, escaping the process
entirely until it reaches the large intestine,
where it is broken down by gut bacteria.
Metabolites of these bacteria protect the
intestine from colorectal cancer.
“If we try to eat higher levels of resistant
starch, we can help prevent diet-related
disease,” says ANSTO’s food science
group leader, Elliot Gilbert. Current food
processing methods destroy some of the
resistant starch, which is why manufacturers
are looking for ways to better control
manufacturing conditions and maintain the
beneficial properties of their products.
A device called a neutron Rapid Visco
Analyser (nRVA), developed by Gilbert
and his colleagues in collaboration with
Australian company Perten, could help them
do that. The nRVA sends a beam of neutrons
through a sample of starch as it is cooked.
“We then measure the number of
neutrons that change their direction,”
says Gilbert. “And that tells us how the
starch molecules are arranged.” Using this
procedure, it is now possible to monitor
changes in the molecular structure during
the cooking process. This will allow
manufacturers to optimise production
processes while maintaining resistant
starch levels. – Achim Eberhart
wikimedia
frOG
remedy
ANTIBIOTICS HAVE LONG been used
as a defence against bacterial infection.
But, worryingly, some bacteria have
been evolving their own defences against
antimicrobial agents.
The moist skin of the southern
bell frog (Litoria raniformis)
could yield new
antibiotics.
Now, antimicrobial secretions from the
skin of Australian frogs are being analysed
as a source of potential new drugs for
fighting these ‘superbugs’.
It is hoped that by studying the
active ingredients in the secretions and
observing how they interact with cell
membranes, scientists can figure out how
to engineer more effective antibiotics. The
researchers will be looking at interactions
with bacterial cells as well as cells from
higher organisms to explore whether the
active ingredients work specifically on
bacteria. “We need to [first]
understand how they work,
and once we do that, the next
step is how [they] can
be used as drugs and
how we can deliver
[them] as medicines,”
says ANSTO postdoctoral
research fellow
Anton Le Brun, who has been
collaborating with University of
Melbourne researchers on the project.
Traditionally, the analysis of the active
ingredients in frogs’ secretions – molecules
called peptides - has been done using
X-rays. But this technique has limitations
as it can be difficult to distinguish
between peptides and cell membranes. So
the Melbourne team opted for another
technique that uses ANSTO’s neutron
reflectometer facility, in Sydney.
“Neutrons scatter hydrogen and its
isotope deuterium very differently. If we
label the membrane with deuterium, by
using neutrons we can pick out the peptide
from the membrane to get the whole
picture,” says Le Brun. “The information we
can get through this process is when these
peptides bind to the membrane, and where
are they located. For example, are they lying
on the surface, are they penetrating into
the membrane or are they breaking the
membrane down? Using the neutrons from
the OPAL research reactor is a very powerful
technique to answer these questions.”
The team has yet to figure out exactly
how these frog skin peptides work, but
it’s hoped that when they do, future
collaboration with drug delivery experts
will lead to new weapons in the battle
against superbugs. – Becky Crew
COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012 9

iology & the
>>
science of life
iSTOCK GETTY IMAGES
iSTOCK
New tools and faster progress have opened up
a world of information in biology, health and life
sciences – and there’s still much more to discover.
IT WAS THE SHEER diversity of life
on our planet that inspired the great
naturalists of the 18th and 19th
centuries, such as Alexander von
Humboldt and Charles Darwin. Now, in
these days of discovery, the mainly descriptive
discipline of natural history has been
replaced by a complex field that encompasses
biological and ecological interactions across all
levels – from a global scale down to individual
molecules within a cell.
Paul Sunnucks, a zoologist who heads
Monash University’s Molecular Ecology
Research Group, in Melbourne, points out
that a dominant issue now for biology and
life sciences is the rapid pace of change.
There has been an exponential growth in
knowledge and technology that is giving
scientists the tools to make much faster
progress. Consider, for example, identifying
the genetic ‘fingerprint’ of an organism. A
popular way to do this requires researchers
to identify species-specific DNA markers
called microsatellites. Until very recently,
this was a laborious and time-consuming
exercise. “Now you pop some DNA in a tube,
send it away, get it sequenced and select your
microsatellites,” Sunnucks explains. “That
means you don’t have to spend three months
developing microsatellites, you can spend
three months doing things that are more
intellectually challenging and are actually
producing the answers that you want rather
than just the tools to produce the answers.”
With the money and effort that went
into studying a single gene of a butterfly in
Sunnucks’ lab only a few years back, it is now
possible to study all 30,000 genes expressed
in that organism. Despite this rapid progress,
biological research will not be exhausted
any time soon. For every answer researchers
are able to provide, new questions arise,
requiring even more sophisticated tools.
“Everything we do now is just so incredibly
information-rich,” Sunnucks says. Statistics
and specialised computer software have
become more important than ever for working
with large complex data sets. “Biology is a
discipline where, apart from a few isolated
areas, people haven’t [traditionally] tended
to apply mathematics very much. But
that’s becoming increasingly important,”
says Sunnucks, adding that almost anyone
starting in biology now needs to be familiar
with statistics software and programming
skills. “Those things are becoming just basic
tools you need as much as a word processor,”
he says. In addition to the quantities of
research data biologists and life scientists
create, huge amounts of background
information have become available at a
keystroke to help interpret results. This
includes online libraries containing sequences
of tens of thousands of genes and proteins,
animal movement datasets and detailed
geographical information.
What makes biology particularly appealing
to Sunnucks is the opportunity it often
provides to work outdoors and with wildlife,
while also having a very strong theoretical
underpinning. He was drawn to the area
by a fascination for the “complexity and
elegance of things that natural selection can
produce.” His career has since been shaped by
personal interactions with many outstanding
scientists. “It was this environment, where all
these people were having cool ideas,” he says.
“And we’ve certainly got a lot of excellent
biologists and life scientists in Australia.”
– Achim Eberhart
10 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

BIOLOGY, hEALTh
& LIFE SCIENCES
Sam Banks’ molecular ecology
studies take him out into the
field, working towards the
conservation of native species.
Show me the money!
BIOLOGICAL
SCIENCES
Median starting salary
$49,000 (BSc) to
$65,000 (PhD)
Gender mix
36.1% M 63.9% F (BSc)
36.4% M 63.6% F (PhD)
Work outcomes
59% BSc graduates searching
for work found full-time
employment
46.2% went into further study
Common occupations
Design, engineering, health,
transport and science
professionals, and science,
engineering and ICT
technicians
Source: Graduate Careers Australia
Gradfiles, December 2011
NAME Jenna Bowyer
POSITION Aquaculture researcher
LOCATION South Australian Research
and Development Institute and Flinders
University
QUALIFICATIONS Bachelor of Science
with Honours in Marine Biology,
Flinders University
BOWYER, A THIRD-YEAR PHD STUDENT,
splits her time between the South Australian
Research and Development Institute and Flinders
University conducting analyses in the lab while
writing her thesis on yellowtail kingfish nutrition.
She broke into aquaculture research after taking
a year off following her marine biology studies.
“My father is a prawn fisherman in the Spencer
Gulf, so I was exposed to the seafood industry
from a young age,” Bowyer says. She gained
a scholarship from the Australian Seafood
Cooperative Research Centre and partnered with
Clean Seas Tuna for her research, which aims
to determine baseline nutritional information
on which sustainable ingredients can feed
yellowtail kingfish without adversely affecting
their growth or health. The global catches of
fish used primarily for fishmeal and fish oil from
NAME Sam Banks
POSITION Research Fellow
LOCATION Fenner School of
Environment and Society, Australian
National University, Canberra
QUALIFICATIONS Bachelor of Arts/
Bachelor of Science (Honours) and
PhD in molecular ecology, both from
Monash University
STUDYING BIOLOGY wasn’t a calculated career
choice for Sam Banks. He originally enrolled in
engineering at RMIT, but quickly realised that
while it might be a good career choice, it wasn’t
what he really wanted to do. So he changed unis,
completed a double degree in arts and science
at Melbourne’s Monash University and hasn’t
looked back. He went on to complete an Honours
year and PhD in molecular ecology, a discipline
that uses molecular genetic techniques to study
the ecology and conservation of species. He still
works in this area and enjoys the opportunity
to be involved “with fantastic animals in lovely
parts of Australia”. Research fellows are also
often expected to take part in teaching at their
university. It can be difficult to balance teaching
and research, but Banks says it is a privilege to
share his work with students who are interested
and motivated. – Achim Eberhart
wild fisheries are limited, Bowyer says. Her
research has identified that some fish oil and
fishmeal can be replaced with poultry oil and
soybean ingredients in the kingfish diet. Bowyer
has travelled to an international conference in
Brazil to present her PhD work, where she won an
award for best abstract. In the future, she’d like to
focus on researching how sustainable aquaculture
can meet the global demands for seafood while
reducing its reliance on marine ingredients, either
in Australia or overseas. - Mara Flannery
sardi
Jenna Bowyer
hopes to focus
on sustainable
aquaculture.
11

ehavioural &
>>
biomedical sciences
Biomedical science has
a strong medical focus
and is often more
research-based
than a straight
science degree.
Understanding how
biological processes work
is an intriguing puzzle.
THE QUESTION OF what makes
us human has absorbed us
since our species first emerged.
While we wait on a definitive
philosophical answer, we can
always look at what humans are – how and
why we do certain things, what makes us
strong or weak, what can kill us and what
can save us. The behavioural and biomedical
sciences aim to answer such questions.
“We are all psychologists at heart,” says
Ben Newell, a psychological scientist at the
University of New South Wales. “We all want
to know how and why we, and other people,
think and do things. Studying psychology
gives us the tools [both methodological and
intellectual] to do just that and really try to
answer these big questions.”
Behavioural science can lead to careers in a
wide array of areas, from clinical psychology
and criminal profiling to sports psychology and
community welfare.
Clues to human behaviour are also within
the intricacies of brain physiology. “The brain
is one of the final frontiers to discover,” says
Romina Palermo, an experimental psychologist
and cognitive neuroscientist at the University
of Western Australia. “A lot of what the brain
does we take for granted – things like facial
recognition and language generation – but
are actually rather challenging tasks.”
Research in neuroscience ranges from
investigating the effects of traumatic brain
injuries on specific parts of the brain to
searching for different ways to slow progressive
brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Biomedical science covers the biology of
the body with a strong medical focus and is
often more research-based than a straight
science degree. It can seem daunting, but it’s
worth it, says Tony Sadler, a research fellow
at the Monash Institute of Medical Research,
in Melbourne. “Biomedicine is extremely
engaging,” he says. Biomedical science
students are able to gain an understanding
in multiple disciplines and learn how they
all interact and complement each other.
This can lead to careers in pharmaceutical,
biomedical and biotechnology industries as
well as purely academic research. “Research
has an addictive quality, which I liken to gold
fever,” says Sadler. “You’ve always got the
feeling that you’re on the brink of unearthing
something fantastic.” – Oliver Chan
iSTOCK
12 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

BioloGY, health
& LIFE ScienceS
MEDICINE
Median salary
$56,000 (BSc) to
$80,000 (Masters)
Graduate Gender mix
36.8% M 63.2% F (BSc)
38.8% M 61.2% F (PhD)
Work outcomes
85.8% BSc graduates
searching for work found
full-time employment
9.2% went into further study
Common occupations
Design, engineering and
science and transport,
health and education
professionals.
Luke Donnan indulges his
passion for exercise through
podiatry and research into
barefoot running.
NAME Luke Donnan
position Lecturer in podiatry
locATION Charles Sturt University,
Albury-Wodonga, NSW
QUALIFICATIONS Bachelor of human
movement from RMIT, Bachelor
of podiatry, from Charles Sturt
University, NSW
Amateur footy player and gym junkie Luke
Donnan originally planned a career in physiotherapy,
but began studying podiatry, loved it and now he
teaches in this area. Podiatry is focussed on the care
and treatment of feet and lower limbs, and courses
cover topics ranging from biomechanics and sports
science to diseases such as arthritis. “The biggest
thing I like about lecturing is working with a younger
group. [People] often refer to it as cerebral massage
– you’re always having to think,” Donnan says.
He also supervises clinic students treating
patients with sprains and muscular pains. Through
his research into barefoot running, Donnan hopes
to build on a personal passion for exercise. This
research examines the shift away from highly
structured shoes to footwear that offers little
support. “There’s not a lot of research out there
saying yes or no, one way or another.”
Podiatry professionals can also end up working
in sports medicine or specialise in pediatrics,
assisting children with neurological conditions,
such as cerebral palsy, to walk. Or they might help
diabetics manage ulcers and wounds. “You can
pick your interest area and there’s pretty much no
reason you can’t pursue that. It’s not one of these
jobs where you have to work your way up to the
good jobs. It’s very flexible and there are lots of
opportunities for podiatrists.” – Tara Francis
Show me the money!
PSYCHOLOGY
Median salary
$49,000 (BSc) to
$70,000 (PhD)
Graduate gender mix
18.4% M 81.6% F (BSc)
19.2% M 80.8% F (PhD)
Work outcomes
41.1% BSc graduates
searching for work found
full-time employment
37.5% went into further study
Common occupations
Legal, social and welfare
professionals, business,
human resources and
marketing and education
professionals
NAME Jeremy Baldwin
position Masters student
location Queensland University of
Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Qld
QUALIFICATIONS Bachelor of applied
science/Bachelor of business, from QUT
“I LIKED THE challenge,” explains Jeremy
Baldwin of his motivation to study science.
“There are still frontiers, new things to
discover.” But he also values the economic
aspect of science just as highly. Baldwin
believes that for scientific discoveries to make
a difference, it’s imperative that they result in
a viable business application. So he opted for
a double degree in science and business and is
now pursuing a Master of science at the same
time as a Master of research and development
management, both at Queensland University of
Technology (QUT).
As part of his research he builds artificial cell
tissue that can be used to test new drugs. Cell
biologists usually work with cell cultures grown
in thin layers in tissue culture flasks or petri
dishes. But “there’s a huge amount of evidence
that shows gene expression in 2-D [cell
cultures] versus 3-D is completely different,”
explains Baldwin. This means the response
of cell cultures to pharmaceuticals may not
truly reflect the effects of drugs in the body.
Jeremy Baldwin builds
artificial living organs
that can be used to test
new drugs.
Baldwin and his colleagues at the Regenerative
Medicine Group use various biomaterials to build
scaffold structures that help cells grow into threedimensional
structures. These 3-D models mimic
the conditions in the body as closely as possible.
Some of these scaffolds can also be used for
regenerative medicine procedures such as breast
reconstruction or bone replacement after
cancer surgery.
Pharmaceutical companies’ interest in better
models to test new drugs creates a large market
for 3-D cell culture, Baldwin says. Having
won several business competitions during his
undergraduate studies, he’s now working with
his supervisor to create a business plan to
commercialise their research. – Achim Eberhart
COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012 13

