Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Goldsworthy, Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO

Despite so many people having air conditioning at home now, many are still unsure how to use it efficiently. And air conditioning uses a lot of energy. For example, running all the lights in an average home all day and night consumes about the same energy as one hour of air conditioning of the same space.

Many people think they can save money and energy by just blasting the air conditioning at a very low temperature, such as 17°C, for a short period of time to chill the room – before switching it off and enjoying the chilled air until another blast is needed later on. But it requires a lot of energy to get a room to a very chilly temperature.

While running it briefly and intermittently at a very cool temperature may feel thrifty, it won’t be the most energy efficient choice. Here’s what to do instead.

Read more:
Heat pumps can cut your energy costs by up to 90%. It’s not magic, just a smart use of the laws of physics

Start by reducing how hot your home gets

First, try to minimise the need for air conditioning. Look for ways to stop your house getting hot in the first place.

Heat can come in from outside through surfaces such as walls, windows, and ceilings. Hot air can creep in under doors or through open windows and vents. Appliances and people inside can also generate heat (although the heat impact of people is generally relatively small, unless there’s a large group).

To reduce some of this heat, you can:

• close blinds and windows before it starts getting hot

• use draft stoppers around external doors to stop hot air wafting inside

• plant trees (deciduous trees will let sunlight through in winter)

• install external shading, particularly on north and western aspects of your house

• improving ceiling and wall insulation, window glazing and sealing (if time and budget allow)

• reduce use of the oven and cooktop on very hot days (more efficient appliances, however, reduce this heating effect and save energy).

Rooftop solar systems provide a dual benefit of adding shade on the roof to stop heat coming in that way, as well as offsetting power usage.

If you’re in a double storey house, the lower level can be a few degrees cooler; it can help just to hang out downstairs on a very hot day.

Read more:
Spare a thought for air-conditioning repair people. As the planet warms, they’re really up against it

Set your air conditioning to the highest level that’s comfortable

Turning our attention to the air conditioning unit itself, the most energy efficient action is to set the temperature to the highest value that’s still comfortable (26°C during the day and 22°C when sleeping is often recommended). Then, just let it run.

Modern units (that feature technology known as an “inverter”) will adjust their output efficiently to maintain the indoor temperature at the setting you’ve chosen.

Be careful, however; setting the temperature too low can result in the unit using more power than you think it’s using (based on star rating label).

Older non-inverter units will cycle on and off to maintain the temperature, and you will generally be able to hear and feel it going on and off. (The newer inverter units, by contrast, don’t tend to cycle on and off as much; they usually just stay on and continuously modulate their output).

For non-inverter units, in general, remaining on for much longer than it is off indicates the air conditioning is working very hard. This may suggest the unit is too small for the space you’re trying to cool, or that you just have a lot of heat in the house (are you cooking a roast?). It could also suggest a fault.

Ceiling fans and servicing can help

Regardless of the type of air conditioning you have, for each 1°C the temperature is lowered, energy use increases by 5 to 10%. So it’s important not to over-cool. That’s why repeatedly blasting the air conditioning at a very low temperature over the course of the day isn’t wise.

Using ceiling fans along with air conditioning can make things feel cooler by 2-3°C due to the air movement, meaning you can set your air conditioning at a higher temperature. Fans use minimal power compared to air conditioning.

Clean the air filters regularly (your manual will explain how) and make sure air grills and vents are not blocked by furniture or, for outdoor units, by vegetation.

If parts of your outdoor units are heavily corroded or badly bent, the unit likely won’t work as well. Animals can cause damage to outdoor units but parts can often be easily replaced.

If your air conditioning doesn’t seem to work well, makes unusual sounds, or if fault codes show up on the display unit, get it serviced.

And if a cool change comes through, switch off the air conditioning and open as many windows and doors as possible to allow the breeze to flow through the house.

If you have a time-of-use electricity tariff (it’ll say on your electricity bill if you do), reducing use in the afternoon and early evening can save a lot. Energy prices can be double or more at these times.

An efficient unit can save you money in the long run

When it comes time to replace your air conditioning, carefully consider the energy efficiency or star rating.

The more stars the better; even a half star higher could more than pay for itself over the life of the unit (especially if you also use it in winter for heating).

Several state governments also have incentive schemes that can help cover the cost of upgrades or replacements.

Mark Goldsworthy works for CSIRO, which researches air conditioning as well as performing Minimum Energy Performance Standards testing of air conditioning systems for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and providing the energy rating method used in the NatHERS residential building energy rating software. However, CSIRO is unlikely to receive any direct benefit from this article.

– ref. How do I use air conditioning efficiently? Is it better to blast it briefly throughout the day, or just leave it on? – https://theconversation.com/how-do-i-use-air-conditioning-efficiently-is-it-better-to-blast-it-briefly-throughout-the-day-or-just-leave-it-on-220130

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kira Westaway, Associate Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University

Giant creatures are usually associated with dinosaurs, woolly mammoths or mystical beasts. But if you go back though the human lineage you’ll find a very distant relative that stood three metres tall and weighed around 250 kilograms. This was Gigantopithecus blacki, the mightiest of all the primates and one of the biggest unresolved mysteries in palaeontology.

Despite surviving for nearly two million years in what is now the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of southern China, the entire species is represented in the fossil record only by a few thousand teeth and four jawbones. Nothing from the neck down.

Added to that is its mysterious disappearance from the fossil record at a time when other primates were flourishing. Where did the giants go and what brought them down?

Since 2015, a team of Chinese, Australian and US scientists has been chasing this mighty beast in the distinctive terrains of southern China. Our findings are published in Nature today and reveal a story of seasonality, stress and vulnerability.

Finding the window of extinction

Extensive exploration and excavations in hundreds of caves over a five-year period has been narrowed down into evidence from 22 caves in two regions of Guangxi: Chongzuo, near the Vietnamese border, and Bubing Basin, close to Nanning. Eleven of these caves contain evidence of G. blacki and the other eleven – of a similar age range – do not.

Our team applied several dating techniques to sediments from the caves: luminescence dating of feldspars (a common rock-forming mineral), electron spin resonance dating of quartz, and uranium series dating of stalagmites and similar deposits, as well as fossils. Altogether we ended up with a staggering 157 radiometric ages.

We used these data sets to establish exactly when G. blacki dropped out of the fossil record, to define a “window of extinction”. This window allowed us to target a period of time to look closely at the environmental changes.

Next, we looked at eight sources of environmental and behavioural evidence, including ancient pollen grains, other animal bones and micro details in the sediments.

Furthermore, we gained a wealth of information from G. blacki teeth themselves – from isotopic signatures, trace elements and the wear patterns on the surface of the teeth. This evidence can indicate diet, migration patterns, habitat preferences, diversity of food sources and stress.

This data represents the largest collection of well-dated evidence for the giant ape and for the first time is supported by well-documented environmental and behavioural changes. It reveals the rise and fall of G. blacki in comparison to its closest primate relative – the orangutans.

Stronger seasons

Surprisingly, G. blacki went extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago, much more recently than previously assumed. Before this time, G. blacki flourished in a rich and diverse forest.

But between 600,000 and 300,000 years ago the environment became more variable. An increase in the strength of the seasons caused a change in the structure of the forest plant communities. By 200,000 years ago, the forests started to deteriorate.

Despite being a close relative of G. blacki, orangutans were able to adapt their size, behaviour and habitat preferences to accommodate to these forest changes. Their fossils display a flexible and balanced diet with very little stress during this period.

But G. blacki made the fatal mistake of relying on a less nutritious back-up food like twigs and bark when their favourite food sources such as fruit-bearing plants were unavailable. This meant the diversity of the giant apes’ food decreased and their less mobile body size compared to the more agile orangutans restricted their geographic range for foraging.

Surprisingly, G. blacki also increased in body size over this period, which further contributed to food source problems and caused immense chronic stress to the species. This stress can be seen in the trace element mapping of their teeth, providing an insight into a species on the brink of extinction.

Failure to adapt

As a direct consequence, G. blacki numbers dwindled as the species was placed under increasing environmental stress.

It would seem that by having such specific food and habitat preferences, G. blacki was vulnerable to environmental and habitat changes. Its size and choice of food hampered its adaptation compared to more agile and mobile species like orangutans.

The story of G. blacki is a lesson in extinction – how some species are more equipped to survive change and others are more vulnerable. This is a lesson we must take on board with the looming threat of a sixth mass extinction event.

Trying to understand past extinctions is a good starting point to understand primate resilience. It may offer clues to the fate of other large animals, both in the past and in the future.

Read more:
What is a ‘mass extinction’ and are we in one now?

Kira Westaway receives funding from The Australian Research Council

Marian Bailey receives funding from the Australian Government RTP Stipend.

Renaud Joannes-Boyau receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Simon Haberle receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Yingqi Zhang receives funding from Chinese Academy of Sciences and The Australian Research Council.

– ref. Giant ‘kings of apes’ once roamed southern China. We solved the mystery of their extinction – https://theconversation.com/giant-kings-of-apes-once-roamed-southern-china-we-solved-the-mystery-of-their-extinction-219304

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Poulton, Senior Lecturer, Brain Mind Centre Nepean, University of Sydney

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition that can affect all stages of life. Medication is not the only treatment, but it is often the treatment that can make the most obvious difference to a person who has difficulties focusing attention, sitting still or not acting on impulse.

But what happens once you’ve found the medication that works for you or your child? Do you just keep taking it forever? Here’s what to consider.

What are ADHD medications?

The mainstay of medication for ADHD is stimulants. These include methylphenidate (with brand names Ritalin, Concerta) and dexamfetamine. There is also lisdexamfetamine (branded Vyvanse), a “prodrug” of dexamfetamine (it has a protein molecule attached, which is removed in the body to release dexamfetamine).

There are also non-stimulants, in particular atomoxetine and guanfacine, which are used less often but can also be highly effective. Non-stimulants can be prescribed by GPs but this may not always be covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and could cost more.

Read more:
Do kids grow out of ADHD as they get older?

How stimulants work

Some stimulants prescribed for ADHD are “short acting”. This means the effect comes on after around 20 minutes and lasts around four hours.

Longer-acting stimulants give a longer-lasting effect, usually by releasing medication more slowly. The choice between the two will be guided by whether the person wants to take medication once a day or prefers to target the medication effect to specific times or tasks.

For the stimulants (with the possible exception of lisdexamfetamine) there is very little carry-over effect to the next day. This means the symptoms of ADHD may be very obvious until the first dose of the morning takes effect.

One of the main aims of treatment is the person with ADHD should live their best life and achieve their goals. In young children it is the parents who have to consider the risks and benefits on behalf of the child. As children mature, their role in decision making increases.

Read more:
Is it anxiety or ADHD, or both? How to tell the difference and why it matters

What about side effects?

The most consistent side effects of the stimulants are they suppress appetite, resulting in weight loss. In children this is associated with temporary slowing of the growth rate and perhaps a slight delay in pubertal development. They can also increase the heart rate and may cause a rise in blood pressure. Stimulants often cause insomnia.

These changes are largely reversible on stopping medication. However, there is concern the small rises in blood pressure could accelerate the rate of heart disease, so people who take medication over a number of years might have heart attacks or strokes slightly sooner than would have happened otherwise.

This does not mean older adults should not have their ADHD treated. Rather, they should be aware of the potential risks so they can make an informed decision. They should also make sure high blood pressure and attacks of chest pain are taken seriously.

Stimulants can be associated with stomach ache or headache. These effects may lessen over time or with a reduction in dose. While there have been reports about stimulants being misused by students, research on the risks of long-term prescription stimulant dependence is lacking.

Read more:
My child has been diagnosed with ADHD. How do I make a decision about medication and what are the side effects?

Will medication be needed long term?

Although ADHD can affect a person’s functioning at all stages of their life, most people stop medication within the first two years.

People may stop taking it because they don’t like the way it makes them feel, or don’t like taking medication at all. Their short period on medication may have helped them develop a better understanding of themselves and how best to manage their ADHD.

In teenagers the medication may lose its effectiveness as they outgrow their dose and so they stop taking it. But this should be differentiated from tolerance, when the dose becomes less effective and there are only temporary improvements with dose increases.

Tolerance may be managed by taking short breaks from medication, switching from one stimulant to another or using a non-stimulant.

Read more:
How do stimulants actually work to reduce ADHD symptoms?

Too many prescriptions?

ADHD is becoming increasingly recognised, with more people – 2–5% of adults and 5–10% of children – being diagnosed. In Australia stimulants are highly regulated and mainly prescribed by specialists (paediatricians or psychiatrists), though this differs from state to state. As case loads grow for this lifelong diagnosis, there just aren’t enough specialists to fit everyone in.

In November, a Senate inquiry report into ADHD assessment and support services highlighted the desperation experienced by people seeking treatment.

There have already been changes to the legislation in New South Wales that may lead to more GPs being able to treat ADHD. Further training could help GPs feel more confident to manage ADHD. This could be in a shared-care arrangement or independent management of ADHD by GPs like a model being piloted at Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, with GPs training within an ADHD clinic (where I am a specialist clinician).

Not every person with ADHD will need or want to take medication. However, it should be more easily available for those who could find it helpful.

Read more:
GPs could improve access to ADHD treatment. But we still need specialists to diagnose and start medication

Alison Poulton is a director of the Australasian ADHD Professionals Association. She has previously taken part in an advisory panel and received personal fees and non-financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures ADHD medications including some mentioned in this article. She has received book royalties from Disruptive Publishing (ADHD Made Simple).

– ref. ADHD medication – can you take it long term? What are the risks and do benefits continue? – https://theconversation.com/adhd-medication-can-you-take-it-long-term-what-are-the-risks-and-do-benefits-continue-218694

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University

2023 was a year of record-breaking heat, devastating storms and floods, deepening droughts and raging wildfires. These events showed how climate change is affecting the global water cycle and our livelihoods.

Our international team of researchers today released a report, the Global Water Monitor, documenting the impact of the record heat in 2023 on the water cycle. We used data from thousands of ground stations and satellites to provide real-time information on various environmental parameters.

The report summarises conditions and events in 2023 and long-term trends. We found global warming is profoundly changing the water cycle. As a result, we are seeing more rapid and severe droughts as well as more severe storms and flood events.

Scores of countries had record average annual temperatures in 2023. Severe droughts hit three continents. The world’s largest forests suffered, with Canada battling huge fires and the Amazon hit hard by drought.

Read more:
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Heat is drying out the world

The most obvious sign of the climate crisis is the unprecedented heat waves that swept the globe in 2023. Earth’s hottest year on record gave us a glimpse of what a typical year with 1.5°C of warming may look like. Global warming consistently more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is expected to have extreme and irreversible impacts on the Earth system.

Some 77 countries experienced their highest average annual temperature in at least 45 years. Temperature records were shattered from Canada to Brazil, Spain to Thailand.

The high temperatures were often accompanied by very low air humidity. The relative air humidity of the global land surface was the second-driest on record in 2023.

Rapid drying of farms and forests caused crops to fail and forests to burn. Lack of rain and soaring temperatures intensified multi-year droughts in vulnerable regions such as South America, the Horn of Africa and the Mediterranean.

Read more:
Fire is consuming more than ever of the world’s forests, threatening supplies of wood and paper

The past two decades have significantly increased air temperatures and reduced air humidity. This continuing trend toward drier conditions is threatening agriculture, biodiversity and overall water security.

These conditions heighten heat stress and increase the water needs of people, crops and ecosystems.

Scorching conditions inflicted extensive damage on the world’s largest forests. Massive wildfires ravaged Canada during the northern summer. Later in the year the Amazon rainforest and rivers descended into severe drought.

The world’s forests have been soaking up a lot of our fossil fuel emissions. That’s because plant photosynthesis absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Large disturbances like fire and drought reduce or even reverse that function.

Read more:
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Water cycle changes fuel intense storms

A change in circulation and sea temperatures in the Pacific Ocean to El Niño conditions influenced the global water cycle in 2023. But this happened against a backdrop of increasing sea surface temperatures due to global warming.

Rising sea surface and air temperatures have been intensifying the strength and rainfall intensity of monsoons, cyclones and other storm systems.

We saw this happen close to home. Cyclone Jasper battered northern Queensland and severe storms formed in south-east Queensland, leaving a trail of destruction. The cyclone moved much slower than expected, causing torrential rains and widespread flooding.

Read more:
North Queensland’s record-breaking floods are a frightening portent of what’s to come under climate change

In 2023, we also saw other cyclones behave in unexpected and deadly ways. A cyclone travelled across to New Zealand. The longest-lived cyclone ever recorded battered south-eastern Africa for weeks. And a cyclone developed in the Mediterranean Sea, crossing from Greece to destroy reservoir dams in Libya, killing thousands.

The estimated global damage from cyclones in 2023 surpassed US$45 billion.

Warmer sea temperatures fuel such freak events. As the climate crisis deepens, we can expect more unprecedented storms.

Read more:
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Outlook: 2024 and beyond

At the start of 2024, the greatest risk of developing or intensifying drought appears in Central and South America (except southern Brazil and Uruguay), southern Africa and western Australia.

Regions that received much rainfall towards the end of 2023 are unlikely to develop drought for at least several months. These include the Sahel region and the Horn of Africa, northern Europe, India, China and South-East Asia.

The events of 2023 show how the threat of ongoing climate change to our planet and lives is growing by the year. There were many such events in 2023, and the human and economic toll was large. These events should not be viewed as isolated incidents but as part of a broader emerging pattern.

Globally, the frequency and intensity of rainfall events and flooding are increasing. At the same time, there are also more and faster developing droughts, or flash droughts, that can cause crop failure and destructive wildfires within weeks or months. With the global food challenge, biodiversity crisis and an extremely urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, these droughts and fires are among our greatest global threats.

