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Inaugural L’ORÉAL Australia For Women in Science FellowshipsAugust 2007"Beauty meets science"The world needs science. Science needs women. The inaugural L’ORÉAL Australia For Women In Science Fellowships have been presented to four inspirational early career scientists.“We hope these $20,000 Fellowships will help these women consolidate their careers and rise to leadership positions in science,” says L’ORÉAL Australia managing director Mark Tucker. “The majority of science graduates are women,” he says. “But very few make it through the grind of study to establish careers in science. Could a lack of Vitamin D be contributing to the diabetes epidemic?Jenny Gunton has discovered that people with diabetes have very low levels of Vitamin D. With the help of her L’ORÉAL For Women In Science Fellowship she will investigate the link. Is low Vitamin D a result of diabetes, or one of the causes? Her work at the Garvan in Sydney comes at a time when rickets is again on the rise. Some young mothers and their children are not getting enough exposure to sunlight to naturally produce the Vitamin D needed for healthy bone growth. But don’t stop slip, slop, slapping...dietary supplements are also a good source of Vitamin D. Tara schoolgirls contribute to a global investigation into a black hole and the birth of starsIlana Feain has enlisted Sydney boarding school students in her efforts to study black holes and their role in the birth and death of stars and galaxies. Ilana, along with colleagues around the world, is studying a particular black hole and quasar – SS433. This exotic phenomenon fires jets of hydrogen from near its black hole at speeds of more than a quarter of the speed of light in two directions. These sweep out along an axis every six months, producing a corkscrew pattern. They need observations around the clock. So they’ve created a network of girls’ boarding schools around the world – Global Jet Watch – to help them. Every evening, the students of Tara in NSW will use a $100,000 telescope to observe the giant jets of energy. As the earth turns, girls in India, South Africa and Chile take over. A second Australian site is proposed for Perth. Bad tempered redheads threatenedSarah Pryke is studying the evolution and conservation of Gouldian finches in the Kimberley Ranges. The males have black, red or yellow heads. The red heads have more testosterone, are more aggressive and win the best nest sites. However they are also poor fathers – too busy fighting to help with the young. Sarah is investigating if the striking differences between these finches are a step to the creation of new species. And, as there are only a couple of thousand finches left in the wild, she hopes that her work into their mating habits will contribute to their conservation. Breaking down the mythology of a common women’s diseaseTen to thirty percent of women in developed countries, including Australia, suffer from bacterial vaginosis – causing miscarriages, premature births and increasing susceptibility to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Only half of them are satisfactorily treated. Yet we don’t know what causes it nor how it spreads. Catriona Bradshaw thinks bacterial vaginosis may be spread by sexual activity. With the help of her L’ORÉAL For Women in Science Fellowship she plans to study its spread – working with young women as they become sexually active in university. Catriona works at Monash University and the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. |
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