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Transportation Though the Ages: Science as a human endeavour

Humans are constantly working to develop and improve our technology and understanding. This resource provides step-by-step instructions to help students consider why innovative design and improvement is important. Students firstly identify as many types of transport they can think of and then discuss why new types of transport ...

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Sniffing out disease lesson

In this lesson, students consider contemporary research approaches to disease identification. First, they conduct an experiment to test how sensitive their sense of smell is and explore how our sense of smell functions. Students then learn about at how animals are trained to use their sense of smell to detect human disease. ...

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Food innovation and molecular gastronomy lesson

In this lesson, students explore connections between science, design, and technologies through the lens of food innovation and food science. Students look at interesting and unusual food products, using food textures as a jumping off point to explore the relationship between chemistry and food. Students then experiment ...

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Travel Times

Life would be very different today if we did not have modern transport. In this activity, students calculate the time it would take for humans to travel long distances through different modes of transport. They then analyse the impact of these technological developments.

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Atoms of Fire: Chemical products that change our lives

Travel back one hundred years in time to observe the technologies that people were using and to consider the technologies that had have yet to be invented. View the types of new substances that were invented by chemists during the last century.

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Catalyst: Thinning ice sheet

Discover that that the massive ice sheet in East Antarctica has been losing mass since 2006 instead of growing, as was previously thought. Watch animations to see how scientists from NASA and Australia are using satellite technology and aerial monitoring to investigate the thickness of East Antarctica's ice sheet. Find ...

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Catalyst: When does life begin?

The use of embryonic stem cells for medical research is a hotly debated ethical issue, with much of the discussion focusing on when human life begins. Listen to the views both of scientists and of some people from several faith traditions. In a major stem-cell breakthrough, scientists have discovered a new type of stem ...

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Landline: Drones and bugs

We don't normally associate robotics with farming but, in fact, robotics have revolutionised farming and agriculture in recent years. Find out how some strawberry farmers are using drones to disperse 'good' bugs for pest control management. Can you think of some other ways drones could be used to help farmers?

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Can We Help?: Exploring nanotechnology

Peter Binks, CEO of Nanotechnology Victoria, answers the question 'How does nanotechnology work?' Discover what nanotechnology is and see several examples in action, such as scratch-resistant paint used in the car industry. Consider future applications of nanotechnology in areas such as sports, health care, clothing and cleaning.

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The power of science photography

Visual art and science are often considered to be separate fields. Watch as Phred Petersen talks about the way he combines his passions of photography and science. What is the role of technology in enabling this crossover? What kinds of scientific discoveries can be assisted by high-speed photography? And how can scientific ...

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Green packaging lesson

This lesson plan engages students in finding ways to reduce plastic waste in food packaging. Students investigate problems created by plastic waste then observe ways these issues are being addressed. They design new packaging for food items that currently produce excessive waste then test their designs objectively. The ...

Interactive

Chicken farming in the living world: Stage 5

Chickens are fascinating animals and provide students with an interesting subject matter to discuss the many aspects of our living world. This interactive course for students explores the question 'How does the closed system of a chicken meat farm model the interactions, flow of energy and the cycling of matter through ...

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Atoms of Fire: Atoms and organic compounds

Can you imagine someone who lived over 2400 years ago saying that all matter is made up of atoms? Democritus, an ancient Greek, did. Explore the history of this scientific idea with chemist Amanda Tilbury. Hear how Swedish scientist Jöns Berzelius postulated much later that only living tissue could make an organic compound ...

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Low-carb cars

This ABC In Depth feature article explores the electric car as an alternative to petrol and diesel vehicles, with a brief reference to hydrogen powered cars. This article is comprehensive, but it is dated at 2008.

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Exoplanets

This nine and a half minute video segment from Catalyst explains that relatively recently times we have got the technology to look for exoplanets. Astronomers have now uncovered more than 350 planets orbiting other stars. These worlds, known as exoplanets, can be pretty weird places. This program discusses a theory to describes ...

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Researchers find grain's memory gene

This brief ABC News in Science article from 2009 gives an excellent example of responses of plants to temperature change and current Australian science. Plants use a genetic memory to recognise when it is spring and can even count the number of cold days.

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Solar Prints

This 6 minute video segment from Catalyst is an excellent introduction to the science behind photovoltaics. A useful comparison of the efficiency of energy conversion. Discussion of other issues considered in producing devices to use renewable energy to make electricity.

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Solar wind gives asteroids a tanning

This brief ABC News in Science article from 2009 explains that asteroids become redder the longer they stay out in the sun because of the solar wind. Scientists are using this to try to find our more about our planetary origins.

Interactive

Tsunami: the ultimate guide

This comprehensive web resource provides a series of six interactive slide shows (chapters) that introduce the cause and impacts of tsunami with a focus on Australia, Asia and Pacific regions. Produced by experts in the field, this information is clearly and simply described. The engaging presentation is enriched with photography, ...

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Waratah Australis Nursery (flowers) – Batlow, New South Wales

This is a video about plant breeder and nursery owner Brian Fitzpatrick and his work of breeding waratahs. It shows scenes of his activities in the Waratah Australis Nursery as he speaks of the magnificence of waratahs; the stages in the breeding process including hand-pollination and the production of 12,000 seedlings ...