At the Edge Science Lecture Series
We do indeed live in amazing times, and science is at the cutting edge of the advances humankind is making in its understanding of life, the Universe and everything - to borrow a phrase from Douglas Adams. The UNSW Faculty of Science wants to play its part in bringing you directly in touch with researchers and thinkers at the forefront of some of the many opportunities, problems and dilemmas these advances pose.
In each of these thought-provoki
Next lecture: Mars and our origins on Earth
Professor Malcolm Walter, 27 July 2009
Mars has long drawn our attention in literature and in science. Today we are able to survey the red planet with a resolution from space of 25 centimetres per pixel, and have two long-lived rovers on the surface.
The rate of discovery is increasing - from the possibility that liquid water can, briefly, exist at the surface today, to confirmation that huge fluvial features were carved by vast amounts of liquid water in the past. In the Pilbara region of Western Australia, an analogue of Mars, we find the earliest, most convincing evidence of life on Earth in rocks 3.5 billion years old. This is the story of the links between the possibility of life on Mars, our origins on Earth, and the search for life elsewhere in the universe.
Malcolm Walter is Professor of Astrobiology at the University of New South Wales. He is Director of the Australian Centre for Astrobiology. He has worked for 40 years on the geological evidence of early life on Earth, including the earliest convincing evidence of life. He has been funded by NASA in their "exobiology" and astrobiology" programs, focusing on microbial life in high temperature ecosystems, and the search for life on Mars. He is a member of the Executive Council of NASA's Astrobiology Institute. During 1999 his book "The Search for Life on Mars" was published by Allen & Unwin. He has published more than 120 articles and several other books. He is a consultant to museums, and was curator of a special Centenary of Federation exhibition on space exploration for the National Museum of Australia in Canberra and Museum Victoria. In 2004 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
Venue:Leighton Hall, Scientia Building
Date: 27 July 2009
Time: 6pm for 6.30pm start
RSVP: Essential. Seating is strictly limited. Click here to register you attendance.
Inaugural lecture: Climate change and nuclear power: the choice we have to make
Dr Ziggy Switkowski, 18 November 2008
In the inaugural lecture in this series Dr Ziggy Switkowski tackled one of the toughest dilemmas facing Australia in responding to the threat of climate change: is switching from coal to nuclear energy the answer to our worries? Dr Ziggy Switkowski became a household name in business as head of Kodak, Optus and Telstra. He is also a nuclear physicist and now he chairs Australia's nuclear science agency ANSTO.
His challenging talk - titled "Climate change and nuclear power: the choice we have to make" - was attended by almost 300 people in UNSW's Leighton Hall, on 18 November, 2008.
Dr Switkowski noted that some people still have doubts about climate change but said the debate had moved on; world attention was now focused on strategies to mitigate global warming and adapt to it. Similarly, he said, some people still oppose nuclear power but, globally, that debate has also moved on and a significant expansion of the technology is planned. More and more countries see nuclear as the best option to meet the growing demand for electricity, avoid use of fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and diversify their energy mix away from a dominant supplier, he said.
"Australia's current energy and environment strategy assumes that a focus on renewables, carbon capture and storage, and conservation will provide a better answer. Today's policy architects claim no scenario will require nuclear power in Australia, but does this make strategic sense?
Three key challenges suggest not: 1) deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions almost certainly will prove beyond the capability of existing technologies and renewable energy platforms to deliver in the time allowed; 2) our lights will go out when investment in clean baseload energy generation stalls in an uncertain regulatory environment, and; 3) in a carbon-limited future, nuclear powered economies overseas will exploit their cost advantages for clean energy in competing with Australian products burdened by imbedded carbon costs."
Dr Switkowski said all energy technologies had some undesirable side effects, risks or special challenges. "We must balance these risks within our personal values and against costs, environmental impacts and society's larger aspirations.The daunting realities of climate change mean nuclear power is the choice we have to make."
