Supercomputer that Simulates Entire Human Brain

A neuromorphic supercomputer called DeepSouth will be capable of 228 trillion synaptic operations per second, which is on par with the estimated number of operations in the human brain

A supercomputer capable of simulating, at full scale, the synapses of a human brain is set to boot up in Australia next year, in the hopes of understanding how our brains process massive amounts of information while consuming relatively little power.  READ MORE...

Extinct 87 Years Ago

Researchers often think about how and when their results will be published. However, many research projects don’t see the light until decades (or even centuries) later, if at all.

This is the case of a high-resolution atlas of the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine brain. Carefully processed over 140 years ago, it is finally published recently in the journal PNAS.

SIMILAR, BUT NOT WOLVES
Thylacines were dingo-sized carnivorous marsupials that roamed through Australia and New Guinea prior to human occupation. They became confined to Tasmania around 3,000 years ago.

The arrival of European colonists and the introduction of farming, diseases, and hunting bounties quickly led to their extinction. The last known individual died on September 7, 1936, at Hobart’s Beaumaris Zoo. As a commemoration, September 7 became the National Threatened Species Day to raise conservation awareness in Australia.

Thylacines looked remarkably similar to wolves and dogs (that is, canids). This is a textbook example of a process known as evolutionary convergence: when the body shapes of animals are really similar, despite them coming from different lineages.

However, whether thylacine brains are also similar to wolves has been very hard to find out due to a lack of material available for microscopic studies. In the newly published study, my colleagues and I uploaded high-resolution images to a public repository and studied brain sections prepared for microscopy from a thylacine that died in the Berlin Zoo in 1880.  READ MORE...

NASA's Humanoid Robot

NASA’s Valkyrie humanoid robot is heading to Australia from its home base at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for extensive testing. The move is part of a reimbursable Space Act Agreement with Woodside Energy in Perth, Western Australia.

This is according to a press release by NASA published on Thursday.

Woodside Energy will test the machine’s software and provide data and feedback to NASA particularly as it relates to developing remote mobile dexterous manipulation capabilities to accommodate remote caretaking of uncrewed and offshore energy facilities.

“Valkyrie will advance robotic remote operations capabilities which have potential to improve the efficiency of Woodside’s offshore and remote operations while also increasing safety for both its personnel and the environment. In addition, the new capabilities may have applications for NASA’s Artemis missions and for other Earth-based robotics objectives,” said the NASA statement.

NASA hopes that the tests conducted in Woodside’s facilities will teach the agency how to better design robots for work in dirty and hazardous conditions like those found on the Moon and other planets.

Some activities to be undertaken by the robot include inspection and maintenance of infrastructure and plants that leverage resources and materials to produce new items. These activities could one day enable astronauts to live off the land in space.

“We are pleased to be starting the next phase of development and testing of advanced robotic systems that have the potential to positively impact life on Earth by allowing safer operations in hazardous environments,” said Shaun Azimi, lead of the dexterous robotics team at NASA Johnson.  READ MORE...

Aboriginal Painted Rock

Hundreds of years ago, in a cramped cave, Indigenous people in Australia painted a pair of watercraft whose origins have puzzled archaeologists since the artworks' discovery about 50 years ago. Now, a new study may have solved the mystery: The paintings likely depict "fighting craft" from what is now Indonesia, hinting that there may have been "physical violence" between the Indigenous people and visitors from afar.


Archaeologists identified the boats as being warships from the Moluccas (also known as the Maluku Islands), an archipelago off the eastern coast of Indonesia that's located directly north of Australia, according to a study published May 2 in the journal Historical Archaeology.


"Just these two craft suddenly add another dimension to the sphere of interaction of northern Australia — that Australia is not just some sort of land that's on its own, in the middle of nowhere and is cut off for 65,000 years from everywhere else," study co-author Daryl Wesley, an archaeologist and senior lecturer at Flinders University, told ABC News Australia.  READ MORE...

White Dwarf Star

To us, stars may resemble cut jewels, glittering coldly against the velvet darkness of the night sky. And for some of them, that may actually be sort of true.

