Chemists Help to Make Light of Words

Home , Andrew Prentice

Registered by Australia P081- putlhcation No. VaG 2204 ISSN 0159-950 ~~~ Whafs New in Education, Research and-Community Service, Chemists help to make light of words ESEARCH ERS IN THE Chemistry In conventional copper telephone amounts of money and effort both in R Department have been granted nearly cables, information - usually the sound installation and maintenance. $!Ii million over three years to develop of a voice - is transmitted as a pattern of The two critical elements of the more efficient compounds from which to electrical impulses; in optical fibres light development of such a system are new manufacture devices to transform light performs the same role. types of glasses from which to manu signals into electrical energy. Because beams of light do not interfere facture optical fibres capable of carrying Such opto-electronic devices are critical with one another - beams of light shine an infra-red transmission, and opto-elec to the application of optical fibres, and through each other - thousands of them tronic devices capable of efficiently con ..::rl" l.'l:·velopment could provide the basis can be transmitted simultaneously in the verting between electronic signals and . v I' · i:1 sjlbstantial Australian export in one cable without loss of clarity. Only a infra-red signals at each end of an optical dustry, They are made from ultra-pure few transmissions can be carried by each fibre. organo-metallic compounds by a process copper wire. (Another research team in the Monash known as metal organic chemical vapor So the smaller diameter, lighter optical Chemistry Department headed by Dr deposition. fibres are a much more efficient carrier Doug MacFarlane already has made good The money for the Monash research medium for the telecommunication progress towards producing infra-red op amounts to about two-thirds of a Generic systems of the future. Telecom Australia, tical fibres from fluoride glasses - see Industry Research and Development in fact, already has given up buying cop Monash Review 1-88, page six.) (GIRD) grant awarded jointly to Monash, per altogether. According to Associate Professor the CSIRO Division of Materials Science An optical fibre cable is like a pipeline and Technology, Telecom Australia Dickson, Telecom already has produced of which the inner surface behaves as a some 90 trial prototype devices for testing Research Laboratoriesand CIG (Hytec). mirror trapping light inside. This inner Development of the opto-electronic as opto-electronic devices. The basic devices is part of a much larger project to surface is impervious to light of certain chemistry behind the process is relatively produce an optical fibre communications wavelengths or colors. simple. system which operates in the mid-infra In optical fibres fabricated from trad Volatile carbon-based (organic) metal red part of the spectrum. An infra-red itional silica glasses visible light is used for containing compounds are carried in pure based system would be ideally suited to transmission. It turns out that when visi hydrogen gas and exposed to a heated sur transmissions over long distances, such as ble light is transmitted over long face. Upon contact the organo-metallic those occurring in Australia. distances, the signal must be boosted by compounds break up, depositing a thin "This research represents a very big repeater stations about every 40 kilo layer of metal alloy on the hot surface. investment on the part of Telecom Aus metres, which would be inconvenient for The process then is repeated using dif alia, and it will make the system work cables laid between Adelaide and Perth ferent organo-metallic compounds to lay .'ne what may," says Professor Bruce across the Nullarbor, for instance . down a second coating on top of the first. West who, with Associate Professor Ron But if a system could be developed The finished device is a wafer of many Dickson and reader Dr Glen Deacon, will which made use of light transmitted in the alternating layers. be co-ordinating the Monash efforts to mid-infra-red, then the need for repeater Devices sensitive to the mid-infra-red investigate the chemical compounds from stations between Adelaide and Perth range have been made from alloys of cad which opto-electronic devices can be potentially could be cut to one or two or mium, tellurium and mercury built up produced. even zero, thus saving substantial from feedstock vapors of dimethyl cad mium, diethyl tellurium and mercury. Continued overleaf

• Carbon planets 3