BIOLOGY, health
& LIFE SCIenCES
NAME Kayley Zuhorn
POSITION Undergraduate student
LOCatION The University of
Queensland, Brisbane
QUALIFICatIONS Bachelor of
occupational health and safety science
(in progress)
GONE ARE THE DAYS when occupational
health and safety (OHS) at work meant
checking the fire exits once a month. In 2010,
the University of Queensland launched an
innovative new degree in OHS science.
Kayley Zuhorn is one of 40 undergraduates
looking forward to an exciting career as a
fully qualified OHS professional.
“The OHS industry is a rapidly growing
industry and there’s a huge lack of qualified
professionals,” Zuhorn says. “Across all
industries there are a lot of workplace
incidents, often deaths and fatal injuries.
People think that’s just what happens, but
realistically deaths in the workplace should
not happen; they’re always preventable.”
The four-year degree aims to produce
OHS professionals with a strong background
in the physical, behavioural, psychosocial
and life sciences. The program addresses
psychosocial and mental health issues
at work as well as chemical, physical,
mechanical and biological hazards.
A career in OHS consulting has recently
been made simpler by the harmonisation
of the Work Health and Safety Act across
all Australian states, standardising OHS
laws across the country. But degrees in OHS
are very portable, says Zuhorn. “Everybody
works, so there would definitely be
opportunities overseas.”
For Zuhorn, who grew up in Townsville,
the most attractive job prospects are closer
to home. “I’m quite interested in working
in the mining industry,” she says. “I always
wanted to do something in health, and I was
really interested in science. I know [OHS] is
a very important and growing industry, so I
thought, ‘why not get into it early?’
“Eventually I want to work as a consultant
across a lot of different industries, helping
people out by making sure their health and
safety policy is compliant with standards.”
– Tiffany Hoy
UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
Kayley Zuhorn is excited
to focus her degree in
occupational health
and safety with
a bent towards
science.
NAME Wahyu Nawang Wulan
POSITION Masters student
INSTITUTION University of Canberra
QUALIFICatIONS Bachelor of science
(genetics & molecular biology) from the
University of Indonesia, in Jakarta.
UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA
Wahyu Nawang Wulan is
working to understand the
human immune response
to a virus that causes
flu-like symptoms.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST Wahyu Nawang
Wulan knew she loved science from an early
age. But it was when she was studying biology
at university in Jakarta, Indonesia, that she
realised “just how much we can use science to
make our daily lives better,” she says.
In keeping with that ideal, Wulan’s
research for her Masters’ degree involves
the development of a vaccine for the highly
contagious Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).
The virus is often mistaken for flu as it has
similar symptoms. It’s particularly dangerous
for the very young and elderly and it can lead
to serious complications including bronchitis
and pneumonia. Unlike for influenza, no
vaccine currently exists.
Wulan is currently testing a mutated form
of RSV to provoke an immune response from
cell cultures. She’s had promising results;
she has already demonstrated an increased
immune response to the mutated virus. Her
next step is to test the mutated virus in an
animal model.
Wulan was awarded an AusAID scholarship
from the Australian government to carry out
her research. While’s she’s happy in her work
she also relishes the obstacles that come up in
her research. “You have to be thoughtful and
creative to overcome problems in research.
It’s challenging because you will always find
something new, something that you’re not
expecting. It’s very exciting.” – Jude Dineley
14 COSMOS UltIMate SCIence GUIde 2012

in fOCUS ECU
BIOLOGY, health & LIFE SCienCES
iSTOCK
more than
skin deep
Western Australian
researchers are developing
a blood test to assist in the
diagnosis and treatment of
Australia’s most deadly skin
cancer, writes Achim Eberhart.
UV radiation is a risk factor
for melanoma.
WIKIMEDIA
ONLY 4% OF ALL skin cancers are
melanomas – but they cause 80% of
deaths from skin cancer. Melanomas are
tumours caused by the mutation and abnormal
growth of melanocytes, the cells in our skin
responsible for a suntan.
What makes melanomas so dangerous is
that they “tend to spread across the body quite
easily”, says Mel Ziman, a geneticist at the
School of Medical Sciences at Edith Cowan
University (ECU), in Perth. This is because
some of the genes involved in the development
of melanocytes make these cells ‘proliferative
and migratory’, meaning they divide rapidly and
move into the bloodstream. The circulating cells
can then settle in other organs of the body and
grow to deadly metastases.
The melanoma research group at ECU is
working to isolate and characterise these
circulating melanoma cells. Ziman, who heads
the group, wants to find specific markers that
can be used to identify the most dangerous
of these, the melanoma stem cells. To do
this, the researchers isolate melanoma cells
from patients’ blood and analyse it for gene
mutations and protein characteristics according
to the stage of the patients’ cancer. “We’re
hoping to develop a blood test that doctors can
use to diagnose melanoma and to follow patients
during and after treatment,” Ziman says.
Ziman and her team are also interested in
identifying risk factors, such as ultraviolet
radiation (UV), heat and chemical exposure,
that cause melanocytes to mutate and form
melanoma. At mine sites, for example, workers
are exposed to all three risk factors, something
Leslie Calapre is studying for her PhD at ECU. In
the lab, she exposes melanocytes grown as cell
cultures to different levels and combinations
of environmental stress agents to find out
what factors cause the cells to form tumours.
“It is fascinating to see how the cells change.
Fascinating and scary,” Calapre says.
“UV is by far the worst causative agent of cell
death and cell mutation,” Ziman says of the
research group’s preliminary results. “It even
shocked us!” In combination with heat and
chemicals, this effect becomes even worse.
Ziman and Calapre want to raise awareness of
skin cancer and its causative agents at workplaces,
collaborating with mining companies to
minimise workers’ exposures, for example.
Over the next few years they aim to monitor
the circulating melanoma cells in the blood
of patients before and after treatment to see
if certain characteristics of these cells are
associated with different patient outcomes.
“We’ve got all the techniques [for this] now,
which is great. It’s taken us ages to get there!”
Ziman says. The researchers also want to study
the specific genes responsible for melanoma
formation. These genes were the catalyst for
Ziman’s interest in researching melanoma.
For Calapre, the main motivating factor was
different. “It was the thought that our research
could one day help so many people.”
ECU
Geneticist Mel Ziman
heads ECU’s melanoma
research group.
COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012 15

DIVE
IN to a new
school of thought.
• Aquaculture
• Fisheries Management
• Marine Conservation
Your applied science degree could see you protecting the natural wonders
of our coasts and oceans, pioneering the cultivation of aquatic plants and
animals or ensuring the sustainable management of global fishing industries.
CRICOS CODE 00586B #1654/EC
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16 www.cosmosmagazine.com Cosmos 44
AMC IS AN INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA

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Physics & maths:
>>
the hard stuff
If you love puzzles, asking
questions and you have
a creative soul with a twist,
then studying physics
or applied mathematics
is for you.
A
COMMON MISCONcEPTION
is that mathematicians and
physicists lack creativity. But
Andrew Peele, head of science
at the Australian Synchrotron
in Melbourne, will quickly set you straight.
Physicists “plough into the unknown”,
Peele says. “You look at problems that
nobody knows how to solve and you have
to come up with a way to solve them.”
Peele is in a good position to comment;
he was a practising lawyer before returning
to his first love of physics and now heads
up the synchrotron, a high-speed particle
accelerator. His career is a testament to the
fact that both applied mathematicians and
physicists have skills that can be used for
a multitude of different careers. “If you
do a physics degree, you can do anything,”
says Peele.
Physics teaches you how to frame problems
and gives you an arsenal of tools for solving
them, Peele explains. “Physicists are great
at breaking things down into simple models.
It gives you really strong technical training
as well.”
The choice of careers in which a physics
or applied maths degree can be applied is
diverse – from law, banking, healthcare and
engineering, to more obvious career paths
in industry and academia.
As an applied mathematician, you might
find yourself using maths in an attempt to
predict the behaviour of tropical cyclones
or identify individuals who are at risk of
high blood pressure.
As a physicist, you could end up gazing
skywards using high-tech telescopes around
the world, studying the fundamentals of
particle behaviour, or working in fields
such as medical physics, engineering,
computing and much more.
Peele thinks it’s a good time to be a young
physicist in Australia and students shouldn’t
be put off by the intimidating reputation
physics and applied mathematics has as
the ‘hard stuff’.
“Sometimes there’s this perception
that physics is hard, and students shy
away from it.” But these so-called hard
subjects can put you into a space where
there is an abundance of opportunity,
says Peele. “The payback is huge. You
get this great training that can take you
off in every direction.”
– Jude Dineley
Stephen Mudie uses small and wide angle
X-ray scattering for nanoscale research at
the Australian Synchrotron.
Tony Gay
18 COsmOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

PhySICS, maths
& chemIStry
Mathematics
Median starting salary
$55,100 (with BSc) to
$72,000 (with PhD degree)
Gender mix
66.3% M 33.7% F (BSc)
58.7% M 41.3% F (PhD)
Work outcomes
73.2% BSc graduates
searching for work found
full-time employment
39% went into further
study
Common occupations
Business, human resources
and marketing, education,
design and engineering,
science and transport
professionals
Michael Biercuk is pushing the
limits of human capability in
the realm of the small stuff.
NAME Michael Biercuk
JOB Experimental physicist
LOCATION University of Sydney
QUALIFICATIONS Bachelor of Arts
from the University of Pennsylvania;
AM and PhD (physics) from Harvard
University.
MICHAEL BIERCUK NEVER heeded advice to
avoid sweating the small stuff. In his world of
precision metrology, tiny things matter. The
forces that interest Biercuk are about a septillion
times smaller than the weight of a feather, on the
scale of yoctonewtons (that’s 10 24 Newtons, the
standard unit of force).
Because forces this tiny can have huge effects
on the behaviour of electrons in a solid material,
being able to measure them precisely is critical to
solving much larger problems in nanotechnology,
Biercuk says.
Biercuk’s postgraduate studies saw him at
Harvard in Boston, where he studied tiny carbon
nanotubes so thin they behave as though they are
one-dimensional to the charges that flow through
them. Now, as the director of the Quantum
Control Laboratory and a chief investigator in the
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence
for Engineered Quantum Systems, both at the
University of Sydney, he’s advancing precision
measurement using trapped atomic ions.
“It’s exciting to push the limits of human
capability,” he says. In his group, researchers
can trap and control individual atoms using
electromagnetic fields – and those trapped
ions can be used for precision force sensing or
probing studies of the fundamentals of quantum
mechanics. – Jennifer DeBerardinis
Show me the money!
Top: Chris Northcott, bottom: ChrisNorthcott
PHYSICAL
SCIENCES
Median starting salary
$49,000 (with BSc) to
$73,700 (with PhD degree)
Gender mix
45% M 55% F (BSc)
52.9% M 47.1% F (PhD)
Work outcomes
73.7% BSc graduates
searching for work found
full-time employment
38.7% went into further
study
Common occupations
Design, engineering, science
and transport professionals,
specialist managers and
business, human resource
and marketing professionals
NAME Kirsty Symons
JOB TITLE Medical physicist
LOCATION Sir Charles Gairdner
Hospital, Perth
QUALIFICATIONS Bachelor of medical
and radiation physics from the
University of Wollongong
“GROWING UP, I saw myself working in
healthcare, but going through high school I found
maths and physics to be the subjects I enjoyed
most,” says Kirsty Symons. “With medical
physics I get to apply my knowledge of physics to
complex medical treatments.”
Symons is in her third year of a training program
that specialises in radiation oncology physics.
Her job involves the hands-on application of
physics in the treatment of cancer patients, using
high-energy X-rays. She says career opportunities
are excellent: her profession is in demand as
treatment technologies become increasingly
sophisticated and patient numbers grow.
Clinical medical physicists may also specialise in
diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine.
Symons loves the tangible rewards of her
work. “The best part of my job is researching and
introducing new equipment and technologies
Kirsty Symons loves the tangible rewards
of radiation oncology physics.
to improve cancer treatments for our patients.
It’s also very rewarding to see a new piece of
equipment that you have helped commission
being used to treat patients.”
– Jude Dineley
COSMOS Ultimate SCIence GUIde 2012 19

in fOCUS The university of MelbOUrne
Physics, maths & chemistry
in the detail
The Australian Synchrotron
is a source of highly intense
light revolutionising the
way we understand and
analyse substances,
says Tiffany Hoy.
cxs
GENERATING THE brightest light
in the Southern Hemisphere, the
synchrotron reveals the innermost,
sub-microscopic secrets of any material it’s
used to study. Its applications are diverse,
providing new insights into all areas of scientific
endeavour – from mining to medical science –
and even the origins of life itself.
On the outside, the facility looks pretty much
like a football stadium. On the inside, there’s a
vast, circular network of interconnecting tunnels
and high-tech apparatus, where electrons are
used to produce beams of light a million times
brighter than the Sun.
Students from the University of Melbourne
are using the synchrotron to develop powerful
new imaging techniques, getting a fresh look into
the structure of materials and diving smaller and
smaller into the level of atoms.
The current buzz term in imaging techniques is
‘coherent diffractive imaging’, or CDI, which, with
the aid of supervisor Keith Nugent, PhD student
Angela Torrance is using to analyse the structures
of amorphous materials. Unlike crystals, which
have an ordered structure of repeating units that
go on to infinity, amorphous materials such as
silicon or window glass are structured randomly.
Torrance studies these materials using X-rays
beamed from the synchrotron. It’s another way
of finding out how materials are put together,
and to understand their properties, she says.
“If you’re a sufficiently clever physicist you can
predict almost anything from the basic motions
of atoms,” she says. It can also help scientists
design materials for applications if they are trying
to make materials from scratch, she adds.
Torrance’s work contributed to the
development of a new imaging method which
saves researchers a lot of time at the synchrotron.
angela torrance
The Australian Synchroton houses stateof-the-art
physics technology such as this
linear accelerator (right). Since opening in
2007 the synchroton, in Melbourne, has
been used by thousands of researchers,
including Angela Torrance (above). Her
image here (inset) is of average X-ray
diffraction patterns captured as part of
her studies into disordered materials.
“Low energy X-ray experiments take a long
time because you have to put your sample into a
vacuum, which means you have to pump out all
the air,” she explains. “So any time you want to
change your experiment you have to let all the air
back in, open up the chamber, make your changes
and then continue.”
The solution Torrance and her colleagues
developed was to capture an image of the
sample, which can be taken back to the lab and
analysed using computer simulations of the X-ray
experiment. “This method is another way of
finding out how materials are put together, how
they’re structured,” she says.
As a physicist, Torrance is primarily interested
in the data she can get from images taken by
the synchrotron. Corey Putkunz, a postdoctoral
fellow at the University of Melbourne and, like
Torrance, part of the ARC Centre of Excellence
LeOffictem que por
molorehenit lacestem
doluptatendi re pa dolendist
voluptae. Itas abo. Ferferat
veruptatatis que aut officit
wikimedia
for Coherent X-ray Science, is
also interested in capturing high-resolution
images at the nano-scale level.
“Ever since we first conceived the microscope
we’ve been fascinated with seeing things that
we can’t see with our eye alone,” he says.
“We’re developing techniques that are all about
getting smaller and smaller and more detailed,
uncovering a microcosm that’s there, but you just
can’t see,” he says.
Putkunz has been working with CDI to improve
microscopes. Normal microscopes are limited
by how well you can focus the light, he explains.
“CDI removes the need to use any lenses at all.
You collect the raw data from the interaction
with the light and the object, then use computer
algorithms to reconstruct your images. We made
it a mission to turn CDI images into nice images
that a biologist would understand.”
20 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

