Ecos articles from October 1999

Ecos archives from October 1999

Bioterrorism: are we ready?
October 1, 1999... Australia is an unlikely target of bioterrorist attack during the Sydney 2000 Games, but it's a risk for which the country should be suitably prepared, according to Commander Andy Robertson of the Defence Health Service in Canberra. At a...

Local candidate for toxin patrol.
October 1, 1999... EARLY last year, scientists from CSIRO Land and Water imported from the United States the only soil microbe known to efficiently mineralise atrazine, the world's most widely-used herbicide. They planned to use the microbe -- Pseudomonas sp....

Hormonal bind for bad insects.
October 1, 1999... In the 1960s, Harvard University insect biologist Carroll Williams informed the world that only 0.1% of insects were pests. The remaining species were innocuous, even beneficial to humans. Williams made his point in response to the emerging...

Friendly fungus has termites covered.
October 1, 1999... A FUNGAL insecticide developed by CSIRO entomologists offers a new weapon to counter the termite's destructive reign over man-made structures. The fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae, produces tiny spores that kill termites by penetrating the...

What makes thrips tick?
October 1, 1999... Mention the word thrips, and many of us would think of those pesky insects that play havoc with our flower beds and vegetable gardens. This reputation is largely due to the destructive habits of the western flower thrips, a United States...

Accounting for carbon.
October 1, 1999... How much carbon is stored by a forest, on a farm, or in the soil? Australia has to tackle some complex mathematics before banking on the carbon trade to help meet its greenhouse obligations. Graeme O'Neill reports. The Tokyo Power Company...

Laid waste.(recycled concrete)
October 1, 1999... Years of delving into the properties of pre-loved concrete has laid the foundation of a valuable recycling industry. Bryony Bennett outlines the metamorphosis of a monumental waste stream. One by one the stout red trucks pause by the...

cue blooms the capture of a master flowering gene.
October 1, 1999... When you're rooted to the spot, the natural state for all the world's flowering plants, it pays to be closely attuned to your environment. To germinate or flower at the wrong time can prove fatal. In the equable environments of hundreds of...

On the rebound.(whale populations)
October 1, 1999... Big things are stirring in the Southern Ocean. Indeed, they don't come any bigger than whales. And many observers are delighted that lately these huge marine mammals have been stirring Australian waters more than they have for most of this...

Green housing.
October 1, 1999... Energy-efficient homes don't cost the earth, so why aren't we demanding them? Australia's need to limit greenhouse gas emissions just might force a change. The basic tenets of energy-efficient design for Australian homes have been...

Tales from the tomb.(Australian National Wildlife Collection)
October 1, 1999... Alastair Sarre tiptoes through the Australian National Wildlife Collection. The bird specimen room at the Australian National Wildlife Collection is as cold as a tomb. The heavy smell of napthalene hangs in the air; filters shade the...

Reconciling interests in the rangelands.
October 1, 1999... The pastoral industry in Australia's rangelands is in deep trouble. Hit by falling prices for cattle, sheep and wool, many people say it is in terminal decline. As if the cruel effects of commodity price plunges weren't enough, there are...

Clean water, and the smell of export success.
October 1, 1999... A strong overseas market is expected for an innovative Australian treatment process that uses tiny beads of magnetic resin to speed the removal of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from drinking water. The process, known as MIEX[R]DOC, has been...