a: • The Ramayana 4,5 ~ ..J 51 6, 7 ~ • Teeth ~ iii iii • Tougher shears 8 it. • Associate Professor Ron Dickson (right) talks with Dr Ian Christiansz of Telecom Research Laboratories in front of Telecom's new metal organic chemical vapor deposition equipment. Dickson is pointing to the deposition chamber. Chemists help make light of words From Page J But while the idea may be simple, its application certainly is not, for several reasons. And behind those reasons lies the stimulus for the Monash research, if Aus tralia is to utilise optical fibre technology to its fullest potential. First, there are the feedstock substances themselves. In order for the opto-elec tronic devices to work effectively, they cannot be contaminated by impurities. In fact, the allowable level of impurities is so low that the feedstocks must be 99.9999 per cent pure. To purify organo-metallic compounds to such an extent on an industrial scale demands great skill and expense, and high technology. At present in Australia it is not done. All our feedstocks must be imported. That presents two problems. The first is cost. Cadmium sold by Australia as raw • Professor Bruce ~st of Chemistry adjusts a vacuum line. metal for $3.80 a kilogram comes back as plicated organic groups were attached to "In the area around Monash, there is a dimethyl cadmium for between $30,000 the metals, they may detach more easily very high concentration of researchers and $100,000 a kilogram - that is, if it and be easier to handle. But we have ex and technology devoted to materials comes back at all. tremely limited data on how to prepare science. Within walking distance of here Therein lies the second problem. Aus them, let alone how they would behave." there are research groups in that field tralia is not the only nation interested in At Monash the grant money will pay working with eight important analytical infra-red based telecommunications. for two full-time research fellows to work techniques. Few other labs in the world Infra-red radiation is less subject to inter on the problem plus their materials and would have such easy access to two or ference than visible light. It therefore has the refitting of a laboratory to the high three of them," West said. great military application, and those level of safety and cleanliness necessary "Although there is a lot of overlap in countries which have developed expertise for their work. The materials, for in the work being done in many different and even feedstocks are loath to part with stance, need to be handled in an inert at countries and we are starting from them. mosphere, in the complete absence of behind, the hope is that we may come "Although Telecom has been able to oxygen and water . across better materials." purchase the instrument to produce these Any new compounds or production And that's not all. The spinoff's of devices, there is a large amount of methods need to be. fully tested, and it is development of this technology extend to developmental work necessary to get it here that the collaborative research group other electronic devices, lasers and sur fully operational. Each country involved put together for the GIRD grant really face coatings for other applications, such in this field accepts the need to be inde begins to come into its own. Both CSIRO as the prevention of corrosion. 0 pendent," West said . Materials Science and Technology and the But this situation also holds the pro Telecom Research Laboratories have very MONASH REVIEW is produced six liro yearly by lhe Inlormation Oltice, M~"',~. mise of a vast export market for a country sophisticated techniques to analyse University, Wellington Road, Clayton,Vicloria, with Australia's raw materials, if it could organo-metallic compounds and the 3168. Inquiries should be addressed to Tim develop new, more effective feedstocks or devices made from them. Thwaites, c/o the lntormation Oltice. more efficient ways of manufacturing the conventional feedstocks. And, according to Ron Dickson, the present feedstocks are far from ideal. For instance, all are highly poisonous and have to be handled with great care, par ticularly in commercial quantities of more than a few grams. More importantly, they are too ther mally stable. These compounds break up only at temperatures of between 400 and 500 degrees Celsius, hot enough to begin to affect the properties of the devices being produced. "We need to find a useful balance point between stability and instability," Dickson said. "It's an interesting problem because chemists have tended to be actively invol ved in constructing compounds, rather than breaking them down, and there are huge gaps in our knowledge. "Theoretical calculations done at the • Dr Glen Deacon of Chemistry (centre) with postgraduate student Dallas Wilkinson (left) and CSIRO suggest that if other, more com research fellow Dr Tran Tuong in front of a dry box of