Overall, 2023 provided a stark reminder of the consequences of our continued reliance on fossil fuels and the urgent need but apparent inability of humanity to act decisively to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Albert Van Dijk receives or has previously received funding from several government-funded agencies, grant schemes and programmes.

– ref. How 2023’s record heat worsened droughts, floods and bushfires around the world – https://theconversation.com/how-2023s-record-heat-worsened-droughts-floods-and-bushfires-around-the-world-220836

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anchal Garg, Psychology researcher, Bond University

Have you ever found yourself thinking about loved ones during a boring meeting? Or going over the plot of a movie you recently watched during a drive to the supermarket?

This is the cognitive phenomenon known as “mind wandering”. Research suggests it can account for up to 50% of our waking cognition (our mental processes when awake) in both western and non-western societies.

So what can help make this time productive and beneficial?

Mind wandering is not daydreaming

Mind wandering is often used interchangeably with daydreaming. They are both considered types of inattention but are not the same thing.

Mind wandering is related to a primary task, such as reading a book, listening to a lecture, or attending a meeting. The mind withdraws from that task and focuses on internally generated, unrelated thoughts.

On the other hand, daydreaming does not involve a primary, active task. For example, daydreaming would be thinking about an ex-partner while travelling on a bus and gazing out the window. Or lying in bed and thinking about what it might be like to go on a holiday overseas.

If you were driving the bus or making the bed and your thoughts diverted from the primary task, this would be classed as mind wandering.

The benefits of mind wandering

Mind wandering is believed to play an important role in generating new ideas, conclusions or insights (also known as “aha! moments”). This is because it can give your mind a break and free it up to think more creatively.

This type of creativity does not always have to be related to creative pursuits (such as writing a song or making an artwork). It could include a new way to approach a university or school assignment or a project at work.
Another benefit of mind wandering is relief from boredom, providing the opportunity to mentally retreat from a monotonous task.

For example, someone who does not enjoy washing dishes could think about their upcoming weekend plans while doing the chore. In this instance, mind wandering assists in “passing the time” during an uninteresting task.

Mind wandering also tends to be future-oriented. This can provide an opportunity to reflect upon and plan future goals, big or small. For example, what steps do I need to take to get a job after graduation? Or, what am I going to make for dinner tomorrow?

Read more:
Alpha, beta, theta: what are brain states and brain waves? And can we control them?

What are the risks?

Mind wandering is not always beneficial, however. It can mean you miss out on crucial information. For example, there could be disruptions in learning if a student engages in mind wandering during a lesson that covers exam details. Or an important building block for learning.

Some tasks also require a lot of concentration in order to be safe. If you’re thinking about a recent argument with a partner while driving, you run the risk of having an accident.

That being said, it can be more difficult for some people to control their mind wandering. For example, mind wandering is more prevalent in people with ADHD.

Read more:
How your brain decides what to think

What can you do to maximise the benefits?

There are several things you can do to maximise the benefits of mind wandering.

• be aware: awareness of mind wandering allows you to take note of and make use of any productive thoughts. Alternatively, if it is not a good time to mind wander it can help bring your attention back to the task at hand

• context matters: try to keep mind wandering to non-demanding tasks rather than demanding tasks. Otherwise, mind wandering could be unproductive or unsafe. For example, try think about that big presentation during a car wash rather than when driving to and from the car wash

• content matters: if possible, try to keep the content positive. Research has found, keeping your thoughts more positive, specific and concrete (and less about “you”), is associated with better wellbeing. For example, thinking about tasks to meet upcoming work deadlines could be more productive than ruminating about how you felt stressed or failed to meet past deadlines.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. It’s normal for your mind to wander. Here’s how to maximise the benefits – https://theconversation.com/its-normal-for-your-mind-to-wander-heres-how-to-maximise-the-benefits-219490

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Historian, Australian Catholic University

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark’s announcement of her abdication in her New Year’s Eve address, citing her age and health, was a significant shock to the Danes.

Margrethe became Queen of Denmark following the death of her father, King Frederik IX, in 1972. When Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022, Margrethe became Europe’s longest-reigning monarch and is the world’s longest-serving current female head of state. She is also the world’s sole queen regnant – that is, a queen who reigns in her own right independent of her spouse’s rank and titles.

Her decision to abdicate marks a significant departure from what she had repeatedly said before: her intention was to remain on the throne for life, as did her predecessors. Queen Margrethe II will break the nearly 900-year-old tradition of lifelong reign in Denmark.

The abdication ceremony is scheduled for Sunday January 14, coinciding with the 52nd anniversary of Margrethe’s accession to the throne. This historic moment will also see Crown Princess Mary becoming the first Australian-born queen consort as wife of the new king, Frederik X.

But while this announcement may have come as a shock, royal abdications – once rare and often scandalous events – have become more frequent over the past century.

When it isn’t ‘duty first’

Abdications, whether influenced by personal, political or health-related factors, significantly impact royal families, state institutions and national identities. Each instance of abdication holds the potential to shift public perceptions regarding the monarchy’s value as an institution and ignite debates about the monarchy’s relevance.

In 2014, Juan Carlos I of Spain – once praised as a restorer of democracy – abdicated amid scandal and self-exiled to Saudi Arabia. After his abdication, thousands of people across Spain marched calling for a referendum into the future of the monarchy and Spain’s return to a republican system.

The most notable abdication of the 20th century was of King Edward VIII of Britain in 1936. King for less than a year, Edward’s intention to marry Wallis Simpson – an American socialite in the process of her second divorce – created a constitutional crisis because the democratically elected government of the United Kingdom did not support his decision to both marry and remain king.

Edward VIII was further constrained by his role as the head of the Church of England, which then prohibited remarriage if a former spouse was still alive. He was the first British head of state to abdicate since James II/VII in 1688 was declared to have abandoned the throne, and Edward’s abdication in pursuit of personal happiness was a watershed moment in royal British history.

Read more:
A new monarch who is a divorcee would once have scandalised. But Charles’ accession shows how much has changed

This event’s lasting impact was epitomised by his niece, Queen Elizabeth II, who throughout her reign embodied the ethos of placing “duty first, self second”.

Across the Channel, in Europe’s constitutional monarchies, the position of a monarch is not seen as sanctioned by divine command but as established by secular law and abdications are not seen as a dereliction of duty.

In the last 25 years, monarchs of Belgium (King Albert II), Luxembourg (Grand Duke Jean) and the Netherlands (Queen Beatrix) voluntarily handed down the office to their successors.

Their renunciation of the office was a novelty after most of their predecessors stayed in the role for life, but was seen as functional and symptomatic of the constitutional nature of their office.

Global abdications

The 2013 abdication of Pope Benedict XVI, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the head of state of the Vatican City, was as unexpected as it was unprecedented. Benedict XVI was the first pope to step down since Gregory XII, who was forced to resign in 1415, and the first pope to do so voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294.

The pontiff offered a frank justification for his decision: someone of his age was no longer suited to the papacy in the modern world. His abdication paved the way for election of his successor and established a precedent for the retirement of popes with the retiring pontiff to be called “pope emeritus”.

Read more:
Pope’s resignation is a recognition of human frailty in an ageing world

Outside Europe, Emperor Akihito of Japan abdicated in 2019, the first emperor to abdicate in 200 years. He explained his actions in similar terms to Benedict XVI and Margarethe II, citing his health and that it was time for a younger monarch to exercise a complex constitutional role.

This century has also seen similar steps taken by rulers of Bhutan, Qatar, Kuwait and Malaysia.

Queen Margrethe II’s abdication is a sign of times. Monarchs, after years of service, can exercise the right to retire, paralleling the rights of the citizens of their realms.

This shift, while upending centuries-old traditions, suggests a more relatable and empathetic view of monarchy, aligning it closer with contemporary values of personal agency.

Read more:
Japan: a new emperor and a new era – but women are still excluded from the Chrysanthemum Throne

Darius von Guttner Sporzynski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Queen Margrethe II is the first Danish monarch to abdicate in 900 years – but it is just a sign of the times – https://theconversation.com/queen-margrethe-ii-is-the-first-danish-monarch-to-abdicate-in-900-years-but-it-is-just-a-sign-of-the-times-220663

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Garritt C Van Dyk, Lecturer, University of Newcastle

French supermarket Carrefour has fired a warning shot in a price war with global food brands, dropping PepsiCo products last week because of “unacceptably high” increases.

This has seen Pepsi soft drinks removed from stores across Europe, as have Doritos, Quaker breakfast cereals and other food produced by the multinational.

It is usually the job of shoppers and consumer advocates to call out corporations for overstepping the mark on pricing, often targeting retailers. But this time, in a pre-emptive strike against the source of the increases, Carrefour pushed back, showing they were not the problem.

This is a radical departure from the usual policy of retailers passing on costs directly to consumers.

Refusing to carry producers’ brands – known as delisting products – can be risky for retailers, prompting customers to move to competitors who stock their favourite goods.

In Australia, 65% of the grocery retail sector is controlled by Woolworths (37%) and Coles (28%), raising concerns about market dominance and a lack of real competition.

Strict rules set by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) govern the requirements for delisting to ensure there is no abuse of market power.

Market share vs brand value

In 2015 biscuit and snack food producer Arnott’s raised prices on 54 products by 10% and Coles refused to carry them.

This decision to stand up to the multinational (contradicting the stereotype it took advantage of its market dominance) was welcomed by many consumers.

However, some were not willing to go without their Tim Tams and Coles ultimately agreed to let Arnott’s raise the prices of 44 products.

Woolworths had a similar issue with Arnott’s in 2019 over prices and promotions, refusing to pass through an increase due to drought and currency fluctuations.

The opposite, however, happened earlier in the same year, when Uncle Toby’s withheld inventory from Woolworths because they did not agree to pass on price hikes.

Runaway prices

Carrefour’s dispute with PepsiCo should be viewed in the context of the cost of food in Europe blowing out over the past two years, with average prices up 30% since 2021.

These increases have prompted retailers to be more transparent with consumers about how their profits compare to those of producers.

Revealing the cause of the price increases, and refusing to pass them on, distances the retailers’ business model from the producers’ opportunistic attempts to increase profits.

Price gouging or legitimate cost increases?

This week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers echoed calls from the Coalition to investigate supermarket pricing and review the ACCC’s grocery code to ensure savings are passed on as costs abate.

Data from the ABS shows wholesale food costs only rose 0.7% in the most recent quarter, while the price for a typical basket of consumer food items rose 3.2%.

This gap also appears in Europe, where the percentage of “unexplained” rises in food prices increased from 3% to 10% from 2022 to 2023.

Bigger production costs did not account for all of the increases, leading to the conclusion producers were taking advantage of consumers, blaming the war in Ukraine, increased transport costs and global supply chain disruption to rationalise higher prices on the shelf.

In a 2023 report into European food inflation, Allianz said this was “catch-up profit-taking” to recover losses from previous years.

The rise of shrinkflation

So-called “shrinkflation” – where the price of goods doesn’t change but they are sold in smaller quantities for the same price – has also made consumers groups sceptical.

In Australia, it is factored into the calculation of inflation for household goods and services as measured by the Consumer Price Index. The ABS characterises shrinkflation as a “quality decrease”.

Consumer advocacy group CHOICE has noted shrinkflation in Australia since 2016 in its Community Forum, citing size reductions in products ranging from chocolate bars to breakfast cereals.

Read more:
Amid allegations of price gouging, it’s time for big supermarkets to come clean on how they price their products

In Europe, Carrefour instituted a bold in-store campaign last year of naming and shaming brands that downsized products using signage that highlights the shrinkage.

This allows consumers to make informed decisions without limiting their buying options. But it also risks backlash from producers over how their goods are displayed on the shelf.

Without regulation, or a similar campaign from retailers, Australian consumers must check unit prices to ensure they are not paying more for less.

A chance to generate goodwill

Carrefour’s stand against a global brand and decision to delist their products recognises consumers everywhere are feeling the impact of higher prices.

At a time when the Senate is investigating claims of price gouging by Australia’s largest supermarket chains, more transparency would be a welcome change.

From negotiations at the farm gate to the multinational boardroom, there is an opportunity for the big grocery retailers to pass on savings where possible, and increase brand loyalty.

Read more:
The cost of living is biting. Here’s how to spend less on meat and dairy

Garritt C Van Dyk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. As Australian supermarkets are blamed over food costs, French grocer Carrefour targets Pepsi for ‘unacceptable’ price rises – https://theconversation.com/as-australian-supermarkets-are-blamed-over-food-costs-french-grocer-carrefour-targets-pepsi-for-unacceptable-price-rises-220646

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University

South Africa has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ, also known as the World Court) in The Hague claiming genocide has been committed against Palestinians during the Gaza conflict.

A charge of genocide before the court in the midst of a heated armed conflict is exceptional.

Likewise, the significance of South Africa’s claim against Israel has immense cultural, diplomatic, historical, and political significance. Israel has rejected South Africa’s claim and vowed to contest the case against it.

International court cases such as these typically run for many years before a final judgement is reached, however South Africa has also requested provisional measures – a form of international injunction – and preliminary hearings will take place in The Hague on January 11 and 12.

A decision on South Africa’s provisional measures request will most likely be made by the end of January with the potential to have a profound impact on Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Read more:
After 3 months of devastation in the Israel-Hamas war, is anyone ‘winning’?

Which laws are in question?

The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) was adopted following the 1940s holocaust by the Nazi regime, which resulted in the deaths of six million Jewish people.

The Genocide Convention was one of the most significant responses by the then fledgling United Nations to the holocaust. It was intended to clearly define genocide, prevent future genocides, and make nation states accountable for genocide.

There are a total of 153 parties to the Genocide Convention, including Israel and South Africa, and it is widely seen as one of the pillars of the United Nations human rights system.

States are accountable for genocide before the International Court of Justice, while individuals can be charged with the crime of genocide and placed on trial at the International Criminal Court.

Genocide is defined in the Convention as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” and extends to:

• killing members of the group, or causing serious bodily harm to members of the group

• deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction

• imposing measures to prevent births.

What is South Africa’s case about?

South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention was commenced on December 29 2023 following lodgement of an 84 page application instituting the proceedings.

South Africa has brought the case by relying on the principle that as a party to the Genocide Convention, it has an obligation to enforce legal rights owed to all people that genocide not be allowed. The claim could have been commenced by any other party to the convention, however, South Africa has been raising concerns about genocide in Gaza since October 30.

The claim gives an historical context to Israel’s conduct in Palestine, recounts the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, and details Israel’s subsequent Gaza military operations.

Particular attention is given to the actions and conduct of Israeli political and military leaders, especially their statements as to how Israel intended to respond to the Hamas attacks, and the extent and scale of Israel’s military operations and military objectives in Gaza.

South Africa then details Israel’s actual military conduct during the Gaza campaign and the consequences for Palestinian civilians. This conduct is linked directly back to acts of genocide as defined in the Genocide Convention.

South Africa’s court case takes two forms: a claim that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and the urgent request for provisional measures (international legal speak for expediting the process).

South Africa has requested that the court order that Israel’s political and military leaders, and Israel’s military, immediately cease any activities that amount to an ongoing campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people.

South Africa will need to prove, both in law and in facts, that the case is admissible, that the World Court has jurisdiction to hear this claim, and that the application is urgent, requiring orders to prevent irreparable harm.

Importantly at this stage, South Africa does not need to conclusively prove genocide has taken place. That comes at the later phase, called the Merits phase. South Africa does, however, need to demonstrate that Palestinians face irreparable harm and that, on the facts, Israel’s conduct could be considered to be acts of genocide.

Israel will no doubt robustly resist any assertion genocide is occurring and argue its political and military leaders are acting consistently with international law in response to the threat posed by Hamas. Particular attention will probably be given to Israel’s right of self-defence following the October 7 attacks.

Read more:
South Africa’s foreign policy under Ramaphosa has seen diplomatic tools being used to provide leadership as global power relations shift

How do cases like these work?

The International Court of Justice has been thrust into the middle of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

However, it is not being asked to play the role of the United Nations Security Council and settle that dispute. The court’s role, as a United Nations organ is purely to apply the Genocide Convention and international law.

It will, nevertheless, be acutely aware of the significance of its role, especially in the face of claims of an ongoing genocide. This has been reflected in how it has moved quickly to hear South Africa’s case.

There are two potential outcomes from South Africa’s provisional measures request.

The court may decline to order provisional measures. It may, for example, find it lacks jurisdiction and that South Africa’s case is inadmissible on technical legal grounds, or the facts do not support the claims made.

Read more:
Hamas’ use of sexual violence is an all-too-common part of modern war – but not in all conflicts

Or the court may uphold South Africa’s request and order provisional measures. Any provisional measures ruling against Israel would require a radical modification of Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

The court cannot, however, enforce its decisions. In 2022, for example, Russia ignored an International Court of Justice provisional measures order following its invasion of Ukraine.

No matter what the court orders, Israel will retain its right of self-defence against Hamas.

Donald Rothwell receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. South Africa is taking Israel to court for genocide in Palestine. What does it mean for the war in Gaza? – https://theconversation.com/south-africa-is-taking-israel-to-court-for-genocide-in-palestine-what-does-it-mean-for-the-war-in-gaza-220660

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Garritt C Van Dyk, Lecturer, University of Newcastle

French supermarket Carrefour has fired a warning shot in a price war with global food brands, dropping PepsiCo products last week because of “unacceptably high” increases.

This has seen Pepsi soft drinks removed from stores across Europe, as have Doritos, Quaker breakfast cereals and other food produced by the multinational.

