Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Onno van der Groen, Research Fellow in the school of medical and health sciences, Edith Cowan University

Like to work in a noisy environment while your colleague prefers silence? It could be your brain is simply less “noisy” so this extra, external noise improves your cognitive functioning.

Every day of our lives we effortlessly use our senses to perceive the world around us. We take in information so we can learn new things, taste our food, watch our favourite Netflix show. What we often don’t consider is that our senses are being bombarded with “noise”, and by that I mean random interference.

This interference can be noise that you hear – for example the humming of an air-conditioner in your office or listening to background music played through your headphones – or noise that you see (for example when your TV is not tuned in properly and you see some “snow” on your screen).

Such noise would usually be considered a nuisance, but evidence shows that small amounts of noise can actually be beneficial for our senses. The phenomenon is known as “stochastic resonance”.

Read more: Our centuries-long quest for ‘a quiet place’

Noise can improve performance

Stochastic-resonance was originally investigated in animals. For example, crayfish were shown to be better at avoiding predators when a small amount of random electrical currents were added to their tail fins. Paddlefish caught more plankton when small currents were added to the water.

These experiments demonstrate that sensory signals can be enhanced by noise and improve behaviour in various animals. Research in humans has manipulated noise levels by making people listen to noisy sounds, look at static on a screen or by adding random vibration to the skin.

It’s been shown that as the intensity of noise is increased, a certain optimal noise level allows people to see, hear and feel better. Too much noise degrades our performance.

This inverted-U relationship between performance and noise levels is a characteristic of stochastic-resonance. The phenomenon has real life applications. For example, adding noise to the feet of people with vibrating insoles can improve balance performance in elderly adults. It also has applications for patients with diabetes, those recovering from stroke and it may be used to augment muscle function.

Read more: Playing sound through the skin improves hearing in noisy places

Noise plays a crucial role in the brain

Human behaviour and perception occurs due to the firing of brain cells. Sometimes your brain cells fire randomly. There is more and more evidence that this random activity of your brain cells can be beneficial for your perception and cognitive performance.

My research team is interested in finding out what happens when we change noise levels in the brain directly with non-invasive brain-stimulation.

Your brain cells use electricity for their communication. In experiments conducted with my colleague Nicole Wenderoth at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, we applied currents to the brain to activate brain cells in a random fashion with transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS). We found that when participants received stimulation, it improved how well they could see a low-quality image. This suggests that brain noise can help us see better.

In two additional experiments, conducted with Jason Mattingley and Matthew Tang at the Queensland Brain Institute, we used tRNS to provide further insight into how noise affects the brain. In one study we found that decision making can actually be improved. That is, decisions were more accurate and faster when brain cell noise levels are tuned up. Improved decision making only occurred for difficult decisions, such as when the information was ambiguous.

In a third study we found that tRNS can influence what you see during a visual illusion. This suggests that noise is important in making sure that your brain doesn’t get stuck on one way of looking at things.

In summary, our data showed that brain noise is a crucial part of human perception, decision making and being able to see from different perspectives.

Read more: Growing evidence that noise is bad for your health

How much noise you need

The optimal level of noise that can enhance cognitive functions could be different for everyone. That might explain why some people perform best in noisy environments, while others prefer silence.

There might also be a role played by brain noise in various neurological conditions. For example, it seems that individuals with autism, dyslexia, ADHD and schizophrenia have excessive brain variability compared to others.

Elderly individuals might also have more brain noise, which might be associated with a decline in cognitive performance. Small amounts of noise can improve performance, but excessive amounts degrade performance. This could explain some of the disease characteristics and cognitive and perceptual problems occurring with increasing age.

The level of brain noise can be altered with tRNS, which opens up new avenues of studying the role of brain noise on human performance. Our understanding of the role of noise in the human nervous system is expanding. This allows us to develop interventions or devices to manipulate noise levels, which could improve cognitive functioning in health and disease.

For now, if you do prefer to work in a noisy environment, you can safely make the argument that it’s likely boosting your performance.

– ref. Like to work with background noise? It could be boosting your performance – http://theconversation.com/like-to-work-with-background-noise-it-could-be-boosting-your-performance-119598

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annette Greenhow, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Bond University

In the not too distant past, players who suffered head injuries in professional contact sports quickly returned to the field of play, sometimes in the same game, seemingly able to shake off any concussion concerns.

Australian professional sports leagues likewise were unconvinced of the long-term effects of head injuries – and specifically the US-based research suggesting a connection between head injuries and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE – preferring instead to wait for Australian scientific evidence to lead the way.

Last month, however, a report was released by researchers from the University of Sydney and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital finding scientific evidence of CTE in the brains of two middle-aged, former National Rugby League (NRL) players who had each played more than 150 games over many years.

The report, published as a “letter to the editor” in a medical journal, is the first time CTE has been identified in rugby league players anywhere in the world.

Medical experts have described CTE as

a degenerative brain disease found in athletes, military veterans, and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma.

The Sydney researchers acknowledge that their report is limited by a lack of clinical information collected during the lifetimes of the two NRL players and note that

it is difficult to assess whether these two CTE cases are serendipitous findings, or emblematic of a more common issue with Rugby League and other Australian football codes.

Nonetheless, in the face of this discovery, a legal question has arisen in the rugby league world: who should be responsible for brain injuries suffered by former players? The answer is likely to be determined in Australian courts if a threatened class action lawsuit is brought by former NRL players against the league and its clubs.

Read more: What does concussion do to the brain?

The key questions for a class action lawsuit

According to media reports, several former, but as yet unnamed, NRL players have expressed interest in joining a proposed class action suit, claiming the league and its clubs failed to provide a safe workplace.

Without full details of the complaints, media reports have suggested the case will revolve around whether the league and clubs did enough to protect players from the long-term effects of repetitive concussive and subconcussive injuries and whether they knew or ought to have known about the risks associated with mismanaging such injuries.

Central to the case will be whether the players can demonstrate they were owed a duty of care by the league and whether that duty was breached. Another critical question will be whether players can prove that any breach of duty caused or contributed to the players’ long-term injuries.

A key challenge in any class action suit is to first establish that the claims of several parties are against the same person or organisation, and arise from the “same, similar or related circumstances” involving a substantial common issue of law or fact.

Read more: Who should be responsible for brain injuries in sport?

Like most professional sports leagues, the NRL has adopted its own concussion protocols over the years to properly manage how and when players can return to the sport following a head injury. As NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg says:

We have made huge changes going back to 2014 and I’m very confident those rules are in place for the primary reason for the care of our players.

A key question in the proposed class action, therefore, is how this was handled in the past, before the current protocols were put in place. Were players returning to competition too soon after a head injury? And were the concussion protocols properly implemented and enforced?

These questions rely on first establishing whether the NRL, as the sport’s governing body, owed a legal duty to provide and invest in a safe workplace to prevent or reduce the risk of mismanaging head injuries.

Another important question is the level of scientific understanding of the risks associated with mismanaging concussions at the time the players were injured. Was the sport following best practices based on the scientific understanding at the time?

Who is legally responsible for players’ safety?

A professional sportsperson can legally be classified as an employee, with the right to expect a safe working environment. In professional team sport, this includes an obligation to remove a player from a game or training when they are believed to have suffered a concussion.

In 2000, the High Court in Agar v Hyde established that the governing body of a sport does not owe a duty to voluntary, amateur participants to amend the rules of the game to make it safer. One of the reasons for this decision was a finding that a sport governing body lacked any real or effective control over recreational or amateur participants.

However, the court left open the possibility of re-examining whether professional athletes who are classified as employees and injured at work fall within a different category.

Since the Agar v Hyde case, this question has not been determined in any Australian case, so it is likely to arise in a rugby league class action suit, should it proceed to trial.

How cases have been handled elsewhere

The heightened awareness around CTE in Australia follows the 2011 class action lawsuit filed in the United States by former football players against the National Football League. The case involved allegations the league knew about the dangers associated with repetitive concussive and subconcussive injuries but, among other things, fraudulently concealed this information and failed in its duty of care to ensure the safety of players.

The NFL case settled for US$1 billion before going to trial, so these allegations were not tested in court. The NFL case did, however, bring into sharp focus the role of a sport’s governing body and who is ultimately responsible for the long-term health of players.

Read more: Concussions and CTE: More complicated than even the experts know

In a culture known for its litigation appetite, hundreds of legal cases have since been filed in US courts – against clubs, schools, colleges, doctors, coaches, hospitals and insurers, to name a few. The National Hockey League has also been sued by former players, but the case was settled last year.

But the US and Australian sports and court systems are different, and any Australian case will need to be based on Australian law in accordance with the federal or state-based civil procedures.

The long-term impact of such lawsuits also remains to be seen. In the US, there are fewer high school students playing football due to concerns over the long-term effects of brain injuries. Whether the links between CTE and rugby league players will have the same effect on participation rates in Australia is another issue worth further study.

– ref. Is the National Rugby League legally liable for the long-term impacts of concussions? – http://theconversation.com/is-the-national-rugby-league-legally-liable-for-the-long-term-impacts-of-concussions-119880

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katja Siefken, Lecturer, University of South Australia

Inactivity in school children has been in the news again with the release of a study into the health of Australian 11-12 year olds from around the country.

The 1,800 person study found most children were healthy. But there was room for improvement in areas including physical activity and weight.

