Free The Best Australian Science Writing 2015 by Heidi Norman Page A

at a cost of $155 million. And across the Tasman, New Zealand has identified 700 species in decline and prioritised 300 of those most likely to benefit from intervention.
    The Australian Fisheries Management Authority has madeits own list; starting with 2000 species, its focus over the past five years has narrowed to less than 70. And in NSW, where almost a third of native mammals, 28 per cent of birds, 18 per cent of reptiles and 13 per cent of plants are threatened, the state government has signed up to prioritise 967 threatened species.
    * * * * *
    Australia’s first threatened-species commissioner, Gregory Andrews, took up his post in July 2014. Among his tasks is to draw up a list of threatened species most likely to benefit from intervention. ‘I trained as an economist, so I think about the opportunity cost of everything,’ he says. ‘And there are some species that we are spending a lot more on.’
    What, then, to make of the Tasmanian devil? An army of scientists is dedicated to saving the species. Captive breeding programs are well established on the mainland, and small islands off Tasmania have been quarantined for healthy devils. But will science deliver a cure in time? Or, more to the point, should we keep investing in the hope that it might? Granted, the devil’s public appeal will keep the dollars dribbling in, even as its population dwindles. But are we taking finite finances away from another animal that will score higher on the triage test? Has the devil earned its place on the ark? For Jenny Gray, the answer is clear. ‘We won’t walk away,’ she says. ‘It may be a hopeless cause, but it’s our hopeless cause.’
    At the sanctuary, I bring the young devil’s swaddled body closer to mine. I open my forearms a little and spread my fingers wide to support the folds of blanket so she can prop her chin on the edge and watch as keepers prepare her bottle. Her weight is satisfying. Not heavy enough to create strain, but not so light as to seem less than substantial. I know she is there. I can feel her move. Her head bobs like one of those toys on a car dashboardas she sniffs the air with the matt-brown nose at the end of her whiskered snout.
    So what say we? Does she get a berth?

    Field guide to the future
    Small mammals vanish in northern Australia
    Lost in a floral desert

Job description
    Alice Gorman
    Job Description: Senior Interplanetary Archaeologist, Space Heritage Unit, United Nations Committee for Space Environment Management (UNCSEM).
    Date: 2050
    Reports to : Director-General, UNCSEM and International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Space Heritage Committee.
    Responsible for: Four field and administrative staff.
    Qualifications:
    Minimum: Masters in Space Heritage.
    Desired: PhD in space archaeology, heritage or materials conservation.
    Required: Certificate V in Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) and Space Situational Awareness (SSA). Accreditation by the Institute for Archaeologists.
    Experience: Expertise in orbital debris modelling, telepresenceand planetary surface survey, significance assessment, experience working within international space regulatory regime, excellent knowledge of space law, expertise in the identification and analysis of at least one of the following: rockets, satellites, robotic surface craft, AI material culture, space stations, photovoltaics, nuclear power sources, microgravity weaponry, automated low-gravity machinery, microgravity materials, organic remains, planetary sediments and trace fossils.
    Duties:
    Review applications for off-Earth mission registration and assess impact on the heritage of Earth orbit, celestial bodies and interplanetary space, according to the provisions of the 2032 UN Convention on the Conservation of the Human and Robotic Cultural Heritage in Outer Space.
    â€¢Â Â Provide advice to industrial operations, including lunar/asteroid mining and orbital manufactories, on how to mitigate