Tagged: Australia

What’s the right Covid-19 risk to live with – an Australian perspective - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Jul 14, 2021 •

• Australia,
• border control,
• COVID-19,
• modelling

Blog syndicated with permission from “The Pursuit” at Melbourne University, Australia By Professor Tony Blakely, Dr Tim Wilson and Associate Professor Vijaya Sundararajan, University of Melbourne As Australia looks toward opening its international borders, new virus modelling provides scenarios that can help us decide what’s the right risk to tolerate. As Australia inches up its vaccine rollout, … Read More

Friday essay: a rare bird — how Europeans got the black swan so wrong - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jun 11, 2021 •

• Australia,
• black swans,
• New Zealand stories

David Haworth, Monash University   The black swan is an Australian icon. The official emblem of Western Australia, depicted in the state flag and coat-of-arms, it decorates several public buildings. The bird is also the namesake for Perth’s Swan River, where the British established the Swan River Colony in 1829. The swan’s likeness has featured on stamps, sporting team … Read More

Meet 5 of Australia’s tiniest mammals, who tread a tightrope between life and death every night - Guest Work

Guest Author • Apr 29, 2021 •

• Australia,
• Biodiversity,
• cute,
• mammals,
• vulnerable habitat

Andrew Baker, Queensland University of Technology Australia has a rich diversity of mammals, with around 320 native, land-based species, 87% of which are found here and nowhere else. Many of these mammals are secretive, only active at night, and small, weighing less than one kilogram. Mammals are “endotherms”, which means they must generate their own heat and maintain the … Read More

Charting our way back to normal - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Apr 08, 2021 •

• Australia,
• COVID-19,
• modelling,
• Pandemic,
• policy

By Professor Tony Blakely, Dr Tim Wilson, Luke Thorburn and Professor Nathan Grills, University of Melbourne A new web tool, COVID-19 Pandemic Trade-offs, allows people to weigh the costs and benefits of different policy responses as Australia rolls out vaccines and considers opening borders. See here for an associated explanatory video. Article reproduced with permission from Pursuit  The … Read More

Preventing Outbreaks of COVID-19 in NZ Associated with Air Travel from Australia: New Modelling Study of Alternatives to Quarantine - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Jun 17, 2020 •

• Australia,
• border control,
• COVID-19,
• flights,
• quarantine

Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Martin Eichner (*author details) In this new study, we estimated the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks associated with air travel from Australia (with a low prevalence of COVID-19 infection) to NZ. We found that the combined use of exit and entry screening, two PCR tests (on days 3 and 12 in NZ), mask … Read More

Re-opening the trans-Tasman border - COVID-19

Guest Author • May 07, 2020 •

• Australia,
• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• Economy,
• Pandemic,
• tourism

Dave Heatley “Shut the borders” is a natural first reaction to an external threat. It makes a lot of sense in the early stages of a pandemic, when those arriving at the border are more likely to be infected than those within the country. But what if that’s no longer the situation? After a country lifts its internal restrictions … Read More

Climate change will fuel bush fires - Guest Work

Guest Author • Nov 12, 2019 •

• Australia,
• climate change,
• Drought,
• fire ecology,
• fire science,
• fires

Grant Pearce The effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only minor, with New Zealand firefighters gearing up for possible deployment … Read More

In Australia’s Snowy Mountains, a Battle Over Brumbies - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jul 31, 2018 •

• Australia,
• cultural icon,
• introduced species,
• wild horses

Bianca Nogrady Experts are calling for a substantial cull of the wild horses living in New South Wales’ Kosciuszko National Park. The government isn’t having it. The peatlands that drape the high, treeless slopes surrounding Australia’s tallest peak form a natural archive. “They are unusual bits of landscape in that they actually record their own history,” says Geoffrey … Read More

Is your genome really your own? The public and forensic value of DNA - News

Guest Author • May 02, 2018 •

• Australia,
• crime,
• Databases,
• DNA,
• ethics,
• forensics,
• genealogy,
• genetic testing,
• genome,
• Golden State Killer,
• Idaho,
• investigation,
• Law Enforcement,
• Murder,
• privacy

Nathan Scudder, University of Canberra and Dennis McNevin, University of Technology Sydney This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Technologies for amplifying, sequencing and matching DNA have created new opportunities in genomic science. In this series When DNA Talks we look at the ethical and social implications. When Joseph … Read More

Better health and diet well before conception results in healthier pregnancies - Guest Work

Guest Author • Apr 24, 2018 •

• alcohol,
• Australia,
• brain spine,
• Diet,
• exercise,
• gestational diabetes,
• glucose,
• healthy weight,
• insulin,
• neural tube defects,
• New Zealand,
• Obesity,
• pre eclampsia,
• pregnancy,
• sugar,
• weight

Gita Mishra, The University of Queensland and Judith Stephenson, UCL This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Maternal and child health in Australia, like most countries, has traditionally focused on health during pregnancy and in the early years of life. But this approach may be missing a key opportunity … Read More