It’s a different story for Finnish children and their other Nordic counterparts. They outperform most other highly developed nations when it comes to childrens’ physical activity levels and obesity rates.

So what can Australia’s school system learn from the Nordic approach to physical education?

Read more: They believe in teachers and in education for all: why Finland’s kids often top league tables

Active kids do well, wherever they are

Throughout the world, physical education is recognised for its contribution to education itself (teaching movement skills), development of personal and social skills (including learning rules, strategy and cooperation with others) and of course children’s physical health.

More research is also suggesting physical activity (which in school, is achieved through physical education and active play during break periods) is positively associated with educational attainment, particularly in maths. In other words, active kids tend to do better at school.

Read more: Move it, move it: how physical activity at school helps the mind (as well as the body)

Does the curriculum need to be more specific?

The Australian national curriculum combines health and physical education as one learning area.

The health component sets out to teach children about many aspects of health, including alcohol, nutrition, relationships and sexuality. The physical education component offers children the chance to take part in games, adventure activities, fundamental movement skills, sports and rhythmic movement activities such as dance.

The curriculum says children should engage in “regular movement-based learning experiences”. However how regular this needs to be and how long for is not specified or even recommended.

This contrasts with the Nordic countries which enforce weekly minimums for physical education in schools. For example, Denmark has a mandatory 60-90 minutes of physical education a week.

In Finland, physical activity classes are also mandatory. Data suggests primary and secondary schools provide an average two hours a week. The Norwegians provide an average two to three hours a week.

How about specialist teachers?

Delivering effective physical education classes requires a varied skill set, including:

• motivating children
• developing skills
• managing behaviour
• engaging children, particularly ones with lesser skills, and
• modifying activities to challenge children with different needs and abilities.

Classroom teachers often report they are not fully equipped to plan, implement and assess physical education lessons.

So Nordic countries are aiming to only use specialist physical education teachers.

Specialist physical education teachers are also better at motivating students to engage in physical education and physical activity.

Read more: From grassroots to gold: the role of school sport in Olympic success

The Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance recommends all physical activity classes be delivered by specialist, tertiary-qualified physical education teachers.

However, a recent review by Active Healthy Kids Australia found no Australian states or territories are meeting this recommendation.

On the right track, but could do better

The Australian national curriculum is on the right track in many ways. Gone are the harrowing days of waiting to be picked for a team, being made to run for punishment, and measuring children’s weight or skinfolds in front of the class.

The national curriculum emphasises enjoyment and participation in movement-based activities, positive challenges, leading to personal and social outcomes, intended to set children up for lifelong activity.

However, by failing to mandate physical education time each week, we risk physical education being “pushed to the periphery” and losing out to other priorities.

Australia could learn from the Nords by:

• introducing nationwide mandatory physical education policy that ensures every school in Australia schedules weekly classes as part of the core curriculum;
• mandating every school in Australia delivers high-quality physical education through tertiary-trained physical education teachers for all students.

Without these mandates, great things are happening in some schools. However, other schools are slipping through the cracks. It’s time to learn from the Nordic countries to ensure high-quality physical education for all. Because the right physical education can lay the foundations for an active lifestyle, for life.

Read more: Kids’ diets and screen time: to set up good habits, make healthy choices the default at home

– ref. Look up north. Here’s how Aussie kids can move more at school, Nordic style – http://theconversation.com/look-up-north-heres-how-aussie-kids-can-move-more-at-school-nordic-style-112957

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Graham Fulton, PhD student, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland

Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.

I would like to find out something about swallows: we have noticed that they return to the same nests each year, but there must be younger birds that have no nest. Where do they sleep until they have built their new nest? – Nefeli, age 13, Corfu, Greece.

Thank you for your question, Nefeli.

It’s true that some swallows return to the same nests each year. But what do they do there?

We need to understand what nests are really for – and they are not for sleeping. They are for putting eggs into. The eggs need protection from the weather (hot and cold, wind and rain) and from other animals that would eat them. For predators, eggs taste great!

Eventually the eggs hatch, then a blind and featherless baby swallow emerges. The babies are called nestlings or sometimes chicks. So nests are not for sleeping, they are for raising a family.

It is true that when an adult is sitting on eggs and nestlings, it may sleep, especially at night.

But the young swallows who don’t have a nest to return to must build their own nest (to protect and feed their babies) or sleep on a tree branch, a rock ledge of a cliff face, or inside the hollow of a tree.

When swallows sleep away from the nest they sleep in places called roosts.

So remember: nests are mostly for babies; roosts are for sleep.

Read more: Curious Kids: is water blue or is it just reflecting off the sky?

Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.

– ref. Curious Kids: where do swallows sleep? – http://theconversation.com/curious-kids-where-do-swallows-sleep-116658

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Alexandra, PhD candidate, RMIT University

Greening our cities has become one of the great global imperatives of the 21st century including to tackle climate change. And Australia’s sprawling car-based cities are gradually changing to embrace green or living infrastructure.

Green cities bring together elements of architectural design and urban planning, often combining plants and built infrastructure to meet the needs of humans, such as our love of nature.

Read more: Australian cities are lagging behind in greening up their buildings

Trees, plants, waterways and wetlands can deliver climate conditioning, cooling cities by reducing the urban heat island effect. They also absorb carbon dioxide, filter wastewater and create habitats.

Living elements can be incorporated with built infrastructure at a range of scales, from individual buildings with green walls and roofs, through to citywide strategies. And there are a suite of strategies to guide more widespread integration of biological elements and ecological processes in cities.

In recent months, we profiled Australian examples of living infrastructure that show some of Australia’s approaches to developing green infrastructure, from greening Melbourne’s laneways to Canberra’s urban forest. These cities are already redesigning their water systems and implementing urban forest strategies to create green belts and protect and restore waterways.

Melbourne and Canberra provide some useful examples of the green cities movement, but to make it mainstream, these techniques need to be adopted widely through policies supporting more holistic and better integrated urban planning.

Why we need urban forests

Percival Alfred Yeoman was one of the first Australian pioneers of urban forestry. In 1971, he articulated a clear vision for enhancing cities with trees.

Read more: Why ‘green cities’ need to become a deeply lived experience

Local governments in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, are implementing his ideas, committing to ambitious increases in urban canopy cover. Their targets range from 25% to 40%.

This revived interest in urban forestry comes from its well documented potential for accelerating the transition to more climate adaptive cities.

The social, environmental and economic benefits of urban trees, or “ecosystem services”, are becoming better recognised, including for their recreational and cultural values.

Melbourne and Canberra are leading Australia’s green cities movement

Melbourne

Melbourne has a rich legacy of urban parks and green belts thanks to planning decisions made in the city’s early years.

Read more: Urban greening can save species, cool warming cities, and make us happy

These parks underpin a new wave of urban greening, with projects that aim to deliver action on climate change, biodiversity and the health and well-being of communities.

The Melbourne green infrastructure plan includes:

• a “growing green guide” that provides practical advice to community and business groups on planning, design and maintenance of green infrastructure

• the greening laneways strategy, which builds on the commercial revitalisation of Melbourne’s laneways over three decades. Laneways with greening potential were mapped and demonstration project developed to display techniques for making them more vibrant green spaces for business, tourists and locals to enjoy

• an urban forest strategy, with an overall target of 40% canopy cover by 2040. And 5 to 8 million trees will be planted over coming decades for the greater Melbourne metropolis.

Canberra

Canberra is often described as “a city within a landscape” and the “bush capital”. But its higher altitude, hot dry summers and cold winters bring a set of challenges for green infrastructure.

With more than 800,000 planted trees, Canberra is an urban forest. But these trees require special care and attention given they are ageing and suffering from a hotter, drier climate.

Read more: How do we save ageing Australians from the heat? Greening our cities is a good start

Wildfire also represents a significant risk where urban and rural areas connect. This means Canberra needs urban forests that will cool the city in warmer months without also escalating wildfire risks.

The ACT Government has committed to action on climate change, legislating targets for 100% renewable electricity by 2020 and carbon neutrality (no net carbon emissions) by 2045.

Integrated approach needed to expand green cities

Greening cities requires a holistic approach – for instance, not leaving the health of waterways entirely to water engineers.

Greening cities is more than just a technical challenge. Transforming the form and functions of urban systems, through urban forests and other living infrastructure, requires greater leadership and political commitment, integrated planning and community participation, and long-term thinking.

An integrated approach to greening cities involves mapping diverse opportunities and mobilising support for change in the community. As an example, urban storm water can be a productive resource when used in constructed wetlands or to irrigate urban forests.

And often urban drainage lines and wastelands can be transformed into green spaces, but it’s worth recognising there is intense competition for space for housing.

But for more widespread adoption of integration, institutional support within local governments and metropolitan water and planning agencies is needed.

So to scale up living infrastructure in our urban landscapes, we must learn from local success stories, conduct more research, and better understand how to deal with climate adaptation and mitigation challenges.

Read more: If planners understand it’s cool to green cities, what’s stopping them?

Jason Alexandra would like to gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Barbara Norman to this article.

– ref. For green cities to become mainstream, we need to learn from local success stories and scale up – http://theconversation.com/for-green-cities-to-become-mainstream-we-need-to-learn-from-local-success-stories-and-scale-up-119933

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Q J Wang, Professor, University of Melbourne

Earlier this year, researchers suggested the amount of water returned to the Murray Darling Basin under a federal program has been “grossly exaggerated”, to the tune of hundreds of billions of litres.