the kind to be used in the study. MONASH REVIEW 2 AUGUST 1988 Throw another planet on the barbie AMPERS WOULD have to put up with the reason the theories of Laplace were C soot showers on the cold, dark discarded originally, is just what it is that planets and moons of the outer solar causes the rings to shed and consolidate system, according to reader in Applied into planets. Mathematics, Dr Andrew Prentice. Prentice has proposed 'supersonic tur "It would not be a good camping bulence', a powerful form of convection, experience," he said . the circulation which occurs when a warm He was commenting on the latest out fluid rises and cooler fluid rushes in to come of his model for the formation of take its place. the solar system - that the moons of In this case, hot eddies of gas are seen Uranus, the planet Neptune and its as shooting out towards the edge from the moons, and the planet Pluto all contain centre of the whirling proto-sun or proto between 15 and 30 per cent solid carbon in planets at greater than the speed of sound. the form of graphite (pencil lead). While a growing body of theory is The graphite content would explain the beginning to accept that supersonic tur curious, dark appearance of several of the bulence can occur, few of Prentice's col Uranian moons, and why they are so cold, leagues actually believe in it. It would he said. appear to be critical, however, to the for All planetary bodies contain a residual mation of solid carbon in the outer solar system. ~m c e of heat in the decay of the radio • Dr Andrew Prentice of Mathematics and his active elements they incorporate. Because The graphite is formed from breakup prizewinning poster. of methane, and this occurs only at very of this the inner regions of non-carbon satellites heat up, begin to liquefy, and The presence of solid carbon now has low pressure, too low for it to happen their solid components separate into been supported independently by studies under the conditions postulated by the bands with rock at the centre and ice on of the light reflected by the moons, and is more conventional theories of the forma the outside. beginning to be accepted more widely. tion of the solar system. But if supersonic But graphite is such a good thermal And just how the graphite comes to be turbulence is invoked, the pressures dur conductor that carbon-bearing planetary there could be a consequence of the Pren ing the formation of the outer solar bodies rapidly assume the cold temper tice model. system would be ten thousand times less, and within the range where methane dis ature of the surrounding space, despite Prentice pictures the Solar System as their internal source of heat. So they do emerging from the contraction of a hot, sociates. Aside from the appearance of super not differentiate in the same way, remain whirling proto-sun which once covered sonic turbulence in the explanation of the ing cold and dark . the whole of the space now occupied by The Prentice model of the formation of the planets. presence of solid carbon in the outer planetary bodies, critics have pointed out the Solar System is based on the 190-year As it cooled, the proto-sun contracted, old ideas of the great French astronomer whirling faster still and sloughing off that in order for the graphite to conduct and mathematician, Pierre de Laplace. doughnut-shaped rings of gas from its thermally it would have to be connected equator at precise intervals. throughout each satellite. Although contentious in the eyes of These rings were abandoned where the Prentice admits the point, but suggests many of Dr Prentice's colleagues, the centrifugal force of whirling - the same that under the formation conditions model has come to worldwide prominence force which throws you around in a car graphite is likely to crystallise as long, as the only theory which was capable of when you turn a corner at speed - which thin "whiskers" which would increase the predicting the observations of the US Na pushes material away from the proto chances of contact. Also, to be thermally tonal Aeronautics and Space Administra sun's centre, is exactly matched by the effective, a graphite content of only two tion's (NASA 's) Voyager probes as they gravitational force pulling material per cent would be theoretically necessary. have flown past the planets Jupiter, towards the centre . Prentice now suggests we could find Saturn and Uranus. The rings collapse to form whirling that the moons of Neptune and the planet The latest work was presented at a re proto-planets, and the formation of the Pluto and its satellite Charon are as much cent conference in Pasadena, California, planets and their attendant moons is seen as one third carbon - giant pieces of to