Spotlight > climate science, on a global scale

They have been described as the most heavily scrutinised documents in the history of science. With input from 800 scientists, 50,000 comments from reviewers and a lengthy six years in the making, we are of course referring to the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We are very proud that some of our scientists played a leading role in this report and you can find out more about them in this blog post.

We've also recently published a FAQs page on our website. It contains clear and simple answers to the most common questions about our climate and the science of measuring it. Have a look at the page now.

3D mapping a Pisa cake

Our researchers have created the first ever interior 3D map of Italy’s iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa. The map, created using a mobile mapping tool called Zebedee, will have a significant impact on preserving the cultural heritage of the site. The system has already mapped caves, crime scenes, mines, forests and other cultural heritage sites. The system incorporates a laser scanner that sways on a spring to capture millions of detailed measurements of a site as fast as an operator can walk through it. In this case, it took 20 minutes to map the entire interior of the famous Leaning Tower. More on our blog.

Bloomin' beautiful: the spring flowers of space

We see both renewal and death in the lovely “blossoming” stars called planetary nebulae. Short-lived, bright and beautiful, these are the Spring flowers of space. But this blooming phase comes towards the end of a star’s life. After this last blaze of glory, the star fades and dissipates, giving its matter back to space to be built into the bodies of new stars. Astronomers using the Australia Telescope Compact Array have now studied one of these old stars and are learning more about how these stars sculpt themselves. More on the Universe blog.

Forty million critters and counting

Spotted a strange sponge? Photographed a fungus? Recorded the chirping of a bird in your garden? Become a citizen scientist by uploading it to the Atlas of Living Australia, where it will join 40 million other records of Australian critters. Reaching 40 million records is a huge leap forward in bringing Australia’s biodiversity information together online, making it easy to access and analyse. More on our blog.

Our Diabetes Recipe Book: who said you can't have panna cotta?

If you have type 2 diabetes, you are not alone. More than 1.5 million Australians have diabetes, and more than twice that number are likely to develop diabetes in the next five to ten years. The good news is that type 2 diabetes can be controlled so that you can lead a normal life. Our new recipe book contains more than 100 healthy and tasty recipes, including this one that we recently featured on our blog. More on our website.

Helping to put the bushfire out

Bushfire has been part of the Australian landscape for millions of years. Much of our vegetation has evolved with fire, and like the vegetation in other harsh and dry environments, it has developed characteristics that promote the spread of fire. We've been involved in bushfire research for more than 40 years and have surveyed every major bushfire since the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983. More on our website.

Quick aside

America's Cup fever: science puts the wind in their sails

Not blasting very much into the past this month but The America’s Cup last week brought back some memories.

If you were over that age of about 10 in 1983 and in Australia, there is a fair chance you will remember where you were when Australia II crossed the line for the final time.

After we lost the cup 1987 we collectively lost interest. The number of rule changes and changes to the designs of the boats did not help maintain the faith.

Despite this, there were a few Australians who remained involved with racing for the "Auld Mug" – including some CSIRO scientists.

One who went and worked for the “enemy” – well, a Swiss team based in Spain – was Dr Jack Katzfey (pictured above), based at CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Aspendale laboratories. Between 2002–10, he was able to combine his love of sailing with his meteorological knowledge to produce short-term, high-resolution (down to 1km) ensemble wind forecasts for the Swiss America's Cup sailing team, Alinghi, that contributed to their wins in 2003 and 2007. He did redeem himself by helping the Australian Olympic sailing team in 2008 at Beijing, China.

Dr Katzfey is a specialist in meteorology and forecasting and a recreational sailor on Port Phillip Bay. He is leader of the Mesoscale Modelling Applications Team at CSIRO, working with The Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research – a partnership between CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology. He is responsible for producing innovative high-resolution forecasts and regional climate change simulations.

More about out role in the America's Cup win in this podcast. Or learn about how we helped our sailors at the 2012 London Olympics with this same technology.

More >

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