New method to 'confirms dark energy

Distribution of galaxies and the time it takes for galactic clusters to form are behind a University of Queensland claim confirming the existence of dark energy.

Dark energy has been predicted as a defender of Einsteinian models of the universe, ever since the 1990s when astrophysicists identified the accelerating expansion of the universe.

Since the “inflationary universe” didn’t fit with Einstein’s predictions, either Einstein was wrong, or a new form of energy was required.

The great physicist had once recast his equations to include a similar idea, but wasn’t comfortable with the solution and later called it his “greatest blunder.

cientists used two separate kinds of observation to provide an independent check on previous dark energy results.

Two papers by an international team of researchers have been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal.

One type of observation used by the astronomers involves measuring a pattern in how galaxies are distributed in space. This pattern is known by the term "baryon acoustic oscillations".

The second type of observation involves measuring how quickly clusters of galaxies have formed over time. Both of these techniques confirmed the existence of dark energy and the acceleration in the expansion of the Universe.

The concept of dark energy was first invoked in the late 1990s by studying the brightness of distant supernovas - exploding stars.

Einstein was right

To explain why the expansion of the Universe was speeding up, astronomers had to either rewrite Albert Einstein's theory of gravity or accept that the cosmos was filled with a novel type of energy.

"The action of dark energy is as if you threw a ball up in the air, and it kept speeding upward into the sky faster and faster," said co-author Dr Chris Blake of the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.

"The results tell us that dark energy is a cosmological constant, as Einstein proposed. If gravity were the culprit, then we wouldn't be seeing these constant effects of dark energy throughout time.

The survey mapped the distribution of galaxies in an unprecedented volume of the Universe, looking eight billion years back in time - more than half the age of the Universe.

Cosmologist Bob Nicholl, who was not involved with the research, told BBC News: "This is a major step forward. These guys are serious, major scientists and we've been waiting for this result for some time.

The professor of astrophysics at Portsmouth University, UK, added: "It's re-confirmation of dark energy, it gives us another data point to fit our theories around and it shows us the way to the future. More astronomers are going to be doing this in years to come."

While dark energy makes up about 74% of the Universe, dark matter - which does not reflect or emit detectable light - accounts for 22%. Ordinary matter - gas, stars, planets and galaxies - makes up just 4% of the cosmos.

However, despite scientists being able to infer the existence of dark energy and dark matter, these phenomena still elude a full explanation.

Shell's big boat justifies the announcement

Prelude platform will be the world's largest floating facility – longer than four football fields and weighing six times as much as the biggest aircraft carrier.

It will be constructed in a shipyard in South Korea with the equipment to convert gas into a liquid in the middle of the ocean, ready for shipment to the Asian consumer.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has transformed the world's energy markets, as it was previously only transportable by pipeline. The new mobility and availability of gas has seen Asian countries take more of an interest in the fuel.

Shell, Europe's biggest energy company, is making a big push to increase its gas production relative to oil production over the next few years.

According to commonwealth data, there is 160 trillion cubic feet of so-called stranded gas, that is, gas that cannot be economically recovered by conventional technologies. Prelude accounts for about 3tcf of that potential. The controversial Sunrise gas project in the Timor Sea is of a similar, though slightly smaller, size.

Shell is, of course, a partner in Sunrise, which is operated by Woodside. And that JV wants to use the Shell FLNG technology to translate that resource to wealth.

Shell's Brinded is so confident in his technology that he reckons on delivering FID on several new FLNG projects between now and when Prelude enters production around 2016. If Timor's objections to the current plan can be overcome, Sunrise would be an early contender for the next nod.

Just on Sunrise, the commentary offered in support of Woodside by Resources Minister Martin Ferguson was typically encouraging.

Ferguson noted the treaty arrangements with Timor were generous and were premised on the operator being free to pursue the "optimum commercial outcome" for development.

Woodside says the FLNG is a $US5bn better outcome than landing the gas in Timor. Nonetheless, Timor says it wants Sunrise gas processed on home soil and that it will not approve any other option.

Ferguson left little doubt that the Commonwealth would support Woodside's position.