wrap up Voyager's January 1986 en as a re-run of the process on a minor charcoal floating in space. Whether he is counter with Uranus. Prentice's own scale. right or not will become clearer when poster illustrating his research was voted The point of controversy in all this, and Voyager encounters Neptune next year. 0 the best of the conference. At the time of the Voyager flypast , it was thought that all the carbon in the Uranian system was bound up in the form of methane gas. But then came a recalculation of the densities of the moons or Uranus, which put them all a little higher than expected for the usual mix of rocks and ices found in the inner solar system. Prentice suggested the discrepancy could be explained by assuming the moons were about 15 per cent graphite. This also would conveniently explain their ;f, dark color and lack of surface contrast, ~ and is consistent with little sign of internal e 2 geological activity since the time of their .Cl.\1 _ formation nearly five thousand million • The plant Uranus (centre) and its major satellites: (clockwise from lower left) Ariel, Umbrie!, years ago. Oberon, Titania and Miranda. MONASH REVIEW 3 AUGUST 1988 Saga dance forms link with the past

ITH THESE WORDS from the second Music to be run in conjunction with the W book of his epic poem, the Rama 1988 Symposium of the International yana, the Indian poet Valmiki summed up Musicological Society which takes place the life of the pious Hindu man. from 28 August to 2 September. In its description of the sufferings of Both the symposium and the dance Rama, the earthly incarnation of the god dramas are being directed by reader in Vishnu, the poem is essentially an Music, Dr Margaret Kartorni, under the exploration of the Indian concept of dhar major sponsorship of Monash University. ma, or righteousness. The tale of Rama The Ramayana, originally 24,000 verses has led many to renounce their worldly of Sanskrit, has assumed a bewildering possessions and assume the barkcloth variety of guises and has captured the garments of the ascetic. hearts not only of the peoples of India, Since it was written in the third or but also of Kampuchea, Thailand, fourth century B.C., the saga has spread Malaysia, Burma and Indonesia . It has throughout southern Asia. Today, the created a legacy of temple carvings and • Dr Margaret Kertomi of Music. story in its many local forms remains an place names from the Indian sub inspiration to about 700 million Hindus continent in the west to the island of Bali years after their marriage, Rama's succes of different nationalities. in the east. sion to his father's throne of Ayodhya is Melburnians will have a world -first And the saga is still so real that recently prevented by his scheming step-mother, opportunity to compare south Indian, about 1200 garbage collectors went on who demands the installation of her own Thai and Javanese interpretations of the strike in the Punjab city of Jalandhar son and the exile of Rama. saga in the one program to be presented at after it was announced that the television Rama and Sita are banished to Dan Monash University's Robert Blackwood soap-opera based on the Ramayana was dak's forests where the ten-headed Hall on I September. to end. demon-king, Ravana, kidnaps Sita and Accompanied by regional music played The story begins with Prince Rarna's flies with her to his home in Sri Lanka. As by authentic ensembles, the three dance betrothal to the beautiful Sita, the they pass over a valley populated by dramas will be part of the Festival of daughter of a neighboring king. Twelve monkeys, Sita drops her gold ornaments in the hope that the animals will tell Rama of her plight. Meanwhile Rama and his brother search the forests for her in vain. Upon receiving his wife's ornaments from the monkeys, the grief-stricken Rama seeks help from their warrior general. The monkey-general eventually finds Sita, and she gives him her wedding ring as proof of his discovery. Rama decides to invade Ravana's cit. with the aid of the monkeys , and in the ensuing battle kills the demon-king. On returning with Sita to Ayodhya to assume the throne, Rama begins to grow suspicious about his wife's chastity. Unable to bear the mounting gossip, he sends Sita back into the forest. After giving birth to twin sons, later to be reunited with their father, Sita returns to Mother Earth. Rama hands over his kingdom to his sons and ascends into heaven as the incarnation, Vishnu. To the Hindu the triumphs of Rama, after his banishment to the wilderness, are just rewards for his faith and devotion to duty. And for Hindu women, Sita is the personification of self-denial and en durance. Both husband and wife repre sent the Hindu ideal of the perfect man and woman. As Valmiki's story grew in popularity, it began to appear in Hindu kingdoms throughout southern Asia. And although the religious life of these civilisations re mained essentially Indian, their distinctive cultures were maintained. So, in time, • The Monash Game/an Orchestra in action. local versions of the Ramayana began to MONASH REVIEW 4 AUGUST 1988