It is usually the job of shoppers and consumer advocates to call out corporations for overstepping the mark on pricing, often targeting retailers. But this time, in a pre-emptive strike against the source of the increases, Carrefour pushed back, showing they were not the problem.

This is a radical departure from the usual policy of retailers passing on costs directly to consumers.

Refusing to carry producers’ brands – known as delisting products – can be risky for retailers, prompting customers to move to competitors who stock their favourite goods.

In Australia, 65% of the grocery retail sector is controlled by Woolworths (37%) and Coles (28%), raising concerns about market dominance and a lack of real competition.

Strict rules set by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) govern the requirements for delisting to ensure there is no abuse of market power.

Market share vs brand value

In 2015 biscuit and snack food producer Arnott’s raised prices on 54 products by 10% and Coles refused to carry them.

This decision to stand up to the multinational (contradicting the stereotype it took advantage of its market dominance) was welcomed by many consumers.

However, some were not willing to go without their Tim Tams and Coles ultimately agreed to let Arnott’s raise the prices of 44 products.

Woolworths had a similar issue with Arnott’s in 2019 over prices and promotions, refusing to pass through an increase due to drought and currency fluctuations.

The opposite, however, happened earlier in the same year, when Uncle Toby’s withheld inventory from Woolworths because they did not agree to pass on price hikes.

Runaway prices

Carrefour’s dispute with PepsiCo should be viewed in the context of the cost of food in Europe blowing out over the past two years, with average prices up 30% since 2021.

These increases have prompted retailers to be more transparent with consumers about how their profits compare to those of producers.

Revealing the cause of the price increases, and refusing to pass them on, distances the retailers’ business model from the producers’ opportunistic attempts to increase profits.

Price gouging or legitimate cost increases?

This week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers echoed calls from the Coalition to investigate supermarket pricing and review the ACCC’s grocery code to ensure savings are passed on as costs abate.

Data from the ABS shows wholesale food costs only rose 0.7% in the most recent quarter, while the price for a typical basket of consumer food items rose 3.2%.

This gap also appears in Europe, where the percentage of “unexplained” rises in food prices increased from 3% to 10% from 2022 to 2023.

Bigger production costs did not account for all of the increases, leading to the conclusion producers were taking advantage of consumers, blaming the war in Ukraine, increased transport costs and global supply chain disruption to rationalise higher prices on the shelf.

In a 2023 report into European food inflation, Allianz said this was “catch-up profit-taking” to recover losses from previous years.

The rise of shrinkflation

So-called “shrinkflation” – where the price of goods doesn’t change but they are sold in smaller quantities for the same price – has also made consumers groups sceptical.

In Australia, it is factored into the calculation of inflation for household goods and services as measured by the Consumer Price Index. The ABS characterises shrinkflation as a “quality decrease”.

Consumer advocacy group CHOICE has noted shrinkflation in Australia since 2016 in its Community Forum, citing size reductions in products ranging from chocolate bars to breakfast cereals.

Read more:
Amid allegations of price gouging, it’s time for big supermarkets to come clean on how they price their products

In Europe, Carrefour instituted a bold in-store campaign last year of naming and shaming brands that downsized products using signage that highlights the shrinkage.

This allows consumers to make a informed decisions without limiting their buying options. But it also risks backlash from producers over how their goods are displayed on the shelf.

Without regulation, or a similar campaign from retailers, Australian consumers must check unit prices to ensure they are not paying more for less.

A chance to generate goodwill

Carrefour’s stand against a global brand and decision to delist their products recognises consumers everywhere are feeling the impact of higher prices.

At a time when the Senate is investigating claims of price gouging by Australia’s largest supermarket chains, more transparency would be a welcome change.

From negotiations at the farm gate to the multinational boardroom, there is an opportunity for the big grocery retailers to pass on savings where possible, and increase brand loyalty.

Read more:
The cost of living is biting. Here’s how to spend less on meat and dairy

Garritt C Van Dyk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. As Australian supermarkets blamed over food costs, French grocer Carrefour targets Pepsi for ‘unacceptable’ price rises – https://theconversation.com/as-australian-supermarkets-blamed-over-food-costs-french-grocer-carrefour-targets-pepsi-for-unacceptable-price-rises-220646

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marco Amati, Professor of International Planning, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University

The Howard government (1996-2007) shifted migration policy away from family migration and towards skilled migrants. Our recently published research analysed changes in migrant clusters at the level of local neighbourhoods. We also looked at where these clusters are located.

Understanding where cultural diversity occurs and how quickly people are being assimilated can help policymakers to ensure resources are fairly distributed and communities’ resilience enhanced. These issues affect place-based health, urban planning and disaster risk management policies. Better targeting of services is also vital for fostering a sense of belonging, social cohesion and inclusion across Australian society.

In particular, evaluating whether the skilled migration policy has been a success involves understanding whether or not highly educated immigrants are finding jobs that match their qualifications. Our research suggests this hasn’t been the case.

How migrants get a foothold in society

Different theories of settlement and integration make different assumptions about how migrants will settle in society. In our research we found segmented assimilation best characterises migrant experiences from 2001 to 2021. This means there are different “segments”, such as occupations and locations, available to migrants to get a foothold before assimilating.

Using language spoken at home as an indicator, we show diversity is higher in urban areas than in rural areas in all states and territories except the Northern Territory. Diversity is also spread more evenly throughout urban areas. Rural areas have pockets of diversity.

Using language spoken at home, we can see the cultural diversity of protected regions in Northern Territory and Western Australia because of the high populations of Indigenous peoples. A different picture emerges in the cities.

For example, comparing the picture in Sydney in 2001 to 2021, diversity has grown to encompass most of the inner suburbs. It has fallen away in the outer suburbs or peri-urban areas.

Over the same time in Melbourne, diversity has gone from being evenly spread to becoming patchy in the inner areas. (Our research paper maps the diversity changes in the other capital cities.)

While the overall trend of migrant movement is towards the suburbs, we found this trend isn’t statistically significant compared to other trends. For example, other patterns of movement, such as people moving from suburbs towards the city centre, might also be significant.

The graphs below show the clustering of diversity in different cities. Zero in the Moran’s index indicates diversity is randomly spread. The index increases as diversity becomes more clustered. For example, there might be schools or other facilities that encourage clustering.

For most of the larger cities clustering is relatively fixed over time. Levels of clustering in Adelaide and Melbourne have stayed higher than in other cities.

What features allow clusters of diversity to persist?

We then examined the features of these clusters across Australia. In other words, what are the physical features of these places? And what are the characteristics of their residents?

Overwhelmingly, people born in Asia and especially China now dominate clusters of diversity. They have replaced European-dominated migration, which was still apparent in 2001.

Another major shift occurred early in the 2000s and came to dominate during the “skilled migrant” era. This has been the ability of migrants to speak good English. The data show migrants tended to be increasingly tertiary-educated and employed in managerial professions.

Surprisingly, despite these skills, these workers tend to have lower incomes than non-migrants. New immigrants with good education and language skills may have difficulties finding jobs that match their education levels. They earn less than their non-migrant counterparts, which suggests they are overqualified for the jobs they do find.

The data also reveal how much physical features may be associated with diversity. Using an AI technique known as SHAP (Shapley Additive exPlanations) on the five census years (2001 to 2021), we showed travel to work by public transport is most strongly associated with diversity. However, the strength of this falls away over time.

Crowded houses are at first linked with diversity, but this trend is reversed in later years. Rented houses also decrease in association, possibly in line with more migrants owning homes in the suburbs.

Continually diverse, upwardly and outwardly mobile

During the “Hanson years” of immigration policy in Australia, the country moved away from family-based migration towards a policy that made sense economically, but in its extreme form was anti-humanitarian.

Beneath the signature changes in policy on refugees and asylum seekers, our research papers show a longer-term and arguably more significant groundswell of change in our cities. This was assimilation based on migrant desires that all Australians share: good English, home ownership, suburbanisation and good public transport.

Marco Amati receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN). This work was funded by High Impact Project 2022 “Nationwide Longitudinal Database for Emerging CALD Communities and Social-Environmental Inequities”.

Joe Hurley receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN). This work was funded by the AURIN High Impact Project 2022 “Nationwide Longitudinal Database for Emerging CALD Communities and Social-Environmental Inequities”. Joe is on the technical advisory committee for the Council Alliance for Sustainable Built Environment.

Dr. Qian (Chayn) Sun receives funding from NCRIS-enabled Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN). She researches and teaches fundamental and applied Geospatial Technology and Science at RMIT University. She is the founder of GISail (Geospatial Informatics and Intelligence) research group. This work was funded by High Impact Project 2022 “Nationwide Longitudinal Database for Emerging CALD Communities and Social-Environmental Inequities”.

Siqin (Sisi) Wang is affiliated with Spatial Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, US as an Associate Professor and double affiliated to RMIT, Australia as a Senior Lecturer and University of Queensland, Australia as a Honorary Research Fellow.

– ref. Australia’s skilled migration policy changed how and where migrants settle – https://theconversation.com/australias-skilled-migration-policy-changed-how-and-where-migrants-settle-215068

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland

TikTok is full of videos that demonstrate DIY hacks, from up-cycling tricks to cooking tips. Meanwhile, a growing number of TikTok videos offer tips to help you save money and time at the dentist. But do they deliver?

Here are five popular dental TikTok trends and why you might treat them with caution.

1. Home-made whitening solutions

Many TikTok videos provide tips to whiten teeth. These include tutorials on making your own whitening toothpaste using ingredients such as hydrogen peroxide, a common household bleaching agent, and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).

In this video, the influencer says:

And then you’re going to pour in your hydrogen peroxide. There’s really no measurement to this.

But hydrogen peroxide in high doses is poisonous if swallowed, and can burn your gums, mouth and throat, and corrode your teeth.

High doses of hydrogen peroxide may infiltrate holes or microscopic cracks in your teeth to inflame or damage the nerves and blood vessels in the teeth, which can cause pain and even nerve death. This is why dental practitioners are bound by rules when we offer whitening treatments.

Sodium bicarbonate and hydrogen peroxide are among the components in commercially available whitening toothpastes. While these commercial products may be effective at removing surface stains, their compositions are carefully curated to keep your smile safe.

À lire aussi :
From old and crispy to bold glamour – TikTok filters are helping us tell stories online

2. Oil pulling

Oil pulling involves swishing one tablespoon of sesame or coconut oil in your mouth for up to 20 minutes at a time. It has roots in Ayurvedic medicine, a traditional medicine practice that originates from the Indian subcontinent.

While oil pulling should be followed by brushing and flossing, I’ve had patients who believe oil pulling is a replacement for these practices.

There has been some research on the potential of oil pulling to treat gum disease or other diseases in the mouth. But overall, evidence that supports the effectiveness of oil pulling is of low certainty.

For example, studies that test the effectiveness of oil pulling have been conducted on school-aged children and people with no dental problems, and often measure dental plaque growth over a few days to a couple of weeks.

À lire aussi :
What happens to teeth as you age? And how can you extend the life of your smile?

Chlorhexidine is an ingredient found in some commercially available mouthwashes.
In one study, people who rinsed with chlorhexidine mouthwash (30 seconds twice daily) developed less plaque on their teeth compared to those who undertook oil pulling for eight to 10 minutes.

Ultimately, it’s unlikely you will experience measurable gain to your oral health by adding oil pulling to your daily routine. If you’re time-poor, you’re better off focusing on brushing your teeth and gums well alongside flossing.

3. Using rubber bands to fix gaps

This TikTok influencer shows his followers he closed the gaps between his front teeth in a week using cheap clear rubber bands.

But this person may be one of the lucky few to successfully use bands to close a gap in his teeth without any mishaps. Front teeth are slippery and taper near the gums into cone-shaped roots. This can cause bands to slide and disappear into the gums to surround the tooth roots, which can cause infections and pain.

If this happens, you may require surgery that involves cutting your gums to remove the bands. If the bands have caused an infection, you may lose the affected teeth. So it’s best to leave this sort of work to a dental professional trained in orthodontics.

4. Filing or cutting teeth to shape them

My teeth hurt just watching this video.

Cutting or filing teeth unnecessarily can expose the second, more sensitive tooth layer, called dentine, or potentially, the nerve and blood vessels inside the tooth. People undergoing this sort of procedure could experience anything from sensitive teeth through to a severe toothache that requires root canal treatment or tooth removal.

You may notice dentist drills spray water when cutting to protect your teeth from extreme heat damage. The drill in this video is dry with no water used to cool the heat produced during cutting.

It may also not be sterile. We like to have everything clean and sterile to prevent contaminated instruments used on one patient from potentially spreading an infection to another person.

Importantly, once you cut or file your teeth away, it’s gone forever. Unlike bone, hair or nails, our teeth don’t have the capacity to regrow.

5. DIY fillings

Many people on TikTok demonstrate filling cavities (holes) or replacing gaps between teeth with a material made from heated moulded plastic beads. DIY fillings can cause a lot of issues – I’ve seen this in my clinic first hand.

While we may make it look simple in dental surgeries, the science behind filling materials and how we make them stick to teeth to fill cavities is sophisticated.

Filling a cavity with the kind of material made from these beads will be as effective as using sticky tape on sand. Not to mention the cavity will continue to grow bigger underneath the untreated “filled” teeth.

À lire aussi :
‘Bone smashing’: broken bones, tooth loss and blood vessel damage are just a few of the harms of this bizarre TikTok trend

I know it’s easy to say “see a dentist about that cavity” or “go to an orthodontist to fix that gap in your teeth you don’t like”, but it can be expensive to actually do these things. However if you end up requiring treatment to fix the issues caused at home, it may end up costing you much more.

So what’s the take-home message? Stick with the funny cat and dog videos on TikTok – they’re safer for your smile.

Arosha Weerakoon’s Ph.D. research on the effect of physiological ageing on tooth structure and the effect of dentine site on adhesive adaptation was funded by Colgate Palmolive Australia and the School of Dentistry Post-Graduate Research Fund. She is the principal dentist and owner of a general dental practice located in the Sunshine Coast.

– ref. 5 dental TikTok trends you probably shouldn’t try at home – https://theconversation.com/5-dental-tiktok-trends-you-probably-shouldnt-try-at-home-218044

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Garritt C Van Dyk, Lecturer, University of Newcastle

French supermarket Carrefour has fired a warning shot in a price war with global food brands, dropping PepsiCo products last week because of “unacceptably high” increases.

This has seen Pepsi soft drinks removed from stores across Europe, as have Doritos, Quaker breakfast cereals and other food produced by the multinational.

It is usually the job of shoppers and consumer advocates to call out corporations for overstepping the mark on pricing, often targeting retailers. But this time, in a pre-emptive strike against the source of the increases, Carrefour pushed back, showing they were not the problem.

This is a radical departure from the usual policy of retailers passing on costs directly to consumers.

Refusing to carry producers’ brands – known as delisting products – can be risky for retailers, prompting customers to move to competitors who stock their favourite goods.

In Australia, 65% of the grocery retail sector is controlled by Woolworths (37%) and Coles (28%), raising concerns about market dominance and a lack of real competition.

Strict rules set by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) govern the requirements for delisting to ensure there is no abuse of market power.

Market share vs brand value

In 2015 biscuit and snack food producer Arnott’s raised prices on 54 products by 10% and Coles refused to carry them.

This decision to stand up to the multinational (contradicting the stereotype it took advantage of its market dominance) was welcomed by many consumers.

However, some were not willing to go without their Tim Tams and Coles ultimately agreed to let Arnott’s raise the prices of 44 products.

Woolworths had a similar issue with Arnott’s in 2019 over prices and promotions, refusing to pass through an increase due to drought and currency fluctuations.

The opposite, however, happened earlier in the same year, when Uncle Toby’s withheld inventory from Woolworths because they did not agree to pass on price hikes.

Runaway prices

Carrefour’s dispute with PepsiCo should be viewed in the context of the cost of food in Europe blowing out over the past two years, with average prices up 30% since 2021.

These increases have prompted retailers to be more transparent with consumers about how their profits compare to those of producers.

Revealing the cause of the price increases, and refusing to pass them on, distances the retailers’ business model from the producers’ opportunistic attempts to increase profits.

Price gouging or legitimate cost increases?

This week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers echoed calls from the Coalition to investigate supermarket pricing and review the ACCC’s grocery code to ensure savings are passed on as costs abate.

Data from the ABS shows wholesale food costs only rose 0.7% in the most recent quarter, while the price for a typical basket of consumer food items rose 3.2%.

This gap also appears in Europe, where the percentage of “unexplained” rises in food prices increased from 3% to 10% from 2022 to 2023.

Bigger production costs did not account for all of the increases, leading to the conclusion producers were taking advantage of consumers, blaming the war in Ukraine, increased transport costs and global supply chain disruption to rationalise higher prices on the shelf.

In a 2023 report into European food inflation, Allianz said this was “catch-up profit-taking” to recover losses from previous years.

The rise of shrinkflation

So-called “shrinkflation” – where the price of goods doesn’t change but they are sold in smaller quantities for the same price – has also made consumers groups sceptical.

In Australia, it is factored into the calculation of inflation for household goods and services as measured by the Consumer Price Index. The ABS characterises shrinkflation as a “quality decrease”.

Consumer advocacy group CHOICE has noted shrinkflation in Australia since 2016 in its Community Forum, citing size reductions in products ranging from chocolate bars to breakfast cereals.

Read more:
Amid allegations of price gouging, it’s time for big supermarkets to come clean on how they price their products

In Europe, Carrefour instituted a bold in-store campaign last year of naming and shaming brands that downsized products using signage that highlights the shrinkage.

