Happy 2016! This week, I spoke on
ABC Radio Central West about some of the science we can expect
in 2016:
2016 is the International Year of
Pulses, which aims to heighten public awareness of the
nutritional benefits of pulses as part of sustainable food
production aimed towards food security and nutrition. The Year will
create a unique opportunity to encourage connections throughout the
food chain that would better utilize pulse-based proteins, further
global production of pulses, better utilize crop rotations and
address the challenges in the trade of pulses.
2016 will also see some interesting astronomical events,
although it will be hard to beat 2015. My favourite upcoming events
are:
The continuing Akatsuki mission to
Venus. This mission is a testament to the usefulness of maths:
originally, the orbiter could not get into orbit around Venus due
to on-board failures, and orbited the Sun for 5 years, until the
mathematicians got together and figured out how to get the craft
back into orbit around Venus using the remaining working thrusters.
After 5 years!