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Know sustainability inside out.
What better place to learn about sustainability than from inside Australia’s first zero-emission and self-powering
teaching and research building?
Griffith University is breaking new ground in sustainability with the new 6 star green rated Sir Samuel Griffith building due for completion in June 2013.
The building will be powered principally by solar energy and backed up by hydrogen technology, allowing engineering, environmental science and
physical science students to experience cutting edge sustainability first-hand.
The unique teaching and research facility will use never-before-seen technology developed by the University itself – a demonstration of Griffith’s
commitment to sustainable practices.
Find out more about the degrees that make this technology happen.
Visit griffith.edu.au/science-environment-engineering-technology
Know more. Do more.
A Top 10 Australian Research University *
22 www.cosmosmagazine.com Based on fields of research at the 4-digit level in the Excellence in Research for Australia 2010 National Report.
Cosmos 44
CRICOS 00233E_juniorGU31737

Physics, maths
& chemistry
chemistry: get
your hands dirty
iSTOCK
Driven by experiment,
chemistry is a game changer
in science and the source of
new and exciting materials.
Advances in nanotechnology have enabled chemists to manipulate materials at the atomic level.
Here, translucent medical nanobots are being used to work on blood cells. Above left:
Chemistry degree students often enjoy dabbling in the lab.
iSTOCK
WHAT’S PARTICULARLY
interesting about
chemistry is that
it’s all around you,
says Mick Moylan, a
chemistry outreach fellow and teacher at
the University of Melbourne, who works
with students showing them chemistry’s
wonders. “Atoms and molecules are
everywhere; they are involved in
everything. If you are studying chemistry,
you potentially have an enormous amount
of subject matter and that subject matter is
connected to all other sciences,” he says.
Chemistry is the ‘middle’ science: its
topics and applications stretch across the
other core sciences of physics, biology
and geology. “Unlike other sciences, you
can actually make new things,” explains
John Stride, the director of research at
the University of New South Wales’ school
of chemistry. “A chemist can think of a
molecule and go into the lab and make
something that is totally new and that no
one else has ever made.”
Students often find dabbling in the
lab the most enjoyable aspect of their
chemistry degree. While chemists regularly
dress up in the scientist’s uniform of lab
coat and safety glasses and work with
solids, liquids and gases, it’s not all about
lab work. Advances in nanotechnology have
enabled chemists to manipulate materials
at the atomic level, leading to a whole new
field of science.
Chemistry also leads into a wide range
of jobs. While nanotechnology has been a
hot field for the past few years, chemistry
is seen to be at a crossroads due to its move
away from the petrochemical industry.
“For the last 100 years, chemistry has
been closely tied to the petrochemical
industry. That can’t keep on going
forever, and I see a very exciting future for
chemistry in the whole new economy for
renewable futures and renewable energy
sources,” explains Stride. “Chemistry has
a key role to play in all of this.” Chemists
are, for example, now trying to produce
and harness hydrogen as a fuel source to be
used in cars and other machines.
With a chemistry degree you might end
up designing new drug delivery methods,
creating new compounds, studying
how complex reactions occur, finding
alternative energy sources or constructing
nanodevices, just to name a few. There is
no limit to where this fundamental and
exciting science can take you.
– Renae Soppe
COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012 23

Physics, maths
& chemistry
Show me the money!
CHEMISTRY
Median starting salary
$51,000 (with BSc) to
$65,000 (with PhD degree)
Gender mix
55.6% M 44.4% F (BSc)
48.1% M 51.9% F (PhD)
Work outcomes
63% BSc graduates
searching for work found
full-time employment
78.9% went into further
study
Common occupations
Engineering, science and
transport professionals,
ICT and science technicians,
and education professionals
NAME Matthew Hill
JOB TITLE Research scientist
loCation CSIRO Materials Science and
Engineering, Melbourne
QUALIFICationS Bachelor of science
(chemistry major), (Honours) and PhD
in materials chemistry from University
of New South Wales
“THE BEST THING about my job is that every
day you get to work on something that is really
going to make a difference in people’s lives,”
says Matthew Hill. A senior research scientist
at the national science organisation CSIRO, Hill
works on ultraporous Metal Organic Frameworks
(MOFs): honeycombed materials that soak up,
Matthew Hill; working on
“something that is really
going to make a difference
in people’s lives.”
store and filter gases. MOFs have walls just one
atom thick and reactive pores less than one
nanometre wide and contain the surface area
of a football field in a single gram.
When taken to a commercial level, Hill’s research
into these materials could transform renewable
energy. They might be used, for example, to soak up
and store hydrogen for use as a fuel, or they could
soak up excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Hill’s chemistry background helped him gain
the understanding and skills he needed for
this sort of research. “If you are trying to make
something that does something, chemistry is
right at the start of that,” he says. “Within our
team, which consists of very broad disciplines,
the chemists are the most crucial people.”
Peter Glenane
NAME Georgina Such
JOB Materials scientist
loCation University of
Melbourne
QUALIFICationS Bachelor
of science (Honours in
chemistry) from the
University of Melbourne,
PhD from the University of
New South Wales
FACED WITH AN IMMUNE system that
hunts and destroys what it doesn’t recognise,
drug molecules must find smart ways to access
the right cells and deliver their cargo, says
Georgina Such.
Outmanoeuvering biological defences is an
ideal challenge for a materials scientist, says
Such, who is part of a University of Melbourne
team constructing ‘intelligent’ drug capsules.
Made from layers of polymers,
each with a different role,
capsules are being engineered
to travel undetected through
the bloodstream and deliver
their contents directly to
cancer cells. In the process,
they avoid creating the
common side effects of current
chemotherapies that occur when
drugs indiscriminately affect healthy
and diseased cells.
Working on drug delivery is perfectly aligned
with Such’s interest in constructing unique
materials to solve real-world problems. For her
PhD work, she collaborated with colleagues at
CSIRO, the Melbourne Cooperative Research
Centre for Polymers and the University of New
South Wales, in Sydney, to help develop a new
sunglass lens material that transitions quickly
from dark to light. Polymers in the material
act like tiny cushions around colour-changing
photochromic components, allowing them to
more easily change structure and speeding up
the colour change.
In choosing her next research topic, Such
again wanted to pursue an area with practical
applications. “I was interested in something
I could see made a real difference to a lot of
people,” she says.
Her drug delivery work earned her a $20,000
L’Oreal Australia For Women in Science
Fellowship that will allow her to travel to
present her research findings. It will also help
fund more work by students at the University
of Melbourne’s Nanostructured Interfaces and
Materials Group. Such says she foresees a smart
capsule, like the one she is designing, being
commercially available within a few decades.
– Jennifer DeBerardinis
24 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

CRICOS Provider: Monash University 00008C
Monash can take you to
some amazing places
The jungles of Borneo are just one of
our classrooms.
That’s where Annie Aulsebrook, Monash
Science undergraduate, found herself when
she enrolled in Tropical terrestrial biology,
a unique field trip unit.
For Annie, one of the activities during this
trip was to measure the biomass within an
old primary forest.
Other field trip opportunities allow students
to walk into active volcanoes, conduct
geological surveys in remote locations
or go on archaeological digs in Europe.
If you want to go somewhere amazing,
start your journey at Monash. We believe the
experience is as important as the lesson itself.
For more information:
www.monash.edu/science
Find us here too:
facebook.com/
Monash.University
twitter.com/
MonashUni
Australia n Malaysia n South Africa n Italy n India

oom-time science
Geology is perfect for people
who like travelling and
being in the field.
GETTY IMAGES
With an ongoing expansion of the resources sector and
a critical need to better understand our planet, there’s
never been a better time to study the Earth sciences.
In Australia, there
are golden career
opportunities for
geology graduates
such as Helen Wood.
AUSTRALIA’S MINING BOOM
shows no sign of slowing down,
providing geology graduates
with lucrative and exciting
career prospects. Studying
geology or environmental science can
provide opportunities to contribute to some
of the biggest issues facing society today –
from developing clean-energy technologies
that support climate change abatement to
assessing the impacts of natural disasters on
ecosystems.
About 38,000 new jobs in mining and
construction are expected to emerge in the
next few years, according to Queensland’s
Employment, Skills and Mining Minister,
Stirling Hinchliffe. Eight out of every 10
science graduates in geology find a career in
the months after they graduate with median
salaries starting at $80,000.
Opportunities for geologists in Australia
are “amazing”, says Gabriela Perlingeiro, a
researcher at the University of Queensland
and the Australian representative of the
Young Earth Scientist Network. “Australia
is doing so well in mining especially – they
are recruiting as many people as they
can.” Geology is perfect for people who
like travelling and enjoy being in the field,
says Perlingeiro. “In Australia there are not
enough people to do the jobs [employers]
are looking for, so they are offering really
high salaries.”
The past decade has also seen a marked
growth in environmental science degrees
and an expansion in environment-related
jobs, according to Graduate Careers Australia.
In 2009, there were 21,500 environmental
scientists, a growth of 40% from 2008.
Environmental science could see you
involved in everything from urban planning
to surveying native wildlife. And it’s not
just about feeling good! Environmental
scientists can earn an average of $125,473,
according to the My Career website.
– Heather Catchpole
26 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

EARTh &
envIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Name Monika Markowska
Job Title Graduate environmental
scientist
LOCATION Australian Nuclear Science
and Technology Organisation
(ANSTO), Sydney
Qualifications Bachelor of Business
(property evaluation), University
of South Australia; Bachelor of
Science (environmental science),
Murdoch University.
FROM INSTALLING a radon detector in the
Northern Territory to caving in the Snowy
Mountains, Monika Markowska’s two-year
graduate program in environmental science,
at ANSTO, has given her a taste of where her
career can take her.
“I’ve been working with a palaeoclimatologist
studying speleothems... a weird word for stalactites
and stalagmites. You can use them as a record of
past climate if you look at the different isotopic
signatures inside,” she says. “I got to do a lot of
caving while learning about the geology of caves
and how we can use them to help understand what
the climate was like 30,000 years ago. I found that
really, really interesting.” Markowska also travelled
to the Northern Territory to help install Australia’s
first atmospheric radon detector in a tropical
region. “We use radon detectors to learn about
atmospheric processes,” she says. “Radon is
a naturally occurring radioactive gas, which
is ubiquitous in the Earth’s crust. If radon’s
being released from the Earth at a constant
rate, you can track where it is flowing in the
atmosphere. This can give you an idea about
different climatic patterns.”
These are just two of Markowska’s field
placements as part of her graduate program
at ANSTO. “We’ve got to do so many different
things. That’s been one of the best parts of the
program,” she says. “I like the fact that you’re
learning about the world around you.”
Markowska began university doing a business
course but after completing that she decided
to change direction. “I wanted to do something
that I really loved and enjoyed. So I took some
time off and tried to figure out what that was,
and it turned out to be environmental science.”
She went on to complete a Bachelor of
Science at Murdoch University, in Perth,
Western Australia.
Environmental science provides varied
opportunities from lab to office to field, she says.
“You never get bored. It’s also pretty challenging
...it keeps you on your toes.” – Tiffany Hoy
ANSTO
From the lab to the field: Monika
Markowska enjoys the varied
opportunities provided by
environmental science.
NAME Helen Wood
JOB Exploration geologist
ORGANISATION AngloGold Ashanti
QUALIFICATIONS Bachelor of
science, Master of mineral
resources (exploration geology),
University of Queensland
EIGHT YEARS OF travelling and working hadn’t
nailed Helen Wood her dream career, so she
entered uni as a mature age student. Driven by
her fascination for volcanoes, she majored in
geology. It wasn’t long before she found what
she was looking for in mineral exploration.
Getting through uni while working was tough, so
a $10,000 scholarship from AngloGold Ashanti
during her Masters was “amazingly helpful”.
“I started as a graduate geologist for a year
and was promoted to exploration geologist,”
says Wood. She now flies in and out of the
Goldfields of Western Australia, four hours
north of Kalgoorlie, working an 8-day on, 6-day
off rotation. “It’s fantastic for me. It gives me a
chance to go kayaking, mountain biking and I can
go on short trips overseas,” Wood says of her time
off. She also loves the lifestyle at the mine site,
where she maps the extent of the gold-bearing
deposit and identifies where best to drill. “I’ve
learnt so much since I’ve been here,” she says.
Show me the money!
MINING
ENGINEERING
Median starting salary
$80,000 (BSc) to
$132,000 (MSc)
Gender mix
81.8% M 18.2% F (BSc)
85.7% M 14.3% F (PhD)
Work outcomes
89.2% BSc graduates
searching for work found
full-time employment
2% went into further study
Common occupations
Design, engineering, science
and transport professionals,
specialist managers,
chief executives, general
managers and legislators
Geology
Median starting salary
$72,000 (BSc) to
$85,000 (MSc)
Gender mix
54.7% M 45.3% F (BSc)
70.6% M 29.4% F (PhD)
Work outcomes
84.3% BSc graduates searching
for work found full-time
employment
32.6% went into further study
Common occupations
Design, engineering, science and
transport professionals, specialist
managers and engineering, ICT
and science technicians
COSMOS Ultimate SCIENCE GUIde 2012 27