- -- -_.•_..._..._-_._------_ ._----- creep into the oral literature of places as far apart and diverse as Java and Laos. In fact, so complete has been the assimilation, that sculptures of characters from the epic abound in almost all southern Asian countries, and the char acter names have become household words. "It is very interesting to compare the styles and details of the stories," Kartomi said. "The details are what vary, while the outline remains the same. There are hund reds of episodes that are unique to each area. "For example, in Java clowns have been introduced. Evidence of their appearance in performances of the saga can be traced as far back as the II th cen tury when, as now, they added political and topical references to the entertain ment. " Both the Javanese and Balinese perfor mances consist of two different styles of rbeatre: wayang kulit (shadow puppets) md wayang wong (classical dance d rama). Despite Java's conversion to Islam in the 16th century, the Ramayana has re mained extremely popular. Indeed, the Javanese city of Yogyakarta is named after Rarna's kingdom of Ayodhya (as is the city of Auythaya in Thailand). Sections of the saga are regularly per formed at Javanese weddings, with live musicians being replaced by a cassette recording in the poorer areas. In India, as in most other countries of the region, the Ramayana is performed on important religious and social occasions. A favorite style of presentation is that of the Kathakali dancers of Kerala in the • Senior tutor Poedijono as the demon-king Ravana, in a Javanese version of the saga. country's south . Tara Raj kumar, who will Javanese gamelan orchestras, the struc lead the Indian interpretation at the the subsequent siege of a city for her ture of the music played is very different. Monash performance, is a world expert in release. In fact, the structure of the Thai mahori this form of dance . Some critics have even likened Valmiki music is much closer to the classical forms In Thailand, where it is known as to the greatest of English writers. In the of pieces by Haydn or Mozart than the ttamakien, the saga is performed in the preface to his translation of the Rarna gong cycle of Javanese gamelan music. "lassic khon style of mask-play. yana published in 1910, Romesh C. Dutt "The major structural units of the wrote: "Shakespeare himself has not Musically, the rendition of the saga garnelan piece are marked by a large gong depicted the workings of stormy passions varies as widely as the range of dance (gong ageng). The thematic section of the in the human heart more graphically, or dramas used in its performance. melody of the gamelan is divided into more vividly, with greater truth or with "Although the instruments played in cycles by gong strokes and can vary bet more terrible power." 0 the Thai orchestras resemble the bronze ween 16 and 1028 beats . This cyclic sub -John Clark gongs and wood and leather drums of the division is a completely different prin ciple," Kartomi said. "In the Indian performance, a solo singer is accompanied by a stringed in strument which plays virtually the same melody. The drumming on the tabla, call ed mrdanga, has a very complex cycle of rhythms punctuated by cymbals." Instead of using the range of a tenor or soprano to provide the dramatic qualities, in Southeast Asian performances the voices employ tonal color to give the necessary effects. For instance, giants and demons are portrayed in low resonant tones, while kings and princes speak in monotones. In its sheer breadth and subject matter, the Rarnayana often has been compared to the works of Homer. Both deal with an • Thai musician ChaJermsak Pikulsri plays archetypal theme, the ramifications of the • A Javanese shadow puppet of Hanoman, the so u from the Thai mahori orchestra. abduction of an important woman and the monkey-general. MONASH REVIEW 5 AUGUST 1988 Teeth: The cutting edge of ecology

