Pluto Flyby - ABC Lateline
Alan Duffy
Quite ridiculously I found myself chatting to THE Tony Jones on ABC Lateline about the awesome Pluto flyby mission.
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Blog
Waking Blackholes - ABC Breakfast News TV
Alan Duffy
Blackholes can lie dormant for decades or more, supermassive blackholes like the one in the centre of our galaxy can silently wait for millions of years, before flaring into life as the brightest objects in the sky thanks to accreting material swirling around them glowing X-ray hot.
Read More"The accretion history of dark matter haloes - II. The connections with the mass power spectrum and the density profile" Correa et al. (2015b)
Alan Duffy
My student's second paper of a stunning 3-part series on the growth of dark matter structures. In this paper Camila tied the distribution of dark matter in haloes (i.e. the density profile) and initial power spectrum of the universe. This used detailed N-body simulations that Camila herself ran several of on supercomputer. Reference: Correa, Wyithe, Schaye and Duffy 2015 MNRAS 450, 1521C
Read MorePhilae lander wakes up - ABC Breakfast News TV
Alan Duffy
I was pretty stoked to see the lander had made a surprise reawakening and rushed down to the studios to share my happiness!
Read More"The accretion history of dark matter haloes - I. The physical origin of the universal function" Correa et al. (2015a)
Alan Duffy
My student's first paper of her PhD was a stunning 3-part series on the growth of dark matter structures. In this paper Camila set up the analytic machinery that tied the mass accretion history of haloes to the underlying cosmology of the universe using linear structure formation theory. In particular she showed that the rapid exponential growth of haloes in the early universe slows to become a slower power law at late times thanks to Dark Energy. Reference: Correa, Wyithe, Schaye and Duffy 2015 MNRAS 450, 1514-1520
Read MoreNASA's Flying Saucer - ABC Breakfast News TV
Alan Duffy
NASA has an outrageously cool new spacecraft concept for landing ever larger cargo loads onto Mars. And yes it looks like a flying saucer.
Read MoreAustralia's dark matter detector - 7's Weekend Sunrise TV
Alan Duffy
Channel 7's Weekend Sunrise had a feature on favourite dark matter detector in the Southern Hemisphere (it's the first and only one so that's an easy choice, as well as being a Co-Investigator which helps!)
Read MoreOn the Sun's Future - ABC Breakfast News TV
Alan Duffy
A chat on the couch about our Sun's Future and the protoplanet Ceres
Read MoreThe Power of Simple Questions at TEDx Sydney
Alan Duffy
Modern life can seem overwhelmingly complex. By showing the astounding insights into the world we live in from asking three brief questions, I told the Sydney Opera House that sometimes the best way to understand something complex is to ask a simple question.
Read MoreAustralia to host dark matter detector
Alan Duffy
With the excitement of our funding secured to build the world's first dark matter detector in the Southern Hemisphere in Stawell, Victoria we hosted VIPs and a film crew from 7's Sunrise Weekend. It was 30+ degrees and 100% humidity a km underground but that's where you need to go to search for dark matter!
Read MoreMen of Influence 2015 - Men's Style Magazine
Alan Duffy
Unexpected (and slightly surprising) honour but I made Australia's "Men's Style Magazine" Men of Influence 2015 list, crazily this was alongside legend Hawthorn Hawks player Shaun Burgoyne. Still, I took it as a good sign that science was being considered as a key part of Australia.
Read MoreRogue Spacecraft - ABC Breakfast News TV
Alan Duffy
A Russian spacecraft is spinning out of control and I get to rant about the awesome physics of Interstellar too. Fun chat on the couch.
Read MoreAboriginal Astronomy at the Karijini Experience
Alan Duffy
Just an amazing experience heading up to the beautiful Pilbara region of West Australia to speak about aboriginal astronomy. I was part of an amazing lineup of speakers and events for the Karijini Experience, featuring everything from indigenous basket weaving techniques to Opera in the Gorge by the incomparable Deborah Cheetham
Read More25 Years of Hubble - ABC Breakfast News TV
Alan Duffy
The worlds most famous telescope just turned 25, I looked back on some of its iconic images and greatest discoveries.
Read MoreScience Funding - ABC Breakfast News TV
Alan Duffy
The tricky issue of science funding in Australia, which thankfully was soon rectified (for a year or two) after this broadcast. I also got to chat about Blackholes which is far more fun but without the funding we couldn't actually study these beasts so the two issues go hand in hand.
Read MoreDr Duffy goes to Parliament (and meets the PM!)
Alan Duffy
I managed to corner the Prime Minister for a chat about my research during Science Meets Parliament when 200 scientists descended on Canberra to learn how to talk science to the funding bodies and politicians.
Read MoreOceans on Jupiter's Moons - ABC Breakfast News TV
Alan Duffy
Astoundingly discovery that the moon of Jupiter known as Ganymede has more water below the surface than all of our oceans combined. Also a quick chat about science funding.
Read MoreSun's Lost Siblings - ABC Catalyst TV
Alan Duffy
The Sun (like most stars) didn't form alone but came with 10s - 100s of siblings are born together. Thanks to new telescopes we can track down these long-lost sibling stars and see if they too have life.
Read MoreHouse of Cards - ABC Breakfast News TV
Alan Duffy
An unusual chat setting the non-science world to rights about House of Cards (piracy) and of course aliens.
Read MoreAlien Tech - ABC Catalyst TV
Alan Duffy
Definitely knowing that there are aliens out there requires us to see their signals, either radio waves from TVs say or twinkling lasers from their interplanetary communications. We can even think bigger and look for Dyson Spheres glowing red hot.
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