Categories
geography and global resources science fiction Science resources

How many things live on Earth?

RiAus

RiAus is Australia’s national science hub, promoting public awareness and understanding of science. Their email newsletter always has interesting user-friendly updates in the world of science: http://riaus.org.au/

 

“In 2011 the human population surpassed 7 billion people, but how does that compare to other animal species?

The combined population of our home planet is almost impossible to quantify. While the human population is in the billions, bacterial species measure in the quadrillion quadrillions!”

3 minute video: http://bit.ly/1ge4Jnc

Global Populations

RiAus have included some useful links:

Current World Population – Statistics from Worldometer

Population Fact Sheets – Fact sheets by United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs

How many people have ever lived on Earth – Article from the Population Reference Bureau

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species – Lists from International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

Endangered Species Population Number – http://www.allaboutwildlife.com/endangered-species/endangered-species-population-numbers/3596

Farm Animal Populations Continue to Grow – Article from World Watch Institute

 

The science of Doctor Who

RiAUS are also presenting this fun & interactive stage show (BYOD) around Australia from April to June 2014. Investigate time travel and teleportation, discover how the Tardis can be bigger on the inside and find out if regeneration is really possible.

http://riaus.org.au/doctorwho/?utm_source=newsletter20140411&utm_medium=newsletter20140411&utm_campaign=newsletter20140411

The universes of Doctor Who: http://riaus.org.au/articles/universes-doctor/

Categories
books ebooks iPads libraries literature

Indie Book Awards

Interesting to see the winners announced on 26 March, chosen by the independent booksellers of Australia (200 shops nationally)…

Indie Book Awards

The narrow road to the deep north by Richard Flanagan was voted as the booksellers’ favourite Australian book from last year and the winner of The Indie Book of the Year Award 2014.    

Category winners:

FICTION AWARD:

The narrow road to the deep north by Richard Flanagan (Random House Australia)

NON-FICTION AWARD:

Girt by David Hunt (Black Inc)

DEBUT FICTION AWARD:

Burial rites by Hannah Kent (Pan Macmillan Australia)

CHILDREN’S AWARD:

Kissed by the moon by Alison Lester (Penguin Australia)

http://www.indies.com.au/IndieAward.aspx

 

Current Indie Top 10 bestsellers include Burial rites, The fault in our stars, The blazing world, I quit sugar for life (!), The Rosie project, Beams falling….

http://www.indies.com.au/Default.aspx

 

Interesting/cute article in the Sunday paper last week (does anyone buy them anymore?) – iPad dad who won’t let his (2 and a half year old) son read books…and the mum who smuggles them in:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/the-ipad-dad-who-wont-let-son-read-books/story-fni0cx4q-1226868554082

The article included a comment by Sophie Higgins from Dymocks, who said the market for children’s books has felt no impact from tablets like the iPad. “Sales of children’s books last Christmas were up 11.4% in value, that’s huge growth, and that growth was consistent all year.”

Other interesting info in the article: 376 public libraries in NSW; 3.2 million members and 35 million visits in 2012. Yay for libraries!