"The lead author Dr Patrick Kelly (of California) was actually looking through a set of images for an entirely different purpose and thought, 'this looks a little funny', and then consulted the rest of us.

"And we thought that it could be something that researchers have been looking for because [Albert] Einstein had predicted this impact on light and astronomers had spent decades trying to find something like this."

Dr Tucker said the four images of the same event would allow scientists to probe how much mysterious dark matter there was in the universe.

"Dark matter is not uniform, it isn't nicely spread across the universe," he said.

"There's clumpy bits in some areas and none in other spots, so this allows us to look closely at the structure of dark matter."

He said the set of four explosion images would probably appear even more times, and may be witnessed in another part of the sky in the next year or so.

"This delay is actually due to the shape and size of the universe, and the best way to think of it is a bunch of trains which all leave at the same time but take different routes, around mountains and so on, so they will arrive at different times," Dr Tucker said.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-06/exploding-star-provides-hint-on-dark-matter-in-space/6284562

Professor Brian Schmidt has a Nobel Prize. Christopher Pyne does not. But in this crazy mixed-up world of ours, it's Viscount Christophe du Pyne who gets to decide whether Australia enters its future as a technologically advanced and scientifically literate nation, or whether we devolve into Aldous Huxley's half moronic mouth breathers. A class of stunted, low-caste simpletons good for grunt work, but even more useful, post mortem, as a crucial source of garden mulch.

The Viscount opts for garden mulch.

He is currently sitting, smirking, atop a budget of some umpty billion elephant bucks, refusing to toss a few battered coppers in the begging bowls of the sooty faced urchins in the scientific community because, as he puts it, "Mwahahahahaha!" Lest you imagine this is deja vu all over again, be assured he is not feeding CSIRO scientists into his mulching machine this time. They have already been distributed in a thick, moist layer around the herbaceous garden beds at Parliament House, to aid with soil stabilisation.

No, this time Viscount Christophe is dangling a different 1700 very smart people over the whirring blades, these eggheads gathered up from 27 facilities conveniently grouped under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. NCRIS, for short.

du Pyne has tied the continued funding of their research to the passage of his higher education policy changes; "reforms" seeming to be not quite the right word for such regressive and punishing measures. At stake, according to Professor Schmidt, are projects like the Integrated Marine Observing System, which "provides valuable observations used for predicting everything from where the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may have drifted", to crucial seasonal weather forecasts for Australia's farmers. Cochlear's implant technology, providing hearing to the deaf, the telescopes that support Schmidt's own Nobel-winning work, GPS enhancements for the military, super-microscopes to help Australian steelmakers maintain competitive advantage are all dangling over the drop.

"This is not the way a grown-up country behaves," Schmidt complained to Fran Kelly this week. "It's very childish and it's having a profound impact on something that is going to increase the productivity of the nation." The Viscount pushed out his lower lip and held his breath until his face turned purple, whereupon he blurted out that it was all the fault of the Greens and the ALP, who would not give him what he wanted.

In scientific terms this is of course a load of old tosh. Canberra can fund anything it wants. A Knighthood for Prince Phil. Another spiffing military adventure in Mesopotamia. The $30,000 travel bill for Viscount du Pyne and his lovely wife when they graced the fine hotels of London and Rome in April of last year. (It is a lovely time to be in Rome, April.) Why, if the Education minister so willed it, he might even find a quarter of a billion dollars to pay for school chaplains rather than some silly old telescopes.

read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/education-minister-christopher-pyne-heads-for-brave-new-world-20150306-13w7q2.html

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Yes I know I am very scatological in regard to Tony Turdy's government... But this is all this government deserves. SHIT WORDS to describe its crazy actions. The MMMM (the mediocre excrement we use as news dumps in this country) goes too soft on the blithers. Even the article above which is very good at pointing out the ills of a totally deranged Pyne is only satirical. It should be front page news: PYNE DESTROYS SCIENCE. PYNE IS A BIG SHIT. PYNE IS A GANGSTER. PYNE IS A BLACKMAILING IDIOT. ABBOTT IS DISHONEST. 

Shove the thick-end of telescope up Christopher Pyne's arse. He thinks he is smart by being a sneaky BIG SHIT. Yes, he has the intelligence of POLITICIAN. On the ONE HUNDRED anniversary year of Einstein's theory of General Relativity, having people like Pyne in charge of deliberate stuff-ups to thwart science is beyond comprehension. 

The picture at top is misleading, of course... When Einstein formulated his theories of relativity, He was a young man between 25 and 35 years of age. Quite impressive...

A trial program is aiming to revive language study in Australian high schools by starting with children at a much earlier age.

Experts say the earlier children start learning a second language, the better the outcomes in development, literacy and engagement.

This month, a Federal Government trial program was rolled out in pre-schools across the nation in a bid to boost the number of bilingual students graduating from high school in years to come.

Kenmore Park Kindergarten in western Brisbane is one of the 41 pre-schools taking part in the $9.8 million, 12-month trial.

At Kenmore, tablet computers supplied by the Government loaded with apps are being used to teach Japanese in every possible way to children at the kindy as part of an immersion course.

At other kindies, the program will also provide courses in Mandarin, Indonesian, French or Arabic.

Kenmore Park director Annie Kelly said the children had really embraced the opportunity.

"Whatever they are learning on the app we are trying to replicate and build on just in our day to day programs as well," she said.

"What we are finding is they are picking up the language very quickly."

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-21/kindy-language-program-aims-to-create-bilingual-high-schoolers/6336854

Please note: Gus being somewhat multi-lingual, I'd like to share some personal empirical information and from my dad. Learning languages works as a young person AS LONG AS ONE CARRIES ON LEARNING beyond the age of seven. But one has also got to consider that during the years between 12 and 25 (average) the young brain "rewires" itself. Not being exposed to "other languages" would reduce the learning of such languages to a very basic few words. Thus there is a strong need to carry on "experiencing" languages until one is at least 25 for the memory to be fully attuned to linguistic gymnastics... Learning refinements of such should never stop thereafter.