s A BUDDING young palaeontologist dent management of domestic or wild ritional value of the diet with what passed A Gordon Sanson became convinced animals. through the possum, the group showed there must be more to life than looking at "Research on digestion has concen that the digestion of old pos sums, with teeth, the mainstays of fossil material. trated on the workings of the gut, but I worn teeth, was less efficient than Twenty years later and now a senior lec regard teeth as a very important, though younger possums. turer in Zoology at Monash, Dr Gordon neglected, part of the digestive system." The effect was so marked that Sanson Sanson has shown that looking at teeth Using skulls from mammals killed on has become convinced that tooth wear is can give a new perspective to life . the roads, Sanson and his research group very important in determining how long In fact, he has learned so much about of colleagues and students have been able animals live. mammals from studying the way their to work out how teeth function . This can "Menopause is well known only in teeth function, that he was used as an be related to how well animals prepare humans and zoo animals. Most wild important consultant for ABC Tele food, by looking at the contents of the animals probably die before they stop vision's recent natural history series, The gut. reproducing. One very interesting excep Nature ofAustralia. For instance, the group has found that tion is the balean whales, which do not "Teeth are at the interface between how finely teeth chop up leaves depends have teeth ." animals and their nutritional environ on the tightness of fit between the upper The general idea is that old animals ment," he says. "That makes them an and lower molars, and that depends on eventually run out of teeth, so they are important factor not only in feeding and the degree of wear of the cusps - the bits unable to utilise the resources in their diet, but also in behavior, lifespan and which project out from the body of the environment as efficiently. This means ecological impact. But they're also one of tooth. their condition deteriorates and makes the few parts of the body which cannot be This, in turn, affects the ability of the them more vulnerable to predators and repaired if worn or broken." animals to digest their food. More finely hard times . Because teeth prepare food for diges chopped food gives a greater surface area It is true that some species, such as tion, their size, shape, position and move upon which the gut bacteria and juices horses and wombats, have teeth which ment determine what can be eaten, how it essential to digestion can work. keep growing. Wombat teeth, for in is taken and in what form it is digested. The researchers were able to confirm stance, grow at the rate of about one This can have a profound effect on food this in trials using ringtail possums all fed tenth of a millimetre a day, meaning that supply and therefore is critical to the effi on the same diet. By comparing the nut the average wombat eats its way through about three metres of teeth during its life time. But even these teeth stop growing eventually, and so this complicated adap tation merely postpones the inevitable. As well as studying teeth from the animal's point of view as part of the digestive system, Sanson also has looked at them from the other side of the animal environment interface, from the point of view of what is eaten. From this angle, it is war. An y plant or animal which can make itself harder to eat or digest will be less likely to be utilised as food, live longer to leave offspring and make up more of the next plant or anim generation. And any animal which can adapt to using such tougher foods will be favored by natural selection. The purpose of teeth is to break up food physically. At the molecular level, teeth have several functions: to create and propagate cracks or sever and grind material. Sanson enlisted the help of engi neers to study the problem. From the engineering aspect, the frac ture properties of solid materials vary from the hard and brittle, such as bone, to the soft and ductile, such as pulpy fruit. Fracturing brittle material simply demands force. Sharpness of blade makes little difference and, in fact, sharp blades blunt quickly. But, without a sharp blade to cut it ductile material deflects and squeezes like tomatoes. With this in mind, the research group tested the chewing capabilities of two sharp-toothed insect-eating marsupial mice, an Antechinus and a Dunnart. Both animals are confronted by hard, brittle adult beetles and their softer larvae - the difference being a tanned outer surface or • Dr Gordon Sanson of Zoology measures a magnified profile of a lower jaw. cuticle. MONASH REVIEW 6 AUGUST 1988 • Jaws from Grey Kangaroos of the same age from Western Australia (left) and Hattah-Kulkyne in northwest Victoria (right). Not only are the Hattah teeth severely worn , but one molar has already dropped out and the rest have moved forward. Using strain gauges, the Sanson arranged in a criss-cross pattern and acts cope with the situation is a source of great research group measured the force it