As a certain type of dead star cools, it gradually hardens and crystallizes. Astronomers have found one doing just that in our cosmic backyard, a white dwarf composed primarily of carbon and metallic oxygen just 104 light-years away, whose temperature-mass profile suggests that the center of the star is transforming into a dense, hard, 'cosmic diamond' made up of crystallized carbon and oxygen.

The discovery is detailed in a paper accepted into the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and available on preprint website arXiv.

"In this work we present the discovery of a new Sirius-like quadruple system at 32 parsecs distance, composed of a crystallizing white dwarf companion to the previously known triple HD 190412," write an international team of astronomers led by Alexander Venner of the University of Southern Queensland in Australia.

"By virtue of its association with these main sequence companions, this is the first crystallizing white dwarf whose total age can be externally constrained, a fact that we make use of by attempting to empirically measure a cooling delay caused by core crystallization in the white dwarf."

All things in the Universe must change. Every star that hangs in the firmament, shining brightly with the light generated by atomic fusion, will one day run out of fuel for their fires and evolve into something new.

For the vast majority of stars – those below about eight times the mass of the Sun, and including the Sun – that something is a white dwarf star.

When the fuel runs out, the star's outer material is shucked into the surrounding space, and the remaining core, no longer supported by the outward pressure supplied by fusion, will collapse down into an ultradense object, around the size of Earth (or the Moon!), but packing in as much mass as 1.4 Suns.  READ MORE...

Long Lasting Phone Batteries

Phone batteries tend to wear out after only a few years, but the problems don’t end there: the batteries contain heavy metals, which can be damaging to the environment if they are disposed of incorrectly. And yet, figuring out how to dispose of your old phone correctly can be a daunting task. Luckily, researchers in Australia may have just found a way around all of that.


The team of researchers from the RMIT School of Engineering used a nanomaterial called MXene to create a battery that could last up to nine years. ScienceDaily reports that this battery could become a viable alternative to the industry standard lithium-ion batteries, which wear out very quickly and are a challenge to recycle.

MXene has high electrical conductivity, similar to graphene, but with even more benefits because of how malleable it is, according to the researchers.


“Unlike graphene, MXenes are highly tailorable and open up a whole range of possible technological applications in the future,” Professor Leslie Yeo, the lead senior researcher on the project, told ScienceDaily.  READ MORE...

Tons of Cocaine Floating Around in Pacific Ocean

New Zealand authorities have recovered 3.2 tonnes of cocaine, worth more than $300 million, found floating in the Pacific Ocean and believed to be bound for Australia.  Police said the haul of 81 bales, which was drifting hundreds of kilometres northwest of New Zealand, was recovered in a joint operation with the New Zealand Customs Service and Defence Force acting on intelligence from the Five Eyes alliance, which also includes Australia, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

“This is the largest find of illicit drugs by New Zealand’s agencies by some margin,” said Commissioner of New Zealand Police Andrew Coster.  Officials believe the drugs were dropped at a “floating transit point” in the Pacific Ocean where they would have been picked up and taken to Australia.  “We believe it was destined for Australia, where it would have been enough to service the market for one year,” Coster said.  “It is more than New Zealand would use in 30 years.”

A police photo showed the massive haul was bound by netting and covered in yellow floats. Some of the bales had a Batman symbol on them, with the packages of cocaine inside labelled with what appeared to be a print of a four-leaf clover.  Coster described the bust as a “huge result” for police in both New Zealand and Australia.  “There is no doubt this discovery lands a major financial blow right from the South American producers through to the distributors of this product,” he added.  Officials said it was too early to say where the drugs came from.

Quantum Computing Chips

Australian engineers have discovered a new way of precisely controlling single electrons nestled in quantum dots that run logic gates. What’s more, the new mechanism is less bulky and requires fewer parts, which could prove essential to making large-scale silicon quantum computers a reality.

The serendipitous discovery, made by engineers at the quantum computing start-up Diraq and UNSW Sydney, is detailed on January 12 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

“This was a completely new effect we’d never seen before, which we didn’t quite understand at first,” said lead author Dr. Will Gilbert, a quantum processor engineer at Diraq, a UNSW spin-off company based at its Sydney campus. “But it quickly became clear that this was a powerful new way of controlling spins in a quantum dot. And that was super exciting.”

