Proposed cuts at #ANSTO look very likely to affect the Australian Quaternary community - worryingly via ceasing expert support for 14C dating. I wonder what proportion of Australian quaternarists have leaned on ANSTO facilities? I'm going to guess all of us!

There is still oportunity to make comment, more details in this quite hidden press release:

https://www.ansto.gov.au/media/8721

#AusQuaternary

#ANSTO is advertising an ongoing position on the MX beamline at the Australian Synchrotron, looking for a chemical crystallographer to join the team.

I've no experience on MX, but in general the beamline scientists at the Aussietron seem to have a good time? Should be a great experience!

https://careers.ansto.gov.au/job/Melbourne-Beamline-Scientist-MX-VIC/1212983066/

Australians only, unfortunately.

#GetFediHired #Synchrotron #AustralianSynchrotron #Crystallography

🐠 #Flinders #ANSTO and #CurtinUni have new insights into the lives of 380-million-year-old lungfish after a high-tech examination of ‘remarkable’ well-preserved jawbones found in the remote Gogo fossil field in northern Western Australia

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/high-tech-dive-into-mighty-bite-of-ancient-lungfish

#ANSTO are looking to employ an ongoing climate research scientist. Rare opportunity to join a good group :)

https://careers.ansto.gov.au/job/Sydney-Research-Scientist-Climate-Science-NSW/1212088266/

#FediJobs #FediHired #Climate

Permanent position up for grabs at #ANSTO for the isotope geochemists amongst us.

https://careers.ansto.gov.au/job/Sydney-Isotope-Geochemist-NSW/1210509701/

Open to Australian citizens only, unfortunately.

#FediHire #FediJobs #GetFediHired #IsotopeGeochemistry

Historical holes: Beneath the surface, caves hold the key to Australia’s wildfire history

My colleague @michcampbell recently held a postdoctoral research grant from AINSE. They've just released this 2025 Research Spotlight for early career researcher awardees all about her fire research. I think this is nicely done. If you'd like to know how caves and cave stalagmites can be used to reconstruct records of past fires, here's the article

http://andy-baker.org/2025/04/22/historical-holes-beneath-the-surface-caves-hold-the-key-to-australias-wildfire-history/

#academia #fire #caves #karst #AINSE #ANSTO #UNSW

Plants have immune systems! Because of course they do!

I'm on a new paper where we learn a little bit more about it.

https://www.ansto.gov.au/news/researchers-uncover-how-pathogens-hijack-phosphate-pathways-to-infect-crops

#Science #plants #crystallography #ansto

The Australian Synchrotron is holding a free two-day workshop for prospective users of the microscopy beamlines (XFM, IRM and THz).

#Synchrotron #AustralianSynchrotron #ANSTO #XFM #XrayFluorescence #IRM #microscopy

https://www.ansto.gov.au/whats-on/australian-synchrotron-microscopy-workshop-2024-a-virtual-2-day-event

Just published in Organic Geochemistry, "Fire-induced shifts in stalagmite organic matter mapped using Synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy", led by #ANSTO colleague Dr. Liza McDonough. We demonstrate for the first time that Synchrotron IRM is a promising non-destructive, high resolution (5 µm) technique for analysing stalagmite organic matter. The paper can be found #OpenAccess here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2024.104842

#speleothem #stalagmite #organicMatter #pastClimate #geochemistry #UNSW

@Andbaker