Winning Fresh Science:
Black holes are pink & genes for epilepsy

A geneticist and astronomer have shared the $2,000 prize for the best Fresh
Science presentation at ScienceNOW! the National Science Forum held in May
from 6 to 9 May. The winners are Robyn Wallace from the Adelaide Women's and
Children's Hospital and Paul Francis from Mount Stromlo Observatory.

"Fresh Science at ScienceNOW! rewards younger scientists who are prepared to
get out of the lab and show the community the value of their work,"
according to Ian Anderson, chair of the ScienceNOW! organising committee and
Australian Editor of New Scientist.

"We chose 16 scientists who had all done good science, but whose
achievements had been missed by the media and the public. They all performed
well - presenting complex scientific ideas in plain English to the public
and the media. But Robyn and Paul stood out and jointly received the
ScienceNOW! Fresh Science prize."

This year ScienceNOW! attracted international attention with Paul's work,
for instance, being reported in the Polish, Japanese, UK and US media.
"International interest in Fresh Science is an exciting development," said
Ian Anderson.

A gene for epilepsy
Scientists at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide have found a
genetic mutation which has caused members of a Tasmanian family to suffer
epileptic attacks.

"The discovery of this gene has immediate benefits for this family, such as
better genetic counselling, and will increase our ability to diagnose and
treat epilepsy in general" says Dr Robyn Wallace who found that a mutation
in a sodium channel gene caused this family to suffer epileptic attacks.
Only four epilepsy genes have been discovered to date.

Robyn Wallace can be contacted on (08) 8204-6442, email:
rwallace@medicine.adelaide.edu.au
Paul Francis - the pinkest objects in the sky

Paul Francis, from Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra has found that most
black holes are intensely pink. The pink holes were discovered using
telescopes at Parkes and Coonabarabran in the western plains of NSW

"The pink holes were quite easy to find," Francis said. "The hard bit was
proving that they are actually black holes." These black holes are more than
a billion light-years away, and are more than one hundred thousand times
fainter than the human eye can see. "It took the combined power of four of
Australia's best telescopes to identify what they were," Francis said.

Paul Francis can be contacted on (02) 6249-2824 or email
pfrancis@mso.anu.edu.au

Information on all 16 Fresh Scientists is available online at
www.byc.com.au/snmedia or from Niall Byrne on (03) 5253-1391. Ian Anderson
is available on (03) 9245-7365.