Logic gates are the basic building block of all computation; they allow ‘bits’ – or binary digits (0s and 1s) – to work together to process information. However, a quantum bit (or qubit) exists in both of these states at once, a condition known as a ‘superposition’. This allows a multitude of computation strategies – some exponentially faster, some operating simultaneously – that are beyond classical computers. Qubits themselves are made up of ‘quantum dots’, tiny nanodevices which can trap one or a few electrons. Precise control of the electrons is necessary for computation to occur.  READ MORE...

Spinach Causes Hallucinations

Delirium. Fever. Hallucinations. Not what you expect when adding baby spinach to a salad, but these are among the alarming symptoms dozens of Australians have experienced after consuming what are thought to be contaminated batches of the leafy greens.

More than 100 people reported symptoms, including at least 54 who have sought medical help, after eating baby spinach that the authorities believe to be tainted. Four major supermarket chains have recalled products containing the suspect spinach.

The authorities said that the spinach had caused “possible food-related toxic reactions” with those affected experiencing symptoms including delirium, hallucinations, blurred vision, rapid heartbeat and fever.

Some Australians took to social media to jokingly ask how they could obtain hallucinogenic spinach. “Never have I been so interested in salad,” one Twitter user said.  READ MORE...

Tech Companies Must Pay for News in Australia

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s law forcing Google and Facebook to pay for news is ready to take effect, though the laws’ architect said it will take time for the digital giants to strike media deals.

The Parliament on Thursday passed the final amendments to the so-called News Media Bargaining Code agreed between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday.

In return for the changes, Facebook agreed to lift a ban on Australians accessing and sharing news.

Rod Sims, the competition regulator who drafted the code, said he was happy that the amended legislation would address the market imbalance between Australian news publishers and the two gateways to the internet.

“All signs are good,” Sims said.

“The purpose of the code is to address the market power that clearly Google and Facebook have. Google and Facebook need media, but they don’t need any particular media company, and that meant media companies couldn’t do commercial deals,” the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair added.

The rest of the law had passed in Parliament earlier, so it can now be implemented.

Google has already struck deals with major Australian news businesses in recent weeks including News Corp. and Seven West Media.

Frydenberg said he was pleased to see progress by Google and more recently Facebook in reaching commercial deals with Australian news businesses.  READ MORE...

Kangaroos in Australia

No image of outback Australia is complete without a mob of kangaroos hopping across the horizon. Kangaroos belong to the Macropodidae family, meaning ‘big foot’ in Latin (a reference to their large back feet).

These include the Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus), Eastern Grey Kangaroo (M. giganteus), Western Grey Kangaroo (M. fuliginosus), Antilopine Kangaroo (M. antilopinus), Common Wallaroo (or Euro) (M. robustus) and the Black Wallaroo (M. bernadus).

The word kangaroo derives from ‘Gangurru’, the name given to Eastern Grey Kangaroos by the Guuga Yimithirr people of Far North Queensland. Kangaroos are of cultural and spiritual significance to Aboriginal people across Australia. Plus, their meat was, and continues to be, a staple protein source; pelts were used for clothing and rugs; and their skin crafted into water bags.

Kangaroos are the world’s largest marsupials. A Red Kangaroo can weigh 90kg and can grow two metres tall. Black Wallaroos, at around 20kg, are the smallest species (their name a portmanteau of wallaby and kangaroo).

All kangaroos have short hair, powerful hind legs, small forelimbs, big feet and a long tail. They have excellent hearing and keen eyesight. Depending on the species, their fur coat can be red, grey or light to dark brown.

Their muscular tail is used for balance when hopping, and as another limb when moving about. They also use their tail when swimming; that’s right – kangaroos are good swimmers! They swim to avoid predators, and can use their forepaws to drown pursuers.

Kangaroos can’t hop backwards and are featured on the Australian coat of arms as a symbol of national progress: an animal that can only move forwards.  READ MORE...