Meanwhile, Prelude's numbers rolled off even Martin Ferguson's sometimes tied tongue. The project will add $45bn to Australia's GDP over its planned 25 year productive life, will sustain 1000 local jobs, contribute $12bn in tax revenue with another $12bn to be spent on local goods and services and will boost our balance of trade by $18bn. Ferguson was also bubbling about the training, education and research opportunities that would flow to Australians. Again, this excitement is based on the real rather than the hoped for.

Shell's local chair and local upstream boss, Ann Pickard, said Perth would be Shell's "global centre for FLNG learning and research" before announcing new education partnerships with Curtin University and Challenger Institute along with the funding for a new chair in marine environmental studies at WA University.

The most immediately important reason for government contentment over this decision, though, is that it comes in the middle of the debate over carbon tax and its potential impact. Shell has decided to invest in ignorance of what the government has planned, though Ferguson stressed the government maintained a robust and constant dialogue with the LNG industry and reiterated his belief that an acceptable outcome could be forged as it was in 2008 when the discussion was all about an emissions trading scheme.

Shell's Pickard said the financial modelling for Prelude included a price for carbon dioxide emissions that, over the longer term, was expected to hit $40 a tonne, and assumed that a trading scheme would be in place.

For all that, Pickard was diplomatic but plain about Australia's first-mover risk on carbon. "We don't want to see, in the short term, Australian projects disadvantaged.

New Easy ad campaign name for Godaddy is all about Domains & Hostings just ez2.me:Next time for Go Daddy.com: Easy to you just www.ez2.me

See All Go Daddy Products

Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,s Approved affiliate

Look more Products from Go daddy just log on

all about Domains & Hostings just ez2.me

Key scientists cast doubt on Murray water return

The group says the Wentworth Group of Scientists has told it that it will withdraw from the Murray Darling Basin Authority's science forum because there will be no independent review.

The authority's chief Rob Freeman resigned earlier this month, after its first chair Mike Taylor left his post in January and was replaced by former senior NSW cabinet minister Craig Knowles.

A guide which the authority released last year angered farming communities in the basin, who objected to what they called its bias towards environmental needs.

The Wentworth Group is urging the government not to spend billions of dollars without adequate scrutiny.

"The federal government is spending over $8.9 billion on water reform. The Australian taxpayer must know what they are getting for their money and that they are going to get a healthy working river system for $8.9 billion," Tim Stubbs, an engineer with the Wentworth Group, said in a statement.

The original draft plan found that 3856 gigalitres would be a minimum volume of water that would need to be acquired from the 11,500 gigalitres of irrigators' entitlements to maintain the river.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Tim Stubbs, environmental engineer with the Wentworth Group, said the nearly 4000 gigalitres identified in the authority's guide had been widely accepted as an appropriate lower limit.

''The authority has appeared to have done some work in the last four months that suddenly seems to go against work they produced in the guide which took them two years. We are concerned at that level of change in such a short space of time,'' Mr Stubbs told The Saturday Age.

The group did not attend a two-day science forum on the project on the basis that it did not believe the science being discussed was independent. It was there that the executives revealed the authority was going to draft a plan that recommended returning just 2800 gigalitres.

''Based on this information the government will spend $10 billion of taxpayers' money on very few people. We need to be sure this will deliver a healthy working river,'' Mr Stubbs said.

He said Wentworth did not know if it was a politically motivated decision, but it was a reason it wanted the science checked. ''If the science is fine, then that is fine,'' he said.

A spokeswoman for the authority said the chairman would ''not respond to questions based on unsourced rumours or possible leaked information as these questions prevent the chair from providing an informed, in-context response''.

''The Authority's conversation with communities and … stakeholders is continuing and the proposed plan remains a work in progress,'' she said.

The project has been mired in controversy, with chief executive Rob Freeman and chairman Mike Taylor resigning, a backlash from farmers who said a decrease in water entitlements would kill farms, and allegations of political interference.

Friends of the Earth said a drop to 2800 gigalitres was disastrous. ''According to the authority's own figures, 2800 gigalitres would lock in the death of at least a quarter of our red gum forests, and leave the Murray Mouth closed three times more frequently than natural," spokesman Jonathan La Nauze said.

Water Minister Tony Burke said the Murray-Darling Basin Authority was preparing its draft plan independently. ''I want to see this entire process deliver a healthy working basin,

GREEN groups say the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has ''cooked the books'' by downgrading almost 1400 identical submissions calling for higher environmental targets under a new basin plan, because they were driven by campaigns.

In an analysis posted online, the authority says almost half of the 3100 responses received on its proposals to reform the Murray-Darling are identical, mainly from environment groups.

The submissions are responding to the authority's ''guide'' to a new basin plan which sparked angry protests in farming communities last year. The guide recommends cuts of between 27 and 37 per cent to farmers' water rights, returning 3000 to 4000 billion litres of water every year.

New Easy ad campaign name for Godaddy is all about Domains & Hostings just ez2.me:Next time for Go Daddy.com: Easy to you just www.ez2.me

See All Go Daddy Products

Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,s Approved affiliate

Look more Products from Go daddy just log on

all about Domains & Hostings just ez2.me

Defence review firm backed despite insults

THE firm chosen to "clean up" social media policy in the Defence Force is now caught up in its own scandal.

Senior staff at the advertising agency promote degrading images of women and post bizarre messages on their social networking accounts.

In the wake of the Skype sex scandal, agency George Patterson Y&R won the lucrative taxpayer-funded "social media review" contract without going to tender.

The company is run by high-profile adman Russel Howcroft.

On their personal sites, which can be accessed from the firm's home page, staff refer to Prime Minister Julia Gillard as a lesbian and Kevin Rudd as a "loser".

Defence Minister Stephen Smith said the review would "harness opportunities to improve Defence's work and reputation".

Mr Smith said George Patterson was a company that had worked very happily in the past with the defence force.

"I think it's a salutary lesson for the employees of George Patterson as it's a salutary lesson for all Australians," he said.

Mr Smith said the Secretary of the Department of Defence commissioned George Patterson to conduct a review of the way defence force personnel understood and used social media.

"We've seen in the recent past a number of regrettable incidents, whether it's Facebook, whether it's the internet, whether it's Skype, where members of the defence force have effectively got themselves into trouble."

Mr Smith said people needed to understand that when using modern digital technology, a remark intended to remain private, may well become public.

He said people in uniform, whether onshore or offshore, represented the defence force and the nation, and they had to conduct themselves appropriately or it could bring about adverse consequences for them, and the reputation of the defence force and the nation.

George Patterson's appointment to conduct the review followed a former defence force member being charged over the setting up of a gay-hate Facebook page.

The review is one of a series launched in response to allegations of misbehaviour at the Australian Defence Force Academy in which one cadet filmed himself having sex with a female cadet and streamed the images via Skype to fellow cadets in another room.

Dislike of Abbott cost Libs election

Australian Election Study, based on a detailed survey conducted immediately after the election in August, found that voters' dislike of the Opposition Leader added more than 1 per cent to Labor's vote.

Julia Gillard's unpopularity also benefited the other side of politics but it increased the Coalition's vote by only 0.2 per cent.

The net 0.9 per cent shift to Labor attributable to leadership was enough to keep Labor in power in an election where it finished with 50.12 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote and an equal number of seats to the Coalition (not including West Australian National Tony Crook, who sits as an independent).

The Coalition gained 0.7 per cent by being seen as better economic managers but this was almost cancelled out by the 0.6 per cent benefit Labor gained from the education issue.

survey asked voters to rate leaders on a scale from zero, representing strong dislike, to 10 for strong liking.

Although Ms Gillard at the August election would have expected to be still enjoying a honeymoon after replacing Kevin Rudd two months earlier, she rated just below neutral at 4.9.

This compared with Mr Rudd's score of 6.3 at the 2007 election. Ms Gillard's standing was slightly worse than the 5.0 rating given to leader Mark Latham at the 2004 election.

But Ms Gillard was significantly less unpopular than Mr Abbott, who rated at 4.3 - one of the lowest scores recorded for a major party leader in the survey, which has been held after each election since 1987.

It was even below the 4.4 for Paul Keating at the 1996 election, which he lost to John Howard in a landslide.

"You could say that Gillard was doing her best to lose the election but Abbott trumped her," says Professor Bean.

