After 21 years the Parkes radio telescope has undergone a major refit. A new VAX-11/750 running VMS has replaced the aged Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-9 computer. Other new equipment includes two systems not previously available — the Mk II RING communication system (Willing and Abies 1983) and the ‘observer workstations’.

Doliolids were found in samples taken with a Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) in October 1989 between 55°14'N 03°32'E and 55°20'N 06°13'E during a tow between Newcastle and Esbjerg. Densities were estimated at >100 m−3 for about 112 km of tow. A sub-sample of specimens in sufficiently good condition to be reliably identified were referred to Doliolum nationalis Borgert. Substantial numbers of doliolids were found on a CPR tow between Harwich and Gothenburg which passed through the same area in that month and specimens were found nearer to the Danish coast in November and south-west of Helgoland in December. The distribution of doliolids in CPR samples taken in the North Sea in the last three months of 1989 is shown in Figure 1.

Nanostructured carbon has been deposited in silica aerogels by chemical vapor infiltration using acetylene or ferrocene at moderate temperatures. Using analytical electron microscopy and high-resolution electron microscopy, we have observed various carbon rings and nanotubes in the silica aerogel-based carbon composite. Both X-ray microanalysis and nano-probe diffraction techniques have been used to confirm the presence of those carbon nanostructures. The morphologies and structural properties of the carbon nanotubes and rings have also been examined in detail.

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) have been searched for radio pulsars using the 64-m Parkes radiotelescope. The search has resulted in the discovery of four pulsars. Observed dispersion measures to each suggest that three lie in the Clouds (two in the LMC, one in the SMC) and that the fourth, which was found in the direction of the LMC, is a foreground object belonging to the galactic pulsar population.

New radio continuum surveys of the Large and the Small Magellanic Cloud have been completed recently at four frequencies, using the Parkes 64-m telescope. Here we shall discuss briefly the overall radio morphology of the Clouds at different frequencies and discuss the detected linear polarization. A preliminary integrated radio continuum spectrum of the Large Magellanic Cloud is also presented. Various aspects of future studies will be outlined.

We present new results from a number of deep radio polarization surveys of the Magellanic Clouds at 2.3 GHz, 4.75 GHz and 8.55 GHz. Extended linearly polarized radio emission has been found at 2.3 and 4.75 GHz from both galaxies.