Aboriginal Culture in Australia

Australian Aboriginal peoples, one of the two distinct groups of Indigenous peoples of Australia, the other being the Torres Strait Islander peoples.

It has long been conventionally held that Australia is the only continent where the entire Indigenous population maintained a single kind of adaptation—hunting and gathering—into modern times. Some scholars now argue, however, that there is evidence of the early practice of both agriculture and aquaculture by Aboriginal peoples.

This finding raises questions regarding the traditional viewpoint that presents Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples as perhaps unique in the degree of contrast between the complexity of their social organization and religious life and the relative simplicity of their material technologies. (For a discussion of the names given to the Indigenous peoples of Australia, see Researcher’s Note: Britannica usage standards: Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia.)


Prehistory
It is generally held that Australian Aboriginal peoples originally came from Asia via insular Southeast Asia (now Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, and the Philippines) and have been in Australia for at least 45,000–50,000 years. On the basis of research at the Nauwalabila I and Madjedbebe archaeological sites in the Northern Territory, however, some scientists have claimed that early humans arrived considerably sooner, perhaps as early as 65,000 to 80,000 years ago. 

That conclusion is consistent with the argument made by some scholars that the migration of anatomically modern humans out of Africa and adjacent areas of Southwest Asia to South and Southeast Asia along the so-called Southern Route predated migration to Europe. Other scholars question the earlier dating of human arrival in Australia, which is based on the use of optically stimulated luminescence (measurement of the last time the sand in question was exposed to sunlight), because the Northern Territory sites are in areas of termite activity, which can displace artifacts downward to older levels.

In either case, the first settlement would have occurred during an era of lowered sea levels, when there were more-coextensive land bridges between Asia and Australia. Watercraft must have been used for some passages, however, such as those between Bali and Lombok and between Timor and Greater Australia, because they entail distances greater than 120 miles (200 km). 

This is the earliest confirmed seafaring in the world. By about 35,000 years ago all of the continent had been occupied, including the southwest and southeast corners (Tasmania became an island when sea levels rose sometime between 13,500 and 8,000 years ago, thus isolating Aboriginal people who lived there from the mainland) as well as the highlands of the island of New Guinea. 

Archaeological evidence suggests that occupation of the interior of Australia by Aboriginal peoples during the harsh climatic regime of the last glacial maximum (between 30,000 and 18,000 years ago) was highly dynamic, and all arid landscapes were permanently occupied only roughly 10,000 years ago.  READ MORE...

What to see in Australia

Famous for its sandy beaches, sunshine and marsupials, Australia is a dream trip for many travelers worldwide. But visitors are often pleasantly surprised to find that the Lucky Country has much more to offer than they’d expected: from barren outback to lush rainforests, extraordinary flora and fauna, two of the world’s most exciting fossil sites, and world-class museums, galleries and restaurants, Australia really has something for everyone.

There’s so much to see and do that these 15 recommendations are really just the start of your Aussie adventure; don’t be surprised if on the flight home, you’re already planning your next visit!

Lets explore the best places to visit in Australia:

1. SydneySource: flickrSydney

Perhaps Australia’s best-known tourist destination, Sydney is the gateway city for many tourists, as well as being the largest city in Australia.

A vibrant metropolis of over 4 million, Sydney is famous for its excellent cuisine, nightlife, shopping, and cultural attractions; and, of course, the Sydney Opera House! You’ll want to spend at least a few days here, but if you’re in a rush, some of the best inner-city attractions are the Powerhouse Museum, Manly, Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, Paddington Markets, Taronga Zoo, and the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Or catch the hop-on, hop-off bus – with 34 designated stops, and insightful commentary, you’ll see some of Sydney’s most popular sites and have a great time!

2. Canberra
3. Brisbane
4. Byron Bay and Nimbin
5. Gold Coast
6. Cairns and Port Douglas
7. Perth
8. Coral Bay
9. Uluru/Ayer’s Rock
10. Kakadu National Park
11. Melbourne
12. Great Ocean Road
13. Adelaide and the Barossa Valley
14. Hobart
15. Cradle Mountain

READ MORE...

All About Australia

Australia, the smallest continent and one of the largest countries on Earth, lying between the Pacific and Indian oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. Australia’s capital is Canberra, located in the southeast between the larger and more important economic and cultural centres of Sydney and Melbourne.

The Australian mainland extends from west to east for nearly 2,500 miles (4,000 km) and from Cape York Peninsula in the northeast to Wilsons Promontory in the southeast for nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km). To the south, Australian jurisdiction extends a further 310 miles (500 km) to the southern extremity of the island of Tasmania, and in the north it extends to the southern shores of Papua New Guinea.

Australia is separated from Indonesia to the northwest by the Timor and Arafura seas, from Papua New Guinea to the northeast by the Coral Sea and the Torres Strait, from the Coral Sea Islands Territory by the Great Barrier Reef, from New Zealand to the southeast by the Tasman Sea, and from Antarctica in the far south by the Indian Ocean.

Australia has been called “the Oldest Continent,” “the Last of Lands,” and “the Last Frontier.” Those descriptions typify the world’s fascination with Australia, but they are somewhat unsatisfactory. In simple physical terms, the age of much of the continent is certainly impressive—most of the rocks providing the foundation of Australian landforms were formed during Precambrian and Paleozoic time (some 4.6 billion to 252 million years ago)—but the ages of the cores of all the continents are approximately the same. 

On the other hand, whereas the landscape history of extensive areas in Europe and North America has been profoundly influenced by events and processes that occurred since late in the last Ice Age—roughly the past 25,000 years—in Australia scientists use a more extensive timescale that takes into account the great antiquity of the continent’s landscape.  SOURCE:  Britannica

THANK YOU

The following countries have visited this blog more than once and are continuing to visit.  That support and loyalty is greatly appreciated.  

These countries are listed below:

1. USA
2. Germany
3. Phillippines
4. Italy
5. India
6. Canada
7. Ireland
8. United Kingdom
9. Russia
10. Australia
11. France
12. Nigeria
13. Venezuela
14. South Africa

I will devote a day, posting several articles about your country as way of drawing attention to where you live.  This is my way of showing appreciation for your support.  I will continue to focus on all of your countries throughout the year.  It will be my pleasure to help us draw attention to who we are and what we are all about.

ITS JUST ABOUT PEOPLE... like you and I...

Growing Brain Cells

The story could have been straight out of science fiction – scientists have grown human brain cells in a lab, and taught them to play the video game Pong, similar to squash or tennis. But this didn’t happen on the big screen. It happened in a lab in Melbourne, Australia, and it raises the fundamental question of the legal status of these so-called neural networks.

Are they the property of the team that created them, or do they deserve some kind of special status – or even rights?

The reason this question needs to be asked is because the ability to play Pong may be a sign that these lab-grown brain cells have achieved sentience – often defined as the capacity to sense and respond to a world that is external to yourself.

And there is widespread consensus that sentience is an important threshold for moral status. Ethicists believe that sentient beings are capable of having the moral right not to be treated badly, and an awareness of the implications of sentience is increasingly embedded in research practices involving animals.  READ MORE...

Zero Extinction Plan

Australia's environment authorities on Tuesday presented a plan to bolster protection and restoration of the country's threatened species and natural places.

"The need for action to protect our plants, animals and ecosystems from extinction has never been greater," Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said in a statement.

Australia's questionable conservation record

Australia, while ranked among the world's wealthiest countries, gets a poor score when it comes to the protection of its animal species.

"Australia is the mammal extinction capital of the world," Plibersek said.

Wildlife advocacy groups say that animal habitats are in decline due to human activity, and events like the devastating 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires are estimated to have killed, injured or displaced around 3 billion animals.

"The Black Summer bushfires in particular have seen devastating results for many species. We are determined to give wildlife a better chance," said Plibersek.  READ MORE...

Largest Crock in the World

The largest crocodile in the world, the estuarine crocodile, or “saltie,” is 22 feet long and can weigh up to 2,200 pounds. Other crocodile species include the dwarf crocodile, which is less than six feet long, and the saltwater crocodile.

The warmer tropical waters of the Southern Hemisphere’s wetland ecosystems are home to a range of crocodile species. Because they are unable to control their body temperature inside, they rely largely on the sun to rewarm their bodies after they have submerged themselves in water to chill them.