The report argued that government investment in irrigation improvements might even result in a net loss of water for the environment.

Read more: The Darling River is simply not supposed to dry out, even in drought

To investigate these claims, the Murray Darling Basin Authority commissioned us to undertake an independent review to examine the best available data for every irrigation efficiency project funded across the basin.

We found the government investment into irrigation efficiency projects has achieved 85% of the 750 gigalitres per year target. The remaining 15% of the target may be affected by unintended side-effects.

This result highlights the need for continued review of risks to the basin plan, as Australia grapples with the management of an extraordinary complex natural system.

How is water for the environment recovered?

The Water Act 2007 introduced significant reforms aimed at setting aside more water for the environment. At the time, record high levels of surface water were being consumed. Aiming to save 2,750 gigalitres of surface water (water flowing in the open air, rather than underground) the federal government began buying back water rights and investing in more efficient infrastructure.

The Commonwealth is providing A$3.1 billion to buy these water rights, of which A$2.5 billion has been spent. It is also providing more than A$8 billion for modernising infrastructure and water efficiency improvements, of which more than A$4 billion has so far been spent.

These projects aim to improve water delivery – reducing leaks and evaporation – and make irrigation more efficient. The water saving generated from these projects is shared between the governments for environmental use, and irrigators.

What are “return flows”?

To understand why the government investment in irrigation efficiency projects have not achieved 100% of the original target, we need to talk about return flows.

When water is diverted from the river for irrigation, not all of it gets consumed by the plants. Some water will make its way back to the river. This is called return flow. A large part of the return flow is through groundwater to the rivers, and this part is extremely difficult to measure. More efficient infrastructure and irrigation generally means less return flow to the river.

If these reductions are not considered when calculating the water savings, it is possible there will be implications for irrigators, the environment and other water users downstream, that previously benefited from return flows.

What we tried to determine is how much the efficiency projects reduced return flow.

Read more: We wrote the report for the minister on fish deaths in the lower Darling – here’s why it could happen again

Are the water savings real?

For the first time, we attempted to bring together data on individual projects in order to assess return flows across the basin. We developed a framework for calculating return flows, which took into account water in the rivers, groundwater, and efficiency projects.

This is the first attempt to bring together the existing data on individual projects to assess return flows in the basin at a detailed level. A large portion of the data used in this study was collated for the first time and not previously available in a readily accessible format.

We found a reduction in return flow of 121 gigalitres per year as a result of the government funded projects. This is comparable to 16% of the recovery transferred to environmental entitlements.

What does this mean for the Basin Plan?

There are several important details that must be considered to assess the importance of the return flow volume for the environment and Basin Plan objectives. We do not attempt here to quantify the outcomes, but instead to raise a number of important considerations beyond simply “volume”.

1. Recovered water should be legally protected

Return flows are good for the environment, but are essentially accidental. As irrigation becomes more efficient, inevitably they will diminish.

On the other hand, formally allocated environmental water entitlements are legally protected. It is more secure for the environment – and far easier to keep track of.

2. It’s not ‘efficiency vs the environment’

Part of this debate centres around the idea that reducing return flows means less water for the environment. But in Victoria and New South Wales, before water is allocated to anyone (irrigators or the environment), a base level is set aside. This is the minimum required to keep the rivers physically flowing and to meet critical human needs.

Efficiency projects mainly affect this base-level flow of the river. This means the water reduction is shared across everyone who holds a water licence – the majority of which are irrigators.

This policy means it does not make sense to compare the effect of efficiency projects directly with the recovery of environmental water.

3. Volume is a crude measure of environmental benefit

The focus of the debate around return flows has been based on the annual volume of returned environmental water in comparison to the stated Basin Plan target.

However, the real objective of the water recovery is to achieve environmental objectives in the Basin. This is not just about annual volumes, but the quantity, timing, and quality of fresh water.

How should we move forward?

Our review has particularly highlighted the need for better ongoing data collection and regular evaluations.

Read more: Aboriginal voices are missing from the Murray-Darling Basin crisis

Both taxpayer investments and the water market are changing irrigation to become more efficient and reducing the river’s base flow. With this in mind, we need to regularly reexamine how we share water between everyone (and everything) that needs it, particularly in extended dry periods.

The Murray-Darling Basin is a constantly changing system, both in terms of climate and irrigation. Return flows are one of a number of potential threats to the Basin Plan. As the system is continually changing, these threats will need to be reassessed with each Basin Plan review.

A Four Corners program on the $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan will air on ABC at 8.30pm on July 8.

This article was co-written by Glen Walker, a former CSIRO employee and now private consultant, who worked with the University of Melbourne on the independent review.

– ref. Billions spent on Murray-Darling water infrastructure: here’s the result – http://theconversation.com/billions-spent-on-murray-darling-water-infrastructure-heres-the-result-119985

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emily Burch, Accredited Dietitian/Nutritionist & PhD Candidate, Griffith University

Want to boost your immune system, reduce your physical signs of ageing, or cleanse your blood to get rid of toxins? Intravenous (IV) vitamin therapy, or vitamin drips, promise to help. Some claim they can even benefit serious conditions like cancer, Parkinson’s disease, the eye condition macular degeneration, the pain of fibromyalgia and depression.

Celebrities have promoted them on social media. The demand has led to alternative therapy lounges popping up around the world, including in Australia. Patients can kick back in comfy leather chairs while they’re hooked up to IVs in the infusion lounge, watch Netflix and have some tea.

But do they work? Or are you just paying for really expensive urine? Let’s look at what the science says.

What is IV vitamin therapy?

IV vitamin therapy administers vitamins and minerals directly into the bloodstream via a needle that goes directly into your vein. Fans of the therapy believe this enables you to obtain more nutrients as you avoid the digestion process.

Providers of these injections say they customise the formula of vitamins and minerals depending on the perceived needs of the patient.

Right now for example, many Australian lounges are offering drip “cocktails” containing immune boosting vitamins like vitamin C and zinc to help protect against the flu. Other popular therapy sessions come under names like “Energy Cocktail” and “Glow”. One vitamin IV therapy session can take 30-90 minutes and will cost between A$80 to $1,000.

Read more: Why eat your vitamins when you can now shoot them up?

Does IV vitamin therapy work?

IV therapy itself is not new and has been used in the medical profession for decades. In hospitals, it is commonly used to hydrate patients and administer essential nutrients if there is an issue with gut absorption, or long-term difficulty eating or drinking due to surgery. Single nutrient deficiencies like vitamin B12 or iron are also often treated in hospital with infusions under medical supervision.

But the “cocktails” IV vitamin therapy clinics create and administer are not supported by scientific evidence. There have been no clinical studies to show vitamin injections of this type offer any health benefit or are necessary for good health. In fact, there are very few studies that have looked at their effectiveness at all.

Read more: Why are some people more gullible than others?

There is one review on the use of the “Myers’ cocktail” (a solution of magnesium, calcium, vitamin C and a number of B vitamins). But it just contains a collection of anecdotal evidence from singular case studies.

Another trial looked into the effectiveness of IV vitamin therapy in reducing symptoms of 34 people with the the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia. It found no significant differences between those who received the “Myers’ cocktail” once a week for eight weeks and those who did not. In fact, the authors noted a strong placebo effect. In other words, many people said their symptoms improved when they were only injected with a “dummy” cocktail.

Read more: Explainer: what is fibromyalgia, the condition Lady Gaga lives with?

Another study that examined IV vitamin use in fibromyalgia patients was missing a placebo group, involved just seven patients and showed only short-term improvement in symptoms. The only other published study examined IV vitamin therapy use for asthma. But that study was of even poorer quality.

What are the risks of IV vitamin therapy?

Even when it comes to vitamins and minerals, you can have too much of a good thing. For example, if you take in more of the fat soluble vitamin A than you need, your body stores it, risking damage to major organs, like the liver.

IV vitamin therapy “cocktails” also often contain significant levels of the water soluble vitamins C and B. These are processed by the kidneys and excreted into urine when the body cannot store any more. This makes for some very expensive urine.

Read more: New vitamin supplement study finds they may do more harm than good

There is also the risk of infection with IV vitamin therapy. Any time you have an IV line inserted, it creates a direct path into your bloodstream and bypasses your skin’s defence mechanism against bacteria.

People with certain conditions like kidney disease or renal failure shouldn’t have IV vitamin therapy because they cannot quickly remove certain minerals from the body. For these people, adding too much potassium could lead to a heart attack.

People with heart, kidney or blood pressure conditions should also avoid IV vitamin therapy as there is risk of fluid overload without consistent monitoring. The consequences of fluid overload in these patients can include heart failure, delayed wound healing, and impaired bowel function.

What’s the bottom line?

For most of us, the quantities of vitamins and minerals needed for good health can be obtained by eating a healthy diet with a wide range of foods and food groups. Obtaining vitamins and minerals from your diet is much easier, cheaper, and safer.

Unless you have a medically diagnosed reason for getting a vitamin infusion and it was prescribed by your doctor, you are always better off obtaining vitamins and minerals through food.

– ref. Do vitamin drips really work? The evidence says ‘no’, so save your money and eat real food – http://theconversation.com/do-vitamin-drips-really-work-the-evidence-says-no-so-save-your-money-and-eat-real-food-116823

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Priya Dev, Blockchain Researcher & Lecturer Data Analysis, Australian National University

Amid the hype around Facebook’s plan to launch its own cryptocurrency, Libra, there’s one big question. How is the company going to profit from it?