in focus UQ
agricultural science
sustainable
grains
Julia Cremer with sorghum grown at the School of
Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland.
Sustainable food production research also has applications
for biochemistry, plant breeding and biofuels.
Agricultural science is providing solutions to one of society’s biggest issues - how to feed
the world in the era of climate change, writes Renae Soppe.
PLANT AND FOOD sciences have become
essential research fields for a country often
stricken by damaging droughts and
flooding rains and facing the future challenges
of climate change.
The development of drought-resistant crops
is particularly important. “The biggest impact of
climate change for Australia is the unreliability
of rain,” says plant molecular geneticist Ian Godwin,
of the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences at
the University of Queensland.
Godwin researches sorghum – one of the
most drought-tolerant cereal grains – using a range
of techniques, from traditional breeding
to genetic engineering.
Sorghum is a food for pigs, chickens and cattle
and an ingredient in gluten-free products for
humans. Godwin’s team is investigating how to
increase the efficiency of the sorghum plant’s
use of water and nitrogen, an essential nutrient.
If a sorghum plant could use the same amount of
water and nitrogen, but produce 10% more grain
per square metre, then that would mean 10% more
food. The research team is also looking at ways
to improve the plant’s digestibility and disease
resistance. Increasing grain digestibility means
livestock can gain 10% more energy compared to
sorghum without this improvement, Godwin says.
Julia Cremer, who’s pursuing a PhD in this area,
says sustainable food production research can have
a lot of applications. “For my particular area it can
apply to nutritional science, biochemistry, plant
breeding and biofuels, so it makes you a little bit
more excited with your results,” she says.
The most challenging aspect of agricultural
science is trying to predict the future. With
climate change looming, scientists must also
consider the effects on crops of an increase
in tropical crop diseases and pests. A quick
turnaround of much of the applied research in
agriculture now means farmers can benefit from
this research within five years.
Godwin says there will always be opportunities
in the agricultural industry as it faces each new
challenge. Agricultural science currently offers
excellent prospects with an average of three jobs
available for every graduate, more than half of
which are city based. “It’s an exciting time because
of all the advances in genomics and biotechnology.
We are able to address problems more quickly and
in more highly technical ways than we have been
able to do before,” says Godwin.
Lee Hickey’s PhD at the school looks at
another grain – barley. Using traditional breeding
techniques, Hickey hopes to provide barley with
better disease resistance. This research allows him
to contribute to “something good and worthwhile”,
he says. “It’s very rewarding to see something that
you have developed [in the lab and glasshouse] in
the field [and] resistant to disease.”
28 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

At RMIT, your interest in science can lead to
an exponential number of exciting careers.
From meteorology to nanotechnology, from
environmental biology to forensic chemistry,
RMIT opens your enquiring mind to a world
of possibilities.
RMIT’s staff actively use their teaching
and research to build relationships with
industry. So you’ll learn skills that are most
relevant and in demand for a constantly
changing world.
Throughout the program you will have
many opportunities to meet industry guest
speakers who will open your eyes to the
exciting possibilities of a career in science.
RMIT’s group projects will challenge you
to develop solutions for real-life problems.
This could mean developing a new
sunscreen or investigating sustainability
and urban development projects in Vietnam.
RMIT offers programs in:
■ Biology
■ Biotechnology
■ Chemistry
■ Environmental Science
■ Nanotechnology
■ Physics
Where will RMIT Science take you?
SCIENCE FACTS
NOT SCIENCE FICTION
S4187
> For more information phone 03 9925 2260
or email study@rmit.edu.au
www.rmit.edu.au/appliedsciences
Launch a career in
science or technology
At ECU we offer a diverse range of courses in the areas of computing,
health and science including: Biomedical Science, Counter Terrorism
Security & Intelligence, Conservation & Wildlife Biology, Engineering,
Exercise & Sports Science, Nursing and Psychology.
Our courses are developed in consultation with business and industry so
we know what today’s employers are really looking for. That’s why you’ll
find every ECU course offers the perfect balance of academic theory and
hands-on practice. You’ll learn in a friendly, supportive environment
with state-of-the-art facilities, meaning you’ll graduate with the
knowledge and skills to be competitive from the very start.
For more information, call 134 ECU (134 328),
email futurestudy@ecu.edu.au or visit our website.
reachyourpotential.com.au
★★★★★ TEACHING QUALITY
★★★★★ GRADUATE SATISFACTION
The Good Universities Guide 2012
303ECU6974 CRICOS IPC 00279B

the travel bug
>>
Travelling the world as a student doesn’t have to be
just about taking a gap year, writes Tara Francis.
DREAMING ABOUT tomorrow’s
adventure? From studying on
exchange or interning overseas
to just ditching town for a trek
during the summer break, the
opportunities for travelling while you’re
at university are endless. Here’s why you
should go.
Boost your CV
Nothing says ‘go-getter’ quite like someone
who had enough guts to move overseas.
It shows you’re motivated and flexible.
“It really does boost your standing.
[Employers] really value it highly in terms
of how it will have developed you socially
and intellectually,” says Elizabeth Kirthi
Germany
Elizabeth Kirthi Subramaniam
says your kudos with
employers flies high when
they see how your overseas
experience has developed you.
Subramaniam, who worked in Germany
under the RMIT University International
Industry Experience and Research Program
(RIIERP) in 2010.
You’ll be a more awesome person
Experience new cultures, try unusual food
and make life-long friends – very handy
when you need a couch to crash on in the
future. It all broadens your horizons. “Being
forced to organise travelling around, living
on my own and buying my own groceries
– that was a really valuable experience
for me,” says Benjamin Pope, who studied
at the University of Sydney and went on
exchange to the University of California,
Berkeley in the United States, in 2010.
See a different side of your degree
The research performed by academic
staff defines the content you are taught,
which means that you can widen your
perspective by going somewhere different.
“[UC Berkeley] was amazing. It has one
of the biggest physics departments in the
United States – not just the biggest, one of
the best,” says Pope. “We had lectures from
people who are Nobel laureates and I got to
do a year of supervised work in the lab of
the guy who invented the laser.”
Become an expert
Living in a country helps you understand
the culture and people. “Travelling
confirms more stereotypes than it
dismisses, but it gives you an appreciation
of why [people] act [a certain] way,” says
Alice Lang, who studied at the University of
New South Wales and went on exchange at
the National Institute of Applied Science in
Lyon, France, in 2008.
Learn a language
We’re not all great at learning in a
classroom and sometimes immersion in a
language is the only way to go. “I did one
month of summer school [of French] and it
only gets you to a getting-around standard,”
Lang says. “But all my engineering classes
were in French, so I learnt a lot.” If you’re
not geared for learning another language,
some universities provide special English
classes for international students.
Increase your exposure
Gain experience at some of the world’s
best companies. “I worked for a contractor
of Audi – they made parts for companies
like Lamborghini and Porsche,” says Mark
Viney, who went to Germany on an RIIERP
in 2009. “We were helping to convert
parts from prototype to mass production.”
If you’re travelling around you may find
companies and organisations you could
work for one day, so it’s a great chance to
make contacts.
Mark Viney
works on an Audi
R8 carbon fibre
engine bonnet in
Germany in 2009.
Germany
30 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

Japan
WHERE SCIENCE
CAN lead
Candice Raeburn “fell in love
with Japan “ when she
attended a workshop at the
University of Tokyo as part of
a team competition.
It’s cheap
If you go on exchange you only have to pay
your normal HECS fees – regardless of where
you study. (Hello Ivy League schools!) You
can continue to receive Youth Allowance
and your Student Start-up Scholarship,
plus you can apply for scholarships from
the Australian Government (OS-HELP, for
example) and your university to help cover
costs. Too good!
It’s not too serious
Some universities offer pass or fail systems
for students who are on exchange. That
means there’s not such a large focus on
grades, so you can spend more time out
and about, experiencing the culture and
making friends.
Make an impact
You can have a positive impact while you’re
travelling, too. Tarin Dempers, who studied
at Curtin University, ran therapy sessions
for kids in India as part of the Go Global
program in 2011. “We also helped build
a sustainable dairy program to hopefully
secure a source of funding for them for the
future,” says Dempers.
Umm... It’s fun!
It’s a great opportunity to get away,
experience a new culture and meet
incredible people. So, why wouldn’t you?
Raeburn’s now investigating
the use of bacteria to clean
contaminated soil in the area
around Fukishima.
Make your way
Candice Raeburn’s career has been connected
with Japan ever since she visited the country
during her undergraduate degree in applied
science (specialising in biotechnology) at
Melbourne’s RMIT University.
She was part of a team entered in the
International Genetically Engineered
Machine competition, in synthetic
biology. “It challenges teams from the
best universities around the world to
make a biological machine from a series of
standard biological parts called ‘biobricks’
like biological Lego or Meccano,” says
Raeburn. As part of the competition, she
attended a workshop at the University of
Tokyo and “fell in love with Japan”.
Raeburn moved to Japan after completing
her undergraduate degree and was there
when the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and
tsunami struck in March 2011. At the time,
she was teaching English in Iwaki City,
about 40km from the troubled Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Luckily, she escaped unscathed, but in a
twist of fate her honours research at
RMIT has taken her back to Japan.
Raeburn is investigating the use
of bacteria for the bioremediation –
biological cleaning – of soil contaminated
with radioactive isotopes in the area
surrounding the Fukushima plant.
Although based in Melbourne, her research
has included a trip to Japan to discuss her
work with her Japanese co-supervisors.
“There is so much to be done in Japan
in the way of cleaning up, rebuilding
towns and healing communities after such
a large disaster. I feel very grateful to have
an opportunity to contribute in some small
way,” she says.
Her studies have also taken her to
Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef to
conduct an ecological survey and William
Paterson University, in New Jersey, as
part of an exchange program and she
has no plans to stop moving. After her
Honours, she plans to continue her travels
with a stint of study and work in Germany.
– Jude Dineley
COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012 31

eak it down
If you’re deliberating between majors for your degree and are a by-the-numbers
kind of guy or gal, our stats and facts can give you the edge you need to decide.
Your question: the money or the fame?
Graduate outcomes for bachelor graduates aged under 25
in 2010 reveal a mixed bag of opportunities across different
disciplines. Boxes show per cent of graduates in full-time
employment (pink) and per cent in an area where their field
of education was important to their main job (green) – so,
nearer to 100% may be where you want to head if you’re after
work in the area of your study. Or, if you’re more interested
in the lucrative option, look for yellow boxes (which show the
median starting salary, in thousands of dollars) near the outer
edge of the circle (with higher annual salaries).
SOURCE: Graduate OppORtunitiES 2012, graphic by Hina Khan
32 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

where science
can lead
number
crunch
$300,000
The cash prize of the
Prime Minister’s Prize
for Science, awarded
for exceptional
achievement in any area
of science advancing
human welfare or
benefiting Australian
society. Department of
Industry, Innovation, Science,
Research and Tertiary Education
$30 million
per year The average
annual operating budget
of each Cooperative
Research Centre (crc),
a nationwide network
generating important
national economic and
social outcomes through
scientific research. Careers
for Science Graduates, Graduate
Careers Australia 2010
14.4% The rise in
the number of patents
granted in Australia
between 2006 and
2009. Department of Industry,
Innovation, Science, Research and
Tertiary Education
$5 million The total
value of grants offered by The
ausTralian GOVERNMENT IN ORDER
TO “work towards a scientificallyengaged
Australia”. Department of
Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and
Tertiary Education
9 days Official length of celebrations by the
Australian science community in National Science
Week each year. There is evidence that science
presentations and events, particularly those
involving hands-on activiTies, have a lasting impact
on perceptions of science and its applications.
Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education
21,500 The number of environmental scientists in
2009 – a growth of 40% from 2008. See p26 for details.
$160
million The
amount invested in
Australian space
and astronomy
research in 2009-
2010 by the Federal
Government. See p36
for details.
9 out
of 10
Bachelor degree
graduates
expressed
broad
satisfaction
with the
standard of
teaching they
received and
more than nine
in 10 felt their
study had
improved their
generic skills.
Graduate Course
Experience Survey
Report 2010
$52,327 Starting salary of the Department of Innovation’s
Graduate Development Program, which runs for 10 months and
includes three different work placements for each participant.
Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education
38,000 jobs The number of new jobs
in mining and construction expected to
emerge in the next few years. See p26 for details.
$49,000 The median graduate
starting salary across the board for
Australian bachelor degree graduates
aged under 25 and in their first full-time
employment in 2010. Graduate Salaries Report 2010
6,514 The number of employees of Australia’s national science
organisation, CSIRO, located at 57 sites throughout Australia and
overseas. In 2010-2011 this billion-dollar enterprise generated $500.2
million in total external revenue. CSIRO Annual Report 2010-11
100,000 people The size of the total audience reached each year by the Shell
Questacon Science Circus, Australia’s largest travelling science program, covering 25,000 km
to reach regional, remote and rural areas. Shell Questacon Science Circus, 2012
COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012 33