This allows consumers to make a informed decisions without limiting their buying options. But it also risks backlash from producers over how their goods are displayed on the shelf.

Without regulation, or a similar campaign from retailers, Australian consumers must check unit prices to ensure they are not paying more for less.

A chance to generate goodwill

Carrefour’s stand against a global brand and decision to delist their products recognises consumers everywhere are feeling the impact of higher prices.

At a time when the Senate is investigating claims of price gouging by Australia’s largest supermarket chains, more transparency would be a welcome change.

From negotiations at the farm gate to the multinational boardroom, there is an opportunity for the big grocery retailers to pass on savings where possible, and increase brand loyalty.

Read more:
The cost of living is biting. Here’s how to spend less on meat and dairy

Garritt C Van Dyk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. As Australian supermarkets face blame over food costs, French grocer Carrefour targets Pepsi over ‘unacceptable’ price rises – https://theconversation.com/as-australian-supermarkets-face-blame-over-food-costs-french-grocer-carrefour-targets-pepsi-over-unacceptable-price-rises-220646

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Novitz, Senior Lecturer, Writing, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology

In the classic comedy Ghostbusters (1984), newly hired secretary Janice raises the subject of reading, while idly flipping through the pages of a magazine. The scientist Egon Spengler responds with a brusque dismissal: “print is dead.”

Egon’s words now seem prescient. The prevailing assumption of the past couple of decades is that print media is being slowly throttled by the rise of digital. Print magazines, in particular, are often perceived as being under threat.

While not nearly as popular as they once were, magazines haven’t died. New ones have started since the dire predictions began, while others continue to attract loyal readerships.

So what’s the enduring appeal of the print magazine? Why didn’t it die, as so many predicted?

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Substack newsletters are a literary trend. What’s the appeal – and what should you read?

Printed words in an online world

The word “magazine” derives from the term for a warehouse or storehouse. In its essence, it is any publication that collects different types of writing for readers. Each instalment includes a range of voices, subjects and perspectives.

Print magazine culture has certainly seen a decline since its heyday in the 20th century. Once-popular print magazines have moved entirely online or are largely sustained by growing digital subscriptions.

Elsewhere, internet media sites, of the type pioneered by Buzzfeed and its imitators, increasingly fulfil the need for diverse and distracting short-form writing.

The explosion of social media has also cut into the advertising market on which print magazines have traditionally depended.

Online audiences have come to expect new content daily or even hourly. Casual readers are less willing to wait for a weekly or monthly print magazine to arrive in the post or on a newsstand. The ready availability of free, or significantly cheaper, digital content may deter them from purchasing print subscriptions or individual issues.

Turning from screens to the page

And yet print magazines refuse to die. Established periodicals, such as the New Yorker and Vogue, stubbornly cling to a global readership in both print and digital formats.

New titles are emerging as well – 2021 saw the launch of 122 new print magazines in the United States alone. The number is smaller than some previous years, and this perhaps reflects the generally shrinking market for print media.

But given the accepted wisdom, it is remarkable there are any new periodicals at all.

In Australia, print magazines sales have risen 4.1% in 2023 and previously axed publications – such as Girlfriend – are now receiving one-off, nostalgic returns to print.

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The market for print magazines isn’t exactly thriving. But they haven’t vanished as quickly as anticipated.

Some commentators have attributed the enduring appeal of print magazines to the physical experience of reading. We absorb information differently from the page than from the screen, perhaps in a less frantic and distractable way.

“Digital fatigue” from the years of the pandemic has arguably resulted in a small pivot back to print media. The revived interest in print magazines has also been attributed to the “analog” preferences of Gen Z readers.

As the writer Hope Corrigan has noted, there is also something appealing about the aesthetics of print magazines. The care taken with layout, images and copy can’t always be replicated on as screen. Indeed, magazines with a significant focus on photography and visual design – such as fashion and travel magazines – are enduring in print.

Magazine expert Samir Husni has observed that emerging independent print magazines are more focused on targeting a niche readership. Advances in printing technology have made smaller print runs more cost-effective. This allows new magazines to focus on quality over quantity.

The new wave of print magazines tend to have a higher cover price and standard of production. They are also published less frequently, with quarterly or biannual schedules becoming more common.

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What was old is cool again?

This trend moves away from the idea of magazines as cheap and disposable. Rather, it reframes them as a luxury product.

Print magazines cannot compete with digital media in providing constantly up-to-date content to a mass audience. But they can potentially maintain a dedicated readership with a meaningful and aesthetically pleasing publication.

This means print magazines may be spared some of the turbulence suffered by media websites that are solely dependent on digital advertising revenue. The past few years have seen staffing upheavals, mass resignations and shutdowns at popular magazine-style websites such as Deadspin, the Onion AV Club, the Escapist and Jezebel (although the latter has since returned). The original vision and standards for these sites have arguably suffered from the constant drive to increase daily traffic and reduce costs.

Print magazines may also be seeing a revived interest from advertisers. Recent research indicates a strong preference for print advertising among consumers. Readers are far more likely to pay attention to a print advertisement and trust its content. By contrast, online advertising is more likely to be ignored or dismissed.

In a 2021 profile of magazine collector Steven Lomazow, Nathan Heller writes:

[…] what made magazines appealing in 1720 is the same thing that made them appealing in 1920 and in 2020: a blend of iconoclasm and authority, novelty and continuity, marketability and creativity, social engagement and personal voice.

While the circulation and influence of print magazines may have reduced, they are not necessarily dead or even dying. They can be seen as moving into a smaller, but sustainable, place in the media landscape.

Julian Novitz ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Magazines were supposed to die in the digital age. Why haven’t they? – https://theconversation.com/magazines-were-supposed-to-die-in-the-digital-age-why-havent-they-217371

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thea van de Mortel, Professor, Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University

We tend to just think of viruses in terms of their damaging impacts on human health and lives. The 1918 flu pandemic killed around 50 million people. Smallpox claimed 30% of those who caught it, and survivors were often scarred and blinded. More recently, we’re all too familiar with the health and economic impacts of COVID.

But viruses can also be used to benefit human health, agriculture and the environment.

Viruses are comparatively simple in structure, consisting of a piece of genetic material (RNA or DNA) enclosed in a protein coat (the capsid). Some also have an outer envelope.

Viruses get into your cells and use your cell machinery to copy themselves.
Here are six ways we’ve harnessed this for health care and pest control.

Read more:
How do viruses get into cells? Their infection tactics determine whether they can jump species or set off a pandemic

1. To correct genes

Viruses are used in some gene therapies to correct malfunctioning genes. Genes are DNA sequences that code for a particular protein required for cell function.

If we remove viral genetic material from the capsid (protein coat) we can use the space to transport a “cargo” into cells. These modified viruses are called “viral vectors”.

Viral vectors can deliver a functional gene into someone with a genetic disorder whose own gene is not working properly.

Some genetic diseases treated this way include haemophilia, sickle cell disease and beta thalassaemia.

2. Treat cancer

Viral vectors can be used to treat cancer.

Healthy people have p53, a tumour-suppressor gene. About half of cancers are associated with the loss of p53.

Replacing the damaged p53 gene using a viral vector stops the cancerous cell from replicating and tells it to suicide (apoptosis).

Viral vectors can also be used to deliver an inactive drug to a tumour, where it is then activated to kill the tumour cell.

This targeted therapy reduces the side effects otherwise seen with cytotoxic (cell-killing) drugs.

We can also use oncolytic (cancer cell-destroying) viruses to treat some types of cancer.

Tumour cells have often lost their antiviral defences. In the case of melanoma, a modified herpes simplex virus can kill rapidly dividing melanoma cells while largely leaving non-tumour cells alone.

3. Create immune responses

Viral vectors can create a protective immune response to a particular viral antigen.

One COVID vaccine uses a modified chimp adenovirus (adenoviruses cause the common cold in humans) to transport RNA coding for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein into human cells.

Read more:
How the puzzle of viral vector vaccines was solved, leading to today’s COVID-19 shots

The RNA is then used to make spike protein copies, which stimulate our immune cells to replicate and “remember” the spike protein.

Then, when you are exposed to SARS-CoV-2 for real, your immune system can churn out lots of antibodies and virus-killing cells very quickly to prevent or reduce the severity of infection.

4. Act as vaccines

Viruses can be modified to act directly as vaccines themselves in several ways.

We can weaken a virus (for an attenuated virus vaccine) so it doesn’t cause infection in a healthy host but can still replicate to stimulate the immune response. The chickenpox vaccine works like this.

The Salk vaccine for polio uses a whole virus that has been inactivated (so it can’t cause disease).

Others use a small part of the virus such as a capsid protein to stimulate an immune response (subunit vaccines).

An mRNA vaccine packages up viral RNA for a specific protein that will stimulate an immune response.

5. Kill bacteria

Viruses can – in limited situations in Australia – be used to treat antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

Bacteriophages are viruses that kill bacteria. Each type of phage usually infects a particular species of bacteria.

Unlike antibiotics – which often kill “good” bacteria along with the disease-causing ones – phage therapy leaves your normal flora (useful microbes) intact.

6. Target plant, fungal or animal pests

Viruses can be species-specific (infecting one species only) and even cell-specific (infecting one type of cell only).

This occurs because the proteins viruses use to attach to cells have a shape that binds to a specific type of cell receptor or molecule, like a specific key fits a lock.

The virus can enter the cells of all species with this receptor/molecule. For example, rabies virus can infect all mammals because we share the right receptor, and mammals have other characteristics that allow infection to occur whereas other non-mammal species don’t.

When the receptor is only found on one cell type, then the virus will infect that cell type, which may only be found in one or a limited number of species. Hepatitis B virus successfully infects liver cells primarily in humans and chimps.

We can use that property of specificity to target invasive plant species (reducing the need for chemical herbicides) and pest insects (reducing the need for chemical insecticides). Baculoviruses, for example, are used to control caterpillars.

Similarly, bacteriophages can be used to control bacterial tomato and grapevine diseases.

Read more:
‘Phage therapy’ could treat some drug-resistant superbug infections, but comes with unique challenges

Other viruses reduce plant damage from fungal pests.

Myxoma virus and calicivirus reduce rabbit populations and their environmental impacts and improve agricultural production.

Just like humans can be protected against by vaccination, plants can be “immunised” against a disease-causing virus by being exposed to a milder version.

Thea van de Mortel teaches into the Master of Infection Prevention and Control program at Griffith University.

– ref. Viruses aren’t always harmful. 6 ways they’re used in health care and pest control – https://theconversation.com/viruses-arent-always-harmful-6-ways-theyre-used-in-health-care-and-pest-control-217379

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Thorpe, Professor in Sociology of Sport and Gender, University of Waikato

The COVID-19 pandemic was – and continues to be – hugely disruptive and stressful for individuals, communities and countries. Yet many seem desperate to close the chapter entirely, almost as if it had never happened.

This desire to forget and move on – labelled “lockdown amnesia” by some – is understandable at one level. But it also risks missing the opportunity to learn from what happened.

And while various official enquiries and royal commissions have been established to examine the wider government responses (including in New Zealand), the experiences of ordinary people are equally important to understand.

As researchers interested in women and gender roles, we wanted to capture some of this. For the past three years, our research has focused on what happened to everyday women during this period of uncertainty and disruption – and what lessons might be learned.

Pandemic amnesia

Individual memory can become vague as time goes on. But this can also be affected by broader narratives (in the media or official responses) that overwrite our own recollections of the pandemic.

Political calls to “live with the virus”, and media hesitancy to publish COVID-related stories due to perceived audience fatigue, can create a collective sense of needing to “move on”. Looking back can be seen as questionable, or even attacked.

Indeed, misinformation and disinformation have been used, in the words of leading pandemic social scientist Deborah Lupton, to “challenge science and manufacture dissent against attempts to tackle [such] crises”.

But as the memory scholar Sydney Goggins has put it, such “public forgetting leads to a cascade of impacts on policy and social wellbeing”.

Read more:
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A gendered pandemic

Responding to the rapidly changing social, cultural and economic impacts of the pandemic, feminist scholars have highlighted the particular physical and emotional toll on women worldwide.

This has included social isolation and loneliness, increased domestic and emotional labour, the rise in domestic and gender-based violence, job losses and financial insecurity. Black, Indigenous, minority and migrant women have felt these impacts particularly keenly.

The same trends have been observed in Aotearoa New Zealand. And whereas some countries embraced pandemic recovery strategies that recognised these gender differences, this hasn’t been the case in New Zealand.

The gendered abuse of women leaders – former prime minister Jacinda Ardern and scientist Siouxsie Wiles, for example – have been well documented. But the experiences of ordinary women, their struggles and strategies to look after themselves and others, have had much less attention.

Experiences of everyday women

Our study involved 110 women in Aotearoa New Zealand. We set out to understand how they adapted their everyday practices – work, leisure, exercise, sport – to maintain or regain wellbeing, social connections and a sense of community.

Despite many differences between the women in our sample, there were also shared experiences. We referred to the ruptures in the patterns, rhythms and routines of their lives as “gender arrhythmia”.

The women responded to the psycho-social and physical challenges, such as disrupted sleep or weight changes, by creating counter-rhythms – taking up hobbies, exercising, changing diet.

Read more:
The pandemic’s disproportionate impact on women is derailing decades of progress on gender equality

The pandemic also prompted many to reflect on how their pre-pandemic routines and rhythms had caused various forms of “alienation”: from their own health and wellbeing, meaningful social connections, ethical and sustainable work practices, and pleasure.

The disruption of the pandemic caused many to reevaluate the importance of work in their lives. As one reflected:

COVID-19 has made me reassess what is the most important thing. Is it making money? Actually, no, not at all.

Others were prompted to question and challenge the gendered demands on women to “do everything” and “be everywhere” for everyone:

I think as women, because we’re so good at multitasking, we just put so much on our plates. I think we need to learn just to say no, because we’re not superhuman. And ultimately, all of this responsibility is weighing us down.

Our research also highlighted how the pandemic affected women’s relationships with familiar spaces and places. Leaving home for a walk, run or bike ride became important everyday practices that proved highly beneficial for most women’s subjective wellbeing.

Some came to appreciate physical activity for the general joys of movement and connection with people and places, rather than simply to achieve particular goals like fitness or weight loss.

Special challenges for young women

As part of our overall project, we also focused on 45 young women (aged 16 to 25). This highlighted the importance of recognising how gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic circumstances intersect.

Listening to their pandemic stories, we found young women played important roles in supporting their families and communities.

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In particular, Māori, Pacific and others from diverse ethnic or migrant backgrounds carried increased responsibilities in the home, including childcare, cleaning, cooking and shopping. While many did so willingly, these extra burdens took a toll on their schooling, mental health and wellbeing.

For many young women, the pandemic was a radical disruption to their everyday lives and routines during a critical stage of identity development. They missed key milestones and events, and crucial phases of education and social development.

Many still grieve for some of those losses. And some are struggling to rebuild social connections, motivation and aspirations.

For example, some described being passionate and aspiring athletes before the pandemic. But social anxieties and body-image issues left over from lockdowns have been hard to shake, and have seen them struggle to return to sport.

The invisible work of migrant women

We also looked deeply at the experiences of 12 middle-class migrant women, and how prolonged border closures created real anxiety about “not being there” for families overseas.

As one nurse working on the front line of COVID care in NZ explained:

About a year ago, the cases of COVID in my homeland were increasing so rapidly. My family were not very well and I was depending on social media […] trying to reach out to them. I was really scared at that time, not being able to see your family when they really need you, not being able to be with them.

Some of the women in our sample also experienced increased anti-immigrant sentiments which further affected their health and wellbeing – and their feelings of belonging. As one said:

I’ve become extremely sensitive. I cry about small things. My doctor said “go and get some fresh air, it’s good for you” […] I went outside for a walk, and someone shouted at me, screamed at me. I got terrified for my life. How do you expect me to have wellbeing when no one in the society accepts you?

This arm of the research suggests a real need for investment in policies and support strategies specifically for migrant women and their communities in any future global health emergency.

Read more:
New Zealanders are learning to live with COVID – but does that mean having to pay for protection ourselves?

Communities of care

A key feature of our study was the highly creative ways women cultivated “communities of care” during the pandemic. Even when they were struggling themselves, they reached out to friends and family – and particularly other women.

The majority of our participants were prompted to think differently about their own health and wellbeing, and what is important in their lives (now and in the future).

Throughout the pandemic, women have worked quietly, behind the scenes, in their families, communities and workplaces, supporting their own and others’ health and wellbeing. This invisible labour is rarely acknowledged or celebrated.

Many still feel the toll of economic hardship, violence and exhaustion. And less tangible feelings of disillusionment remain in a society that has so quickly “moved on” from the pandemic.

Acknowledging and addressing pandemic amnesia – personal and collective – is an important first step in documenting, learning from, and using these experiences to better prepare for future events. Next time, we need to ensure the necessary support is available for those most in need.

The authors wish to acknowledge the other members of the research team: Dr Nikki Barrett, Dr Julie Brice, Dr Allison Jeffrey and Dr Anoosh Soltani.

Holly Thorpe receives funding from a Royal Society Te Apārangi James Cook Research Fellowship.

Grace O’Leary, Mihi Joy Nemani, and Nida Ahmad do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Wanting to ‘move on’ is natural – but women’s pandemic experiences can’t be lost to ‘lockdown amnesia’ – https://theconversation.com/wanting-to-move-on-is-natural-but-womens-pandemic-experiences-cant-be-lost-to-lockdown-amnesia-218510

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dana M Bergstrom, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Wollongong

Climate scientists don’t like surprises. It means our deep understanding of how the climate works isn’t quite as complete as we need. But unfortunately, as climate change worsens, surprises and unprecedented events keep happening.