The project relies on developing blockchain technology. But blockchain’s whole raison d’être is to challenge the way corporate capitalism and businesses like Facebook make money.

Facebook has also established, with several dozen equally capitalistic partners, the Libra Association, a nonprofit organisation based in Switzerland, to spearhead the venture.

Read more: The lowdown on Libra: what consumers need to know about Facebook’s new cryptocurrency

After years of copping criticism for questionable business practices, has Facebook decided to take an altruistic turn?

Probably not. It’s more likely that blockchain, and even Libra, is a means to a end; it’s about Facebook wanting to be not only the world’s biggest social media platform but also the globe’s go-to marketplace, putting Amazon, eBay, Apple and Google in the shade.

To appreciate why this suggestion isn’t also hyperbole, we need to talk not so much about Libra but its companion technology, the “custodial wallet” called Calibra.

Blockchain, but not blockchain

First, let’s do a quick recap of some fundamentals.

In 2008, a person or group calling themselves Satoshi Nakamoto proposed a method for transacting over the internet without a trusted third party such as a bank. It uses a distributed ledger known as a blockchain and cryptography to maintain a tamper-proof record of ownership of electronic cash – hence the term cryptocurrency.

Blockchain’s core innovation is to do away with the need for trusted entities like banks. So how do people safely send or receive cryptocurrency? Well, they can use a “cryptocurrency wallet”. A cryptocurrency balance is recorded against a blockchain address. Proving ownership depends on a secret code (or “private key”) known only to the owner. The “wallet” is essentially software that allows people to manage their private keys and authorise transactions.

Facebook has other ideas for its cryptocurrency. The Libra Association says it wants to “make sending money as easy and cheap as sending a text message”. Tapping addresses and secret codes into a wallet interface every time wouldn’t be that easy. These codes can be long – up to 64 characters, compared to 16 for a credit card.

So Facebook will instead provide a “custodial wallet” – Calibra. It will be the custodian of your cryptocurrency, much like a bank is custodian of your money, and thus manage your wallet for you.

Facebook can certainly argue that this makes it much easier to use Libra – and it wants to make Libra easy to use so you can buy items through Facebook and its other platforms, such as Whatsapp and Instagram.

But this aspect has little to do with the original ideals behind blockchain. It makes Calibra more like a bank, with a record of your electronic payments. It will know everything you buy or sell through its wallet; and it will share “Calibra customer data with managed vendors and service providers — including Facebook”.

How Facebook monetises data

Why is this important? Because Facebook is in the business of gathering your personal data.

It now uses this information to make about 99% of its income from selling advertising – US$14.9 billion in the first quarter of 2019 alone.

Its value as an advertising delivery mechanism comes not just from its sheer number of users (1.56 billion daily users, and 2.37 billion monthly users) but from what it knows about them.

This goes way beyond basic personal details like your birthdate. Almost everything about Facebook is designed to get you to reveal personal information. You do this through what you post and the posts you like or respond to. You do this even when not directly using Facebook. Lots of online stores report back to Facebook when you visit them, for example.

Read more: Explainer: what is surveillance capitalism and how does it shape our economy?

Identifying key personality traits can be used to predict purchasing behaviour – or political preference, as demonstrated in the Cambridge Analytica controversy. The British-based political consultancy bragged it effectively swung the US 2016 election to Donald Trump by using Facebook to harvest user data and then directing customised political messages to users’ newsfeeds.

Read more: We need to talk about the data we give freely of ourselves online and why it’s useful

While there is some scepticism about Cambridge Analytica’s electoral impact, it is generally agreed the process of “micro-targeting” can be very effective for marketers.

So the more information Facebook has about you, the more money it can potentially make by influencing you.

Becoming bigger than Amazon

There’s more.

Facebook’s value as an advertising powerhouse has made its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, extremely wealthy – worth an estimated US$73 billion. But that’s less than half of Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, who’s worth US$158 billion.

Both companies are in the business of helping merchants sell products. But Amazon’s position as an online marketplace is more lucrative than Facebook’s role as a shop window. Amazon can take a cut from every sale. Its retail business makes up about 80% of its US$950 billion value, which is greater than Facebook’s total value of US$550 billion.

What if Facebook could be both the shop window and the cash register? What if it no longer just introduced users to merchants but also became the digital marketplace supporting those merchants? What if it could collect not just social data but also buyer history data?

This is what Libra, and more critically, Calibra, could mean for Facebook.

Libra’s an important part of this picture. But it’s Calibra that could deliver the data Facebook needs to become possibly the most valuable, and powerful, online company in the world.

– ref. All the hype around Libra is a red herring. Facebook’s main game is Calibra – http://theconversation.com/all-the-hype-around-libra-is-a-red-herring-facebooks-main-game-is-calibra-119595

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tanya Dalziell, Associate Professor, English and Literary Studies, University of Western Australia

Fifty years after her death, Australian writer Charmian Clift is experiencing a renaissance. Born in 1923, Clift co-authored three novels with her husband George Johnston, wrote two under her own name, produced two travel memoirs, and had weekly column widely syndicated to major Australia papers during the the 1960s.

Clift has long been overshadowed by the legacy of Johnston, whose novel My Brother Jack is considered an Australian classic. Her novels and memoirs are sadly out of print, yet she is increasingly recognised for her important place in Australian culture.

In 2018 she, along with Johnston, was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame in recognition of her work as a columnist. She is also being reimagined in fiction, as the subject of A Theatre of Dreamers (2020), a forthcoming novel by English author, Polly Samson, and in Tamar Hodes’ The Water and the Wine (2018).

The revival of interest in Clift is more than a collective nostalgia or feminist correction of the historical record, although both are relevant. Many of her readers from the 60s still remember her newspaper column, and the impact that it had on their view of Australia’s place in the world, with great affection.

Younger generations, particularly women, have also been exposed to Clift’s clear and passionate voice after the columns were published in several volumes in the years following her death. That Clift and her writing continue to resonate with contemporary Australia tells us something about both her and the nation.

The Hydra years

Much of the renewed interest in Clift is focused not only on her writing, but also on the near decade that she and Johnston lived on the Greek Island of Hydra. In late 2015, artist Mark Schaller’s Melbourne exhibition, Homage to Hydra, featured paintings depicting Clift and Johnston’s island lives, with several featuring other residents from Hydra’s international population of writers and artists, including Canadian poet and songwriter, Leonard Cohen.

The same year, Melbourne musicians Chris Fatouros and Spiros Falieros debuted Hydra: Songs and Tales of Bohemia, marrying Cohen’s songs to a narrative about Clift and Johnston’s time on Hydra.

Read more: Friday essay: a fresh perspective on Leonard Cohen and the island that inspired him

In 2018, our book, Half the Perfect World: Writers, Dreams and Drifters on Hydra, 1955-1964, told in detail of the fabled decade of Clift’s life as a bohemian expatriate.

To date in 2019, Sue Smith’s play, Hydra, has been staged in Brisbane and Adelaide, casting Clift in ways that resonate sympathetically with the concerns of contemporary audiences. As Smith writes in her script’s introduction:

Charmian was a woman ahead of her time. We see this in the choices she made both in her personal life, whether it be scandalising the Greek locals by wearing trousers and drinking in bars, to insisting upon her personal and sexual freedom and, of course, through her work.

Read more: Sue Smith’s Hydra: how love, pain and sacrifice produced an Australian classic

‘Charm is her greatest creation’

Modern readers might respond to Clift the writer, but the focus on her years on Hydra suggests there is also great interest in her charismatic personality and tempestuous life with Johnson, as their dream of a cheap and sun-soaked creative island life slowly soured.

While researching the couple’s lives on Hydra, we came across a suggestive, eye-witness diary entry by a fellow writer, New Zealander Redmond Wallis, written in 1960.

Charm is her greatest creation, Charmian Clift, the great Australian woman novelist. Charmian is very curious. She is, potentially at least, a better writer than George but she has and is deliberately creating a picture of herself … which one feels she hopes will appear in her biography some day.

The head of a literary coterie, beautiful, brilliant, compassionate but still the mother of 3 children, running a house. Sweating blood against almost impossible difficulties – a husband inclined to unfounded jealousy, the heat, creative problems, the children, the problems foisted on her by other people … and yet producing great art.

Wallis’s observations are accurate, and prophetic, in noting Clift’s capacity for self-mythologising and her belief that both she and her Hydra idyll would be remembered. Nearly four decades after Clift returned from Greece to Australia amid the acclaim for My Brother Jack, she did become the subject of an excellent biography, Nadia Wheatley’s The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift (2001).

But there were also failures amongst the success. The vision she and Johnston shared for a writing life on Hydra floundered amid poverty, alcoholism and illness. Their return to Australia in 1964 was an unlikely triumph for Johnston following the success of My Brother Jack, but Clift did not return with the same profile.

Wheatley also traced another of Clift’s great disappointments – her failure to complete her long-dreamt of autobiographical novel The End of the Morning, a struggle that was the subject of Susan Johnson’s 2004 novel, The Broken Book.

Clift did, however, leave an autobiography of sorts, in her newspaper articles. These often focused on domestic circumstances and everyday thoughts – ranging from conscription, to the rise of the Greek military junta after she left Hydra, to the changing social circumstances in Australia, and her daughter’s engagement.

