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Media Bulletin - 5 September 2006
In this bulletin
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference next week
- The 50th Anniversary of Silliac: Australia’s first high-speed computer - I'll have just a sliver: thin and ‘groovy’ solar cells win the Walsh Medal - Creating a better leaf: re-inventing nature for cheaper solar power
- Mercury Rising! Offices to stay cool and save dollars
Here are the details: _____________
Child and Adolescent Mental health Conference – next week at the Melbourne Convention Centre
17th World Congress of the International Association of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions Melbourne, Sunday 10 to Thursday 14 September 2006 Topics to be discussed include: - Tackling anorexia and eating disorders in children - Children dealing with HIV/AIDS - The latest safety concerns on prescribing anti-depressants to children - How a child’s future behaviour can be influenced during pregnancy - Child soldiers in Africa - ADHD and learning disorders - Child abuse in Indigenous society - The importance of fighting for children’s human rights International and local speakers will be available for interview, and daily media updates will be provided when the conference opens. The full conference program is available at www.iacapap2006.com Speaker highlights at www.scienceinpublic.com _____________ THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF SILLIAC Tuesday 12 September, Sydney The University of Sydney was the first university in Australia to have a computing science department. The origins of computing at this university started with the building of a high-speed computer, SILLIAC, for the School of Physics – the first computer built within an Australian university. At the time most computers were designed to be serial, in an effort to minimize the then-expensive and bulky electronic parts. In contrast SILLIAC did everything it could in parallel, using 40 times the parts to gain a speed advantage. SILLIAC will celebrate its 50th Anniversary on Tuesday 12 September 2006 with three significant events - SILLIAC Pioneers Reunion, SILLIAC Book Launch and the SILLIAC 50th Anniversary Celebration Dinner. _____________ NOT SO MUCH, JUST A SLIVER – the Alan Walsh medal for service to industry It's a simple idea once you hear it. Take a silicon wafer that's about to become a solar cell, and cut many tiny grooves in it first. This increases the solar cell surface area up to 30 times, and increases the cell’s efficiency. This process, dubbed Sliver, is already in commercial production and could dominate the solar cell industry with its huge savings on material cost and simple manufacturing techniques. Sliver has gained its developers the 2006 Alan Walsh Medal: Andrew Blakers and Klaus Weber, of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at ANU. Sliver cells have several advantages. Their efficiency is around 20 per cent, which is at the high end of commercially available cells. They use familiar, already existing manufacturing techniques, requiring only a small modification of the process. The resulting Slivers of solar cells use 10 to 15 times less raw material than standard cells, and take 20 to 50 times less energy to make. In combination with their efficiency, these advantages could see the manufacturing costs of solar cells cut by three quarters. The Walsh Medal is given every second year to recognise significant contributions by a practicing physicist to industry in Australia. It's awarded for physics R&D that has led to patents, processes or inventions which have led to notable industrial and commercial outcomes. It commemorates the late Sir Alan Walsh, who was the originator and developer of Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) and pioneered its application as a tool in chemical analysis. Read more about the Walsh Medal at www.aip.org.au/medals/walsh.php _____________
Creating a better leaf: re-inventing nature for cheaper solar power
A research team in Sydney has created molecules that mimic those in plants which harvest light and power life on Earth.
“A leaf is an amazingly cheap and efficient solar cell,” says Dr Deanna D’Alessandro, a postdoctoral researcher in the Molecular Electronics Group at the University of Sydney and a 2006 Fresh Scientist. “The best leaves can harvest 30 to 40 percent of the light falling on them. The best solar cells we can build are between 15 and 20 percent efficient, and expensive to make.” “We’ve recreated some of the key systems that plants use in photosynthesis,” says Deanna. Bacteria and green plants use photosynthesis to convert light energy into usable chemical energy. Wheel-shaped arrays of molecules called porphyrins collect light and transfer it to the hub where chemical reactions use the light energy to convert carbon dioxide into energy-rich sugar and oxygen. “This process, which occurs in about 40 trillionths of a second is fundamental to photosynthesis and is at the base of the food chain for almost all life on Earth,” says Deanna.
“We have been able to construct synthetic porphyrins. More than 100 of them can be assembled around a tree-like core called a dendrimer to mimic the wheel-shaped arrangement in natural photosynthetic systems.”
Full release at www.freshscience.org
Also visit http://www.chem.usyd.edu.au/public/facilities/molecular_electronics.
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Mercury Rising! Offices to stay cool and save dollars
A Sydney research team has developed a sun- and wind-driven ventilation system to cool commercial buildings on the hottest summer days. They hope that the new system will reduce the power requirements of a commercial ventilation system by 15 to 20 per cent.
The new system, designed by Simon Shun, working under the supervision of Associate Professor N.A. Ahmed at the University of New South Wales, relies on solar and wind power when it can. When the wind drops or there is not enough sun, the ventilation system automatically switches to mains electricity. This ensures that the building gets adequate ventilation, and meets the ventilation standards legally required for health, safety and comfort. Commercial ventilation systems use significant amounts of electrical power, enough to cause blackouts in some states during the hottest summer days. This new system has the potential to assist the wider community by reducing peak energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions.
Full release at www.freshscience.org
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