In March 2022, Antarctica experienced an extraordinary heatwave. Large swathes of East Antarctica experienced temperatures up to 40°C (104°F) above normal, shattering temperature records. It was the most intense heatwave ever recorded anywhere in the world.

So shocking and rare was the event, it blew the minds of the Antarctic climate science community. A major global research project was launched to unravel the reasons behind it and the damage it caused. A team of 54 researchers, including me, delved into the intricacies of the phenomenon. The team was led by Swiss climatologist Jonathan Wille, and involved experts from 14 countries. The collaboration resulted in two ground-breaking papers published today.

The results are alarming. But they provide scientists a deeper understanding of the links between the tropics and Antarctica – and give the global community a chance to prepare for what a warmer world may bring.

Head-hurting complexity

The papers tell a complex story that began half a world away from Antarctica. Under La Niña conditions, tropical heat near Indonesia poured into the skies above the Indian Ocean. At the same time, repeated weather troughs pulsing eastwards were generating from southern Africa. These factors combined into a late, Indian Ocean tropical cyclone season.

Between late February and late March 2022, 12 tropical storms had brewed. Five storms revved up to become tropical cyclones, and heat and moisture from some of these cyclones mashed together. A meandering jet stream picked up this air and swiftly transported it vast distances across the planet to Antarctica.

Below Australia, this jet stream also contributed to blocking the eastward passage of a high pressure system. When the tropical air collided with this so-called “blocking high”, it caused the most intense atmospheric river ever observed over East Antarctica. This propelled the tropical heat and moisture southward into the heart of the Antarctic continent.

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Luck was on Antarctica’s side

The event caused the vulnerable Conger Ice Shelf to finally collapse. But the impacts were otherwise not as bad as they could have been. That’s because the heatwave struck in March, the month when Antarctica transitions to its dark, extremely cold winter. If a future heatwave arrives in summer – which is more likely under climate change – the results could be catastrophic.

Despite the heatwave, most inland temperatures stayed below zero. The spike included a new all-time temperature high of -9.4°C (15.1°F) on March 18 near Antarctica’s Concordia Research Station. To understand the immensity of this, consider that the previous March maximum temperature at this location was -27.6°C (-17.68°F). At the heatwave’s peak, 3.3 million square kilometres in East Antarctica – an area about the size of India – was affected by the heatwave.

The impacts included widespread rain and surface melt along coastal areas. But inland, the tropical moisture fell as snow – lots and lots of snow. Interestingly, the weight of the snow offset ice loss in Antarctica for the year. This delivered a temporary reprieve from Antarctica’s contribution to global sea-level rise.

Learning from the results

So what are the lessons here? Let’s begin with the nice bit. The study was made possible by international collaboration across Antarctica’s scientific community, including the open sharing of datasets. This collaboration is a touchstone of the Antarctic Treaty. It serves as a testament to the significance of peaceful international cooperation and should be celebrated.

Less heartwarmingly, the extraordinary heatwave shows how compounding weather events in the tropics can affect the vast Antarctic ice sheet. The heatwave further reduced the extent of sea ice, which was already at record lows. This loss of sea ice was exacerbated this year resulting in the lowest summer and winter sea ice ever recorded. It shows how disturbances in one year can compound in later years.

The event also demonstrated how tropical heat can trigger the collapse of unstable ice shelves. Floating ice shelves don’t contribute to global sea-level rise, but they acts as dams to the ice sheets behind them, which do contribute.

This research calculated that such temperature anomalies occur in Antarctica about once a century, but concluded that under climate change, they will occur more frequently.

The findings enable the global community to improve its planning for various scenarios. For example, if a heatwave of similar magnitude hit in summer, how much ice melt would there be? If an atmospheric river hit the Doomsday glacier in the West Antarctic, what rate of sea level rise would that trigger? And how can governments across the world prepare coastal communities for sea level rise greater than currently calculated?

This research contributes another piece to the complex jigsaw puzzle of climate change. And reminds us all, that delays to action on climate change will raise the price we pay.

Read more:
Record-smashing heatwaves are hitting Antarctica and the Arctic simultaneously. Here’s what’s driving them, and how they’ll impact wildlife

Dana M Bergstrom past position was at the Australian Antarctic Division. She is affiliated with the Pure Antarctic Foundation, a groups of scientists and artists interesting in communication science and knowledge to the broader community.

– ref. A heatwave in Antarctica totally blew the minds of scientists. They set out to decipher it – and here are the results – https://theconversation.com/a-heatwave-in-antarctica-totally-blew-the-minds-of-scientists-they-set-out-to-decipher-it-and-here-are-the-results-220672

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Juliana Zabatiero, Research Fellow, Curtin University

Many Australian parents worry about how much time their children spend watching screens.

While some time on devices is fine for entertainment and education, we also know it is important children do things away from TVs and devices.

This means for many families, there is a daily battle around getting kids off their screens and avoiding “tech tantrums”.

Our new research looks at how parents and carers can help children with what researchers call “technology transitions”.

Read more:
‘Screen time’ for kids is an outdated concept, so let’s ditch it and focus on quality instead

Why are transitions so tough?

Technology transitions are a lot like other transitions children experience throughout their day.

These include stopping play to get dressed, moving from having breakfast to getting in the car, or finishing time on the swing to leave the park. These can be tricky because they involve self-regulation skills that children learn and develop as they grow.

Transitioning from screen to non-screen activities is something many children would do more than once a day.

Often technology transitions can appear harder for children and their carers than other transitions because devices can be highly engaging, with developers and media designers actively working to keep children connected (think of how streaming services automatically start playing the next show and display all the similar options for viewing).

Our study

We are working on a larger project to develop an online tool with advice for parents about using digital technologies with their children.

In this part of the study, we have been exploring how to support children with technology transitions. Together with Playgroup WA, we worked with a group of 14 parents to explore different ways to move children off technology.

Over 12 weeks, we provided parents with ideas and advice to support transitions and then asked them what worked best. These resources included content from the federal government’s parenting website Raising Children Network and ABC Kids.

Families reported their top three strategies for supporting technology transitions.

Read more:
More Bluey, less PAW Patrol: why Australian parents want locally made TV for their kids

1. Prepare your kids

We would be upset if we were watching a movie and someone suddenly stopped it midway through without warning.

Just like adults, children can feel very annoyed and frustrated when their device is suddenly taken away, especially when they are enjoying a game or watching content they like.

So you need to prepare children and let them know when their time with a screen will end.

Some successful strategies parents and carers in this research used were “you can watch two episodes of this show” or “when this game is finished we will stop”. These help children to know how much time they will have with a device and that they will be able to finish an activity they are enjoying.

Telling them what activity would follow was also helpful. For example “when you have finished that game it will be time to eat” or “after you have watched that show we will go to the park”. What they are moving to may not always be fun, helping children understand what to expect helps make for a smoother transition.

Read more:
TV can be educational but social media likely harms mental health: what 70 years of research tells us about children and screens

2. Do something ‘for real-life’ inspired by the screen

You can use children’s interests in what they are watching to help them move from technologies into non-digital activities.

For example if your child has been watching Bluey you could invite them to complete a Bluey puzzle, or role-play some Bluey games such as keepy uppy or obstacle course. Families in this study reported moving from watching Fireman Sam to visiting a fire station or building a fire station with their child using blocks and other play materials in the home.

Parents also successfully used music and songs children liked to help with technology transitions. This could be playing music from a show, or turning on music kids liked to act as a fun activity to engage them in something else.

3. Give kids choice

Offering children choice in these situations can also be very powerful.

Many aspects of children’s lives are managed for them, when to go to school or pre-school, what they have to wear and using a seat belt in the car. Many of these things are not negotiable and often for good reasons.

This is why it is helpful to give children some choice in their lives when you can.

Parents reported success when providing kids with simple choices when preparing to move off technology. For example “would you like to watch two or four episodes of this show?” or “would you like to start the timer for your game or do you want me to let you know when your time is up?”

These strategies help children feel like they have some choice about how long they will use technologies.

As parents and carers navigate screens and technology with their kids, they should know they are not alone if they find transitions difficult. And there are strategies that can help.

The Raising Children Network has more ideas for supporting transitions.

Juliana Zabatiero receives funding from the Australian Research Council. This article was developed in collaboration with Australian Catholic University, University of Canberra, Curtin University, Playgroup WA, ABC Kids and the federal government’s Raising Children Network with funding from the Australian Research Council.

Kate Highfield consults for ABC Kids, with a focus on supporting healthy technology use in play and learning. With colleagues, she receives or has received funding from the Australian Research Council.

Leon Straker receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Susan Edwards receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. 3 ways to help your child transition off screens and avoid the dreaded ‘tech tantrums’ – https://theconversation.com/3-ways-to-help-your-child-transition-off-screens-and-avoid-the-dreaded-tech-tantrums-220138

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alistair Sisson, Macquarie University Research Fellow, School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University

Virtually every week brings news of rising rents or a story of still more renters forced out of their homes by unmanageable rent increases.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says rents climbed 6.6% in the year to October.

If you’re signing a new rent agreement the situation is worse, with landlords charging on average 8.6% more than they did a year ago, and far more – about 15% more than a year ago – in the hotpots of Sydney and Melbourne.

Reserve Bank Governor Michelle Bullock expects things to get worse before they get better. She says rents are likely to climb by a further 10% in the next six months or so before easing.

None of this need be inevitable. State and territory governments have the power to prevent outsized rent increases and de facto evictions by regulating rents, helping curb the overall rate of inflation in the process.

Research I helped conduct for Shelter NSW and the Tenants Union of NSW finds regulations to prevent excessive rent increases are increasingly common throughout advanced economies including the United States, Canada and much of Europe.

It is often said that rent controls would make things worse for both landlords and tenants by reducing investment in rental properties. But we found that, where designed well, they can help tenants by enhancing security of tenure and improving affordability.

How do rent regulations work?

There are a wide range of approaches, something that is often overlooked.

Some limit rent increases to a fixed percentage annually, ranging from 2% in Ireland to 10% in California. Some limit rent increases to the rate of inflation, although rising inflation has led many jurisdictions to place ceilings on such caps.

And most don’t regulate the initial rent for a tenancy but instead limit increases thereafter, allowing for “vacancy decontrol”.

So-called first-generation controls freeze rents, second-generation controls allow rents to increase gradually, and third-generation controls only limit rents within tenancies, allowing landlords unfettered increases when leasing to new tenants. This graph illustrates these differences.

As the graph shows, third-generation controls are less about suppressing growth over time than protecting incumbent tenants from exorbitant increases. This means they are less likely to inhibit supply.

Almost all regulations allow for exceptional rent increases when landlords significantly upgrade rental properties or face increased operating costs. This helps to ensure maintenance is not discouraged.

Some regimes even completely exempt newly-built rental properties, either permanently or for several years, which has the downside of leaving a large chunk of the market unregulated.

How could rent regulation help Australian renters?

We examined five cases of recently introduced rent regulations – in Australia’s ACT, in Ireland, Oregon, Scotland, and St Paul, Minnesota.

Like most of Australia, all had little recent history of rent regulation. Each introduced its controls in the past decade, and all but Ireland in the past five years.

We examined how helpful each of these regulations might have been by comparing each with rent increases in Sydney.

Ireland’s rent cap is the strictest. It limits annual increases to the lesser of 2% or the annual rate of overall inflation annually in a number of designated “rent pressure zones”.

If this cap was in place in Sydney over the past year, a median renter would have saved $1,976. Ireland’s is the only second-generation regime among the five, with the rent cap applying even where tenancies change.

Read more:
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The caps in Scotland and St Paul would have also held down increases in Sydney. Each limits annual increases to 3%, which would have saved the median Sydney renter $1,716 in the past twelve months.

However, Scotland allows exceptional increases to cover maintenance and increased costs of up to 6% and St Paul allows exceptional increases of up to 15% and exempts homes built in the past 20 years. Both “decontrol” between tenancies.

Oregon and the ACT are far more permissive. Oregon prevents rent increases greater than 10% or 7% plus inflation annually (whichever is lower) but excludes homes built in the last 15 years.

The ACT limits increases to 110% of the most recent annual increase in Canberra rents measured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics – a unique model internationally.

Neither would have constrained the median Sydney increase over the past 12 months, although each would have prevented the more excessive increases.

Australia’s recent rent increases have been exceptional.

For most of the past decade, each one of the models examined would have permitted increases in line with or a good deal more than those in Sydney.

While they would have prevented unusually large increases, they would have left most landlords unaffected.

Read more:
Not all rent control policies are the same – the Green Party proposal deserves an open-minded debate

One of the aims of Australia’s latest National Housing and Homelessness Agreement is to encourage “security of tenure in the private rental market”.

Unlimited rent increases undermine security of tenure, building a case for Australia’s states and territories to regulate rents.

The examples we have examined show such regulations needn’t be at odds with efforts to increase supply. They show that while rent regulation is no silver bullet, it can help make renting more affordable and secure.

Alistair Sisson has received funding from the Tenants Union of NSW, Australian Council of Social Service, Shelter NSW, QShelter, National Shelter, Mission Australia and Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. He is a member of Shelter NSW.

– ref. Rent regulations are no silver bullet, but they would help make renting fairer – https://theconversation.com/rent-regulations-are-no-silver-bullet-but-they-would-help-make-renting-fairer-218579

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ana Stevenson, Senior Lecturer, University of Southern Queensland

Glynis Johns, most famous for her role as the suffragette mother Mrs Winifred Banks in Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964), passed away last week at the age of 100.

A fourth-generation performer who made her stage debut in London when she was only three weeks old, Johns inherited her Welsh father’s love of acting. She appeared with him in The Halfway House (1944) and The Sundowners (1960) and argued for the establishment of a Welsh National Theatre as early as 1971.

Johns’s career spanned eight decades in Hollywood, Broadway and the British stage and screen. As Palm Springs’s Desert Sun reported in 1962, her “husky voice and big blue eyes” were her hallmarks. But it was her portrayal of Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins which would make her a pop culture icon.

A childhood inspiration

Feminist activists and scholars often describe the Mrs Banks character as a childhood inspiration.

As feminist communications scholar Amanda Firestone reflects on the film:

I especially loved […] Mrs Banks (Glynis Johns), who marches around the family home, putting Votes for Women sashes onto the housekeeper, cook, and the (departing) nanny. Of course, as a kid, I had no idea that the people and events embedded in the song’s lyrics were actual parts of history, but I did find a kind of joy in a vague notion of women’s empowerment.

Set in 1910, the symbolism associated with Mrs Banks references the history of the British suffragettes. Johns’ musical showstopper, Sister Suffragette, directly refers to Emmeline Pankhurst, who founded the militant Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903. In 1906 British newspapers coined the moniker “suffragette” to mock the union.

This ambivalence continued into the 1960s. Historian Laura E. Nym Mayhall argues that American concern over the impact of women’s public roles on their domestic responsibilities influenced the film’s depiction of Mrs Banks, especially her movement from a public suffragette back into an involved mother at the film’s end.

For Mayhall, the figure of the suffragette emerges in popular culture as “a symbol of modernity”: a harbinger of democracy and political progress whose characterisation would elide ongoing struggles such as the civil rights movement.

While some see the character of the suffragette mother as supporting women’s votes during the 1910s and women’s liberation during the 1960s, other readings of the film suggest a more satirical representation of the suffrage movement. Some historians even find resonances of anti-suffrage propaganda in Mrs Banks, including in her usage of her Votes for Women sash as the tail of a kite in the film’s final scene.

Looking back at film reviews offers insight into how audiences received this character – and, by extension, Johns as an actor. American studies scholar Lori Kenschaft suggests that film critics who saw Mrs Banks as a “nutty suffragette mother” reiterated popular stereotypes about suffragettes and feminists being “mentally unbalanced”.

Such stereotypes may have been reinforced by the film’s depiction of motherhood and the nuclear family. Involved parenting emerged as the bedrock of the 1960s nuclear family, an idea both supported and actively promoted by Walt Disney in both his films and his theme parks, as argued by American musicologist William A. Everett.

As Mrs Banks, Johns embodied the transition from the distant, uninvolved parenting of the British middle-class in the earlier 20th century to the involved mother who facilitated the stable nuclear family. As women’s studies scholar Anne McLeer argues, Mary Poppins, through Johns’ portrayal of Mrs Banks, demonstrated the liberated woman of the 1960s could be contained within the nuclear family: the bedrock for a Western capitalist economy.

Read more:
Will the new Mary Poppins film acknowledge the suffragettes’ success?

A long career

Beyond Mary Poppins, her most prominent role was in Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical A Little Night Music (1973).

Johns originated the character of ageing actress Desiree Armfeldt, becoming the first to sing Send in the Clowns. As she reflected of the classic in 1991:

It’s still part of me. And when you’ve got a song like Send in the Clowns, it’s timeless.

Sondheim composed this song with Johns’s famously husky voice in mind. Yet some were less enamoured with her performance. One 1973 theatre critic described Johns as “a now somewhat overage tomboy, kittenish and raspy-voiced, precise and amusing in her delivery of lines but utterly, utterly unseductive.”

A veteran of stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays. In 1998, she was honoured with a Disney Legends Award for her role as Mrs Banks. Johns also received critical acclaim throughout her career, including a Laurel Award for Mary Poppins and a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for A Little Night Music.

Regardless of how incongruous her status as a “Disney feminist icon” may be, Johns’s extraordinary influence upon the 20th century’s cultural memory is a remarkable legacy.