Iike fi breglass . dispute. would take to break the cuticle ofadult This arrangement stops cracks from One of Sanson's former students, Dr beetles and their larvae, and then propagating far into the material. "Cellu Grant Norbury, has compared what the measured how much force the two mar lose is a natural crackstopper," says San kangaroos actually eat to what is available .eals could exert with their jaws. The son. "You can't crack it, you must shear at different times of the year. co;lc!usion was that the two insect eaters it. So a lot of energy must go into chewing He has been able to determine the rate could not possibly feed on large, hard food. " of kangaroo digestion by following the beetles, and therefore could hardly be the In addition, plants have been at the progress of barium meals. This has allow fierce, non-selective predators they always game of making themselves difficult to ed him to determine how far down the gut had been assumed to be. eat for hundreds of millions of years . food will reach within a certain time Other measurements have shown that Some, such as the grasses, defend them period. while it takes a force of 2.2 kilograms a selves against teeth by taking up silicon He observes where a kangaroo feeds for square centimetre to fracture bone, to which wears teeth out. Others, such as a specified time and then analyses what it break into insect cuticle demanded ten most of the shrubs and trees, impregnate has eaten by looking at what has entered times as much energy and to chop plant themselves with wood and carry oils and the stomach. This can be compared material needed a force of 76 kilograms a poisons in their cells. directly with what is edible in the area in square centimetre. For instance, the leaves of eucalypts are which it has been feeding. These figures are significant because low in nitrogen, packed with oils and the What he has discovered is that when the they demonstrate what a lot of energy it chemical compounds known as tannins. level of the preferred diet of grasses falls takes to unlock the most abundant store Tannins are what give the characteristic below about 400 kilograms a hectare, the of nutrition, plant material. Part of the brown color to Australian rivers and kangaroos switch to other plants in problem in breaking up plant material is streams. But they also bind irreversibly cluding regenerating plants and trees. that the structural element, cellulose, is with proteins to form durable poly The conclusion is that if the park is to phenols in the process known as tanning. regenerate, kangaroo numbers must be When eucalyptus leaves are chewed, kept below the point at which they eat so tannins are released and they are such a much grass that the change in diet occurs. fine defence against plant-eating mam Sanson is convinced that the only mals that only koalas, greater gliders and humane way to do this in the short term is possums are able to sustain themselves by to cull excess kangaroos by shooting feeding solely on eucalypts. them. Providing supplementary food Further research has shown that these would only postpone the inevitable animals prefer and some will even defend destruction of both kangaroos and patches of younger leaves, which have habitat, he says, and attempts at birth higher nitrogen levels. But the cost of us control seem fraught with difficulty, ing such a food supply in tooth wear and though this might be a long-term solution. energy may be high. For example, the He sees the present situation as a moral average lifespan of ringtails living in gums dilemma for those who want to preserve near Melbourne was six years, whereas it the kangaroos at all costs. "You can save was seven years in a tea-tree habitat. the excess kangaroos only at the expense So by studying teeth, which provide a of all the diverse animals and plants that durable record and are easy to find and would be able to live in a regenerated measure, Sanson has constructed a unique park ." picture of nutrition. And it has practical It is also a matter of quality of life for significance. the kangaroos as well. For instance, Sanson's work on kang "In the 1982 drought the kangaroos aroos has taken his research group to the were forced to eat such low-quality food heart of one of the most bitter conserva that many of the Hatrah-Kulkyne Greys tion problems in Victoria - how to lost a tooth's wear, which amounts to manage the Hattah-Kulkyne National four years of their life." n Park in the Mallee region of northwest Other members of the research learn Victoria. concerned with this work include Dr Grant No one denies the problem of Hattah Norbury, Ms Clare McArthur, Mrs Jan Gipps, Kulkyne - there are too many Grey Ms Diana Hill and Ms Janet