Mr Rudd, with a score of 5.0 at this election, outpointed both the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader.

But Mr Abbott did outrate the Greens' Bob Brown and the Nationals' Warren Truss, both on 4.1 and Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan on 4.0.

Australia's first female prime minister benefited from the support of women, with 44 per cent of them voting Labor, compared with 36 per cent of men.

Men favoured the Coalition by 50 per cent to 41 per cent.

Ms Gillard outpointed Mr Abbott on each of nine qualities that voters in the survey said described the leaders well.

She was seen as providing stronger leadership and being more intelligent, compassionate, competent, sensible, knowledgeable, inspiring, honest and trustworthy.

But her overthrow of Mr Rudd harmed her, with 74 per cent of voters saying they disapproved of the way the Labor Party handled the change.

"All other things being equal, the analysis suggests that, had the Coalition gone to the 2010 Australian federal election with a leader who was viewed more favourably across the electorate, the outcome probably would have been a narrow victory for the Liberals and Nationals," professors Bean and McAllister write in a forthcoming book.

ALP gay marriage debate falls flat

Victorian Labor Party had been set to debate the motion on Saturday but its conference came to an abrupt end when the meeting was deemed to be three people short of the required numbers.

The state party had already backed same-sex marriage at its 2009 conference but the latest move would have gone a step further, calling on the ALP national conference in December to incorporate support for gay marriage in the party's policy position.

Hundreds of Labor faithful packed a Monash University hall to hear Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who opposes same-sex marriage, and state Labor leader Daniel Andrews, who supports it, talk about the state of the party.

But numbers had dwindled by Saturday afternoon and debate on the marriage equality issue and more than 20 other urgency motions never went ahead because there were only 147 delegates in the hall when 150 were required for a quorum.

Secretary of the ALP's policy committee on gay and lesbian issues, Jamie Gardiner, said the developments did not change the fact that the Victorian branch had already backed marriage equality.

"Today's motion was simply to reiterate that support and to echo the South Australian branch's resolution in support, calling on the national conference to support marriage equality," Mr Gardiner said.

"I can only assume that elements in the party who knew they would lose engineered a walkout to bring the conference to a premature close."

Other motions had supported same-sex adoption and condemned Ms Gillard for her asylum-seeker deal with Malaysia.

ALP state secretary Noah Carroll said the Victorian branch backed Ms Gillard.

"The prime minister is her own person, everyone understands that, but she has the full support of the party in Victoria and presumably also the federal caucus."

In her first address as prime minister to a Labor Party conference in her home state, Ms Gillard used her keynote speech to push the case for a carbon tax, but left before the urgency motions were to be debated.

She said was proud of Labor's record in Victoria, where it was in power for 11 years before November's election defeat.

We've seen a premier paralysed by indecision, frozen solid, unable to make the hard decisions that Victoria and Victorians need," the opposition leader said.

Internal ructions over the Broadmeadows by-election in February again resurfaced with a motion put to the conference criticising the way Frank McGuire was chosen and calling for changes to the pre-selection process.

Mr McGuire, who ultimately retained the seat vacated by former premier John Brumby for Labor, was selected by the party's national executive after a bitter internal factional brawl and a bloc of unions unsuccessfully challenged his pre-selection in court.

The motion, however, was referred to the party's rules committee for further debate at the October state conference.

New Easy ad campaign name for Godaddy is all about Domains & Hostings just ez2.me:Next time for Go Daddy.com: Easy to you just www.ez2.me

See All Go Daddy Products

Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,s Approved affiliate

Look more Products from Go daddy just log on

all about Domains & Hostings just ez2.me

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Is his career going

The mother of four, 55, is said to have asked her family's housekeeper, Mildred Baena, 50, if her son was fathered by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

During the dramatic showdown, Ms Baena broke down and confessed, according to Radar Online.

Schwarzenegger, 63, came clean about the affair only after Shriver told him she knew the truth about his 13-year secret, insiders said.

"Maria has suspected this for a long time and she asked the housekeeper," a source said.

"The housekeeper admitted it. Maria then went to Arnold and he confessed."

It was also reported Schwarzenegger showered Ms Baena's family with money during her time in their employ.

