The Royal Society of Victoria is delighted to congratulate Dr Ashleigh Hood, the 2022 recipient of the Phillip Law Postdoctoral Award, and the first to be awarded in the new category of Earth Sciences. Her research focuses on the co-evolution of life and planetary surface conditions over the last several billion years of Earth’s history. Ashleigh attained her PhD in geology from the University of Melbourne in 2014.
A senior practicing rheumatologist and clinical epidemiologist, Professor Rachelle Buchbinder conducts a broad range of multidisciplinary research projects relating to the treatment of arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions, as well as improving communication with patients and general health literacy. She has made outstanding contributions to her field through consistent excellence.
There is a chance that life on Earth is the rarest thing of all. But as we fly further away from home, we realise the Sun is simply one of the billions of stars that form the Milky Way Galaxy. Beyond the Solar System are worlds that orbit other stars (with rogue planets that answer to no star, roving between). The Kepler Mission estimates that 40 billion rocky, Earth-like exoplanets orbit stars like our Sun in our region of the Milky Way Galaxy. Is Earth perhaps not so special?
Climate Notes was an emotive, interactive exhibition and performance work that explores how we feel about climate change through music, letter writing and film. Developed by the Royal Botanic Gardens with funding from the Inspiring Victoria program, the project commissioned six Australian composers from different cities to write works evoking feelings about climate change and responding to the letters.
The only evidence we have of life existing in the entire universe is here on Earth. Using this as our starting point, we can define a range of potential locations in the universe that life could similarly emerge: a planet with all of Earth’s characteristics, orbiting a star with all of the Sun’s characteristics… while also acknowledging that life could also exist elsewhere, in other forms. So the question is: where is everyone?