These articles might not have always reflected the experiences of her readers – not everyone invited Sidney Nolan over for drinks – but Clift’s first-person narratives of a life lived with great passion and a sceptical eye to the consequences, garnered a large readership.

These readers responded to an incisive intellect with a vision of a culturally enriched Australia. She understood well the need for the country to outgrow its entrenched conservatism in order to realise its potential; and she emerged as a generous spirit who realised that the dreams and passions that drove her life were found everywhere in Australian suburbs.

Wallis’s detection of Clift’s hubris and narcissism paints her as a potentially tragic figure. It was a fate she perhaps fulfilled, when Johnston eventually wrote of Clift’s infidelities on Hydra. Clift took her own life on July 8 1969, an event that curtailed her voice while leaving behind a legacy of loyal and grieving readers.

A natural cosmopolitan

Clift’s is one of the voices – and one of the most important female voices – that rose above the crowd during the post-war period, as the western world unknowingly girded itself for the social revolution that was to come.

Through her columns she advocated for a bolder, more outward looking future, and as someone who was naturally cosmopolitan she was avidly interested in seeing Australia become more open to the world and better integrated into the Asia-Pacific.

She didn’t always get it right (an essay decrying the rise of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones stands out!), but she helped navigate the path to a more broad-minded and inclusive vision of Australia.

Over the years Clift has emerged as someone who was not only modern, but also engaged in that most post-modern of activities, self-creation. For while Wallis scorned Clift’s self-mythologising at the time, it might now be recognised as the finest gift of the creative artist – to re-make oneself in the image of a world yet to be made. It was her gift to her readers and Australia.

– ref. ‘A woman ahead of her time’: remembering the Australian writer Charmian Clift, 50 years on – http://theconversation.com/a-woman-ahead-of-her-time-remembering-the-australian-writer-charmian-clift-50-years-on-117322

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Sven Tuzovic, Senior Lecturer, QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology

From the Fitbit to Apple’s smartwatch, wearable tech is becoming increasingly popular across the globe. Compared to other nations like US, which has seen higher adoption of fitness trackers, uptake in Australia is still less than 10% in 2019. But news reports indicate that Australians are taking to fitness monitoring more than ever before.

And wearable devices are not only being embraced by consumers, but also across insurance industries. Health and life insurance companies collect data from fitness trackers with the goal of improving business decisions.

Currently, these business models work as a “carrot” incentive. That means consumers can benefit from discounts and cheaper premiums if they are willing to share their Fitbit data.

But we could see voluntary participation become mandatory, shifting the incentive from carrot to stick. John Hancock, one of the largest life insurance companies in the United States, has added fitness tracking with wearable devices to all of its policies. Though customers can opt out of the program, some industry experts argue that this “raises ethical questions around privacy and equality in leaving the traditional life insurance model behind”.

Is this the beginning of a major trend? And, more importantly, how do consumers feel about being “persuaded” into fitness tracker-based insurance policies?

In a study conducted with my colleague Professor Stefanie Paluch at RWTH University in Germany, we investigated people’s perceptions of fitness tracker-based insurance policies.

What are the concerns?

Unfair price discrimination

People are concerned that the data monitoring will lead to personal disadvantages. They don’t want to be penalised with higher insurance rates if they stop using the fitness tracker. One Fitbit user said:

The problem lies in the disadvantage if I don’t wear it.

Data protection

Consumers are concerned about how insurance firms will access, use, and store their fitness data. One person said:

I find it very important to have strict regulations, especially in these times, when personal data is collected and stored everywhere, but can also be shared, exchanged, sold and passed on to third parties, to those I don’t want […] to have my data.

Privacy

People have a wide range of privacy concerns. In general, they fear becoming “observable”, “transparent”, “predictable”, “easy to manipulate” and “rated” by the insurance provider. One user said:

The risk is that you will become so transparent and […] institutions will know about you, that is actually not their right at all, only on the basis that they somehow want to make a profit […] it’s none of their business.

How to reduce the risks?

Our study shows that the strongest opposition is based on people’s fear of unfair and exploitative behaviour of commercial data users, in particular switching from voluntary to mandatory enrolment. To avoid backlash, insurance firms should follow the following four recommendations.

1. Understand your customer

Insurance firms need to first segment their customer base to better understand consumer lifestyles and motivations to use a fitness tracker. While some consumers have a personal affinity towards self-tracking, other individuals will not change their habits. One user said:

I am not sure how this helps? If you lie on the sofa for 12 hours a day with a fitness tracker. Do you see a result? No! The insurance cannot force you to move your ass. Normally only people who are active already and do sports regularly, they wear such trackers.

2. Provide value

People wish to receive a benefit for their participation. This ranges from financial value (discounts, lower premium) to functional value, such as the quality of the device (design features, ease of use), as well as its reliability and accuracy in tracking data.

I like sports, and fitness trackers are important to me. As I said, to follow my progress, and if I can get them cheap, then I find that very positive.

The tracker itself must be good. […] I have to have a feeling that I really benefit from it.

3. Be transparent

In order to reduce privacy concerns, insurance firms need to offer transparent and fully informative privacy policies and should more clearly educate and inform users about the terms and conditions. One Fitbit user said:

…if a little more is published [about] what happens with our data, […] one can inform oneself about it […] Perhaps general education in schools or so would be desirable, too.

For me, the personal contact is important, because if someone explains that to me, then I will trust this person, and then I do not think that he/she will try to conceal any things […]. Once this has been explained to me, then I’m ok with it.

4. Give customers control

People are more willing to participate in fitness tracker-based insurance policies when they are in control of their participation. Greater empowerment increases their perceived self-determination and acceptance. Thus, participation should remain voluntary and be flexible regarding the timeframe. Two respondents said:

Well, if they [fitness trackers] are on a voluntary basis […] then I would use them.

That I can choose this bonus program myself, that I can choose the different functions from it and that I can resign at any time without any financial, health or insurance disadvantages.

As the sharing of personal biometric data increases further, we hope that our findings will contribute to an emerging public policy and legal debate about the practice.

– ref. Treat or trick: we asked people how they feel about sharing fitness data with insurance companies – http://theconversation.com/treat-or-trick-we-asked-people-how-they-feel-about-sharing-fitness-data-with-insurance-companies-119806

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alana Schetzer, Sessional Tutor and Journalist, University of Melbourne

The rapid spread of fake news can influence millions of people, impacting elections and financial markets. A study on the impact of fake news on the 2016 US presidential election, for instance, has found that fake news stories about Hillary Clinton was “very strongly linked” to the defection of voters who supported Barack Obama in the previous election.

To stem the rising influence of fake news, some countries have made the creation and distribution of deliberately false information a crime.

Singapore is the latest country to have passed a law against fake news, joining others like Germany, Malaysia, France and Russia.

Read more: Media Files: Australians’ trust in news media is falling as concern over ‘fake news’ grows

But using the law to fight the wave of fake news may not be the best approach. Human rights activists, legal experts and others fear these laws have the potential to be misused to stifle free speech, or unintentionally block legitimate online posts and websites.

Legislating free speech

Singapore’s new law gives government ministers significant powers to determine what is fake news, and the authority to order online platforms to remove content if it’s deemed to be against the public interest.

What is considered to be of public interest is quite broad, but includes threats to security, the integrity of elections, and the public perception of the government. This could be open to abuse. It means any content that could be interpreted as embarrassing or damaging to the government is now open to being labelled fake news.

And free speech and human rights groups are concerned that legally banning fake news could be used as a way to restrict free speech and target whistleblowers.

Read more: Freedom of speech: a history from the forbidden fruit to Facebook

Similar problems have arisen in Malaysia and Russia. Both nations have been accused of using their respective laws against fake news to further censor free speech, especially criticism of the government.

Malaysia’s previous government outlawed fake news last year, making it a crime punishable by a fine up to 500,000 Malaysian (A$171,000) ringgit or six years’ imprisonment, or both. The new government has vowed to repeal the law, but so far has yet to do so.

Russia banned fake news – which it labels as any information that shows “blatant disrespect” for the state – in April. Noncompliance can carry a jail sentence of 15 days.

Discriminating between legitimate and illegitimate content

But the problems that come with legislating against fake news is not restricted to countries with questionable track records of electoral integrity and free speech.

Even countries like Germany are facing difficulties enforcing their laws in a way that doesn’t unintentionally also target legitimate content.

Germany’s law came into effect on January 1, 2018. It targets social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and requires them to remove posts featuring hate speech or fake information within 24 hours. A platform that fails to adhere to this law may face fines up to 50 million euros.

But the government is now reviewing the law because too much information is being blocked that shouldn’t be.

The Association of German Journalists has complained that social media companies are being too cautious and refusing to publish anything that could be wrongly interpreted under the law. This could lead to increasing self-censorship, possibly of information in the public interest.

In Australia, fake news is also a significant problem, with more and more people unable to distinguish fake news from legitimate reports.

During Australia’s federal election in May, fake news claiming the Labor Party planned on introducing a death tax spread across Facebook and was adopted by the Liberal Party in attack ads.

Read more: Lies, obfuscation and fake news make for a dispiriting – and dangerous – election campaign

But there has been no serious talk of passing a law banning fake news here. Instead, Australian politicians from all sides have been pressuring the biggest social media platforms to be more vigilant and remove fake news before it becomes a problem.

