JAN/FEB 2003 Editorial

Bigger, bolder, better. Hopefully that’s how you’ll see the new-look Australasian Science in 2003.

We’ve gone to a great deal of effort to freshen up this magazine. You will have noticed a few changes with the last edition when we printed the magazine in colour for the first time.

Now we’ve aimed to maximise that investment with a fresh new design. For a start, Australasian Science has grown in stature. Not only will this give us more room to place graphics - which always needed to be squeezed into the old layout - but the larger format will make it easier to find on crowded newsstands.

Now the only excuse you’ll have for missing Australasian Science is that it has sold out.

But that’s no excuse! Subscribe now and take advantage of the 3-D posters and glasses we’re giving away to new subscribers (see page 10).

In other changes, Stephen Luntz has taken control of Browse, an evolutionary update of the former Update section.

Peter Pockley has a new spread in which he will report and analyse developments in science policy. Pockley’s Razor begins this month on page 44.

conScience, our groundbreaking column in which scientists speak out on national issues, returns after a successful debut that made headlines across the nation in 2002.

This month Tim Besley, who has taken up the position of chair of the Australian Research Council, says that we live in a risk-averse society paralysed by fear of litigation. He calls on scientists to break these shackles and become more adventurous, as innovation is the key to future prosperity.

The Naked Skeptic returns, and draws attention to a plan to have creationist magazines placed within the science section of school libraries. But the issue goes wider than this. Walk into most newsagents and you’ll find the science magazines slotted among magazines about UFO’s, witchcraft and other pseudoscientific topics. These beliefs gain credibility as a result of their close proximity to scientific titles. That’s why the creationists want their magazines next to Australasian Science in the school library.

It’s now 10 years since I became Editor of Search, which merged with Australasian Science in 1998. I’m sure you can tell from the changes taking place in these pages that I’m tackling 2003 with renewed enthusiasm.

Guy Nolch
Editor