Read more:
Here’s to the ladies who lunch: one of Sondheim’s greatest achievements was writing complex women

Ana Stevenson receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Lindsay Helwig does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Vale ‘sister suffragette’: how Glynis Johns became a pop-culture icon in the story of votes for women – https://theconversation.com/vale-sister-suffragette-how-glynis-johns-became-a-pop-culture-icon-in-the-story-of-votes-for-women-220766

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jarrad Daniel Kowlessar, Associate Lecturer, Flinders University

Rock art is one of the most intriguing records of the human past – it directly represents how our ancestors viewed their world. This provides a fundamentally different perspective compared to other archaeological items, such as stone artefacts.

Despite this beguiling potential, rock art research can be highly challenging. Different researchers can have contrasting interpretations of what the same image means. Sometimes they can’t even agree on what the rock art represents.

Given these difficulties, how can rock art contribute to understanding the past?

Our new research published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences uses an innovative approach to understand rock art in Arnhem Land in a fundamentally different way.

A dramatic landscape change

Our work concerns the Red Lily Lagoon area. This part of western Arnhem Land contains an internationally significant record of humanity’s past, including Australia’s oldest archaeological site.

It has also been the subject of dramatic landscape change as a result of sea levels rising significantly over the last 14,000 years.

Read more:
Remarkable new tech has revealed the ancient landscape of Arnhem Land that greeted Australia’s First Peoples

The coastline moved from hundreds of kilometres away to right up against the cliffs in the Red Lily region, before retreating northwards about 50km to its current position. These changes would have had profound implications for people living in the area.

The complex landscape of sandstone cliffs and flat floodplains would have dramatically changed: from open savanna, to mudflat, to mangrove swamp. Eventually it would become the seasonally inundated freshwater wetlands that exist in the region today.

An astonishing rock art record

Arnhem Land has an astonishing rock art record that continues to be maintained by Traditional Owners today.

The rock art in Arnhem Land can be categorised into a number of different styles, which change over millennia. These styles, including the well-known X-Ray style, are thought to align with landscape changes driven by sea level rise. For example, saltwater animals such as fish appear in the rock art record when the sea had risen enough to impact this area.

To overcome the subjective nature of interpreting the artwork, archaeologists often turn to the landscape – to understand the placements of different types of art.

This approach usually assumes that the landscape today looks similar to when the art was painted. In Arnhem Land, where rock art has been estimated to be over 15,000 years old and the landscape has changed dramatically over this time, this isn’t true.

Our research used high-resolution elevation data, created from plane and drone surveys, to understand the placement of rock art sites throughout the landscape. We also mapped buried landscapes using imaging techniques to understand how the landscape has changed over time.

We used this data to understand how much of the landscape could be seen from each rock art site during each period of landscape evolution. We also examined what type of landscape was visible from each location.

This is the first time this approach has been used in Arnhem Land. The results provide new insights into what inspired people to create rock art at different times in the past.

Valuable mangroves

Importantly, we found rock art production was most active, diverse in style, and covered the most area of the plateau during the period when mangroves completely covered the floodplains.

This may be because the mangroves provided abundant resources which sustained a large and stable human population. Or perhaps it was a response to the substantial contraction of available land caused by the sea level rise.

We also found that during the period when the sea level was rising, rock art was preferentially made in areas with long-distance views over areas of open woodland.

This may have been to facilitate hunting, or to allow careful management of landscapes during a period when many people would have been displaced from the north by sea level rise.

Detailed landscapes provide deep insights

Overall, our results show people in the past selected locations for rock art placement with intention. These rock art placements have the potential to tell us much more about the archaeology of Arnhem Land.

The locations where art is made have changed fundamentally over time. This reflects significant social and economic changes, which follow the landscape evolution over the long history of human occupation in western Arnhem Land.

Importantly, our results show that considering rock art through the lens of the modern landscape makes it impossible to make sense of the patterns of rock art placement and other archaeological records.

Our work shows more detailed models of the landscape directly surrounding archaeological sites can yield profound insights into past human activities, even those as difficult to interpret as the incredible artwork of Arnhem land.

Read more:
Threat or trading partner? Sailing vessels in northwestern Arnhem Land rock art reveal different attitudes to visitors

Jarrad Daniel Kowlessar receives funding from Flinders University.

Daryl Wesley receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Flinders University, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and National Geographic.

Ian Moffat receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Flinders University, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

Alfred Nayinggul does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. New analysis unlocks the hidden meaning of 15,000-year-old rock art in Arnhem Land – https://theconversation.com/new-analysis-unlocks-the-hidden-meaning-of-15-000-year-old-rock-art-in-arnhem-land-220029

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rietie Venter, Associate professor, Clinical and Health Sciences, University of South Australia

Everyone seems to have a different opinion when it comes to how often towels and bed sheets should be washed. While many people might wonder whether days or weeks is best, in one survey from the United Kingdom, almost half of single men reported not washing their sheets for up to four months at a time.

It’s fairly clear that four months is too long to leave it, but what is the ideal frequency?

Bed linen and towels are quite different and so should be washed at different intervals. While every week or two will generally suffice for sheets, towels are best washed every few days.

Anyway, who doesn’t love the feeling of a fresh set of sheets or the smell of a newly laundered towel?

Why you should wash towels more often

When you dry yourself, you deposit thousands of skin cells and millions of microbes onto the towel. And because you use your towel to dry yourself after a shower or bath, your towel is regularly damp.

You also deposit a hefty amount of dead skin, microbes, sweat and oils onto your sheets every night. But unless you’re a prolific night sweater, your bedding doesn’t get wet after a night’s sleep.

Towels are also made of a thicker material than sheets and therefore tend to stay damp for longer.

Read more:
All the reasons you might be having night sweats – and when to see a doctor

So what is it about the dampness that causes a problem? Wet towels are a breeding ground for bacteria and moulds. Moulds especially love damp environments. Although mould won’t necessarily be visible (you would need significant growth to be able to see it) this can lead to an unpleasant smell.

As well as odours, exposure to these microbes in your towels and sheets can cause asthma, allergic skin irritations, or other skin infections.

So what’s the ideal frequency?

For bedding, it really depends on factors such as whether you have a bath or shower just before going to bed, or if you fall into bed after a long, sweaty day and have your shower in the morning. You will need to wash your sheets more regularly in the latter case. As a rule of thumb, once a week or every two weeks should be fine.

Towels should ideally be washed more regularly – perhaps every few days – while your facecloth should be cleaned after every use. Because it gets completely wet, it will be wet for a longer time, and retain more skin cells and microbes.

Wash your towels at a high temperature (for example, 65°C) as that will kill many microbes. If you are conscious of saving energy, you can use a lower temperature and add a cup of vinegar to the wash. The vinegar will kill microbes and prevent bad smells from developing.

Clean your washing machine regularly and dry the fold in the rubber after every wash, as this is another place microbes like to grow.

Read more:
Research Check: can tea towels cause food poisoning?

Smelly towels

What if you regularly wash your towels, but they still smell bad? One of the reasons for this pong could be that you’ve left them in the washing machine too long after the wash. Especially if it was a warm wash cycle, the time they’re warm and damp will allow microbes to happily grow. Under lab conditions the number of these bacteria can double every 30 minutes.

It’s important to hang your towel out to dry after use and not to leave towels in the washing machine after the cycle has finished. If possible, hang your towels and bedding out in the sun. That will dry them quickly and thoroughly and will foster that lovely fresh, clean cotton smell. Using a dryer is a good alternative if the weather is bad, but outdoors in the sun is always better if possible.

Also, even if your towel is going to be washed, don’t throw a wet towel into the laundry basket, as the damp, dirty towel will be an ideal place for microbes to breed. By the time you get to doing your washing, the towel and the other laundry around it may have acquired a bad smell. And it can be difficult to get your towels smelling fresh again.

What about ‘self-cleaning’ sheets and towels?

Some companies sell “quick-dry” towels or “self-cleaning” towels and bedding. Quick-dry towels are made from synthetic materials that are weaved in a way to allow them to dry quickly. This would help prevent the growth of microbes and the bad smells that develop when towels are damp for long periods of time.

But the notion of self-cleaning products is more complicated. Most of these products contain nanosilver or copper, antibacterial metals that kill micro-organisms. The antibacterial compounds will stop the growth of bacteria and can be useful to limit smells and reduce the frequency with which you need to clean your sheets and towels.

However, they’re not going to remove dirt like oils, skin flakes and sweat. So as much as I would love the idea of sheets and towels that clean themselves, that’s not exactly what happens.

Also, excessive use of antimicrobials such as nanosilver can lead to microbes becoming resistant to them.

Rietie Venter received funding from various national and international funding bodies.

– ref. How often should you wash your sheets and towels? – https://theconversation.com/how-often-should-you-wash-your-sheets-and-towels-216083

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brad E Tucker, Astrophysicist/Cosmologist, Australian National University

What is the universe made of? This question has driven astronomers for hundreds of years.

For the past quarter of a century, scientists have believed “normal” stuff like atoms and molecules that make up you, me, Earth, and nearly everything we can see only accounts for 5% of the universe. Another 25% is “dark matter”, an unknown substance we can’t see but which we can detect through how it affects normal matter via gravity.

The remaining 70% of the cosmos is made of “dark energy”. Discovered in 1998, this is an unknown form of energy believed to be making the universe expand at an ever-increasing rate.

In a new study soon to be published in the Astronomical Journal, we have measured the properties of dark energy in more detail than ever before. Our results show it may be a hypothetical vacuum energy first proposed by Einstein – or it may be something stranger and more complicated that changes over time.

What is dark energy?

When Einstein developed the General Theory of Relativity over a century ago, he realised his equations showed the universe should either be expanding or shrinking. This seemed wrong to him, so he added a “cosmological constant” – a kind of energy inherent in empty space – to balance out the force of gravity and keep the universe static.

Later, when the work of Henrietta Swan Leavitt and Edwin Hubble showed the universe was indeed expanding, Einstein did away with the cosmological constant, calling it his “greatest mistake”.

Read more:
More than 70% of the Universe is made of ‘dark energy’, the mysterious stuff even stranger than dark matter

However, in 1998, two teams of researchers found the expansion of the universe was actually accelerating. This implies that something quite similar to Einstein’s cosmological constant may exist after all – something we now call dark energy.

Since those initial measurements, we’ve been using supernovae and other probes to measure the nature of dark energy. Until now, these results have shown the density of dark energy in the universe appears to be constant.

This means the strength of dark energy remains the same, even as the universe grows – it doesn’t seem to be spread more thinly as the universe gets bigger. We measure this with a number called w. Einstein’s cosmological constant in effect set w to –1, and earlier observations have suggested this was about right.

Exploding stars as cosmic measuring sticks

How do we measure what is in the universe and how fast it is growing? We don’t have enormous tape measures or giant scales, so instead we use “standard candles”: objects in space whose brightness we know.

Imagine it is night and you are standing on a long road with a few light poles. These poles all have the same light bulb, but the poles further away are fainter than the nearby ones.

This is because light fades proportionately to distance. If we know the power of the bulb, and can measure how bright the bulb appears to be, we can calculate the distance to the light pole.

For astronomers, a common cosmic light bulb is a kind of exploding star called a Type Ia supernova. These are white dwarf stars which often suck in matter from a neighbouring star and grow until they reach 1.44 times the mass of our Sun, at which point they explode. By measuring how quickly the explosion fades, we can determine how bright it was and hence how far away from us.

The Dark Energy Survey

The Dark Energy Survey is the largest effort yet to measure dark energy. More than 400 scientists across multiple continents work together for nearly a decade to repeatedly observe parts of the southern sky.

Repeated observations let us look for changes, like new exploding stars. The more often you observe, the better you can measure these changes, and the larger the area you search, the more supernovae you can find.

The first results indicating the existence of dark energy used only a couple of dozen supernovae. The latest results from the Dark Energy Survey use around 1,500 exploding stars, giving much greater precision.

Using a specially built camera installed on the 4-metre Blanco Telescope at the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, the survey found thousands of supernovae of different types. To work out which ones were Type Ia (the kind we need for measuring distances), we used the 4-metre Anglo Australian Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales.

Read more:
Relax, the expansion of the universe is still accelerating

The Anglo Australian Telescope took measurements which broke up the colours of light from the supernovae. This lets us see a “fingerprint” of the individual elements in the explosion.

Type Ia supernovae have some unique features, like containing no hydrogen and silicon. And with enough supernovae, machine learning allowed us to classify thousands of supernovae efficiently.

More complicated than the cosmological constant

Finally, after more than a decade of work and studying around 1,500 Type Ia supernovae, the Dark Energy Survey has produced a new best measurement of w. We found w = –0.80 ± 0.18, so it’s somewhere between –0.62 and –0.98.

This is a very interesting result. It is close to –1, but not quite exactly there. To be the cosmological constant, or the energy of empty space, it would need to be exactly –1.

Where does this leave us? With the idea that a more complex model of dark energy may be needed, perhaps one in which this mysterious energy has changed over the life of the universe.

Read more:
From dark gravity to phantom energy: what’s driving the expansion of the universe?

Brad E Tucker receives funding from the Australian Research Council and ACT Government.

– ref. Why is the universe ripping itself apart? A new study of exploding stars shows dark energy may be more complicated than we thought – https://theconversation.com/why-is-the-universe-ripping-itself-apart-a-new-study-of-exploding-stars-shows-dark-energy-may-be-more-complicated-than-we-thought-220423

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Mann, Associate Director, Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, The University of Melbourne

Two former coordinators of one of Indonesia’s most prominent human rights organisations have escaped conviction in a defamation case brought by a powerful government minister. While their astonishing acquittal is welcome, the case marked a bleak new low for freedom of expression in one of the world’s largest democracies.

Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti, who had coordinated the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), were accused of defamation by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

Luhut’s statements made it clear the case was expressly intended to create a chilling effect and smother civil society criticism of the government.

So what is the case about, and why is it so important?

Read more:
Is Joko Widodo paving the way for a political dynasty in Indonesia?

A messy web of mining interests

The case related to a 2021 YouTube video in which Haris and Fatia discussed a report published jointly by a group of Indonesian civil society organisations. In the video, the pair mentioned that Luhut was “implicated” or “involved” (bermain) in mining in Wabu Block, in the Intan Jaya district of what is now Central Papua Province.

The details are a bit complicated, but a key part of the dispute centred on this point about mining.

In 2016, Australian mining firm West Wits Mining reported to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) that its Indonesian subsidiary Madinah Quarataa’in had entered into an agreement with another company, Tobacom Del Mandiri. They wanted to develop the Derewo River Gold Project in Intan Jaya.

Tobacom Del Mandiri is owned by another major Indonesian firm, Toba Sejahtra. Luhut has acknowledged he holds 99% of shares in Toba Sejahtra.

Representatives from both Indonesian companies have since said the partnership did not go ahead. But given his stock portfolio, the activists had a relatively firm basis for implying Luhut was “involved” in mining in Papua.

Luhut objected to this.

He also objected to Haris and Fatia referring to him as a “villain” (penjahat) and “Lord Luhut”, a favourite moniker of Indonesians online. He got the nickname because President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has entrusted him to oversee a seemingly endless list of strategic projects.

Haris and Fatia were charged with defamation under the Law on Electronic Information and Transactions (commonly known as the ITE law). Unlike in Australia, defamation is a criminal offence in Indonesia. They also faced secondary fake news charges and defamation charges under the Criminal Code.

Read more:
A twist in Indonesia’s presidential election does not bode well for the country’s fragile democracy

Making an example of activism

Under Jokowi, there has been a dramatic escalation in abuse of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law to target activists, human rights defenders, journalists, and ordinary citizens.

According to Indonesian digital rights organisation SAFEnet, 89 people were
reported under the law between January and October 2023.

Public anger over the arbitrary way the law has been applied led the government to publish guidelines for law enforcers on its implementation.

According to the guidelines, defamation charges should not be brought when assertions are based on analysis, opinion or facts.

Luhut reported Haris and Fatia to police just three months after these guidelines were published.

The trial ran from April 2023 through to January 8 2024. During the trial, Luhut complained that being called names was “deeply hurtful”.

Delivering the court’s decision, Judge Muhammad Djohan Arifin said the YouTube conversation between Haris and Fatia constituted opinion and analysis of a civil society study and their use of the word “lord” was not defamatory.

Prosecutors have said they will consider appealing the decision.

Luhut claimed he reported the activists to defend his reputation. Other statements he made during the trial left no doubt as to his real motivations.

Luhut said he wants the case to serve as a “lesson”.

The prosecution concluded its sentencing demand with a quote from a minor politician, Teddy Gusnaidi, stating:

If using the label ‘activist’ means you are immune from prosecution, criminals will form NGOs (non-government organisations) to avoid consequences for their crimes.

Luhut also claimed that he wanted to conduct an “audit” of all non-government organisations in Indonesia to determine where they get their funding.

This is disingenuous.

Indonesian civil society organisations already need government approval to
receive donor funds, and most openly publish their list of donors in their public annual reports.

The government also regularly subjects foreign donors to interrogation from everyone from police to intelligence agencies, about their planned activities.

Increasingly authoritarian tactics

Appealing to nationalistic sensibilities and raising questions about civil society organisations like this is a classic technique of authoritarian governments. It undermines organisations critical of government and redirects focus from the issues at hand.

Legal attacks like the one against Haris and Fatia are designed to wear civil society down. Fronting up in court every week is time consuming, emotionally draining, and takes activists away from their work.

Further, the use of judicial harassment to target activists, in contrast to cruder tactics such as cyberattacks or physical violence, is designed to lend an air of legitimacy to government repression.

Luhut has made it clear that the goal of the case against Haris and Fatia is to silence dissent. He appears to be succeeding.

