It has been another exciting year for physics research, particularly in my own field. In Australia, we have a Centre of Excellence for Antimatter-Matter Studies, of which I am the Deputy Director. As you may know, when antimatter and matter come together, they annihilate converting their mass to immense energy via Einstein's e=mc². This also works backwards, if we have immense energy, then we can create matter-antimatter pairs. This reverse process has recently been observed in extreme lightning storms. So next time you see lightning, think that antimatter is being created somewhere in the atmosphere.
     In fact antimatter is not as uncommon as you might think. Antielectrons, or positrons, are used in our hospitals to detect cancer via Positron Emission Tomography. It is also used extensively in the study of material properties. The most common source of antimatter is radioactive decay.
     However, one of the greatest applications of antimatter is in science fiction. How many of you have heard of Star Trek? There spacecraft are powered by antimatter to travel faster than the speed of light. While there is much physics that science fiction writers get right, this one they got wrong. Consequently, the world-renowned cosmologist Professor Lawrence Krauss was driven to write this popular science book on "The physics of Star Trek". I met him recently and invited him to WA to give a public lecture. He promised to come and speak on "Creating the Universe out of Nothing" sometime in our winter. He is a fantastic speaker, with lectures available on YouTube, and I encourage you all to attend.
     Now, it gives me great pleasure to award this book-prize to your best year-11 physics student of 2010, ...

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