Lanyon. The • A plot fenced off from kangaroos at Hattah Hattah-Kulkyne work wasfinanced by the Vic Kulkyne. Note the lack of groundcoveroutside Kangaroos. That overpopulation is help torian Department of Conservation, Forests the fence . ing to prevent regeneration. But how to and Lands. MONASH REVIEW 7 AUGUST 1988 ...... ~·o·o·o·~ Engineers work to keep THE the shears clicking MONTECH HE AUSTRALIAN Wool Corporation Alan Boura and senior lecturer Dr Roger FILE T (AWC) is to invest more than $56,000 King will supervise the work . ~·o·o·o·o·o·o·o·~ a year in a Montech and Monash Univer The Department of Pharmacology ...... sity project to develop new materials and already is supported extensively by out Spectrometry in June this year. Buyers in ultra-high abrasive-wear coatings for side organisations to develop and inves clude the Union Carbide Corporation, shearing combs and cutters. tigate novel drugs with the potential for Waters Associates and the universities of It is hoped the new materials will im therapeutic application. Its staff have Alberta, British Columbia and Oregon. pro ve the productivity and effic iency of been extremely successful in this area. All sales to date have been for export, wool harvesting, particularly when used The department has an excellent the first packages being released earlier in conjunction with automated (robot) reputation in lung, heart and behavioral this month. shearing. pharmacology, and it is well equipped for MacSimion is a complete rewrite of the Dr Chris Berndt of the Materials Engi most types of acute pharmacological original Simien program in the computer neering Department will head the research study . language C to obtain maximum speed team . The project stems from the result s Montech would be interested to hear while retaining high precision. The new of a study by his group for the Australian from other medical and veterina ry version works up to 1000 times faster than Wool Harvesting Program on the pharmaceutical companies who are in the original and the authors, Ri Qh~~ suitability and optimal composition of terested in product development and Morrison and Don McGilvery (the res~ .,c\. detonation gun (D-gun) coatings for would like to discuss the possibility of cher who wrote Simion), also have incor shearing components. contract research and development in this porated a range of new features. It became apparent from this work that area . The program should be of interest to all other coatings might be superior for the users and designers of systems which purpose and should also be tested. These incorporate beams of charged particles, THE CHEMI STRY* Department'* * s Centre for materials will be produced using two pro and may also have applications to high High Resolution Spectroscopy and Opto cesses: Jet Kote which works by thermal school and undergraduate education. Electronic Technology has just released spraying and physical vapor deposition through Montech a program for Apple which produces a sputter coating. Both * * * processes are inexpensive and produce Macintosh computers which simulates MONTECH. THE university's technology, reliable, hard, wear-resistant coatings. beams of charged particles in moving and consulting and commercial arm, is The researchers aim to develop or adapt stationary electric and magnetic fields. available to help business and industry use The program, called MacSimion, is in tests to measure the resistance to wear of Monash resources. tended as a tool for designers of scientific shearing equipment incorporating coated It is an Approved Research Institute components. They will also try to deter instruments which use beams of charged and can arrange consulting work, testing, particles, such as mass spectrometers. Us mine the characteristics of those elements short courses and contract research and ing the program, an updated version of in the fleece which cause deterioration of development (which is 150 per cent tax earlier Simion software, makes it easy to shearing combs and cutters. deductible). The ultimate object of the program is to determine beam properties such as focus, Montech also helps to commercialise mass dispersion and charge density. recommend a specific coating to increas e university research , and markets products Already Montech has received a the lifetime of combs and cutters, conse manufactured on campus. quently helping to reduce Australia's substantial number of orders on the basis For further information on the com of a discussion of MacSimion at the Con wool harvesting bill of $500 million a pany or any of the products or storie. year. ference of the American Society of Mass mentioned here, ring 563 5055. Dr Paul Hudson, the managing director File l: