#ansto — Public Fediverse posts

[edited formating and lenght]

As this post in The Point Live today makes clear, **we just don’t know** because we do not have **access** to the information. This is what all #AUKUS discussions, reporting, and editorials **MUST** concentrate on: Our Government’s *Secrecy* bent covering just about everything #Defence including #TierOne and #TierTwo. The only time we have access to information, limited thought it always is, is when #Marles or another #Minister announces some #Industrial news related to Defence or when a boat docks in #Fremantle. The Public has valid questions to ask and is deserving of answers from its representatives in Parliament. Let’s pressure Govt secrecy before we criticise the pros and cons of #AUKUS which we know *bugger all* about it. FFS.

—-Quote
What is at stake with Aukus
By Emma Shortis
As the fallout from that excellent Guardian Australia piece on the US military footprint in Australia continues, the National Indigenous Times has an important story about the impacts of that – and its promised expansion – on Indigenous peoples. As the NIT reports, the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance recently held its annual gathering in Nukunu Country in the Flinders Ranges. The Alliance:

united communities concerned about impact from the proposed AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine agreement [and] noted that many places in Australia are threatened by plans for submarine construction, new ports and radioactive waste sites as part of this flawed agreement.

Delegates representing Osborne at Port Augusta in South Australia, Stirling at Meandip (Garden Island) in Western Australia and Port Kembla in New South Wales shared concerns about “the lack of information and meaningful consent, the impacts of a military build-up in those communities, and the risks of nuclear waste”.

Members expressed concern the AUKUS proposal increases pressure from the federal government to find a radioactive waste storage site and for the first time there are now private companies seeking to play a role in nuclear waste management at sites in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

It’s an important reminder, along with very serious questions about Australian sovereignty, of just what is at stake with the Aukus deal. If you want to hear more about the relationship between Aukus and nuclear weapons and waste, we had Melissa Parke, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) on After America this week. Melissa spoke about the disproportionate impact of nuclear weapons and nuclear waste on Indigenous peoples. “
—- Unquote
Source: The Point Live today

One more point. Australia **must develop** a #NuclearWaste repository regardless of AUKUS in order to relocate the drums of radioactive waste temporarily stored at Australia’s #ANSTO only nuclear reactor site. It’s an issue, yes, and it is what it is, *OUR* waste to be delt with whether we like it or not.

https://live.thepoint.com.au/#8fe433f938

#AusPol #NPT #NuclearWeaponsBan #ICAN

#UniverseToday:
"
Plutonium in Earth Rocks Signals Long-ago Cosmic Collision
"
"A small lump of rock pulled up from the Pacific Ocean seafloor in 1976 is giving scientists new clues about an ancient cosmic event. More than a hundred million years ago, two neutron stars collided. .."

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/plutonium-in-earth-rocks-signals-long-ago-cosmic-collision

18.6.2026

#ANSTO #Astrophysik #Cm247 #Curium247 #Eisen60 #Elementsynthese #Ferromangankruste #HZDR #Isotop
#Mangankruste #Plutonium244 #Pu244 #rProzess #Supernova #Tiefsee #Universum

#HZDR:
"
Kosmische Zeitzeugen

Radionuklide in Tiefseeprobe deuten auf uraltes kosmisches Ereignis hin
"
".. in einer Mangankruste aus der Tiefsee seltene radioaktive Isotope nachgewiesen und damit neue Einblicke in die Entstehung der schwersten Elemente im Universum gewonnen .."

https://www.hzdr.de/db/Cms?pNid=99&pOid=77856

15.6.2026

#ANSTO #Astrophysik #Curium247 #Eisen60 #Elementsynthese #Ferromangankruste #Isotop #Mangankruste #Plutonium244 #rProzess #Supernova #Tiefsee #Universum

Cosmic witnesses: An international research team led by #HZDR has detected #rare radioactive #isotopes in a #deep-sea manganese crust, providing new insights into the formation of the heaviest elements in the #universe.
#DREAMS #HIAF #ANU #VEGA #ANSTO

▶️ www.hzdr.de/presse/kosmische_zeitzeugen

Image: B. Schröder/HZDR/ NASA, ESA, J. Hester, A. Loll (ASU)

Proposed cuts at #ANSTO look very likely to affect the Australian Quaternary community - worryingly via ceasing expert support for 14C dating. I wonder what proportion of Australian quaternarists have leaned on ANSTO facilities? I'm going to guess all of us!

There is still oportunity to make comment, more details in this quite hidden press release:

https://www.ansto.gov.au/media/8721

#AusQuaternary

#ANSTO is advertising an ongoing position on the MX beamline at the Australian Synchrotron, looking for a chemical crystallographer to join the team.

I've no experience on MX, but in general the beamline scientists at the Aussietron seem to have a good time? Should be a great experience!

https://careers.ansto.gov.au/job/Melbourne-Beamline-Scientist-MX-VIC/1212983066/

Australians only, unfortunately.

#GetFediHired #Synchrotron #AustralianSynchrotron #Crystallography

🐠 #Flinders #ANSTO and #CurtinUni have new insights into the lives of 380-million-year-old lungfish after a high-tech examination of ‘remarkable’ well-preserved jawbones found in the remote Gogo fossil field in northern Western Australia

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/high-tech-dive-into-mighty-bite-of-ancient-lungfish

#ANSTO are looking to employ an ongoing climate research scientist. Rare opportunity to join a good group :)

https://careers.ansto.gov.au/job/Sydney-Research-Scientist-Climate-Science-NSW/1212088266/

#FediJobs #FediHired #Climate

Permanent position up for grabs at #ANSTO for the isotope geochemists amongst us.

https://careers.ansto.gov.au/job/Sydney-Isotope-Geochemist-NSW/1210509701/

Open to Australian citizens only, unfortunately.

#FediHire #FediJobs #GetFediHired #IsotopeGeochemistry

Historical holes: Beneath the surface, caves hold the key to Australia’s wildfire history

My colleague @michcampbell recently held a postdoctoral research grant from AINSE. They've just released this 2025 Research Spotlight for early career researcher awardees all about her fire research. I think this is nicely done. If you'd like to know how caves and cave stalagmites can be used to reconstruct records of past fires, here's the article

http://andy-baker.org/2025/04/22/historical-holes-beneath-the-surface-caves-hold-the-key-to-australias-wildfire-history/

#academia #fire #caves #karst #AINSE #ANSTO #UNSW

Plants have immune systems! Because of course they do!

I'm on a new paper where we learn a little bit more about it.

https://www.ansto.gov.au/news/researchers-uncover-how-pathogens-hijack-phosphate-pathways-to-infect-crops

#Science #plants #crystallography #ansto

The Australian Synchrotron is holding a free two-day workshop for prospective users of the microscopy beamlines (XFM, IRM and THz).

#Synchrotron #AustralianSynchrotron #ANSTO #XFM #XrayFluorescence #IRM #microscopy

https://www.ansto.gov.au/whats-on/australian-synchrotron-microscopy-workshop-2024-a-virtual-2-day-event

Just published in Organic Geochemistry, "Fire-induced shifts in stalagmite organic matter mapped using Synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy", led by #ANSTO colleague Dr. Liza McDonough. We demonstrate for the first time that Synchrotron IRM is a promising non-destructive, high resolution (5 µm) technique for analysing stalagmite organic matter. The paper can be found #OpenAccess here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2024.104842

#speleothem #stalagmite #organicMatter #pastClimate #geochemistry #UNSW

@Andbaker

The things that dissolve out of wildfire ash

A few weeks ago my colleague @michcampbell published a paper all about this. As the title states, combustion completeness and sample location determine wildfire ash leachate chemistry. So what is that chemistry? Lets start with the story of the paper. After the 2019/2020 Australian wildfires, there was a lot of wildfire ash on the landscape.

http://andy-baker.org/2024/06/04/the-things-that-dissolve-out-of-wildfire-ash/

#academia #fire #wildfire #caves #science #research #UNSW #ANSTO

Paper publication day is one of my favourite days! Our paper on wildfire ash chemistry is out today and #OpenAccess in the #AGU journal 'Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.' We analysed the inorganic and organic chemistry of wildfire (and prescribed burn) ashes from 4 karst areas in Australia and found that ash chemistry varies with burn severity and sampling location. Another team effort from #ANSTO, #UNSW, #UWA, #GNSScience colleagues (👋 @Andbaker )

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GC011470

@paleofire

#ANSTO is supposedly the source of expert advice on #nuclear power for Australia. Visit their page and you get a string of dead links to failed designs

https://www.ansto.gov.au/nuclear-power-technologies

I just learned that #ANSTO offers Auslan-interpreted tours of site! Cool 🤟

https://www.ansto.gov.au/whats-on/auslan-interpreted-saturday-science-discovery-tour

If you are interested in the chemical tracers of wildfires, and how those might vary with burn severity, check out our new #preprint https://www.authorea.com/doi/full/10.22541/au.170689252.26414470/v1

We leached wildfire ashes and soils from karst areas, so we can better understand the speleothem palaeofire proxy signal. Another team effort, with co-authors from #UNSW (👋 @Andbaker) #ANSTO, #UWA, and #GNSScience

#palaeofire #paleofire #processUnderstanding #Proxy #proxies #paleoenvironment

Thank you to Bernadette Zanet and her team at Yarrangobilly Caves for supporting another fruitful research visit this week.

UNSW alumnus and data analyst Rebecca Chapman returned to explain all about her research on the hydrology at the Harrie Wood Cave. Her novel application of a statistical method called 'functional data analysis' has been submitted for publication, and there is a pre-print available here:
https://lnkd.in/gX6iSGz9

We welcome all comments and feedback.

I had the opportunity to download the latest hydrology data from the caves, now a 12-year record of water movement from the surface to the groundwater. And also help out with some questions on cave climate monitoring. And catch some wonderful views.

The pre-print is "Spatiotemporal Variation in Cave Percolation Waters: A Functional Approach" with co-authors Shawn Laffan (UNSW), Monika Markowska (MPIC) and Liza McDonough (ANSTO) and is another collaboration between UNSW and ANSTO.

#research #water #research #science #groundwater #statistics #caves #climate #rain #hydrology #datascience #UNSW #ANSTO

Congratulations to my groundwater friends and colleagues at ANSTO, who appear to have swept the boards at their award night.

ANSTO is Australia's nuclear science organization, running a research reactor to generate isotopes used in the health sector.

And they have an environmental isotopes team, which is where I collaborate. So: congratulations to Dr Karina Meredith (Excellence in Research), Liza McDonough (early-mid career award) and all of the groundwater team

https://www.ansto.gov.au/news/ansto-recognises-contribution-of-staff-for-outstanding-work-innovation-and-excellence

#ANSTO #groundwater #science #environment #nuclear

Our @unsw / #ANSTO team is presenting at #EGU23 today! We're in session BG1.2, poster Hall A, from 2pm until the coffee break. Come and find as at A.191, A.202 and A.203 to see what we've been up to in the #speleothem #palaeofire world.

#paleofire

Over the last few years, we (Pauline Treble, @michcampbell, Liza McDonough, @unsw and ANSTO) have been establishing a new methodology to obtain records of fire history. It uses cave stalagmites as the archive of past fires, a novel approach for cave science and fire research communities.

Why use cave stalagmites to record fire history? They can contain exceptionally long and continuous annual laminae that allow us to count back in time very precisely. And this allows the precise determination of fire frequency in the past, which is measured using high-resolution geochemical techniques such as laser ablation mass spectrometry and synchrotron elemental mapping.

Next week, Liza, Micha and Pauline present our most recent results at the EGU General Assembly in Vienna. If you are interested, the abstracts are accessible to everyone using the links below.

EGU23-11016
Speleothems as archives for palaeofire proxies by Micheline Campbell et al.
https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/EGU23-11016.html

EGU23-2932
Hydrological conceptual model for reconstructing fire history from cave stalagmites by Pauline Treble et al.
https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/EGU23-2932.html

EGU23-10651
An annually resolved stalagmite record of fire frequency for the last 250 years in south west Australia by Liza McDonough et al.
https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/EGU23-10651.html

#research #academia #science #caves #fire #wildfire #scicomm #environment #geology #UNSW #ANSTO #egu23 @EuroGeosciences

Absolutely blown away that they FOUND THE TINY RADIOACTIVE CAPSULE missing in Western Australia!!! An awesome new piece of kit from #ANSTO was instrumental https://www.ansto.gov.au/news/wa-outback-proves-no-match-for-aussie-nuclear-know-how

Are you interested in fire history, and novel methods for obtaining records of past fires.

At the EGU General Assembly in April 2023, please consider attending the session "Novel proxies for understanding past fires: outcomes for land and ecosystem management".

My colleague @michcampbell is co-convening and she'd love to see you there!

EGU23 will be fully hybrid, and she welcomes submissions from online attendants.

https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/session/45519

#academia #research #fire #climate #wildfire #EGU23 #UNSW #ANSTO #conference

Next week we have a poster of our latest research at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (#AGU22).

What are we presenting about? Our use of stalagmites as archives of past fires

Why use stalagmites? They have a very high resolution, meaning that we can count annual growth layers and identify the frequency of fires in the past.

How do we do it? We detect the ash-derived elements that are transported from the surface to the cave in drip waters

And the poster? Is about how the oxygen and carbon isotope composition of stalagmites is also affected by fires

For anyone interested, here's the session details:

Quantifying the fire imprint in speleothem oxygen and carbon isotope records
Final Paper Number: PP25C-0894
Tuesday, December 13th; 2:45 PM - 6:15 PM (Chicago time)
Location:  online iPoster  and Zoom link

There's a copy of the poster below.

#fire #stalagmites #caves #science #environment #earthscience #academia #unsw #ansto