Are there any alternatives to government regulation?

Unlike attempts to limit or ban content in pre-internet days, simply passing a law against fake news may not be the best way to deal with the problem.

The European Union, which is experiencing a rise in support for extreme right-wing political parties, introduced a voluntary code of practice against online disinformation in 2018. Facebook and other social media giants have since signed up.

But there are already concerns the code was “softened” to minimise the amount of content that would need to be removed or edited.

Whenever governments get involved in policing the media – even for the best-intended reasons – there is always the possibility of corruption and a reduction in genuine free speech.

Industry self-regulation is also problematic, as social media companies often struggle to objectively police themselves. Compelling these companies to take responsibility for the content on their sites through fines and other punitive measures, however, could be effective.

Read more: After defamation ruling, it’s time Facebook provided better moderation tools

Another alternative is for media industry groups to get involved.

Media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders, for instance, has launched the Journalism Trust Initiative, which could lead to a future certification system that would act as a “guarantee” of quality and accuracy for readers. The agreed standards are still being discussed, but will include issues such as company ownership, sources of revenue, independence and ethical compliance.

– ref. Governments are making fake news a crime – but it could stifle free speech – http://theconversation.com/governments-are-making-fake-news-a-crime-but-it-could-stifle-free-speech-117654

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Lee, Professor at the National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University

The NSW inquest into recent drug deaths at music festivals is due to start this week. So focus is turning to how to make music festivals safer by reducing drug-related incidents.

We know that prohibition doesn’t work to reduce either harms or drug use. But what does?

Read more: Australia’s recreational drug policies aren’t working, so what are the options for reform?

How do drugs cause harm?

Most illicit drugs used at festivals, including ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA), started out as relatively benign pharmaceuticals.

MDMA is most commonly implicated in drug-related harm at festivals. Fatal and non-fatal MDMA overdoses are usually a result of high-purity MDMA, dangerous contaminants, or environmental factors such as overheating or drinking too much or too little water. So to reduce harms we need to address all these problems.

Read more: Weekly Dose: ecstasy, the party drug that could be used to treat PTSD

What doesn’t work

Police presence, random drug searches and drug detection dogs don’t deter drug use and may increase harms. Yet they are common at festivals and come at a substantial financial cost to festival goers, which has to be covered in the price of the ticket.

People who go to festivals say that police presence doesn’t discourage them from taking drugs; and there are many documented cases of people taking multiple pills at once to avoid searches and sniffer dog detection, which increases the risk of overdose.

Read more: Why drug-detection dogs are sniffing up the wrong tree

Publicly, the police focus is on drug dealing, but the reality is that most people who are arrested at festivals are people who use, rather than sell, drugs. NSW police reported that, at Sydney’s 2019 Field Day Festival, of the 28,000 people who attended, there were 155 drug-related arrests: 149 for possession and 6 for supply.

When police dogs are present, people are more likely to buy drugs inside the festival rather than risk detection by carrying drugs in. This means they are more likely to buy from unknown sources, which increases their risk of harm compared with buying from a trusted source.

Decriminalising illicit drugs would significantly reduce harms and allow festival police to focus on public safety issues, such as antisocial behaviour and public drunkenness.

What works

There are already effective harm reduction strategies in place at festivals. These include:

• presence of peer-led organisations, like Dancewize, which provide harm reduction information and support
• emergency services and first aid
• chill out spaces
• availability of cool clean water
• good ventilation in indoor spaces, and
• staff and volunteer training in responding to drug affected people.

Pill testing direct to consumer

On-site pill testing, which identifies the content and purity of drugs brought in by festival goers, also includes contact with a health professional to provide a brief intervention, that can include advice about risks of taking drugs and harm reduction information. Festival goers are always told that it is safest not to take drugs at all.

Brief interventions from a health professional can reduce risky drug use among young people. But without a way to offer an intervention, most young people who go to festivals will not come into contact with a health worker to receive that information.

Read more: Here’s why doctors are backing pill testing at music festivals across Australia

Some Australian police, politicians and policymakers are reluctant to consider pill testing at festivals. That may be because, so far, only on-site, direct-from-consumer testing has been offered as a viable way of reducing harm.

Some people have concerns about the idea of accepting and testing illicit drugs direct from the people using them, given that they are still illegal.

But there are many other ways of pill testing that can also reduce harm.

Testing of police-acquired drugs

We could also test drugs on-site that have been seized by police, acquired from emergency services after an incident or surrendered in amnesty bins.

This approach has been used at a number of festivals in the UK since 2013. When a potentially problematic drug is identified during the festival, an alert is issued on-site through social media usually within hours, to alert others who may have bought drugs from similar batches.

As well as potentially reducing harm for people who use drugs, these alerts mean police are better able to monitor the local drug market; on-site paramedics, first aid and outreach workers are better informed about drugs in circulation, helping to improve responses; and according to the UK testing facility, medical services report having more confidence in dealing with presentations because of the alerts.

This approach is not as effective in reducing harms as direct-from-consumer testing. That’s because it doesn’t include contact with a health professional who can offer a brief intervention, and the information about pill contents doesn’t go direct to the people intending to use them.

But if testing of police acquired drugs is combined with real-time alerts about potential problem drugs to festival goers, it can still reduce harms.

Off-site testing

Testing of pills brought in by festival goers can also occur off site before the festival. It works the same way as onsite testing, and includes brief intervention, but operates away from the festival site.

It’s the primary model used in The Netherlands.

Off-site testing removes the need to change the way the drugs are policed at festivals, so may be more acceptable to some. If both off-site and on-site testing are implemented, testing services will have greater reach and be more effective in reducing harm.

Testing drug purity

The only official pill testing that has been undertaken in Australia has been at Canberra’s Groovin’ the Moo in 2018 and 2019. The on-site facility tested samples provided directly by consumers and identified the drugs present. But they could only estimate the purity of drug powders and did not measure the dose of MDMA in the pills.

High-dose MDMA has been implicated in a number of the recent festivals deaths. Knowing the dose may help reduce overdoses from MDMA pills because people can choose to take a smaller amount of the drug if they know the strength is high.

Read more: When to seek help after taking a pill

The Loop UK has developed a method of more accurately measuring the dose in MDMA pills, which could help reduce the harms associated with high purity. The process does not require any specialised equipment and is performed on-site by trained chemists. At this year’s Parklife Festival the organisation identified high-strength pills and send out warnings.

Understanding drug use at festivals

We also don’t really know how many young people use drugs at Australian festivals and how much they use. Most of what we know is from anecdotal reports. There’s probably differences between festivals.

We know both festival attendance and illicit drug use hit a peak among people in their 20s. So more research on how common drug use is at festivals and the kinds of drugs people use would help inform better and more targeted harm reduction policies.

We will never completely eliminate drug use at festivals but we can make them safer by implementing what we know works and stopping what we know doesn’t. It’s normal for young people to take risks. Whether you agree with drug taking or not, our young people don’t deserve to die just because they have taken drugs.

– ref. Testing festival goers’ pills isn’t the only way to reduce overdoses. Here’s what else works – http://theconversation.com/testing-festival-goers-pills-isnt-the-only-way-to-reduce-overdoses-heres-what-else-works-118827

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Warren Midgley, Honorary Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of Southern Queensland

Just before the May federal election, then shadow treasurer Chris Bowen gave a speech in which he lamented the low levels of Year 12 students studying Mandarin in Australia. The speech was at a launch for Labor’s plan to deepen Australia’s engagement with Asia.

According to the launch’s media release, Labor’s strategy would include “improving Asian literacy and cultural understanding through school curriculums”.

Bowen mentioned that only about 130 Australians of non-Chinese heritage can speak Chinese to a level good enough to do business with China. In recent weeks, experts confirmed this number may be correct, although an educated guess.

But whatever the exact number, 100 or 130 or 200, an expert told the ABC “it’s still absolutely peanuts”.

For decades, Australian schools have focused on teaching Asian languages to strengthen our opportunities in Asia. One of the four target languages has been Standard Chinese, or Mandarin, the official language of mainland China.

If only 130 people of non-Chinese heritage can speak it after all these years, has something gone catastrophically wrong?

The bigger picture

There are many more than 130 people in Australia who can speak Mandarin fluently. According to the latest census data, almost 600,000 people in Australia speak Mandarin at home, which indicates a very high level of fluency.

Given more than 500,000 Australians were born in China, there is a good chance most Mandarin-speaking Australians would be, to use Bowen’s term, of “Chinese heritage”. But it’s unclear why this is concerning.

Read more: Where are Chinese migrants choosing to settle in Australia? Look to the suburbs

From a purely academic perspective, these data suggest Australia is well placed to recruit Mandarin-speaking leaders in business, international relations, diplomacy and so forth, to strengthen our engagement with Asia.

Clearly, there is no critical shortage of fluent Mandarin speakers in Australia. There may be a shortage of Mandarin-speaking Australians entering into leadership positions, but that is an entirely different discussion.

Mandarin learning in schools

There is no definitive source of data for the number of children learning languages in Australian schools. One source indicates that in 2015, more than 170,000 students were learning Mandarin in Australian schools – almost twice as many as were learning it in 2008.

However, only about 4,000 of those students were in Year 12, and of those only an estimated 400 were of non-Chinese heritage. So while the total number of students has risen, the number of non-Chinese heritage students continuing to study Mandarin through to Year 12 has remained low.

