Marcus Wilson • Mar 11, 2017 •
I came across the following on the BBC website “Australia’s summer broke 205 records…” It draws from the recent Climate Council report. The BBC article doesn’t list them all 205 of them, but does pull out the most impressive – the hottest summer on record for Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra, and the wettest on record … Read More
SciBooks • Oct 04, 2016 •
By Raewyn Peart As of 2015, Australia has designated over a third of its waters as marine protected areas, leaving much to be learnt from their experience – as is covered in a new book on the topic. This impressive book, edited by James Fitzsimons and Geoff Westcott, provides a comprehensive description of progress with establishing networks of marine … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Oct 03, 2016 •
A story about a baby catching a life-threatening infection from a shopping trolley has made the headlines. So what was this life threatening infection, and was the trolley really to blame? This story originally appeared in the DailyMail Australia which saw Vivienne Wardrop’s Facebook post warning other parents about shopping trolley hygiene. Her 10 month old son is currently recovering from … Read More
Guest Work • Sep 09, 2016 •
Wesley Morgan, The University of the South Pacific Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will have some explaining to do when he attends the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting in Pohnpei, Micronesia, this week. Australia’s continued determination to dig up coal, while refusing to dig deep to tackle climate change, has put it increasingly at odds with world … Read More
Robert Hickson • May 30, 2016 •
Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has a futures group. They’ve just released a report called Australia 2030: navigating our uncertain future. There are some nice aspects to the report, and it is good to see rigorous futures techniques being applied in our hemisphere. But, overall, I was underwhelmed. The report is based around four scenarios: Digital … Read More
Guest Work • Feb 11, 2016 •
Tim Doherty, Deakin University; Emma Burgess, The University of Queensland; Martine Maron, The University of Queensland, and Robert Davis, Edith Cowan University Massive Australian bushfires in recent months have tragically claimed people’s lives and destroyed their homes. These events are becoming more common as our warming and drying climate increases the … Read More
Guest Work • Jan 14, 2016 •
Trevor Worthy, Flinders University Australia is renowned for once being home to a group of gigantic birds known as the mihirungs. These birds are distantly related to waterfowl and included the impressive Dromornis stirtoni, the largest bird ever known on the planet at about 450kg in weight. An artist’s impression of Genyornis newtoni. Anne Musser, Australian Museum … Read More
Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Dec 15, 2015 •
We call them little blue penguins, Australians call them fairy penguins – it turns out they are different species. A new study, published in PLOS One, compared trans-Tasman populations of little penguins and found they were different enough to be considered separate species. Researchers from the University of Otago collaborated with those from the University of Tasmania to compare … Read More
Michael Reddell • Sep 08, 2015 •
A friend asked me yesterday for the latest GDP per capita numbers for New Zealand and Australia. His interest was a point estimate, to compare current levels in the two countries. I went back to him with the series I would normally consider best for that purpose: the OECD’s measure of current price GDP per capita, converted to a … Read More
Ken Perrott • Jul 30, 2015 •
Sometimes satire is very close to the truth. Take this piece from The Shovel – Liberal Party Commits To Having 50% Women In Seats Shown On Camera By 2025: Tony Abbott says his party is serious about the advancement of … Continue reading → … Read More