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ARTIST’S IMPRE SION
OF XIAOTINGIA ZHENGI.
THE SKU L OF
AUSTRALOPITHECUS
THEORIES OF
HUMAN ORIGIN.
21_poster_keymoments_final.indd 1
specimens
to 1.98
the case
tha this is
the earliest
ancestor of
the genus
Homo.
CHITONS ARE A
PRIMITIVE TYPE
OF MO LUSC,
WHICH HAVE
A LAYER OF
LIGHT-SENSITIVE
CE LS UNDER
THEIR SHE LS.
WEDGE-TAILED
EAGLES ARE FOUND
THROUGHOUT
MAINLAND
AUSTRALIA AND
SOUTHERN PAPUA
NEW GUINEA.
FUNISIA LIVED ANCHORED TO THE SEAFL OR
540 MI LION YEARS AGO AND PROBABLY
SPAWNED IN THE SAME WAY AS MODERN CORALS.
The fo sil record is fragmentary, and
sometimes it can be difficul to find out when
and where big changes ha pened. Which
is why it was so exciting when geologists
found some of the very earliest evidence
of complex life, the Ediacara biota, in the
Ediacara Hi ls, part of the Flinders Ranges
400 km north of Adelaide. Later, similar
types of fo sils were discovered around
the world, which led to a new geological
period, the Ediacaran (635 to 542 mi lion
years ago) being named.
These weird organisms included the
worm-like Funisia, the oldest known example
of an animal capable of sexual reproduction,
and a host of other unusua life forms.
MARINE CHITON
ARTIST’S IMPRE SION
OF XIAOTINGIA ZHENGI.
RESEARCHERS
USED AN ELECTRON
MICROSCOPE TO
L OK AT COLOUR
PIGMENTS IN THE
DARK BANDS OF THIS
FO SILISED FEATHER.
AN EYE
MARKING ON
THE WING
OF AN OWL
BU TERFLY
(CALIGO
EURILOCHUS)
IS A USEFUL
DETE REN TO
PREDATORS.
his b ok on evolution, On the Origin of Species.
OWL BUTTERFLY
THIS CUT-AWAY SHOWS THE
RETINA, THE I NERMOST OF
TH EYE’S THR E LAYERS.
HUMAN EYE
29,000 lenses.
“unlock our understanding” of the
origin of the genus Homo, which
includes Homo sapiens
(modern humans).
In a September
20 1 paper in the
journal Science,
the researchers
na rowed down
the age of the
specimens
to 1.98
mi lion years,
strengthening
the case
tha this is
the earliest
ancestor of
the genus
Homo.
THE SKU L OF
AUSTRALOPITHECUS
SEDIBA HAS REWRI TEN
THEORIES OF
HUMAN ORIGIN.
ANCIENT
FO SILISED
MICROBES FOUND
IN SANDSTONE
IN WESTERN
AUSTRALIA.
In 2008, Derek Bri gs and Jakob
Vinther from Yale University in
the U.S. uncovered a small, broadly
striped fo silised feather from
a 100-million-year-old bird at a
site in northeast Brazil. Using an
electron microscope – which can
take extremely close-up images
– the team examined the tiny
sausage-shaped structures within
the dark bands to discover that
they were pigment-producing
structures ca led melanosomes.
(Melanosomes in our skin give
it its colour). Di ferently shaped
melanosomes represent di ferent
colour pigments, so the scientists
were able to create a ‘colour map’
to reconstruc the a pearance
of the ancient bird. It’s the first
sign that microscopic
analysis can reveal
this kind of colour
detail in fo sils.
THE FO SIL OF RHINODIPTERIS,
WHICH LIVED IN A SHA LOW MARINE
ENVIRONMENT AND GULPED AIR.
DRAGONFLY
It’s not much to l ok at, bu this 375 mi lion-yearold
fo si lungfish (of the genus Rhinodipterus)
could be evidence of one of the most important
developments in the evolution of early life:
the first air-breathing vertebrates. Australian
palaeontologists John Long, now a the Natural
History Museum of Los Angeles, and Alice
Clement from Museum Victoria and the
Australian National University in Canbe ra,
described the fossil in 2010. They noted that
Rhinodipterus had large ribs that helped anchor
Z OMING RIGHT IN
ON A DRAGONFLY
EYE REVEALS THE
THOUSANDS OF
LENSES THAT
MAKE ITS VISION
SO SENSITIVE
TO MOVEMENT.
PROTECTION FROM PREDATORS.
RESEARCHERS
USED AN ELECTRON
MICROSCOPE TO
L OK AT COLOUR
PIGMENTS IN THE
DARK BANDS OF THIS
FO SILISED FEATHER.
TARSIERS USE THEIR
GIANT EYES TO MAKE
THE MOST OF LIGHT
CONDITIONS AT
NIGHT, WHEN THEY
ARE MOST ACTIVE.
A HALF-BI LION-YEAR-OLD
FO SIL COMPOUND EYE. THE
INDIVIDUA LENSES CAN BE
S EN AS DARKER SPOTS.
EXCE LENT NIGHT
VISION MAKES CATS
HUNTERS TO BE
RECKONED WITH.
CAT
In 2005 and 2009, scientists led by
Mary Schweitzer from North Carolina
State University in Raleigh, North
Carolina, extracted collagen
and blood ve sels from the leg
bones of a 68-mi lion-yearold
fo silised Tyra nosaurus
rex (te rible lizard king)
and 80-mi lion-year-old
Brachylophosaurus canadensis
(Brachylophosaurus means
short-crested lizard). The
palaeontologists were able
to construct new family
tr es based on the genetic
information in these sof ti sues,
and found that both dinosaurs
belonged to the evolutionary group that
led to chickens and ostriches. This means
that, despite their names, these dinosaurs are
more closely related to modern birds than they
are to lizards. It’s also led palaeontologists to
tissues that might be preserved in fossils along
with harder parts like bones and teeth.
TARSIER
Fossilised eyes found in 515-mi lion-yearold
rocks on Kangar o Island o f South
Australia push back the date of complex
eye development. The eyes belong to an
unknown arthropod, a group tha today
includes crustaceans and insects, says a
team led by Michael L e from the South
Australian Museum and University of
Adelaide of the discovery a nounced in June
20 1. Seven eyes were found with a rays of
more than 3,000 lenses. “These eyes point
to an active, highly mobile predator capable
of seeing in low light conditions, suggesting
that complex predator–prey relationships
were already in place,” says co-author John
Paterson from the University of
New England in eastern Australia.
D EP-SEA BROWNSNOUT SPOOKFISH
ANCIENT
FO SILISED
MICROBES FOUND
IN SANDSTONE
IN WESTERN
AUSTRALIA.
TURNS OU THE ‘TE RIBLE LIZARD KING’,
TYRA NOSAURUS REX, IS MORE CLOSELY
RELATED TO CHICKENS THAN LIZARDS.
of how vertebrate life (including us) evolved.
AN ARTIST’S IMPRE SION
OF WHAT GUIYU ONEIROS
MIGHT HAVE L OKED LIKE.
25/10/11 4:12 PM
you receive
A COSMOS
Magazine
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Plus
B
Teacher’s Notes
Six issues per year
(digital browser edition)
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teachers for Australian students
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C
www.cosmosmagazine.com
Two COSMOS
Class Packs
With every MEGAPACK
Each year we’ll send you two themed
class packs, starting with Evolution
and Planets & Stars in 2012.
Evolution Pack
includes:
EVOLVE DVD,
THREE POSTERS,
EVOLUTION
STUDY GUIDE.
By Sa ly Parker
Edited by Heather Catchpole
Designed by Lucy Glover
Teacher ’ s
notes
GASPING
FOR AIR
20 1 paper in the
journal Science,
the researchers
narrowed down
the age of the
It’s not much to l ok at, bu this 375 mi lion-yearold
fo si lungfish (of the genus Rhinodipterus)
mi lion years, could be evidence of one of the most important
strengthening developments in the evolution of early life:
the first air-breathing vertebrates. Australian
palaeontologists John Long, now a the Natural
History Museum of Los Angeles, and Alice
Clement from Museum Victoria and the
Australian National University in Canbera,
described the fo sil in 2010. They noted that
Rhinodipterus had large ribs that helped anchor
the fish’s shoulder girdle, le ting it lift its head up
out of the water to gulp air. This adaptation was
crucial as, during this time, atmospheric oxygen
levels had di ped much lower than the 21% we
enjoy today. Both fish and our tetrapod (fourlimbed)
ancestors would have b en forced to rise
to the surface and gulp oxygen in order to survive.
BREATHING SULPHUR,
NOT OXYGEN
Found among sand grains in a block of sandstone
from the Strelley P ol in the Pilbara region of Western
Australia, these 3.4 bi lion-year-old fossilised microbes are the oldest
we l-preserved fo sils ever found, a team reported in August 20 1 in
the prestigious science journal, Nature Geoscience. The scientists who
discovered them, led by David Wacey from the University of Western
Australia in Perth, say the fo sils hint at a time when Earth was so
p or in oxygen, life had to metabolise sulphur instead. The primitive
microbes were found alongside the mineral pyrite, which Wacey says
is a by-product of their consumption of sulphur compounds.
Evolution Class Pack
IntroductIon p2
Fast facts, soak it up (literacy activities), discussion
questions and backgrounder.
profIle p9
Alan Cooper - Evolutionary biologist.
MatrIx p10
The teaching tool that brings you a di ferentiated
approach to evolution.
varIety WItHIn a specIes p13
Linked Activity 1: Examine genetic variety amongst
your classroom peers.
observInG fossIls p15
Linked Activity 2: Examine a range o fossils to see
what you can infer about how they lived.
Make your oWn fossIl p18
Linked Activity 3: Use plaster of Paris to make your
own fossil, just like real palaeontologists.
Model natural selectIon p20
Linked Activity 4: Carry ou this fun game to model
the process of natural selection.
dna HybrIdIsatIon p22
Linked Activity 5: Genetic similarity is evidence of
evolutionary relatedness. Carry ou this activity to
simulate the process of DNA hybridisation.
braInstorM p24
Appendix A: Brainstorm what you already know
about evolution.
Glossary p25
Appendix B: Build a glossary of science terms related
to the topic of evolution.
revIeW p27
Appendix C: Summarise and reflect on what you
have learnt and enjoyed from watching this DVD.
dIscussIon p28
Write you ideas and opinions.
SOFT BITS
In 2005 and 2009, scientists led by
Mary Schweitzer from North Carolina
State University in Raleigh, North
Carolina, extracted co lagen
and bl od ve sels from the leg
bones of a 68-milion-year-
old fo silised Tyra nosaurus
rex (te rible lizard king)
and 80-million-year-old
Brachylophosaurus canadensis
(Brachylophosaurus means
short-crested lizard). The
palaeontologists were able
to construct new family
tr es based on the genetic
information in these sof ti sues,
and found that both dinosaurs
belonged to the evolutionary group that
led to chickens and ostriches. This means
that, despite their names, these dinosaurs are
more closely related to modern birds than they
are to lizards. It’s also led palaeontologists to
l ok more closely a the ways they can get at soft
ti sues that might be preserved in fo sils along
with harder parts like bones and t eth.
KEYSTONES IN TIME
COSMOS evolution
From the earliest birds to the
beginning of life itself, fossil
finds are the pages from
which we read the past.
They have the capacity
to change everything
we think we know
about the evolution of
prehistoric life. Here’s
an overview of highimpact
fossils that have
recently been unearthed.
635 to 542
million
years ago
FUNISIA LIVED ANCHORED TO THE SEAFL OR
540 MI LION YEARS AGO AND PROBABLY
SPAWNED IN THE SAME WAY AS MODERN CORALS.
FIRST COMPLEX LIFE:
THE EDIACARA BIOTA
The fo sil record is fragmentary, and
sometimes it can be difficul to find out when
and where big changes ha pened. Which
is why it was so exciting when geologists
found some of the very earliest evidence
of complex life, the Ediacara biota, in the
Ediacara Hi ls, part of the Flinders Ranges
400 km north of Adelaide. Later, similar
types o fo sils were discovered around
the world, which led to a new geological
period, the Ediacaran (635 to 542 mi lion
years ago) being named.
These weird organisms included the
worm-like Funisia, the oldest known example
of an animal capable of sexual reproduction,
and a host of other unusua life forms.
In 2008, Derek Bri gs and Jakob
Vinther from Yale University in
the U.S. uncovered a smal, broadly
striped fo silised feather from
a 100-million-year-old bird at a
site in northeast Brazil. Using an
electron microscope – which can
take extremely close-up images
– the team examined the tiny
sausage-shaped structures within
the dark bands to discover that
The discovery of a 1 5-mi lion-year-old feathered dinosaur, Xiaotingia
they were pigment-producing
zhengi, in China in 20 1, threatened to knock ‘first bird’ Archaeopteryx o f
structures ca led melanosomes.
its proverbial perch. Archaeopteryx was long believed to be the ‘missing
(Melanosomes in our skin give
link’ betw en birds and their dinosaur ancestors, and caused a sensation
it its colour). Di ferently shaped
when it was discovered in 1861, jus two years after Charles Darwin published melanosomes represent di ferent
his book on evolution, On the Origin of Species.
colour pigments, so the scientists
When scientists led by Xing Xu, from the Institute of Vertebrate
were able to create a ‘colour map’
Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing, l oked carefu ly the new to reconstruc the a pearance
fossil, comparing i to similar species like Archaeopteryx, it caused a reshuffle of the ancient bird. It’s the first
of the dinosaur family tr e. Archaeopteryx was yanked out of the group of
sign that microscopic
dinosaur-like birds to join the new fossil in the group of bird-like dinosaurs.
analysis can reveal
The recla sification “s ems subtle,” says Lawrence Witmer of Ohio University this kind of colour
in Athens, Ohio, “but it changes how we view the evolution of birds.”
detail in fossils.
DEATH OF AN ICON
NEW HUMAN ANCESTOR
155 million
years ago
This 1.98-mi lion-year-old fo silised sku l belongs to a juvenile
Australopithecus sediba, a primate that may be our earliest ancestor.
The sku l was unearthed in a South African cave along with another
A. sediba skeleton believed to be from the boy’s mother. The team,
including Paul Dirks from Qu ensland’s James Cook University,
thinks the boy was around 13 years old when he died. The find may
“unlock our understanding” of the
origin of the genus Homo, which
includes Homo sapiens
(modern humans).
In a September
SEDIBA HAS REWRI TEN
1.98 million
years ago
COLOUR
CHANGE
THE FO SIL OF RHINODIPTERIS,
WHICH LIVED IN A SHA LOW MARINE
ENVIRONMENT AND GULPED AIR.
100 million
years ago
375 million
years ago
3.4 billion
years ago
A HALF-BILION-YEAR-OLD
FO SIL COMPOUND EYE. THE
INDIVIDUALENSES CAN BE
S EN AS DARKER SPOTS.
EYEING OFF
PREDATORS
515 million
years ago
Fo silised eyes found in 515-mi lion-yearold
rocks on Kangar o Island o f South
Australia push back the date of complex
eye development. The eyes belong to an
unknown arthropod, a group tha today
includes crustaceans and insects, says a
team led by Michael L e from the South
Australian Museum and University of
Adelaide of the discovery a nounced in June
2011. Seven eyes were found with a rays of
more than 3,000 lenses. “These eyes point
to an active, highly mobile predator capable
of s eing in low light conditions, su gesting
that complex predator–prey relationships
were already in place,” says co-author John
Paterson from the University of
New England in eastern Australia.
68-80
million
years ago
TURNS OU THE ‘TE RIBLE LIZARD KING’,
TYRA NOSAURUS REX, IS MORE CLOSELY
RELATED TO CHICKENS THAN LIZARDS.
AT FIRST SIGHT
COSMOS evolution
From the first light-sensing eyespots
to the fine colour resolution available
to humans, eyes have provided a range
of creatures with their greatest a ly in
environments fi led with dangerous
hazards and deadly predators: sight.
keen vision
WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE
EYEING OFF PREY
The eyes of predators are some of the most highly
specialised in the animal kingdom. The eyesight of
a wedge-tailed eagle is like a telephoto lens on an
expensive camera. While soaring in the sky on hot
columns of air, they can spot prey from more than
a kilometre away and k ep tracking it even while
sw oping. In studies of ancient predators,
the evolution of the tyra nosaur lineage shows
that eyes became more widely set and snouts
thi ner in order to a low be ter binocular vision.
By the time Tyra nosaurus rex a rived, it po se sed
much greater depth perception to pursue prey
and a se s potentia ly dangerous situations.
IN THE BEGINNING
The first eyes were found in single-ce led organisms.
Known as eyespots, they were barely more than patches
of special photoreceptive (light receiving) proteins.
Much like if you were to close your eyes and turn the
lights in a room o f and on,
they could only detect if the
environment around them
was dark or light. This sti l
gave the organisms a huge advantage over their blind
brethren, and a ded a valuable t ol to both predators and
prey in the evolutionary arms race betw en hunters and hunted.
proto-eyes
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
masters of colour
SEEING
THINGS
DIFFERENTLY
Arthropods, a branch of animals that
includes insects, spiders and crustaceans
(such as crabs and shrimp), have
developed a special type of eye with
many lenses. The lenses are packed
together to form large, bulbous eyes
with p or image resolution, but a very
wide field of view and high sensitivity
to movement. Of a l arthropods, the
Eyes can be used in ways other than sigh to ensure survival. There are numerous dragonfly has taken this to the extreme,
examples of animals using fake eyes to thwart predators by, for example, making with a compound eye
themselves a pear bi ger than they actua ly are. Bu terflies and moths have spots that contains more than
on their wings that are though to be used for this purpose. Similarly, the four-eye
bu terfly fish has a large eye marking on its tail, much larger than its real eye, which It uses this to pick out
confuses bi ger fish into attacking the wrong end. Fake eye markings can also be tiny movements from metres away while
used in mating displays, such as the peacock’s impressive feathers.
darting around at up to 5 km/h.
best bluffer
THE ORIGINAL ‘JAWS’
418 million
years ago
YOUR EYES ARE SPECIAL
TEXT BY BECKY CREW AND PHI LIP ENGLISH. THANKS TO JOHN LONG FROM THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES, JIM GEHLING FROM THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM
AND JAKOB VINTHER FROM YALE UNIVERSITY. EDITED BY HEATHER CATCHPOLE. SUB-EDITED BY KATE ARNEMAN. DESIGNED BY LUCY GLOVER. A DITIONAL DESIGN BY ANTHONY
VOWELS/FRONTDESIGN. IMAGES: JAKOB VINTHER/YALE UNIVERSITY; ALICE CLEMENT; BRE T ELO F/QU ENSLAND UNIVERSITY; L E BERGER/UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND;
JOHN PATERSON/UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND; WIKIMEDIA; XING LID AND LIU YI; DAVID WACEY; BRIAN CH O; JIM GEHLING. PUBLISHED BY KYLIE AHERN FOR COSMOS MEDIA 20 1.
Osteichthyes, or ‘bony fish’, are what’s known as an
evolutionary ‘supercla s’ (a cla s from which other cla ses
arose) of fish whose descendents make up 98% of a living
vertebrates, including humans. But evidence that describes
the period over which these bony fish rose in dominance
over other primitive gnathostomes (fish with jaws) is scarce.
Which is why the remarkable find in 2009 by a team led
by Min Zhu from the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology
and Palaeoanthropology a the Chinese Academy of
Sciences is so important. The team found an exceptiona ly
we l-preserved 418 mi lion-year-old osteichthyes species,
which they named Guiyu oneiros. Its near-complete fo sil
means it can be used as a rare earliest marker for a split in
evolution, which represents an important stage in the story
of how vertebrate life (including us) evolved.
The eyes that we humans rely on to navigate the visual world are
known as simple eyes. Light enters the eye through the pupil
(the black spot in the centre of your eye) and is focu sed onto
the retina (a light-sensitive area) by the cornea (the eye’s
transparent surface) and the lens. A the retina, structures
known as rods and cones convert the light into an electrical
signal, which is sen to the brain. When the image of what is
in front of your eyes is focu sed onto the retina, it’s upsidedown,
so our brains have to flip it so that we s e the world
the right way up. One of the special features of the human
eye is its ability to perceive some 10 mi lion di ferent colours.
multiple lenses
BREATHING SULPHUR,
NOT OXYGEN
WEIRD EYE-VOLUTION
21_poster_keymoments_final.indd 1 25/10/ 1 4:12 PM
GASPING
FOR AIR
AN ARTIST’S IMPRE SION
OF WHAT GUIYU ONEIROS
MIGHT HAVE L OKED LIKE.
GLEAM IN THE EYE
killer night vision
In the dark, the best way to s e clearly is to
maximise the amount of light
entering the eyes and hi ting
the retina. One way to do this
is to have huge eyes that can
catch what li tle light there is. Or, like cats, you can
use some evolutionary trickery. Cats achieve their
famous night vision in a very clever way, and a
clue to how they do it can be s en in the way their
eyes s em to shine at night. When light enters
our eyes, it only gets one chance to hi the retina.
But when light enters a cat’s eye, a reflective
substance, almost like a mirror, causes the light
to bounce and gives it another chance to hi the
cat’s retina. This way, cats can make the most out
of sma l amounts of ambient light from night-time
light sources such as the Moon.
KEYSTONES IN TIME
COSMOS evolution
From the earliest birds to the
beginning of life itself, fossil
finds are the pages from
which we read the past.
They have the capacity
to change everything
we think we know
about the evolution of
prehistoric life. Here’s
an overview of highimpact
fossils that have
recently been unearthed.
FIRST COMPLEX LIFE:
THE EDIACARA BIOTA
635 to 542
million
years ago
DEATH OF AN ICON
The discovery of a 1 5-mi lion-year-old feathered dinosaur, Xiaotingia
zhengi, in China in 20 1, threatened to knock ‘first bird’ Archaeopteryx o f
its proverbial perch. Archaeopteryx was long believed to be the ‘mi sing
link’ betw en birds and their dinosaur ancestors, and caused a sensation
when it was discovered in 1861, jus two years after Charles Darwin published
When scientists led by Xing Xu, from the Institute of Vertebrate
Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing, l oked carefully the new
fo sil, comparing it to similar species like Archaeopteryx, it caused a reshuffle
of the dinosaur family tree. Archaeopteryx was yanked out of the group of
dinosaur-like birds to join the new fo sil in the group of bird-like dinosaurs.
The reclassification “seems subtle,” says Lawrence Witmer of Ohio University
in Athens, Ohio, “but it changes how we view the evolution of birds.”
NEW HUMAN ANCESTOR
This 1.98-million-year-old fossilised sku l belongs to a juvenile
Australopithecus sediba, a primate that may be our earliest ancestor.
The sku l was unearthed in a South African cave along with another
A. sediba skeleton believed to be from the boy’s mother. The team,
including Paul Dirks from Qu ensland’s James C ok University,
thinks the boy was around 13 years old when he died. The find may
155 million
years ago
COLOUR
CHANGE
The evolution of eyes has s en some extraordinary mechanisms
for sight emerge. Take the d ep-sea brownsnout sp okfish for example. Not content with two ordinary
eyes, it has evolved two extra ones on either side of its head. These a ditional eyes use mi rors made out
of tiny crystals to reflec the light coming from below the
fish so that it receives an early warning of any a proaching
predators. Staying d ep under water, a species of ba releye
fish has eyes that can rotate from l oking straight
ahead to l oking directly up into its head. In most animals,
this wouldn’t be t o useful, excep this particular fish has
evolved a transparent head. When its eyes ro l upwards it
can s e predators coming at it from above.
TWO EXTRA, REFLECTIV EYES GIVE THE SP OKFISH A DED
MY, WHAT LARGE
EYES YOU HAVE!
Found among sand grains in a block of sandstone
from the Stre ley P ol in the Pilbara region of Western
Australia, these 3.4 bi lion-year-old fossilised microbes are the oldest
we l-preserved fo sils ever found, a team reported in August 20 1 in
the prestigious science journal, Nature Geoscience. The scientists who
discovered them, led by David Wacey from the University of Western
Australia in Perth, say the fossils hint at a time when Earth was so
p or in oxygen, life had to metabolise sulphur instead. The primitive
microbes were found alongside the mineral pyrite, which Wacey says
is a by-product of their consumption of sulphur compounds.
The largest eyes eve recorded belong to the
colo sal squid, measuring 27 cm acro s, around
the size of a di ner plate. Its lenses are about
the same size as a large orange. It n eds these
huge eyes in order to catch every last bit of
ligh that filters down into its d ep-sea habitat.
Back on land, the tarsier has the largest eyes
compared to body size of any mammal, larger
even than its brain! Its eyes are so big that it
n eds extra muscles su porting them, but
those muscles mean it can’t ro l its eyes around
to l ok in di ferent directions. To compensate
for this, it has the ability to rotate its head
more than 180 degr es, so it can s e predators
coming from any direction.
enormous eyes
EYEING OFF
PREDATORS
wacky adaptation
21_poster_eyes_final.in d 1 24/10/ 1 5:07 PM
1.98 million
years ago
375 million
years ago
the fish’s shoulder girdle, le ting it lift its head up
out of the water to gulp air. This adaptation was
crucial as, during this time, atmospheric oxygen
levels had di ped much lower than the 21% we
enjoy today. Both fish and our tetrapod (fourlimbed)
ancestors would have been forced to rise
to the surface and gulp oxygen in order to survive.
100 million
years ago
SOFT BITS
l ok more closely a the ways they can get at soft
3.4 billion
years ago
515 million
years ago
TEXT BY PHI LIP ENGLISH. THANKS TO NATHAN HART FROM THE SCHOOL OF ANIMAL BIOLOGY AND THE OCEANS INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. EDITED BY HEATHER CATCHPOLE. SUB-EDITED BY
KATE ARNEMAN. DESIGNED BY LUCY GLOVER. A DITIONAL DESIGN BY ANTHONY VOWELS/FRONTDESIGN. IMAGES: ISTOCKPHOTO; NO A; V ER; DEVIANTART. PUBLISHED BY KYLIE AHERN FOR COSMOS MEDIA.
418 million
years ago
68-80
million
years ago
THE ORIGINAL ‘JAWS’
Osteichthyes, or ‘bony fish’, are what’s known as an
evolutionary ‘superclass’ (a class from which other classes
arose) of fish whose descendents make up 98% of a l living
vertebrates, including humans. But evidence that describes
the period over which these bony fish rose in dominance
over other primitive gnathostomes (fish with jaws) is scarce.
Which is why the remarkable find in 2009 by a team led
by Min Zhu from the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology
and Palaeoanthropology a the Chinese Academy of
Sciences is so important. The team found an exceptiona ly
we l-preserved 418 mi lion-year-old osteichthyes species,
which they named Guiyu oneiros. Its near-complete fo sil
means it can be used as a rare earliest marker for a split in
evolution, which represents an important stage in the story
TEXT BY BECKY CREW AND PHILLIP ENGLISH. THANKS TO JOHN LONG FROM THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES, JIM GEHLING FROM THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM
AND JAKOB VINTHER FROM YALE UNIVERSITY. EDITED BY HEATHER CATCHPOLE. SUB-EDITED BY KATE ARNEMAN. DESIGNED BY LUCY GLOVER. ADDITIONAL DESIGN BY ANTHONY
VOWELS/FRONTDESIGN. IMAGES: JAKOB VINTHER/YALE UNIVERSITY; ALICE CLEMENT; BRETT ELOFF/QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY; LEE BERGER/UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND;
JOHN PATERSON/UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND; WIKIMEDIA; XING LIDA AND LIU YI; DAVID WACEY; BRIAN CHOO; JIM GEHLING. PUBLISHED BY KYLIE AHERN FOR COSMOS MEDIA 2011.
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a stellar career
>>
A depiction of the SKA dense aperture arrays,
part of a planned 3,000-dish radio telescope
array. The apertures will observe mediumwavelength
frequencies.
SPDO/SWINBURNE ASTRONOMY PRODUCTIONS
As technology becomes increasingly prominent in our daily lives, more Australians are
moving towards a career to support and stimulate developments in this area.
ACCORDING TO CSIRO,
more Australians work
in the information and
communication technology
(ICT) services than any
other sector. And Australian businesses
put more than a quarter of their research
and development budget towards
ICT-related research.
Encompassing all forms of computer and
communications equipment and software,
ICT could lead you into a career in a truly
huge range of areas, from medical imaging
and computer engineering to animation
or robotics. Among the many opportunities
for students within ICT are summer
scholarships offered by CSIRO to immerse
students in this area. University of Tasmania
Arts/Science computing student Jessica
Clarke spent her summer with CSIRO
helping to create an iPhone and iPad app that
uses local weather sensor networks to project
a 3-D map. “The idea was to make [the data]
more portable and put it in the hands of the
people,” explains Clarke.
Technological advances have boosted
the research capabilities of many fields.
Astronomy research is one area that has
particularly benefitted, with faster computer
speeds and new technologies revolutionising
the way we ‘see’ the sky. One of the biggest
and most ambitious projects is the Square
Kilometre Array (SKA), a linked radio
telescope of 3,000 antennae that, when
completed by 2024, will peer further into
deep space than ever before.
“There still remains 96% of the universe
that we don’t know anything about, like dark
matter and dark energy,” says CSIRO SKA
director Brian Boyle.
There are huge opportunities for
astronomy graduates from the SKA project,
he says. “The SKA is, in essence, the future of
astronomy. It’s the next generation of radio
astronomy telescopes.”
It should also be encouraging for people
with career aspirations in this area that the
Federal Government has demonstrated a
big interest in local astronomy research,
investing $160 million into Australian space
and astronomy research in 2009-10 alone.
The government has also invested $65
million in the Giant Magellan Telescope,
currently under construction in Chile, giving
Australia a 10% share in this massive project
that’s due to be up and running towards the
end of the decade. - Renae Soppe
36 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