Read more: How Australia’s Mandarin speakers get their news

These figures are similar to those for Japanese, which is the most popular language taught in Australian schools. In 2015 there were estimated to be just over 210,000 students studying Japanese at school in Australia. Following a similar pattern to Mandarin, only 572 of those students were in the upper years of secondary school.

What does success mean?

Not all language students start at the same proficiency level. The Australian Curriculum has five different streams for students of Mandarin to accommodate a range of different starting levels of proficiency.

In theory, this means Chinese heritage students who already speak Mandarin very well can study a much higher level of Mandarin than non-Chinese heritage students. However, many students with very good starting proficiency in Mandarin end up in classes designed for students with lower starting levels of proficiency.

These differences in starting levels of proficiency mean it is difficult to determine whether Mandarin language programs have been successful. An excellent written paper by a non-native speaker of Mandarin may be a very poor result for a student who is a native speaker of Mandarin.

Read more: What languages should children be learning to get ahead?

In one study, Year 12 students who spoke Mandarin at home achieved an average score of 77 on a proficiency test that had a maximum possible score of 120. The average for students who did not speak Mandarin at home was 16.

We need to think carefully about what we mean by success in language learning. If speaking as a native speaker would, which is what might be required for someone to be able to conduct business in China, is the measure of success, all language classes will perform poorly. A school student in China will learn about 6,000 written characters by the time they graduate. By comparison, a Year 12 student in Australia will graduate with a knowledge of only about 500 characters.

Even languages that don’t have large numbers of characters are almost impossible to master in the small amount of time allocated to language classes in Australian schools.

In the same way, if winning an Olympic gold medal were the measure of success of sports classes, then they also have been a monumental failure. There have only been 267 Australian gold medallists in all Summer and Winter Games since 1896.

The same could be said for any other subject in which achieving such rare levels of excellence is considered to be the only measure of success.

Why else would you study Mandarin?

Evidence suggests there are multiple benefits from learning a second language beyond achieving native-like mastery of the language itself. These include improvements in cognitive flexibility, decision-making, and intercultural competency.

None of these benefits requires the learner to be able to speak, read or write that second language as well as a native speaker.

Some of the questions we should be asking are:

• are our children making progress in learning the language?
• are they engaged with the lessons and the materials?
• are they demonstrating interest in other cultures and ideas?
• are they exploring new ways of seeing the world and solving problems?
• are they reaching out to others in the community who have different language and cultural backgrounds?

The first two of these are regularly measured, or at least noted, by classroom teachers. But the others are often overlooked. It is difficult to know how successful our programs have been without measuring these things too.

– ref. China crisis? Hardly – it doesn’t matter most Aussie kids don’t speak fluent Mandarin – http://theconversation.com/china-crisis-hardly-it-doesnt-matter-most-aussie-kids-dont-speak-fluent-mandarin-119647

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeff Borland, Professor of Economics, University of Melbourne

Australia took its eyes off long-term unemployment, for what it thought were good reasons.

Long-term unemployment is defined as unemployment for more than 12 months in a row.

In the early 1990s, after the “recession we had to have”, long-term unemployment grew to a postwar high of 4% and became a major concern for the government amid fears that once Australians had became long-term unemployed, they would never easily get back to work.

Over time, that concern lessened.

Strong economic growth delivered a steady decline in the overall rate of unemployment and, as a consequence, long-term unemployment.

With the long-term rate low, we looked away…

By the time the financial crisis hit in 2008, Australia’s long-term unemployment rate was down to just 0.6%. After the crisis, our lack of attention continued.

The crisis had caused only a relatively small increase in unemployment, and it seemed reasonable to assume that it hadn’t caused much of an uptick in long-term unemployment.

In absolute terms, it hadn’t. Today, long-term unemployment is 1.25%, still way below its peak in the early 1990s.

But that figure of 1.25% demands closer attention.

It is about 0.3 percentage points higher than would have been the case for the same unemployment rate a few years earlier.

…and kept looking away…

Those few fractions of a percentage point mightn’t seem like much, but they add up to 41,000 more long-term unemployed Australians than would be expected.

The surprising growth in long-term unemployment relative to unemployment can be seen in the figure below, which shows rates of unemployment and long-term unemployment from 2003 onwards.

Unemployment rates and long-term unemployment rates, 2003-19

It is clear that something changed after mid-2016.

Before then, an unemployment rate of 5% meant a rate of long-term unemployment of about 1%. After then it has meant a long-term unemployment rate of about 1.3%.

While the change has become most apparent since 2016, I argue in my recent briefing on this topic that it began earlier, in the years between 2009 and 2016.

During those seven years, the overall rate of unemployment changed little.

…while something changed

Standard theories predict that if the overall rate of unemployment remains stable, the rate of long-term unemployment should also remain stable.

But the rate of long-term unemployment virtually doubled from 0.7% to 1.35% during those seven years, meaning the proportion of the unemployed who were long-term unemployed climbed from 13% to 23%.

The growth in long-term unemployment has been pervasive – affecting male and female jobseekers equally, and all age categories – although young jobseekers seem to have been the most affected.

At this stage, the reasons for the increase remain unclear.

Low wage growth deepens the mystery

Paradoxically, it makes Australia’s current low rate of wage growth even harder to understand.

Standard theories characterise the long-term unemployed as being less immediately employable than the short-term unemployed, meaning that as long-term unemployment grows as a proportion of total unemployment, employers will try to fill vacancies from a smaller and smaller pool of short-term unemployed, making it easier for existing workers to extract higher wages.

If this is happening, it is being more than offset by something else.

Read more: Buckle up. 2019-20 survey finds the economy weak and heading down, and that’s ahead of surprises

What this development certainly does mean is that we ought to be concentrating more on getting the long-term unemployed back into work. Fortuitously, this is already happening.

In 2018 an expert panel commissioned by the then Commonwealth Department of Jobs and Small Business recommended rebalancing of employment services towards jobseekers facing the highest barriers to employment.

The increasingly chunk of the unemployed who are long-term unemployed makes the need for such a shift more critical.

– ref. What we missed while we looked away — the growth of long‐term unemployment – http://theconversation.com/what-we-missed-while-we-looked-away-the-growth-of-long-term-unemployment-119870

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Valentina Hurtado-McCormick, PhD Candidate, University of Technology Sydney

Have you ever walked into the ocean from a stunning Australian beach and realised the sand was covered with hundreds of ticklish leaves? This submerged canopy is a seagrass meadow, and while you might see them as a nuisance to swim past, they’re a hidden treasure.

Seagrasses are the only group of flowering plants that have adapted to the marine environment. This group comprises nearly 60 species, which typically occupy tropical and temperate regions of the world distributed across 1,646,788 km2.

There is a disproportionately large number of temperate seagrass species in southern Australia, with Zostera species dominating extensive and very diverse meadows.

Eelgrass (Zostera muelleri) is one of the dominant meadow-forming species in Australia. It has the widest distribution of its family (Zosteraceae) in temperate Australian waters, and is vital to our oceans’ health.

Don’t call me weedy!

These aquatic plants have evolved myriad adaptations to survive in the seas, and contrary to what many people think, seagrasses are very different from seaweeds.

Seaweeds are comparatively simple organisms: they are macroalgae with no vascular tissue, which is what conducts water and nutrients throughout a plant. In comparison, eelgrass has leaves, root and rhizomes, with flowers, fruits and seeds for reproduction.

They do, however, share one thing. Seagrasses and seaweeds are “holobionts” – meaning that they each play host to a range of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and microalgae that help to support their health and survival.

Research has shown that these crucial host-microbe relationships can be easily disrupted.

Climate change is not just affecting the seagrass host; the entire holobiont and even the environment it occupies are suffering from rising temperatures.

Purple plants in warm waters

My research involves studying the response of seagrass and their associated microbes to environmental degradation. I realised how much warming oceans were affecting eelgrass when I suddenly came across purple shoots in a meadow I was sampling once a month.

I was shocked. I had never seen anything like it.

While previous research has described the phenomenon of seagrass leaf reddening, I’d never heard of seagrass going purple in this specific black-purple-white pattern.

We already knew that the eelgrass accumulates red pigments as a sunscreen against the increased UV radiation that results from ozone depletion and related consequences of climate change. My PhD (soon to be published) has found that this colour change has a strong effect on the microbial communities that live on seagrass leaves.

Why should we care?

Besides producing weird sensations on human feet, eelgrass and its counterparts are a crucial part of our coastal ecosystems. Probably the best example is their nursery role in supporting juvenile fish and crustaceans.

They also provide food for a wide range of grazers, from dugongs to the green sea turtle (as featured in the movie Finding Nemo), which feed on bounteous seagrass meadows.

Finally, we can also thank them for sequestering huge amounts of organic carbon that would otherwise contribute enormously to the greenhouse effect. Referred to as “blue carbon sinks”, researchers have calculated seagrass meadows could store 19.9 gigatonnes of organic carbon worldwide.

I could keep writing about the virtues of Zostera species (and seagrasses in general) for much, much longer, but I will leave you with a single thought: we breathe and eat from a healthy ocean, and the ocean is not healthy without seagrass.

Not just grass under your feet

Seagrass is so protective, I think of them as one of the most altruistic plants on the planet. They keep waterborne pathogens in check and neutralise harmful bacteria, keeping coral reefs healthy, and acting as an important part of the ocean’s well-being.

