Very good point. A similar thing happened with the lack of coverage when water was discovered on the surface of the Moon last year. From memory, only 'The Australian' newspaper gave it any significant coverage, yet the implications were, and are, phenomenal. This is what happens when a culture loses faith and confidence in the future (reflecting a social system that has run long past its used-by date).

Reach for the stars!

Ah Australian science reporters - you never fail to leave me unimpressed - and I'd be less unimpressed if I saw more science journalism. I suppose news editors don't think Australia is worth covering.

It does seem strange that this jazz woman physicist hasn't been profiled. She could have a crack at the The Inventors.

ABC compere: And what do you have for us today Christine?
CC: well I've developed a plasma drive motor that is better than anything the Americans have. It can theoretically reach near light speed and take us to Mars.
ABC compere: it's nice that as a woman you have a hobby that gets you out of the house. Would you care to turn it on?
CC: I don't think that's a good idea as it generates ...
ABC compere smiling to camera: women and machines eh? What does this switch here do?
Screen turns to black.

Lift your bloody game reporters.

Malcolm, has it ever occurred to you that the old truism about what goes around comes around is actually true.

For years, every time some B grade academic, geographer or historian though they may be, caught a dose of "me-too-ism", & issued a statement on global warming, your lot reported it as a new profound truth. For heavens sake, you even started reporting what other journalists said as if it was science.

Mate you can only get away with that rubbish for so long. Sooner or later anyone with an interest in science just flicks past the science reporting.

Hell! Even your editors caught on in time. To keep the government happy, & maintain their government advertising, they started reporting global warming as news. Fair dinkum, what more could be done to destroy any credibility you had.

I agree that this is a story that should be heard, particularly as it would prove that the yank, who discovers the same thing in 3 years, was not the discoverer.

As an old engineer I am very bored with electronics. I hunger for some real engineering research results like this, but it may just be too late for your lot. Most of us have now found the real stuff gets onto the net, sooner & more accurately, than the best papers can manage.

And not a moment too soon. Since mining cant continue in-defiantly here on earth, more opportunities will open up for mankind...in the likes of colonization, science research, and of course, a second base island if anything was to go wrong here.

I believe this will bring a well needed boost the worlds morale, just like the first landing on the moon did.

Engage the plasma drive. Just some links on how it works.

http://tinyurl.com/29utg89

http://tinyurl.com/26lqf6r

http://tinyurl.com/2bpckt4

Just love it.

BLU

I think the main problem is that scientific journalists lack two important skills.

1. They do not understand the actual science of the work they are reporting. This requires time, thus specialization into the field. As most journalists must report on a variety of stories (due to budget constraints), they do not have the time to specialize. This results in the lack of the second and most important skill;

2. The ability to communicate the science into lay (but interesting) language. It is very frustrating hearing a news story that is very interesting but provides insufficient detail to even understand the story beyond 'cancer treatment/ big microscope/etc'.

I think the problem with the AGW/climate change debate is that it is quite a complicated debate and the journos don't have much experience presenting more than one side of a story in sufficient detail.

PS Hasbeen, since you mentioned electronics, do you know much about germanium transistors darlington pairs?

Where is the money in a story like that? Much more profit for some in having a nation of sport junkies turning up at giant stadiums and pissing away large chunks of disposable income week after week. Then there are the big tellies and all the other stuff for the near live experience.

Why lament the lack of interest in science when it is a direct and obvious consequence of commercial sports promotion.