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Australian exports dance into Latin America
Latin America is a ‘hot’ business prospect
for Australian companies Austrade’s Latin America-based
Senior Trade Commissioner Gerard Seeber announced this
week.
“In just five months of this financial year,
more than 70 Australian companies have made sales worth
almost $142-million in Latin America with Austrade
assistance,” Mr Seeber said.
Mr Seeber also indicated that one of the best ways
to get a foot in the door in the Latin American market
was to take part in the Latin American Australia Festival
Tour 2004.
“This tour will open doors and increase awareness
of the products and services participating companies
provide,” he said.
“There’s growing interest in non-traditional
sectors such as education, processed foods, wine, fashion
and tourism. At the same time there is already strong
and growing demand in traditional areas of Australian
excellence such as mining and agricultural services
and technology, commodities and raw material.
Festivals will take place in Santiago (16-18 April),
Buenos Aires (20-21 April), Lima (23-25 April and Mexico
City (27-28 April).
.Second Australian scientist wins Japan Prize
Dr. Keith Sainsbury was awarded the Japan Prize last
month. Dr. Sainsbury received the award for his work
in conserving fisheries and marine ecosystems of
the world.
The Japan Prize, first awarded in 1985, recognises
individuals from all parts of the world whose original
and outstanding achievements in science and technology
have advanced the frontiers of knowledge and served
the cause of peace and prosperity for humankind.
Three categories were identified for the 2004 Japan
Prize awards - Chemical Technology for the Environment,
Food Production Based on Ecosystem Concepts (awarded
to Dr Sainsbury), and Science and Technology for Conservation
of Biodiversity.
Dr. Sainsbury’s pioneering research established
for the first time the importance of seabed habitats
in determining the productivity of key species and
the species composition of the Australian North West
Shelf ecosystem. His research also provided the most
rigorous demonstration of the impacts of trawling on
seabed habitat and fish community composition.
Most recently Dr. Sainsbury has led a research team
to develop and apply methods to assess integrated management
of the cumulative impacts and multiple-use of marine
ecosystems - one element of which is the sustainable
management of fisheries. This emphasis on understanding
and managing fisheries and other human uses of marine
ecosystems is a major reason for his being awarded
the Japan Prize.
The Japan Prize is recognised as the highest accolade
in the world for ecological research - there is no
Nobel Prize for the field of ecology - and comes
with 50 million yen ($625,000).
Dr. Sainsbury is the second Australian to win the
prestigious award. The first was Australia’s
Professor Frank Fenner, a microbiologist, in 1988.
Juggling improves the mind
According to ABC Science Online, new research has shown
learning to juggle leads to changes in the brain
that can last up to three months.
Dr Bogdan Draganski at the University of Regensburg
in Germany and his team showed that adults who learned
to juggle increased the volume of grey matter in particular
parts of the brain.
The research, which was published the journal Nature,
showed these were the parts that process and store
information about how we perceive and anticipate moving
objects.
After three months, the jugglers had a 3 per cent
increase in the volume of grey matter in the mid-temporal
part of the brain. But this increase was temporary.
Three months after the jugglers stopped juggling, however,
the 3 per cent increase in grey matter compared to
levels at the start of the experiment had fallen to
a 2 per cent increase.
Professor Graeme Jackson, researcher and director
of Melbourne's Brain Research Institute was intrigued
by the study. "If you use something a lot it changes
to cope with that use and there is no reason why neurons
in the brain should be different from our muscles," he
said.
As the grey matter increased in particular parts of
the brain in response to training, Jackson said this
could have implications for rehabilitating people with
a brain injury.
"This is another piece of evidence that suggests
that the brain can change as an adult," he said.
Australian government provides foreign aid to North Korea
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alexander
Downer, announced this week that the Australian government
is providing $4 million in humanitarian assistance
to the United Nations Inter-Agency Consolidated Appeal
for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The money will go to support food aid projects to
help feed some of the 6.5 million people, including
4 million children, who are in danger of starvation
in the DPRK this year.
Malnutrition is being exacerbated by poor health,
water, and sanitation services and the risk of a serious
outbreak of disease is significant.
Australia is providing $3 million for the purchase
of approximately 6,000 tonnes of Australian wheat flour
to help reduce the impact of the famine.
The wheat flour will be used to produce vital biscuits,
cereal milk blend and noodles for targeted groups including
children, pregnant and nursing mothers and the elderly.
A further $1 million will go towards UNICEF's Water
and Environmental Sanitation Project.
This project will upgrade water supply and sanitation
facilities for 3,500 children in 30 children's homes
and 15 branch schools, and will also educate households
about hygiene and establish centrally managed local
water authority teams to help ensure the effective
ongoing supervision of water supply and sanitation.
This contribution brings total Australian humanitarian
assistance to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
to $43.5 million since the mid 1990s.
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