astronomy
ICt & ENGineering
Show me the moNEy!
AERONAUTICAL
ENGINEERING
Median starting salary
$55,000 (BSc) to
$75,000 (Masters graduates)
Gender mix
89.6% M 10.4% F (BSc)
100% M (PhD)
Work outcomes
73.9% BSc graduates
searching for work found
full-time employment
8.3% went into further study
Common occupations
Design, engineering, science
and transport and ICT
professionals, specialist
managers
COMPUTER
SCIENCE
Median starting salary
$50,000 (BSc) to
$79,700 (Masters graduates)
Gender mix
84.6% M 15.4% F (BSc) -
76.9% M 23.1% F (PhD)
Work outcomes
76.6% BSc graduates
searching for work found
full-time employment
10.8% went into further study
Common occupations
ICT and human resource
and marketing professionals,
specialist managers, business
TINA SMIGIElsKI
Caleb White used a double degree in aerospace
engineering and business administration, followed
by a PhD, to transform a hobby into a profession.
NAME Caleb White
position Aerospace engineer
LOCATION RMIT, in Melbourne
qualifications Bachelor of aerospace/
bachelor of business administration
and PhD from RMIT
Caleb White’s lifelong hobby has become
a professional obsession. The aerospace engineer
began flying radio-controlled gliders from the age
of 10 and learned to pilot a glider at 15. These days
he’s program director for aerospace engineering
at Melbourne’s RMIT University where his key
interests include Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs)
and their use for surveillance.
These machines – with wingspans of up to a
metre – look like sophisticated model planes, and
come equipped with on-board smart systems,
NAME Suryashree Aniyan
position Masters student and CSIRO
vacation scholar
LOCATION CSIRO Centre for Astronomy
and Space Science, Sydney
qualifications Bachelor of science,
Bangalore University, India; Master
of science, University of Adelaide (in
progress)
“THEY ARE BELIEVED TO be the end stage of the
evolution of a very massive star, and every galaxy
hosts one in its centre,” says Suryashree Aniyan,
talking of supermassive black holes, which could be
several billion times heavier than our Sun.
Aniyan spent her summer analysing data
collected by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey
Explorer (WISE) – as part of CSIRO’s Summer
Vacation Scholarship program, at CSIRO
Astronomy and Space Science, in Sydney.
To find these distant, invisible space objects, she
combined the infrared signals collected by WISE
with another dataset from a radio telescope and
repeatedly filtered them using the criteria believed
to indicate the presence of black holes. She says
the gravity of black holes is so strong that not even
meaning they can fly themselves and collect
detailed data about where they travel.
“I’d always loved building and flying model
planes,” recalls White. “Becoming an aeronautical
engineer seemed to be a logical progression.” He
pursued a five-year double degree in aerospace
engineering and business administration followed
by a PhD at RMIT.
In Australia’s vast, often remote landscapes,
the potential of MAVs for surveillance,
information gathering and search-and-rescue is
immense. Slightly larger versions of the machines
White works on were used to search for survivors
after Japan’s 2011 tsunami.
Wind farms are another major area of potential
application. It’s important to understand what
the air around wind farms is doing. “Where you
put a wind farm will be influenced a lot by the
local landscape,” explains White. “That’s still very
difficult to model with a computer, but having a
very small aerial vehicle map what the air is doing
would provide better information.
Small aircraft have power limitations as well
as restricted capabilities to be able to respond to
changes in the environment. Sudden wind gusts,
for example, can be a major problem for MAVs.
The search for answers often involves looking
at biological analogues, and White has “a lot of
philosophical discussions” with colleagues about
the capabilities of birds and flying insects. It could
eventually help him build the ultimate flying
machine. – Karen McGhee
Suryashree Aniyan
has her sights on
the stars, studying
for a Masters in
astrophysics.
light escapes – so they cannot be seen. It makes
them very difficult to study.
Aniyan came to Australia last year to do her
Masters in astrophysics at South Australia’s
University of Adelaide. She loved the opportunity
to get to know the day-to-day work at a research
institution like CSIRO. “I find the whole thing so
fascinating,” she says. “I have learned so much.”
– Achim Eberhart
Chris Taylor/Csiro
CosMOS UltiMAte SciENCE Guide 2012 37

