Changing Tides

The Australian Synchrotron site includes a lot of information about what synchrotrons are and what they are used for. It also includes resources for Teachers section that has VCE physics material.

• http://www.synchrotron.vic.gov.au/
• Synchrotron Science
• Resources for Teachers

The Fabric of the Cosmos : Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality
ASIN: 0375727205

Having read and enjoyed Brian Greene’s previous book - The Elegant Universe, I’ve bought The Fabric of the Cosmos and have it on my reading list.

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

We found an interesting caterpillar on one of our gum trees on Friday last week. It was very well camouflaged. We took some photographs of it:

It was on a young Eucalyptus leucoxylon var rosea and was about 10cm long when moving up the trunk.

We found this site
http://www.usyd.edu.au/macleay/larvae/larvae.html about identifying Australian caterpillars but we were unable to work out which it was.

I sent an email with some photographs to Don Herbison-Evans who has setup the website and he has been very helpful. He has narrowed it down to being in family Lasiocampidae. He thinks that Entometa fervens is the most likely, but doesn’t know if it has the black display bands. A picture of this species is here:
http://www.usyd.edu.au/macleay/larvae/lasi/fervens.html.

Another species, Paraguda australasiae does have the bands but feeds on wattles, not gum trees. A picture of this species is here:
http://www.usyd.edu.au/macleay/larvae/lasi/austra.html.

He suggested that we try to rear in in captivity to see what the moth looks like. We have caught it and been feeding it. Last night it pupated. So with a bit of luck we will have a moth to photograph in six or seven weeks.

It has made a cocoon between three gum leaves and the tissue that I had at the bottom of the bowl. The pupa inside the leaves is 4cm long.