The Terminator star paid for a lavish party for the daughter of Mildred's sister Maria, who also worked for the Schwarzeneggers.

But now Schwarzenegger has bowed to the inevitable fallout from his paternity scandal, with news surfacing Thursday that he has pulled out of all of his film projects. But is this a temporary crisis management ploy, with the hope that the scandal will quickly blow over? Or is it a tacit admission that the media will be on red alert for years to come, looking for more garish skeletons in the Schwarzenegger closet?

I suspect that the initial reason for backing off from any career moves is based on crisis management, since for now, it would be impossible for Schwarzenegger to do any kind of career promotion without being forced to answer all sorts of uncomfortable questions about his personal life. But as time goes on, you have to wonder if there's any kind of career niche for Schwarzenegger to occupy.

It was already pretty obvious that the Gubernator was too old and out of fashion to play a serious action hero, especially since the one action genre he could plausibly occupy -- the leader of an over-the-hill gang -- had already been thoroughly mined by Sly Stallone in "The Expendables." But having Schwarzenegger playing a washed-up horse trainer with a complicated relationship with an 11-year-old boy who suddenly turns up in his life -- which is the story of "Cry Macho," the film he'd been attached to star in -- seems way too close for comfort as well.

The more you study Schwarzenegger's options, the more it looks like he should find himself a new, less visible line of work until the media can work through the cycle that begins with real reporting and outrage and often ends in tawdry fascination, cynical wisecracking and jaded boredom. But as for that CAA-inspired "once a movie star, always a movie star" business, I can only say: Mel Gibson? Nicolas Cage? Russell Crowe?

I know Yogi Berra said it ain't over till it's over, but in showbiz, when it's over, its over for good.

Premier accused of 'tantrum' over iron ore royalties

Mr Colin Barnett has announced plans to increase the royalty rate paid on a certain type of iron ore in a move expected to earn the State Government $2 billion dollars over three years.

The Commonwealth has warned that, if the plan goes ahead, it will be forced to cut WA's share of GST revenue.

WA Labor Senator, Chris Evans, has accused Mr Barnett of being hypocritical because he was a vocal opponent of the Federal Government's plans to impose a Minerals Resource Rent Tax.

"The current tantrums quite frankly do him no credit," Senator Evans said.

"This Federal Government is absolutely committed to supporting infrastructure in Western Australia but you cannot have it both ways, you can't double dip."

The increase in state royalties will blow a $2 billion hole in the Federal budget and the Commonwealth says WA's share of the GST pie will have to be cut as a result.

The Federal Member for Perth, Stephen Smith, says Mr Barnett was well aware of that when he made the decision to increase royalties.

"When a state premier does that, he does it with his eyes open and he knows that there are bound to be consequences," Mr Smith said.

"Now we need to work our way very carefully through those consequences, they're consequences caused by Colin Barnett."

WA's Deputy Premier, Kim Hames, says the Commonwealth should stay out of WA's business.

The increase is expected to net the WA Government $2billion over three years.

Under the minerals resources rent tax deal, the Federal Government must credit mining companies with mineral royalties they pay the states, meaning the Gillard Government stands to lose $2 billion under the new WA arrangement.

Ms Gillard said in Adelaide the decision which ran contrary to the Coalition's campaign against higher mining taxes would end up costing WA in terms of GST revenue and infrastructure. She said Premier Colin Barnett had scored an ''own goal''.

''He knows how GST works and he knows that under the current system, that this means the GST money will be moved away from Western Australia,'' she said, referring to determinations by the independent Commonwealth Grants Commission.

''They will also lose infrastructure funds that would have flowed from the minerals resources rent tax.''

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey said he hoped other states followed suit. ''If other states need to increase their taxes to fund the infrastructure to cope with a transition in the economy, then so be it,'' Mr Hockey said in Mackay.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said WA's move would drive a $2billion hole through the Government's plans to return the budget to surplus.

But Ms Gillard said she remained committed to returning the federal budget to surplus by 2012-13.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said he doubted WA's tax move would net an extra $2 billion.

''It's somewhat less than that, but I'm going to get the Treasury to do the work over the weekend,'' he said yesterday.