The transformative power of science suggests it should play a fundamental role in developing public policy, ensuring science informs debates about issues such as sustainable energy production, ecosystem protection, and genetic modification of food. However, using scientific knowledge to inform policy debate is not straightforward.

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?

‘Plate tectonics’ describes fragments of the Earth’s outer shell that move against, over, and under one another at their boundaries, slowly changing the shape and location of our continents and oceans. The theory revolutionised the Earth sciences field by providing an understanding of how mountains are built, volcanoes erupt, and earthquakes are triggered. But while the theory is now a given, this hard-won scientific consensus represents an historic moment in living memory.

The Society’s governing Council has supported the Burke & Wills Historical Society’s bid to have the memorial moved into the Golden Mile, on our land at the corner of Exhibition and Victoria, opposite the Exhibition gardens, and we presented our position to the Future Melbourne Committee last night.