in focus UNSW
astronomy, ICt & engineering
finding alien
planets
FACTS
More than 750
exoplanets found so far.
The Anglo-Australian Planet
Search hunts for giant planets
around more than 240 nearby
Sun-like stars.
The search has detected
exoplanets as small
as Neptune.
The Anglo-
Australian
Telescope near
Coonabarabran
is the largest
optical telescope
in Australia.
fred kamphues/aao
Science and space enthusiasts are in for an exciting future as research into distant worlds
takes off in Australia, writes Renae Soppe.
EXOPLANETS, or extrasolar planets, are
planets orbiting a star outside our Solar
System. The search for exoplanets emerged
only 15 years ago as technology was developed
that equipped astronomers to search for
habitable planets.
According to The Extrasolar Planets
Encyclopaedia, managed by Jean Schneider of
the Paris Observatory, over 750 exoplanets have
been discovered to date. Almost 40 of those
have been found by a dedicated Australian
research group.
“We’re the leading extrasolar planetary
detection group in the country,” says Chris
Tinney of the University of New South Wales
Exoplanetary Science Group in Sydney.
Tinney heads the Anglo-Australian Planet
Search team, which has contributed to the
exoplanet list through observations from
the 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope
at the Siding Spring Observatory, near
Coonabarabran in New South Wales.
The team finds exoplanets using a technique
called the ‘Doppler wobble’ method. This detects
the presence of a planet orbiting around a star
through the star’s tiny reflex motions. “We look for
the velocity shifts in the star going backwards and
forwards. It’s like using the telescope as a speed gun
to calibrate how much the star is moving backwards
and forwards,” Tinney says. “If
that wobble has a characteristic
signature we expect from a
planet, then we know we’ve
found another one.”
The search for exoplanets
is a worldwide effort, with
multiple telescopes monitoring
the skies 24/7. Astronomers
also use the transit technique
to spot exoplanets, looking
for an incredibly faint, regular
dimming of a star as a planet passes
between it and Earth.
Exoplanet research is the “hottest thing”
in astronomy at the moment, says Tinney.
“Fifteen years ago we didn’t know of any other
planets around other stars. Now we know of
more than 700 and the interesting thing is
“If that wobble has
a characteristic
signature we
expect from a
planet, then we
know we’ve found
another one.”
most of those planetary systems look almost
nothing like our Solar System.”
Tinney says that there is one big question
everyone wants to answer: “Is our Solar System
something that is unique or extremely common?”
“It’s a big field and there
is a lot of opportunity for
young people to come in and
essentially set the agenda on
what is pretty much a brand
new area of astronomy,”
Tinney says. “Every time
we find out something new
about these exoplanets, it’s
something revolutionary.”
“Exoplanetary science is
cool as you are studying
something that everybody can get a grasp of,”
says PhD student Stephen Parker from UNSW’s
Exoplanetary Science Group. His colleague Brett
Addison, also a physics PhD student, agrees.
“Trying to find planets that could potentially be
Earth-like and have life on them is the ultimate
goal,” he says.
38 Cosmos Ultimate Science Guide 2012

in fOCUS curtin university
astronOMy, ICt & engineering
Space-tech revolution
Radio telescopes that span continents are bringing astronomers closer to the edge
of the universe than ever before, says Heather Catchpole.
BACK IN THE 1950s, it was revolutionary
to think that listening to radio waves
from space would help us understand
the universe. But pioneering radio astronomers
had the foresight to ensure Australia was ahead
of the game in their area and today we’re reaping
the benefits.
“With radio astronomy, you see parts of
the universe [that are] invisible with other
wavelengths,” says Peter Hall, professor of
radio astronomy and engineering at
Curtin University in Perth. Hall is also
engineering
director of the Curtin Institute
of Radio Astronomy (CIRA) and the
International Centre for Radio
Astronomy Research.
The focus at CIRA is the ‘nexus’
between astronomy and
engineering, says Hall. “There
are great opportunities to
create new technologies
and make new
discoveries. Right
now I think the
opportunity for a
young person starting
out in astronomy is
to provide the next
FACTS
The SKA will survey the
sky 10,000 times faster than
current radio telescopes.
Around 1,500 antennas will be built
in a 5 sq km array
with a further 1,500
dishes spaced up to 3,000 km away.
The SKA supercomputer will perform
1,018 operations per second –
equivalent to the number of
stars in three million Milky
Way galaxies.
step of that technology nexus.” One of those young
people is PhD student Jun Yi (Kevin) Koay. He
was inspired by space as a kid, but instead studied
electrical engineering for its better job prospects.
“A couple of years ago, I decided that life was
too short and that I should go ahead and pursue
what I’ve always been passionate about. Radio
astronomy was the obvious choice due to it being
closely intertwined with electrical engineering,
allowing me to do what I love while taking full
advantage of my training as an engineer.”
Koay now applies his engineering expertise to
the design of new-generation radio telescopes,
such as the 3,000-dish Square Kilometre Array
(SKA) due to be built by 2024. “My engineering
background allows me to better understand the
data obtained using radio telescopes
and the various ways in which
they can be corrupted by
instrumental errors. This is
especially crucial in my
own research, where
I study the twinkling
of compact regions
around supermassive
black holes in distant
galaxies.” This
‘twinkling’ needs to
be discriminated from instrumental effects that
can also cause these objects to appear to vary in
brightness, he says.
“The engineer in me also drives me to think
about the limitations of current telescopes based
on my scientific results; what needs to be improved
in the design of future radio telescopes like the
SKA, and how they can be utilised to do the best
possible science.”
When built, the SKA will be the biggest
telescope ever made, enormously faster and more
powerful than existing telescope arrays. Several
‘pathfinder’ SKA projects are being built, including
the Australian SKA Pathfinder project and the
Murchison Widefield Array in Western Australia.
The SKA will require supercomputing capabilities
faster than anything currently available and drive
innovation in astronomy and physics, Hall points
out. “Without a sod yet being turned, the SKA
concept has already been revolutionary in its own
right,” he says. “We see the SKA as the grand
aspiration, soon to be a reality.”
“What excites me most about radio astronomy,
or astronomy in general, is that there is still so
much we do not know, so much to explore and so
much to discover,” adds Koay. “To be able to play a
part in this great human endeavour, no matter how
small it may be, is exhilarating.”
Koay visiting the Very Large Telescope in
Chile. Koay applies his engineering expertise
to the design of new-generation radio
telescopes, such as the planned 3,000-dish
Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012 39

in focus griffith university
astronomy, ICt & enginEEring
Engineering
smart
buildings
An energy-hungry world will require
engineers and energy specialists to work
together on smart building solutions. The
Sir Samuel Griffith Building, in Brisbane, will
generate its own power from the Sun, backed
up by stored hydrogen, says Tiffany Hoy.
THE SHIFTING FOCUS on energy use
as society moves towards a sustainable
future is opening up new opportunities
for students of engineering and environmental
science. Housing some of these students will be
the planned new building at Griffith University’s
Nathan campus, Brisbane. The $39.7 million
building, which will be completed by 2013, will
help to “bridge the gap between environmental
scientists and businesses”, says Griffith
University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor
(Research), Ned Pankhurst.
“It will help to increase supply
of sustainability graduates in a
world where sustainability is
simply not optional,” he says.
The building will foster
cross-disciplinary interaction
between science, engineering,
environmentalism, law and
business graduates. “Some of the
most important areas of sustainability
are not just in coming up with new
technology, but in aspects such as government
regulation,” says Evan Gray, a physicist at Griffith
University who is leading the hydrogen storage
design work of the building. “It’ll be great
for people to wander down the corridor and talk
to someone from a different area, whose
research still intersects this unifying theme
of sustainability.”
FACTS
Australia’s
first zero-emission
research building
Total cost $39.7 million
Stored hydrogen powers
the building when the
Sun isn’t shining.
The building is a demonstration in sustainable
construction excellence. Maximising the use of
recycled materials in its design, it will have solar
panels on its roof and on the window shades. On
sunny days this will generate more than enough
electricity to power the whole building. On cloudy
or rainy days, the hydrogen system provides a
fail-safe energy backup. “We divert some of the
solar electricity through an electrolyser and split
water to make hydrogen,” says Gray. “The
hydrogen is stored, not as a gas, but
as a solid. It’s absorbed into a
metal and makes what’s called a
metal hydride, a very safe way
of storing hydrogen.
“When there’s no sunlight,
the hydrogen is brought back
from storage and piped to a
fuel cell to generate electricity.
You can store hydrogen for as
long as you like – unlike batteries
that self-discharge, it will be there in
10 years’ time.”
Because the hydrogen process starts and
finishes with water, the building will draw all
its power from renewable sources and will also
generate zero carbon emissions. It’s the first
smart-energy structure of its kind in Australia
to be built from the ground up. “It’s a pioneering
building in the best sense of the word; it really is
forging a path through new territory,” says Gray.
COX RAYNER
An artist’s impression of the building with solar panels
on its roof and on the window shades (top). A hydrogen
system will keep the building operating at night and in dull
weather. The building, at Griffith University, will house
students of various disciplines who share an interest in
the issue of sustainability.
The building could act as a model for remote
communities or as a portable electricity source
for humanitarian and disaster relief, he points
out. “You can have a system like this ready
at an airfield, so when a tsunami or an
earthquake hits you can drop it onsite, switch
it on and it provides energy instantly,” he says.
“This is an exemplar of something much bigger.
People have worked for decades towards
running the world largely on hydrogen. This
building fits into a greater whole.”
40 Cosmos Ultimate ScienCE Guide 2012

