Imagine a telescope so revolutionary that in one week it will gather more information than that contained in all the words spoken in human history.

The Square Kilometre Array, or SKA, will be the world’s most powerful radio telescope and will dramatically increase mankind’s understanding of the universe.

The infrastructure enabling this expansion in knowledge may be placed in Australia and New Zealand, whose proposal to host the SKA has been shortlisted by the international science community. A final decision is expected in 2012.