There is already evidence that abuse of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law is having a chilling effect in Indonesian society, with a 2022 survey finding 62.9% of Indonesians were afraid of openly expressing their opinions.

Indonesian pro-democracy groups have long been willing to speak out against the state, even under the most challenging conditions. Yet repeated charges and arrests will eventually result in self-censorship and behavioural change.

In the face of mounting pressure, the government finally passed a revised version of the law on December 5 2023.

Read more:
Myanmar crisis highlights limits of Indonesia’s ‘quiet diplomacy’ as it sets sights on becoming a ‘great regional power’

Activists have complained that, like other regressive laws enacted in Indonesia over recent years, deliberations on the revision were conducted largely behind closed doors.

The revised law does include some improvements, including that statements made in the public interest or to defend oneself cannot be prosecuted. The maximum sentence for defamation has also been decreased to two years, yet it remains longer than provisions on defamation in the new Criminal Code, which will come into force in 2026.

Activists have argued for a complete dropping of criminal charges for online defamation. Given they have proven such an effective tool for smothering dissent, there was never any chance legislators were going to simply give up this weapon.

Haris and Fatia may be the highest profile Indonesians charged under the Electronic Information and Transactions Law, but they will not be the last.

Tim Mann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Indonesia is one of the world’s largest democracies, but it’s weaponising defamation laws to smother dissent – https://theconversation.com/indonesia-is-one-of-the-worlds-largest-democracies-but-its-weaponising-defamation-laws-to-smother-dissent-220651

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Lykins, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, University of New England

It’s unlikely any region of the world will escape the effects of climate change. These include increasing temperatures, more frequent and intense extreme weather events such as bushfires and floods, rising sea levels, and more.

But some areas, like the Pacific Islands, are likely to experience disproportionate effects from advancing climate change. Pacific island nations are uniquely vulnerable to sea level rise, coastal erosion and cyclones of escalating intensity.

Increasing temperatures and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns present additional risks to populations largely reliant on traditional fishing and farming practices for both food sources and trade.

The consequences of climate change also pose significant risks to the mental health and wellbeing of the people living in these countries, as we observed in a recent study with rural Fijians.

Read more:
Could the law of the sea be used to protect small island states from climate change?

Shifts in the environment

We interviewed more than 70 Indigenous and other traditional Fijians living in rural villages in coastal, coastal hinterland and river delta regions of the country.

Interviewees from each village described environmental changes they had observed, ranging from shifts in seasons and rainfall, to warmer temperatures, to sea level rise resulting in more frequent flooding of the villages, particularly during “king tides”. As one participant said:

Now it is like we are having the hot season throughout. Now we are experiencing the abnormal changes in the weather like never before.

Another commented:

Sea level is not where it used to be since it is moving into the village, especially when it is high tides. We are really worried and concerned.

A strong theme of loss of traditional culture ran through our interviews, with many participants describing the ways these environmental changes were contributing to the loss of traditional ways of life and their broader cultural practices.

One participant talked about yatule, a fish customarily found in seas of the Nadroga-Navosa province, traditionally fished using only nets:

No longer is it [yatule] seen [here]. Fishing for the yatule here […] is done traditionally […] the traditional method is slowly fading.

These observed losses were having an effect on mental wellbeing. In particular, participants routinely expressed concerns and grief about what would be left for future generations.

Due to the climate change we are very concerned about our future generation. At least now we can still eat fish, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

Read more:
Their fate isn’t sealed: Pacific nations can survive climate change – if locals take the lead

The idea of relocation fuelled further distress

All interviewees were aware of a potential need in the future to migrate (indeed, a couple of the villages we visited are already in the process of relocating to higher grounds). But this prospect was met with both reluctance and substantial anticipated loss. As one participant said:

[The villagers] will not follow suit since they have strong ties with this place.

Another said:

This is our only land where we have lived in all our lives.

Given the strong connections Pacific island peoples traditionally have to their ancestral lands, there is no question any forced relocation would have significant negative effects on their mental health and wellbeing.

Eco-grief

Our interviews highlight the substantial distress associated with the rapidly changing environment of Fiji.

In many ways, these themes mirror those observed in the Indigenous Inuit peoples of the Circumpolar North, found in Alaska, northern Canada and Greenland. In these locations, rapidly declining sea ice is having a major impact on traditional cultural practices (such as fishing and travel), also resulting in grief, worry and mental ill-health.

Across the globe, it’s clear people and cultures with strong place-based attachments are especially vulnerable to the mental health effects of climate change, sometimes called “eco-grief”.

Read more:
The rise of ‘eco-anxiety’: climate change affects our mental health, too

More research is urgently needed to better understand mental ill-health in Pacific peoples related to the effects of climate change, and to develop culturally informed supports. There’s also a need to strengthen mental health systems in Pacific island nations.

Finally, concerted climate change mitigation efforts are crucial to protect these unique Pacific cultures, which will aid in protecting their mental health and wellbeing.

The authors would like to thank Patrick Nunn, Roselyn Kumar, Cassandra Sundaraja, Mereoni Camailekeba, Samisoni (“Samson”) Baivucago and Sala Tabaka for their contribution to the research that informed this article.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. ‘We don’t know what tomorrow will bring’: how climate change is affecting Fijians’ mental health – https://theconversation.com/we-dont-know-what-tomorrow-will-bring-how-climate-change-is-affecting-fijians-mental-health-219506

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Bruce, Associate Professor in the Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets and the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW Sydney

Australia is not rolling out clean energy projects nearly fast enough to reach the Australian government’s target of 82% renewable electricity by 2030. A huge build of solar and wind farms, transmission lines and big batteries is needed. But progress is challenged by the scale required, community resistance to new infrastructure and connecting all that new renewable electricity to the grid.

In the latest obstacle to expanding renewable energy capacity in the longer term, federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek knocked back a plan by the Victorian government to build a sea terminal to service offshore wind farms, saying it posed “clearly unacceptable” environmental risks.

The roadblocks facing large projects present an opportunity to ramp up the contribution of small-scale technologies in the energy transition. Recently, federal and state energy ministers agreed on the need for a national roadmap and a co-ordinated approach to integrating into the grid what they call “consumer energy resources” (CER), which include batteries, electric vehicles and rooftop solar.

More than one in three Australian houses have solar panels on their roofs. Australia leads the world in rooftop solar per head. During the past year these systems generated close to 10% of our electricity. Several times over the past few months, they even provided enough electricity to briefly meet all South Australia’s electricity demand.

And the technology still has great potential to grow: although installed capacity has doubled in the last four years, these systems cover only about 10% of Australia’s estimated usable roof area. So, how large a share of our electricity needs might rooftop solar provide? The answers are not simple.

Why rooftop solar presents a challenge for the grid

In electricity systems, demand and supply must be balanced at all times. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) runs the grid and keeps it secure to avoid blackouts in case of unexpected events such as the sudden disconnection of a transmission line.

Read more:
Australian homes can be made climate-ready, reducing bills and emissions – a new report shows how

To meet demand, every five minutes AEMO dispatches electricity from large-scale generators such as coal-fired power stations or large solar farms. As the grid operator, AEMO must also procure reserve capacity to balance any differences in demand and maintain security.

But AEMO does not dispatch power from rooftop solar, which is either used on site, or flows into the grid independently of AEMO’s control. This isn’t usually a problem, since AEMO keeps the grid balanced by forecasting how much rooftop solar is being generated.

However, if rooftop solar generates the majority of power in a particular region, there may not be enough dispatchable generation and reserves online to keep the grid balanced and secure. Grid security can also be challenged when unexpected events trigger the safety settings of rooftop solar systems and cause them to disconnect.

Read more:
Hyped and expensive, hydrogen has a place in Australia’s energy transition, but only with urgent government support

The other big issue for grid balance is that the network businesses that manage the poles, wires and other infrastructure connecting generators to homes and businesses need to ensure that voltages remain within defined technical limits to avoid damaging equipment or appliances. When solar generates a lot of power at a time of low electricity demand, voltage can exceed the upper operational limit. Voltage can also go below the lower operational limit when too many people connect big appliances like air-conditioners.

So how are we managing the three challenges of rooftop solar: lack of controllability by the market operator, uncertain behaviour during unexpected grid events and impact on network voltage?

Read more:
Green growth or degrowth: what is the right way to tackle climate change?

Ways to manage and expand rooftop solar

Current Australian standards require solar to automatically disconnect when voltage gets too high. Network businesses also pre-emptively manage this problem by preventing customers in areas where voltage is an issue from connecting solar to the grid, or by limiting the size of solar systems they can connect or the amount of electricity they can export to the grid at any time. But this approach is potentially unfair to those customers who can’t connect or export.

The good news is that standards introduced in 2020 provide more sophisticated ways of managing solar through more gradual voltage response, and by requiring systems to ride through major disturbances rather than disconnecting. Some networks have also developed solar-friendly ways to cut off surplus output “dynamically”, meaning only at times when they have to.

Thanks to these measures, solar customers face less constraint on exporting power to the grid. However, since solar sometimes now supplies most of the generation in South Australia, AEMO has also tested disconnection of solar to increase its control of the grid in case of threats to system security.

Read more:
Is nuclear the answer to Australia’s climate crisis?

Some of these solar management tools are still quite blunt and some commentators worry they will be overused. While necessary in the short-term, if unchecked they will reduce our ability to realise our rooftop solar potential.

Getting smarter about when we use power

There is another way to use our solar systems more effectively: we can shift energy use to times when the sun is shining, and store energy – in batteries, electric vehicles and hot water tanks – to use when it is not.

To make such a change, consumer electricity prices are a potential lever. Solar customers already have an incentive to use electricity from their own rooftop systems, because they pay more for grid electricity than they are paid to sell solar back to the grid.

South Australia and some other network areas are introducing low “solar soak” rates to encourage all customers to use electricity in high solar times, such as the middle of the day. Times of plentiful solar also tend to be the cheapest times to buy wholesale electricity from the grid, and innovative retailers like Amber Electric are passing through these price signals to customers.

However, typical retail plans offered to customers don’t provide much incentive to change patterns of electricity use, especially since many customers are understandably not focused on their electricity bills or cannot easily shift their power use.

In these cases orchestration schemes, often called “virtual power plants,” are an option. Under the schemes, a business will reward household customers that allow it to operate their rooftop solar, batteries, appliances, electric vehicles and hot water systems in ways that reduce costs or grid impacts.

Read more:
Australia’s new dawn: becoming a green superpower with a big role in cutting global emissions

Better management of electricity use through these schemes can make room for the grid to take on more solar.

Recent trials in Western Australia (Project Symphony) and Victoria (Project EDGE) prove orchestration can work. Nevertheless, people will need good reasons to hand over control of their solar, batteries and appliances, particularly if they bought expensive equipment such as batteries for back-up power or to increase their energy independence.

It would be a major setback to the net zero transition if AEMO and network businesses, lacking better options for managing the grid, continue to cut back and switch off solar systems until people find it unattractive to purchase them.

The new CER roadmap needs to provide clear guidance on how AEMO and network businesses can manage rooftop solar, and other technologies such as batteries and EVs. Good governance arrangements and meaningful stakeholder consultation are essential if Australia is to maintain the momentum of its people-powered energy transition.

Anna Bruce receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Race for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Australian PV Institute.

Baran Yildiz receives funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Australia. Baran is a member of International Energy Agency (IEA) Solar Heating & Cooling Programme Task 69.

Dani Alexander receives funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre. Dani previously was the Business Program Leader for the RACE for 2030 CRC.

Mike Roberts receives funding from the Race for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre, the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, and Essential Energy. He is a former director of the Australian PV Institute.

– ref. As Australia’s net zero transition threatens to stall, rooftop solar could help provide the power we need – https://theconversation.com/as-australias-net-zero-transition-threatens-to-stall-rooftop-solar-could-help-provide-the-power-we-need-220050

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josh Ambrosy, Lecturer in Education, Federation University Australia

Each year in Victoria, thousands of students disengage from school between the start of Year 9 and the end of Year 12.

Many are expelled or suspended. Others simply switch off in class, skip lessons, or quit school to seek out different educational and training pathways.

Whatever the reason, many high school teachers say something significant happens to school engagement levels around Year 9.

My research, which involved working with Year 9 teachers in Victorian high schools, seeks to better understand what’s happening with student disengagement in this year level – and what can be done to change it.

Read more:
20% of Australian students don’t finish high school: non-mainstream schools have a lot to teach us about helping kids stay

Lost, disengaged and ‘in never-never land’

Year 9 (when a child typically turns 14 or 15) is a challenging year for a teenager, in part due to the maelstrom of puberty and adolescence. One Year 9 teacher told me students at this age see themselves

as that in-between stage. ‘Am I a child? Am I an adult? What if I’m neither?’

Students at this age often strongly feel they no longer fit in. These age appropriate but intense levels of introspection can make some students look at the repetitive and seemingly endless cycles of school tasks, tests and homework and wonder, “what’s the point?” As one research paper puts it:

In Australia, Year 9 is widely seen as a problem, a time when young people disengage from school; and when curriculum and student identity often fail to cohere with each other.

Year 9 teachers described this year to me as “the lost year”, where students often drift off to “never-never land”. One even said it was traditionally seen as “a waste of a year”.

This suggests an opportunity for schools to design their Year 9 curriculum to help these students see the relevance of school.

Specialist Year 9 programs

Some schools have implemented specialist programs for Year 9. Some have large-scale residential programs, where students live and learn away from home for extended periods. Other programs focus on students learning about and through their local communities.

In Ballarat, where I am based, about half the high schools have a substantial Year 9 program. The structure varies. Sometimes it’s just a one-day-a-week program combining in-school and out-of-school learning experiences. Other programs are conducted entirely offsite over the course of a term.

One case study I explored was a Year 9 program at a school in regional Victoria. About 70% of students at this school fall in the bottom and bottom-middle quartiles of the Australian distribution of socio-economic advantage.

In my paper, I gave this program (which the school developed) the pseudonym “Renewal”. In Renewal, several learning areas (English, health and humanities) are taught together by a single teacher. Students are in the program for six out of 20 periods per week.

Having one teacher assigned to each class for the entire Renewal program allows them to build rapport and connection. As one teacher told us:

Students have come to me, their Renewal teacher, before they’ve gone to their tutorial teacher, before they’ve gone to their house leader, and said: ‘I’m feeling extremely overwhelmed, I’m having anxiety problems, I don’t know why, it’s freaking me out.’

Another told me the program allows students “to explore, investigate, ask questions about life issues that they wouldn’t normally ask a teacher.”

This rapport better positions the teacher to handle tricky issues with absenteeism, bullying and self-harm than teachers who see them less frequently.

A different approach

Renewal combines classroom-based activities with camps, excursions, guest speakers and other specialist programmes. One exercise, for example, involves dropping the students off in the local town centre, where they have to complete a series of tasks on a trail.

In the Renewal program, the careers unit and mock job interviews are done at the start of the year to support students to get part-time employment.

Students are given more agency than a traditional approach would allow. School work might be done, for example, via essay-writing, painting, drawing, in the form of a radio interview or other formats.

As one teacher told me:

The kids have more opportunity in regards to choosing their own destination […] to be able to find their own learning.

One teacher described a task where students write “a persuasive letter to the council […] about a health issue in the community, that they wanted funding for.”

Another relayed how outdoor tasks “fires up a different part of their brain”, saying:

One of the teachers created this map where they had to go around and imagine if they were to sleep rough where they could sleep.

Teachers themselves also learn from the Renewal program. One said:

I’m much more flexible. It’s probably something I should be focusing on, to bring into my other classes. Just allow a bit more time for things.

Resonating with students’ lives

Schools with specific approaches to Year 9 are hearing positive responses from students via surveys and other feedback. One teacher from the Renewal program even noticed how:

Getting up, in front of the class and presenting is a big deal for a lot of people […] I find with Renewal it’s easier for me to get people up than it is [even] for my Year 11 class.

The success of Year 9 programs hinges on a tailored curriculum that resonates with students’ lives, taught by teachers dedicated to fostering strong connections.

Read more:
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Josh Ambrosy is on the board of Outdoors Victoria, the state not-for-profit peak body. He runs professional development sessions related to Year 9 programs and other middle years curricula.

– ref. Year 9 is often seen as the ‘lost year’. Here’s what schools are trying to keep kids engaged – https://theconversation.com/year-9-is-often-seen-as-the-lost-year-heres-what-schools-are-trying-to-keep-kids-engaged-215993

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sanjoy Paul, Associate Professor, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney

Australia is 11,000 kilometres from the Red Sea but it is not immune from the drone and missile attacks on container ships attempting to move through one of the world’s busiest thoroughfares.

Since November, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched more than 20 attacks on container ships using drones, ballistic missiles, and in one case, an explosive unoccupied vessel. The attacks have come in response to the war in the Gaza Strip.

This has prompted logistics firms including Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and Evergreen as well as the oil giant BP, to pause ship movements through a channel that carries 12% of the world’s seaborne cargo, mostly between Europe and Asia and locations further south including Australia and New Zealand.

Read more:
Why Yemen’s Houthis are getting involved in the Israel-Hamas war and how it could disrupt global shipping

The impact has been significant, particularly for China, India, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia as well as European countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

Australia impacted

While just 16% of Australia’s container imports come from Europe, the supply chain between Australia and the European Union is critical for many Australians.

In 2022, Australia imported about A$60 billion in products including pharmaceuticals, machinery, road vehicles, electrical and electronic equipment and medical apparatus from Europe. Much of it was shipped through the Red Sea.

Over the same period, Australia exported goods valued at A$23 billion to Europe. The most traded items were mineral fuels, oils and distillation products. Others included wine, fruits, grain, seeds, nickel and aluminium.