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can i afford uni?
>>
iSTOCK
Studying science is an investment with a big return – and it
may be more affordable than you think, says Myles Gough.
Additional reporting by Jude Dineley.
Science degrees are
no longer the most
inexpensive courses
to study at Australian
public universities.
iSTOCK
The cost of a university
education in Australia can seem
daunting at first. Tuition fees rise
annually, textbooks really do seem
to be worth their weight in gold
and accommodation can also be expensive.
On top of this, there are the general costs of
keeping your stomach full, body active and
inner social-butterfly airborne – after all,
university is meant to be fun! So, what will
it all really cost? And how can you manage
to keep your expenses down?
Tuition
Domestic public tuition fees are paid
directly to the school you attend and vary
between courses. In Australia, general
undergraduate science degrees used to be
the most inexpensive courses to study at
public universities. This is set to change in
2013, when maths and science degrees will
lose their national priority status and are
reinstated to student contribution Band 2
(see Hike in Cost p44) .
For the 2012 academic year, the annual
full-time cost to begin a Band 2 degree (which
includes computing, built environment, allied
health, engineering, surveying and agriculture
degrees) was uniformly capped at $8,050
across all Australian public universities. This
is over $2,400 more expensive than pursuing
an arts degree (classified as Band 1) but
$1,375 cheaper than a specialised degree,
such as law or medicine (Band 3).
42 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

costs &
funding
Science degrees, however, offer a range
of units that can cross into different bands,
meaning your exact student contribution will
depend on the units of study you select for a
given year. Also, tuition costs are subject to
change from one year to the next. Full fees
for domestic students can rise as much as
7.5% each year, so it’s worth contacting the
admissions department of the university
you’re interested in for the up-to-date costs.
HECS-HELP
Fortunately, if you receive a Commonwealth
Supported position at a public university,
then the Australian government offers a
comprehensive student loan program called
HECS-HELP to pay your full tuition directly to
your university. There are also payment plans
where you can make partial contributions in
exchange for a discounted rate. But remember,
it is still a loan and needs to be paid back,
although generous long-term repayment
schedules are available, based on what you
earn once you begin full-time work.
There are some discounts, however. If
graduates of natural and physical sciences
courses with a HECS-HELP debt become
employed in an area relevant to their field
of study, they can have their compulsory
repayments reduced by more than $1,600
on an annual pro rata basis. For eligible
maths and science graduates, compulsory
repayments can be reduced by more than
$3,200 on an annual pro rata basis if they go
down the teaching path.
Your HECS-HELP debt will be recorded
with the Australian Tax Office against your
personal Tax File Number and – once your
annual income reaches a certain threshold
– payments are deducted from your pay.
In 2011-12, the minimum salary for debt
repayments was $47,196.
n http://studyassist.gov.au
FEE-HELP
For full-fee paying students, the Federal
Government has designed a similar loan
scheme called FEE-HELP that also enables
students to defer payments until they are
earning a minimum threshold salary. With
FEE-HELP, there is a limit to how much you
can borrow and this is indexed annually.
There is also a 25% loan fee, no matter how
long the loan is for. For instance, if you
borrow $50,000 to pay fees, you will need
to repay $62,500 over the length of the loan.
Other government aSSistance
The Federal Government also offers a range
of financial assistance schemes for various
groups of low-income students, with an
emphasis on assisting people from rural
locations and indigenous backgrounds. These
schemes include Youth Allowance, Austudy
and Abstudy, which are all administered by
Centrelink, the Federal statutory agency.
Youth allowance is an assistance program
offered to 16-24-year-olds doing full-time
study or an apprenticeship. If you are deemed
‘independent’, the maximum assistance
you’ll be able to receive if you are single and
have no children is $402.70 per fortnight.
You may also qualify for an additional rent
assistance payment.
Austudy is another subsidy program
designed to help full-time students aged
iSTOCK
The cost of a university degree can mount up, but generous long-term
repayment schedules are available for student loans.
COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012 43

costs &
funding
25 and older. Recipients are automatically
considered ‘independent’ and payment is
determined by an income and assets test.
Abstudy is a form of financial assistance
available to Australian citizens of Aboriginal
or Torres Strait Islander descent, or
individuals who identify with these groups
and are accepted as such in the communities
in which they reside. The minimum age of
eligibility is 14.
More info – Centrelink assistance
n www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/
internet.nsf/individuals/st_index.htm
short periods to be read on-site or
photocopied. It may take some extra
planning, but it will save you money.
Co-op Bookshops (39 branches):
n www.coop-bookshop.com.au
Textbook Exchange:
n www.textbookexchange.com.au
Textbook Rebate:
n textbookrebate.com.au
Hike in cost
First-year undergraduates in maths and
science turning up at universities in 2013
have a dubious honour. The excitement
of starting their university career will be
tempered by the fact that they will be the
first students in four years to miss out on the
national priority status for maths, statistics
and science courses. The change means HECS
contributions for those studying these areas
is nearly double what it’s been.
Based on 2012 rates, national priority
status restricted HECS contributions to
$4,520 per equivalent full-time student load
(EFTSL). This is essentially the estimated
HECS contribution incurred based on fulltime
study for one year, if you were to enrol
in subjects with a national priority status.
Under these changes, student contributions
for maths and science will – based on 2012
figures – be up to $8,050 EFTSL. That’s a
whopping $3,530 annual increase! Further
You can make some big
savings on textbooks with
some savvy shopping.
Textbooks and course supplies
Textbooks, lab coats, dissection kits and
goggles can all add weight to your expenses.
Some universities recommend students
budget $400-$1,000 for course supplies over
the term of their science degree. Often there
is no way around some of these costs and you
simply have to dish out the cash, but for others
there are always ways to reduce expenses,
such as buying second-hand textbooks. For
the best deals, try cooperative bookstores
near campus or specialised sites that offer
textbook exchange and even textbook rebates
(see next column). When the latest edition of
a textbook is recommended, ask your lecturer
if an older edition will suffice; you may have
to be more diligent in locating readings (as
page numbers can change sometimes), but it
could be worth the saving.
Finally, don’t forget to use the library! Most
required textbooks are kept on reference at
university libraries and can be borrowed for
iSTOCK
44 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

costs &
funding
salt in the wound for maths and science
undergraduates is that they will pay up to
$2,400 more than students in humanities,
languages and arts (based on 2012 figures).
Maths and science lost their special status
in favour of a $400 million saving by the
Federal Government. The national priority
status was allocated in 2009 as a way to boost
maths and science undergraduate numbers,
but according to the government, the desired
rise has not materialised.
Executive Dean of Science at Macquarie
University, Stephen Thurgate is ambivalent
about the funding changes: “I certainly don’t
welcome it and it does send a miserable
message about how we value our scientists.
But I’m yet to see evidence that it’s going to
decrease the numbers of science students.”
Thurgate sees the continuing and broader
issue of low enrolments in science and maths
as a complex issue that goes deeper than
levels of student contributions. However,
the cuts are provoking more polarised views
from the student community.
“This move sends mixed messages from the
government about the importance of science
to Australia’s future,” says Adam Smallhorn,
secretary of the Sydney chapter of the Young
Scientists of Australia, a not-for-profit
organisation of young scientists whose goal
is to promote science to the nation’s youth.
Smallhorn himself is in his second year at
the University of New South Wales, studying
combined Bachelor degrees in computer
engineering and science. “I will accrue nearly
$24,000 in debt [to complete my degrees].
It’s an extra pressure and burden surrounded
by an ever-increasing cost of living.
“At the moment, the students who study
science are the ones who want to do so,
despite the greater work and time
commitments. If we want
to encourage more
students to do science
and maths, at the very
least we need to level
the playing field to
make studying
science and
maths more
appealing,”
Smallhorn says.
Money for study
The ultimate helping hand for your degree
is to look into scholarships. The good news is
there’s a lot out there, from industry and
defence to the private sector providers,
including LIONS and RSL clubs or
international companies such as McDonald’s
or Qantas. Universities generally have meritbased
awards but also provide funding to
students from disadvantaged backgrounds or
who have had to relocate to study.
n http://australia.gov.au/topics/educationand-training/scholarships
n www.australian-universities.com/
scholarships
Forensic studies
The applicaTion of The scienTific
meThod To crime invesTigaTion
our degree is delivered by leading researchers
and practitioners in forensic science, with
significant operational experience in the industry.
lifelong
adventures
for enquiring
minds
For More inForMation
t 1800 UNI CAN (1800 864 226)
e study@canberra.edu.au
www.canberra.edu.au/science
Uc1218_cricos#00212K
BioMedical sciences
UndersTand hUman healTh
and disease
start your career as a professional in the diverse
sphere of human health sciences by undertaking a
degree taught by leading biomedical researchers.
environMental science
conserving and managing land,
WaTer and Wildlife
find a rewarding career in understanding and
managing our environment and its valuable
resources of land, water and wildlife.

where to study:
Love science but don’t know what to study?
Check yourself against our science personality quiz to pick your ultimate science major.
Would you
like to...
help
people
discover and
explore
do You
have an
interest in...
check out then try
People and
Society
Agricultural science, biochemistry,
molecular biology, pharmacology,
physiology, forensic science, psychology,
OHS science
Geography, environmental science,
ecology, geophysics, marine science,
maths and statistics
Health and
Fitness
Anatomy, biochemistry, food science,
genetics, pathology, sports science,
neuroscience, biomedical science
Sports science, molecular biology,
anatomy, genetics, biomedical science
The World
Around Me
Atmospheric and ocean science, Earth
science, ecology, environmental science,
maths and statistics
Geography, environmental science, Earth
science, ecology, marine science, plant
science, zoology
Innovation and
Invention
Biochemistry, bioengineering systems,
biotechnology, food science, civil
engineering, mechanical systems
Biotechnology, bioengineering systems,
chemical systems, material science,
mechanical systems, astronomy
The Ultimate
Answers
Genetics, molecular biology,
neuroscience
Physics, maths, chemistry, astronomy,
nanotechnology, biotechnology
46 CosMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

degree finder
develop new
materials
earn
big bucks
Make a
difference
investigate enrol in study
Bioengineering, biotechnology,
chemistry, nuclear science
Computer systems, information
technology, OHS science,
biotechnology
Anatomy, agricultural science, animal
health and disease, biotechnology,
environmental science
Nuclear science, sports
physiology, biochemistry,
food science, pharmacology
Pharmacology, genetics, biotechnology,
medical science, dental science,
psychiatry
Biology, biochemistry, bioengineering
systems, physiology, OHS science
Bioengineering systems, mechanical
engineering, nuclear science, chemical
engineering, electronic engineering
Chemistry, geology, agricultural science,
environmental science,
mining engineering
Earth science, ecology, environmental
science, climate science, hydrogeology
Materials science, nuclear science,
bioengineering, chemical engineering,
electrical systems, information
technology, nanotechnology
Engineering, materials science,
biochemistry, mechanical systems,
civil engineering
Genetics, electrical systems, chemical
systems, nanotechnology, electronic
engineering
Chemistry, physics, biotechnology
Finding the ultimate answer AND
earning the big bucks? Whichever way
you go about it, it’s clear that a science
degree has to be the first step!
You’re likely to be science’s next big mind.
Start by studying the core sciences: physics,
chemistry, geology and biology, then throw
in some philosophy for good measure
CosMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012 47

at a glance
where to study
Once you have an idea of what you want to study, the
next question is: where? Use our table to find out
which Australian university is right for you.
iSTock
Established
Undergrads Enrolled (2010)
NATIONAL
AUSTralian CATholic University www.acu.edu.au 1991 14,756 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of Notre Dame www.nd.edu.au 1990 7,199 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Charles Sturt University www.csu.edu.au 1989 26,103 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Open Universities AUSTralia www.open.edu.au 1993 25,495 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
NSW
University of New South Wales www.unsw.edu.au 1949 29,887 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of NewCASTLE www.newcastle.edu.au 1965 22,229 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of Technology Sydney www.uts.edu.au 1988 21,325 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of Western Sydney www.uws.edu.au 1989 30,240 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of Wollongong www.uow.edu.au 1975 18,019 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Macquarie University www.mq.edu.au 1964 24,063 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Southern CroSS University www.scu.edu.au 1994 12,361 ✓ ✓ ✓
University of New England www.une.edu.au 1938 11,613 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of Sydney www.usyd.edu.au 1850 31,835 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
ACT
University of Canberra www.canberra.edu.au 1990 8,462 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
AUSTralian National University www.anu.edu.au 1946 10,125 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Agriculture
Archaeology
Biology/Life Science
Biomedical Science
Psychology
Earth Science
Environment Science
Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Computer Science/
Information Technology
Engineering
Veterinary Science
48 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2012

at a glance
where to study
iSTock
QLD
Established
Undergrads Enrolled (2010)
Bond University www.bond.edu.au 1989 3,623 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Griffith University www.griffith.edu.au 1971 31,899 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Queensland University of Technology www.qut.edu.au 1989 31,334 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
CQ University www.cqu.edu.au 1992 11,228 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of Southern Queensland www.usq.edu.au 1992 15,709 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
James Cook University www.jcu.edu.au 1970 13,488 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of Sunshine CoAST www.usc.edu.au 1996 6,299 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of Queensland www.uq.edu.au 1909 31,169 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Agriculture
Archaeology
Biology/Life Science
Biomedical Science
Psychology
Earth Science
Environment Science
Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Computer Science/
Information Technology
Engineering
Veterinary Science

at a glance
where to study
iSTock
SA
Established
Undergrads Enrolled (2010)
University of Adelaide www.adelaide.edu.au 1874 16,594 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of South Australia www.unisa.edu.au 1991 26,677 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Flinders University www.flinders.edu.au 1966 13,236 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
WA
Curtin University www.curtin.edu.au 1986 46,634 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of Western Australia www.uwa.edu.au 1911 22,590 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Murdoch University www.murdoch.edu.au 1973 14,282 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Edith CoWAn University www.ecu.edu.au 1991 19,139 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
NT
Charles Darwin University www.cdu.edu.au 1989 5,317 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
TAS
University of Tasmania www.utas.edu.au 1890 17,359 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
VIC
Deakin University www.deakin.edu.au 1974 26,071 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
La Trobe University www.latrobe.edu.au 1967 23,543 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
RMIT University www.rmit.edu.au 1992 39,648 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Monash Univerity www.monash.edu.au 1958 44,832 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Swinburne University www.swinburne.edu.au 1992 15,921 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of Ballarat www.ballarat.edu.au 1994 6,675 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
University of Melbourne www.unimelb.edu.au 1853 27,331 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Victoria University www.vu.edu.au 1990 19,001 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Agriculture
Archaeology
Biology/Life Science
Biomedical Science
Psychology
Earth Science
Environment Science
Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Computer Science/
Information Technology
Engineering
Veterinary Science
Publisher: Karen Taylor
Editor-in-Chief: Wilson da Silva
Editor: Heather Catchpole
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Sub-editing: Karen McGhee, Dominic Cadden,
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Writers: Oliver Chan, Becky Crew, Jude Dineley,
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Hoy, Renae Soppe, Jennifer DeBerardinis
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Produced by CosMos, Australia’s #1 science magazine.
To order free print copies, view a digital edition or to download a pdf version,
go to www.cosmosmagazine.com/ultimatescienceguide
Cosmos is protected by trademarks in Australia and the USA. COSMOS Media offices operate on 100%
GreenPower, and our printers conform to the ISO-14001 environmental management standard.
Published by COSMOS Media Pty Ltd ACN 137 559 187 ABN 65 137 559 187
Ultimate Science Guide 2012 is a supplement of Cosmos magazine. Copyright © 2012 COSMOS Media Pty
Ltd, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner or form without written
permission. NOT TO BE SOLD SEPARATELY. This issue went to press on 23 March 2012. Printed in Australia by
Webstar. ISSN 1832-522X.
50 COSMOS Ultimate Science Guide 2011

Help shape the future
Samuel Batty
Developing new materials for
unique environments
ANSTO Graduate 2011
Emma Young
Collecting water samples for
environmental monitoring
ANSTO Graduate 2011
Join the amazing world of nuclear science and technology through ANSTO’s School Work Experience, Year in Industry,
Summer Vacation or Graduate Development Programs and tap into one of the worlds fastest growing industrial sectors.
www.ansto.gov.au
www.facebook.com/DiscoverANSTO
52 www.cosmosmagazine.com Cosmos 44