That brings us to the beautiful country of Australia. While the country down under is known for animals such as koalas and kangaroos, one crocodile seems to stand out. Meet Dominator. Dominator, a 20-foot crocodile that weighs more than a metric ton, is reputedly the second-largest crocodile ever seen.

Australia’s saltwater croc populations are expanding, and the Adelaide River is one of the nation’s densely populated regions. Images of a massive crocodile ripping a pig in half before eating it made headlines throughout the world last year.

In comparison to Lolong, who is held captive in the Philippines, he is only three inches shorter. He was caught in 2011, and at 20 feet three inches long from nose to tail, he is the largest crocodile ever recorded.

This big croc lives in the murky waters of the Adelaide River and likes to show off for tourist boats. While this giant croc will have your jaw on the floor, he’s not the only one in the area. His rival is named Brutus and is ever so slightly smaller than Dominator. One thing’s for sure – you won’t catch me swimming in the Adelaide River.  READ MORE...

Pigs to The Rescue

In the land down under, one ecological nightmare is helping crocodiles fill their bellies.

The saltwater crocodile has been prowling Australia’s waterways for millions of years, eating whichever animal was unfortunate enough to fall in its jaws. Still, despite their fearsome nature, this species came to the brink of extinction in the 1970s. But now, they are recovering while also performing a hugely important ecological service: the species is growing fat by eating the invasive, habitat-destroying feral pig.

Researchers say this interplay between the native saltwater croc and feral pigs, the descendants of animals brought to Australia by European colonists, could be the first sign that the invasive species has finally met with a predator that can help keep its population in check. At the same time, it gives real grounds for hope that the crocs themselves may recover, now that they have access to a steady and convenient source of food.


“Crocodiles eat whatever is easiest, and feral pigs are the perfect size,” said Mariana Campbell, a researcher at Charles Darwin University in Australia who studies saltwater crocodiles in the country’s north. “They’re pretty lazy hunters. If you’re a crocodile, what is easiest? You stay near the bank and wait a few hours for a pig? Or do you go and hunt for a shark, an animal that can swim five times faster than you?”

Since first arriving in Australia in the late 18th century, feral pigs — the wild, descendants of escaped domestic pigs — have spread over almost 40% of the continent. They are one of the most successful invasive species plaguing Australia today, and are held responsible for widespread habitat loss and as important contributors to Australia’s rate of mammal extinctions, which is the highest in the world.  READ MORE...

Prehistoric Egg Identified

The only almost completely intact Genyornis eggshell ever discovered. It was located by 

N. Spooner and collected by Gifford H. Miller, South Australia. The presence of four 

puncture wounds on the egg indicates that it was predated by a scavenging marsupial. 

Credit: Gifford H. Miller

A years-long scientific controversy in Australia about what animal is the true mother of gigantic primordial eggs has been settled. In a recent study, scientists from the University of Copenhagen and their global counterparts showed that the eggs could only be the last of a rare line of megafauna known as the “Demon Ducks of Doom.”

Consider living next to a 200 kg, two meters tall bird with a huge beak. This was the situation for the first people who settled in Australia some 65,000 years ago.

Genyornis newtoni, the last members of the “Demon Ducks of Doom,” coexisted there with our ancestors as a species of a now-extinct family of duck-like birds.

According to a recent study by experts from the University of Copenhagen and an international team of colleagues, the flightless bird lay eggs the size of cantaloupe melons, presumably to the delight of ancient humans who most likely gathered and consumed them as an essential protein source. The research was just released in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Since experts initially found the 50,000-year-old eggshell pieces 40 years ago, the huge eggs have been the subject of debate. It wasn’t known until recently if the eggs genuinely belonged to the family of “demon-ducks,” also known as dromornithids.

Since 1981, the identity of the bird that lay the eggs has been a source of controversy for scientists all across the globe. While some proposed Genyornis newtoni, others thought the shells were from Progura birds, an extinct member of the megapode group of species. Progura were “chicken-like birds” that only weighed between five and seven kilos and had huge feet.  READ MORE...