Maersk and other companies have started diverting their containers around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, but this much-extended route takes longer and has led to major delays, shortages and additional shipping costs.

These extra costs are most likely to be passed on to businesses and consumers. The UK is already experiencing shortages of tea, wine, meat and fish.

International pressure on the rebels

Last week Australia, the US and 11 other countries affected by the disruption issued a statement condemning the attacks as “illegal, unacceptable, and profoundly destabilising”.

“Let our message now be clear. We call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crew,” it said.

It came after Australia last month turned down a request from the US to send a warship to the region, saying it needed to prioritise the Indo-Pacific.

It’s time to develop Plan B

Global disruptions have intensified in the last few years as a result of COVID, cyber-attacks, natural disasters and geopolitical tensions. They are likely to intensify further.

Meanwhile, industrial action at Australian ports is also hurting trade.
The dispute between the Maritime Union and the stevedore DP World over a new workplace deal has disrupted container terminal operations in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Fremantle, slowing imports of furniture, food and clothing.

Read more:
US-led taskforce deploys in Red Sea as Middle East crisis threatens to escalate beyond Gaza

To minimise the impact of all of these disruptions, businesses need to develop backup plans that can be implemented quickly.

They include diversifying supply sources, being prepared to use alternative shipping routes and onshoring critical manufacturing.

Resources ought to be allocated now and planning done in collaboration with local and international partners.

The businesses that best prepare will be those best able to ride out and gain from the next disruption.

Sanjoy Paul does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea threaten Australia’s trade – we need a Plan B – https://theconversation.com/attacks-on-cargo-ships-in-the-red-sea-threaten-australias-trade-we-need-a-plan-b-220541

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine (Kate) Power, Lecturer in Management, School of Business, The University of Queensland

Burnout is an occupational hazard in many people-focused jobs. People in these roles routinely go “above and beyond” for the benefit of others – often in the face of funding cuts and policies that make their work harder than it needs to be.

Since COVID-19, concern has grown about burnout in the arts and culture sector. However, burnout isn’t a new problem for artists. As one arts worker told me in a 2019 interview:

the level of burnout in this industry is pretty shocking […] the idea that [burnout] even exists is a running joke […] we’re all overworked and constantly tired.

Burnout rates are higher in not-for-profit than in for-profit organisations, due to insufficient resources, job insecurity, low pay and disillusionment involved in meeting funders’ rising demands.

Yet it is ironic that cultural organisations whose success is based around people should treat those same people poorly.

What is burnout?

According to both the World Health Organization and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (widely regarded as the “gold standard” measure), burnout has three dimensions:

• feelings of exhaustion or energy depletion
• negativity, cynicism or mental distancing towards work, colleagues, and/or those benefiting from our work (known as “depersonalisation”)
• inefficacy or a reduced sense of personal accomplishment.

Recent research identifies three further burnout symptoms:

• sleep disruption
• memory and concentration problems
• withdrawal from social relationships.

Burnout is also associated with negative outcomes, such as alcohol abuse, declining health and job withdrawal, which could be presenteeism, absenteeism or quitting.

In a nutshell, burnout is a state of physical and/or emotional exhaustion caused by chronic stress on the job.

Read more:
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What causes burnout in the arts?

Prolonged work-related stress is the main cause of burnout. This type of stress can stem from a lack of role clarity, unmanageable workloads or time pressures, unfair treatment at work and a lack of support or communication from managers.

Additional risk factors include incongruities in workload and control (where expectations aren’t matched by experience), a lack of fairness and appropriate rewards, the loss of positive relationships at work, and conflict between personal and organisational values.

Artists and arts workers often experience these stressors due to the boom-bust careers necessitated by the project-based work that characterises this sector.

Working across multiple projects and companies, often with competing deadlines, arts workers can quickly become overstretched. And the small-to-medium companies that form the “small vertebrae in the institutional spine of the nation’s cultural sector” often have limited understanding of their contingent workers’ work and emotional situations. Organisations also typically lack the human resource management expertise that might help to address those situations.

Other unique factors also contribute to burnout in Australia’s arts and culture sector. Burnout can arise from a longstanding public policy context in which artists have continually had to justify the value of their work, coupled with a chronic lack of resources and widespread precarious employment.

Interestingly, hope can buffer burnout so more recent policy developments may bring some relief.

The 24/7 nature of the industry and widespread commitments that “the show must go on” can also contribute to burn out.

As one submission to the 2014–15 Senate Inquiry into arts funding explained:

When you are working the equivalent of two full time jobs on below average pay, burnout, fatigue, acute anxiety, and severe depression are not simply likely, but common. It is even more difficult for women, particularly parents, and particularly those who live alone, whether by choice or circumstance.

Performance anxiety and “obsessive passion” can also cause burnout for some artists – particularly in the event of failure.

Individual-centred solutions are not enough

Between 2020 and 2022, I facilitated more than 80 peer coaching circles with arts workers around Australia, many who were seeking help to cope with burnout.

Reflecting on the wisdom shared in their circle, one participant said that discussions about the stress of arts work:

kept coming back to the idea of caring less. Not that you don’t care, but that you need to be able to care less, because caring as much as you do was killing you.

Prioritising self-care is often touted as the solution to burnout, both by and for artists. Indeed, “fixing the person” approaches dominate both academic and industry responses.

But as workplace expert Jennifer Moss wrote for the Harvard Business Review, “burnout is about workplaces, not workers”.

What can arts organisations do?

The key to preventing burnout is supporting engagement and wellbeing at work by creating six “positive ‘fits’” between arts workers and their workplaces:

• a sustainable workload
• choice and control
• recognition and reward
• a supportive work community
• fairness, respect and social justice
• clear values and meaningful work.

This involves more than just individual job-tweaking. A holistic approach is needed to build workplace cultures that prioritise wellbeing from recruitment to leaving the organisation.

Specific steps arts organisations should take straight away are:

• managers and staff (including contractors) jointly identifying burnout factors in their organisations
• giving staff as much control as possible over what, where, when and how work gets done
• recognising and rewarding staff strengths
• encouraging and enabling arts workers to support one another (such as through peer coaching networks).

Preventing burnout among arts workers will require long-term, organisation- and sector-wide commitments. And, to maximise success, arts leaders – including those in politics and government – should ask themselves how can the arts and culture sector (and individual arts organisations) become a great place to work, and a workplace of choice?

Read more:
The ‘great resignation’ didn’t happen in Australia, but the ‘great burnout’ did

Kate Power has received funding from the Queensland Government, under the Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship program.

– ref. ‘Caring as much as you do was killing you’. We need to talk about burnout in the arts – https://theconversation.com/caring-as-much-as-you-do-was-killing-you-we-need-to-talk-about-burnout-in-the-arts-215883

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Andrew Robergs, Associate Professor – Exercise Physiology, Queensland University of Technology

As many of us hit the gym or go for a run to recover from the silly season, you might notice a bit of extra muscle soreness.

This is especially true if it has been a while between workouts.

A common misunderstanding is that such soreness is due to lactic acid build-up in the muscles.

Research, however, shows lactic acid has nothing to do with it. The truth is far more interesting, but also a bit more complex.

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It’s not lactic acid

We’ve known for decades that lactic acid has nothing to do with muscle soreness after exercise.

In fact, as one of us (Robert Andrew Robergs) has long argued, cells produce lactate, not lactic acid. This process actually opposes not causes the build-up of acid in the muscles and bloodstream.

Unfortunately, historical inertia means people still use the term “lactic acid” in relation to exercise.

Lactate doesn’t cause major problems for the muscles you use when you exercise. You’d probably be worse off without it due to other benefits to your working muscles.

Lactate isn’t the reason you’re sore a few days after upping your weights or exercising after a long break.

So, if it’s not lactic acid and it’s not lactate, what is causing all that muscle soreness?

Muscle pain during and after exercise

When you exercise, a lot of chemical reactions occur in your muscle cells. All these chemical reactions accumulate products and by-products which cause water to enter into the cells.

That causes the pressure inside and between muscle cells to increase.

This pressure, combined with the movement of molecules from the muscle cells can stimulate nerve endings and cause discomfort during exercise.

The pain and discomfort you sometimes feel hours to days after an unfamiliar type or amount of exercise has a different list of causes.

If you exercise beyond your usual level or routine, you can cause microscopic damage to your muscles and their connections to tendons.

Such damage causes the release of ions and other molecules from the muscles, causing localised swelling and stimulation of nerve endings.

This is sometimes known as “delayed onset muscle soreness” or DOMS.

While the damage occurs during the exercise, the resulting response to the injury builds over the next one to two days (longer if the damage is severe). This can sometimes cause pain and difficulty with normal movement.

The upshot

Research is clear; the discomfort from delayed onset muscle soreness has nothing to do with lactate or lactic acid.

The good news, though, is that your muscles adapt rapidly to the activity that would initially cause delayed onset muscle soreness.

So, assuming you don’t wait too long (more than roughly two weeks) before being active again, the next time you do the same activity there will be much less damage and discomfort.

If you have an exercise goal (such as doing a particular hike or completing a half-marathon), ensure it is realistic and that you can work up to it by training over several months.

Such training will gradually build the muscle adaptations necessary to prevent delayed onset muscle soreness. And being less wrecked by exercise makes it more enjoyable and more easy to stick to a routine or habit.

Finally, remove “lactic acid” from your exercise vocabulary. Its supposed role in muscle soreness is a myth that’s hung around far too long already.

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The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why are my muscles sore after exercise? Hint: it’s nothing to do with lactic acid – https://theconversation.com/why-are-my-muscles-sore-after-exercise-hint-its-nothing-to-do-with-lactic-acid-214638

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Cowling, Associate Professor – Information & Communication Technology (ICT), CQUniversity Australia

ChatGPT has repeatedly made headlines since its release late last year, with various scholars and professionals exploring its potential applications in both work and education settings. However, one area receiving less attention is the tool’s usefulness as a conversationalist and – dare we say – as a potential friend.

Some chatbots have left an unsettling impression. Microsoft’s Bing chatbot alarmed users earlier this year when it threatened and attempted to blackmail them.

Yet pop culture has long conjured visions of autonomous systems living with us as social companions, whether that’s Rosie the robot from The Jetsons, or the super-intelligent AI, Samantha, from the 2013 movie Her. Will we develop similar emotional attachments to new and upcoming chatbots? And is this healthy?

While generative AI itself is relatively new, the fields of belonging and human-computer interaction have been explored reasonably well, with results that may surprise you.

Our latest research shows that, at a time when 1 in 3 Australians are experiencing loneliness, there may be space for AI to fill gaps in our social lives. That’s assuming we don’t use it to replace people.

Can you make friends with a robot?

As far back as the popularisation of the internet, scholars have been discussing how AI might serve to replace or supplement human relationships.

When social media became popular about a decade later, interest in this space exploded. The 2021 Nobel Prize-winning book Klara and the Sun explores how humans and life-like machines might form meaningful relationships.

And with increasing interest came increasing concern, borne of evidence that belonging (and therefore loneliness) can be impacted by technology use. In some studies, the overuse of technology (gaming, internet, mobile and social media) has been linked to higher social anxiety and loneliness. But other research suggests the effects depend greatly on who is using the technology and how often they use it.

Research has also found some online roleplaying game players seem to experience less loneliness online than in the real world – and that people who feel a sense of belonging on a gaming platform are more likely to continue to use it.

All of this suggests technology use can have a positive impact on loneliness, that it does have the potential to replace human support, and that the more an individuals uses it the more tempting it becomes.

Then again, this evidence is from tools designed with a specific purpose (for instance, a game’s purpose is to entertain) and not tools designed to support human connection (such as AI “therapy” tools).

The rise of robot companions

As researchers in the fields of technology, leadership and psychology, we wanted to investigate how ChatGPT might influence people’s feelings of loneliness and supportedness. Importantly, does it have a net positive benefit for users’ wellbeing and belonging?

To study this, we asked 387 participants about their usage of AI, as well as their general experience of social connection and support. We found that:

• participants who used AI more tended to feel more supported by their AI compared to people whose support came mainly from close friends
• the more a participant used AI, the higher their feeling of social support from the AI was
• the more a participant felt socially supported by AI, the lower their feeling of support was from close friends and family
• although not true across the board, on average human social support was the largest predictor of lower loneliness.

Read more:
I tried the Replika AI companion and can see why users are falling hard. The app raises serious ethical questions

AI friends are okay, but you still need people

Overall our results indicate that social support can come from either humans or AI – and that working with AI can indeed help people.

But since human social support was the largest predictor of lower loneliness, it seems likely that underlying feelings of loneliness can only be addressed by human connection. In simple terms, entirely replacing in-person friendships with robot friendships could actually lead to greater loneliness.

Having said that, we also found participants who felt socially supported by AI seemed to experience similar effects on their wellbeing as those supported by humans. This is consistent with the previous research into online gaming mentioned above. So while making friends with AI may not combat loneliness, it can still help us feel connected, which is better than nothing.

Read more:
AI can already diagnose depression better than a doctor and tell you which treatment is best

The takeaway

Our research suggests social support from AI can be positive, but it doesn’t provide all the benefits of social support from other people – especially when it comes to loneliness.

When used in moderation, a relationship with an AI bot could provide positive functional and emotional benefits. But the key is understanding that although it might make you feel supported, it’s unlikely to help you build enough of a sense of belonging to stop you from feeling lonely.

So make sure to also get out and make real human connections. These provide an innate sense of belonging that (for now) even the most advanced AI can’t match.

Acknowlegement: the authors would like to acknowledge Bianca Pani for her contributions to the research discussed in this article.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. 1 in 3 people are lonely. Will AI help, or make things worse? – https://theconversation.com/1-in-3-people-are-lonely-will-ai-help-or-make-things-worse-217924

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Barnett, Professor of Statistics, Queensland University of Technology

Our lives are becoming increasingly data driven. Our phones monitor our time and internet usage and online surveys discern our opinions and likes. These data harvests are used for telling us how well we’ve slept or what we might like to buy.

Numbers are becoming more important for everyday life, yet people’s numerical skills are falling behind. For example, the percentage of Year 12 schoolchildren in Australia taking higher and intermediate mathematics has been declining for decades.

To help the average person understand big data and numbers, we often use visual summaries, such as pie charts. But while non-numerate folk will avoid numbers, most numerate folk will avoid pie charts. Here’s why.

What is a pie chart?

A pie chart is a circular diagram that represents numerical percentages. The circle is divided into slices, with the size of each slice proportional to the category it represents. It is named because it resembles a sliced pie and can be “served” in many different ways.

An example pie chart below shows Australia’s two-party preferred vote before the last election, with Labor on 55% and the the Coalition on 45%. The two near semi-circles show the relatively tight race – this is a useful example of a pie chart.

What’s wrong with pie charts?

Once we have more than two categories, pie charts can easily misrepresent percentages and become hard to read.

The three charts below are a good example – it is very hard to work out which of the five areas is the largest. The pie chart’s circularity means the areas lack a common reference point.

Pie charts also do badly when there are lots of categories. For example, this chart from a study on data sources used for COVID data visualisation shows hundreds of categories in one pie.

The tiny slices, lack of clear labelling and the kaleidoscope of colours make interpretation difficult for anyone.

It’s even harder for a colour blind person. For example, this is a simulation of what the above chart would look like to a person with deuteranomaly or reduced sensitivity to green light. This is the most common type of colour blindness, affecting roughly 4.6% of the population.

It can get even worse if we take pie charts and make them three-dimensional. This can lead to egregious misrepresentations of data.

Below, the yellow, red and green areas are all the same size (one-third), but appear to be different based on the angle and which slice is placed at the bottom of the pie.

So why are pie charts everywhere?

Despite the well known problems with pie charts, they are everywhere. They are in journal articles, PhD theses, political polling, books, newspapers and government reports. They’ve even been used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

While statisticians have criticised them for decades, it’s hard to argue with this logic: “if pie charts are so bad, why are there so many of them?”

Possibly they are popular because they are popular, which is a circular argument that suits a pie chart.

What’s a good alternative to pie charts?

There’s a simple fix that can effectively summarise big data in a small space and still allow creative colour schemes.

It’s the humble bar chart. Remember the brain-aching pie chart example above with the five categories? Here’s the same example using bars – we can now instantly see which category is the largest.

Linear bars are easier on the eye than the non-linear segments of a pie chart. But beware the temptation to make a humble bar chart look more interesting by adding a 3D effect. As you already saw, 3D charts distort perception and make it harder to find a reference point.

Below is a standard bar chart and a 3D alternative of the number of voters in the 1992 US presidential election split by family income (from under US$15K to over $75k). Using the 3D version, can you tell the number of voters for each candidate in the highest income category? Not easily.

Is it ever okay to use a pie chart?

We’ve shown some of the worst examples of pie charts to make a point. Pie charts can be okay when there are just a few categories and the percentages are dissimilar, for example with one large and one small category.

Overall, it is best to use pie charts sparingly, especially when there is a more “digestible” alternative – the bar chart.

Whenever we see pie charts, we think one of two things: their creators don’t know what they’re doing, or they know what they are doing and are deliberately trying to mislead.

A graphical summary aims to easily and quickly communicate the data. If you feel the need to spruce it up, you’re likely reducing understanding without meaning to do so.

Read more:
3 questions to ask yourself next time you see a graph, chart or map

Adrian Barnett is a member of the Statistical Society of Australia.

Victor Oguoma is a member of the Statistical Society of Australia.

– ref. Here’s why you should (almost) never use a pie chart for your data – https://theconversation.com/heres-why-you-should-almost-never-use-a-pie-chart-for-your-data-214576