On the other hand, these aquatic plants also help preserve human heritage. They create a thick sediment layer on the seafloor, beneath which shipwrecks and other treasures are buried and protected from decomposition.

Read more: Seagrass, protector of shipwrecks and buried treasure

For some 400 million years, eelgrass and other seagrass species have protected the ocean, our planet, and the creatures who live here.

In return, we have managed to create uncountable ways to directly or indirectly threaten seagrass-based ecosystems. As a result, meadows have declined globally at the accelerated rate of 7% per year.

For many of us, seagrass meadows are simply an obstacle to get past on the way to the waves. But for those of us who spend our days with a snorkel and collection tubes, these little watery plants mean far more. When I look at a single seagrass leaf, I see an entire microcosm of interacting entities.

– ref. Eelgrass keeps the oceans alive and preserves shipwrecks, so just cope when it tickles your feet – http://theconversation.com/eelgrass-keeps-the-oceans-alive-and-preserves-shipwrecks-so-just-cope-when-it-tickles-your-feet-119882

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sangeetha Pillai, Senior Research Associate, Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law School, UNSW

Yesterday, the government introduced a bill into Parliament that, if passed, would allow the home affairs minister Peter Dutton to temporarily exclude some Australian citizens – including children – from returning to Australia.

The bill is aimed at mitigating threats posed by foreign fighters coming back to Australia from conflicts in Syria and Iraq. It was first put before Parliament in February, and has now been reintroduced with some amendments.

Read more: Why is it so difficult to prosecute returning fighters?

The bill draws on similar legislation in the UK and, if passed, would add to an arsenal of around 75 pieces of anti-terrorism legislation currently operating in Australia.

National security laws must continue to adapt to changing circumstances. But the government has not made it clear how the bill would fill an identified gap in Australia’s already extensive national security regime.

How would the bill work?

If passed, the bill will allow the minister to issue a Temporary Exclusion Order (TEO) preventing an Australian citizen who is overseas from re-entering Australia. These exclusion orders aren’t designed to exclude citizens from Australia forever, but rather to provide a system that manages their return.

A TEO can be imposed on a citizen outside Australia if they are at least 14 years old, and:

• the minister reasonably suspects that issuing the TEO would substantially help prevent terrorism-related acts, or

• ASIO has assessed the person to be a direct or indirect risk to security, for reasons related to political violence. ASIO doesn’t need to be satisfied to any standard of proof when making this assessment.

But neither of these criteria actually requires a TEO candidate to have engaged in any wrongdoing.

A person may not enter Australia while a TEO is in force against them. If they do, they can face up to two years behind bars. A TEO may also require the person to surrender their Australian passport.

Each TEO can be issued for a maximum of two years, but a person may have multiple TEOs issued against them. This means the actual period of exclusion from Australia can be much longer.

So how does a return to Australia work?

The return of citizens with TEOs against them is managed through “return permits”. This is designed to allow the government to monitor and control foreign fighters’ entry and presence in Australia. A return permit must be issued if the person applies for one, or if a foreign country moves to deport them to Australia.

Read more: How can we understand the origins of Islamic State?

A return permit may prescribe various conditions. Significantly, it doesn’t guarantee an immediate right to return to Australia – a person may be prohibited from entering Australia for up to 12 months after the permit is issued.

Once in Australia, a range of post-entry conditions may also be imposed. These can include passport surrender, and requirements to report changes to residence or employment, contact with particular individuals and technology use.

Breaching the conditions of a return permit is an offence, punishable by up to two years in prison.

Are the proposed laws constitutional and compatible with international law?

The right to return to one’s country is commonly regarded as a core aspect of citizenship. And some experts have argued that a citizen’s right to return home is constitutionally protected in Australia.

But the High Court has never ruled on the question of whether a constitutional right of this nature exists, so it’s impossible to say for certain whether the bill, if passed, would be unconstitutional. Still, it’s likely to face constitutional challenge.

In any case, international law protects an individual’s right to voluntarily return to their country of citizenship. The government acknowledges that TEOs restrict a person’s capacity to do this, but says the bill is justified because it’s “reasonable, necessary and proportionate”. This, however, isn’t clear.

Does the bill contain adequate safeguards?

In April, when reviewing the original bill, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security recommended 18 changes, aimed at improving safeguards.

But the new bill only took on seven changes in full, including requiring the minister to consider specific criteria when imposing a TEO on a child, and providing independent oversight of decisions to issue TEOs.

Read more: If Dutton had defeated Turnbull, could the governor-general have stopped him becoming prime minister?

Importantly, some of the committee’s most significant recommendations have been ignored, such as narrowing the criteria for issuing a TEO. And others have only been partially implemented.

Given the significant impact a TEO has on a person, the bill should adopt the committee’s recommendations in full.

Is the bill even necessary?

In parliament, Dutton said national security agencies advise that many Australians who have travelled to conflict zones in Syria and Iraq to support extremist groups are “likely to seek return to Australia in the very near future”, and the bill is needed to keep Australians safe.

But the government hasn’t explained why Australia’s extensive suite of existing anti-terrorism mechanisms doesn’t already adequately protect against threats posed by Australians returning from conflict zones.

Australia’s 75 pieces of legislation provide for criminal penalties, civil alternatives to prosecution, expanded police and intelligence powers, and citizenship revocation.

And they protect Australia from the risks posed by returning foreign fighters in a variety of ways.

For example, a person who returns to Australia as a known member of a terrorist organisation can be charged with an offence punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment. Where the person has done more – such as fight, resource or train with the organisation – penalties of up to 25 years each apply.

Although gathering sufficient evidence to prosecute returning foreign fighters can prove challenging, there are mechanisms in our legislation that already account for this.

For instance, a control order may be imposed on a person in cases where they are deemed a risk but there is not enough evidence to prosecute. This restricts the person’s actions through measures such as curfews and monitoring requirements.

Read more: Explainer: why some acts are classified as terrorism but others aren’t

Evidence shows the existing measures work effectively. Police and intelligence agencies have successfully disrupted a significant number of terror plots using existing laws, most recently just days ago.

Arguably, this suggests Australia has not only the capacity, but also the responsibility to use the full force of our laws to bring foreign fighters to justice in Australia, rather than leave them stranded in conflict zones where their only connections may be to terrorist groups, thereby weakening global security.

Of course, if it’s to remain fit for purpose, Australia’s national security framework must continue to adapt to changing circumstances. But with extensive, demonstrably effective mechanisms in place, the government must clearly explain what gap this bill would fill. This has not been done.

– ref. There’s no clear need for Peter Dutton’s new bill excluding citizens from Australia – http://theconversation.com/theres-no-clear-need-for-peter-duttons-new-bill-excluding-citizens-from-australia-119876

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Mary Dervan, Senior lecturer in law BCL(Oxon), TEP, Auckland University of Technology

The New Zealand government’s plan to introduce deposit insurance is a welcome step. Last week, finance minister Grant Robertson announced a new deposit protection regime to make the banking system safer for customers and to strengthen accountability for banks’ actions.

Worldwide, 143 countries have deposit insurance schemes, and New Zealand has long been an outlier. It is high time one was introduced.

Read more: ‘Do no harm’ isn’t enough. Why the banking royal commission will ultimately achieve little

How deposit insurance works

Currently, if a bank fails in New Zealand, depositors could lose all or some of their savings. Deposit insurance would change that and protect depositors’ savings. It operates like other types of insurance. If disaster strikes and a bank fails, depositors’ savings would be repaid up to a set limit.

According to Reserve Bank data, New Zealand households store about NZ$177.98 billion of their cash resources in banks. The proposed plan is important for all New Zealanders. Most people with a bank account are retail depositors and may be unaware of the vulnerable position they could find themselves in.

Under the Reserve Bank’s controversial open bank resolution policy, if a bank is distressed and under statutory management, part of a retail depositor’s savings may be frozen and used to recapitalise the bank, if shareholder and subordinated creditor funds prove insufficient. Essentially, New Zealand retail depositors would have to bail out their banks, unlike retail depositors in other countries who are protected by deposit insurance up to a set limit.

Apart from protecting depositors, the insurance helps to maintain stability in the financial system. It operates primarily to stop bank runs where depositors, afraid that they will lose their money, all demand repayment at once. Images of people lining up outside banks and at ATM machines all trying to get their money out were a feature of the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). If people are confident that they will get their money back quickly from deposit insurance, they do not need to “run” on their banks.

Banks own the money you deposit

Depositors are vulnerable because once their money is with a bank, it no longer legally belongs to them. It belongs to the bank which can use it for its own commercial purposes. Typically, banks will lend this money to individuals and businesses (for example, through mortgages), making a profit by charging interest. In return, depositors get the right to repayment of their savings on demand.

Banks have fragile business models because they borrow short (through deposits which are repayable on demand) and lend long (through mortgages and other loans that are repayable at a fixed date in the future). Banks do not hold sufficient funds to repay all, or even most, of their depositors at once. Bank regulation provides some protection because banks are required to maintain certain levels of capital and liquidity, but if depositors panic and enough of them demand repayment, a bank can very quickly become insolvent.

Problems in one bank can pass to other banks and from banks to other types of businesses like a virus (this process is known as contagion). Eventually, this can build up to a financial crisis and lead to a recession, just as the GFC did in New Zealand and in many other countries. In a recession, almost everyone suffers, but the burden often falls most heavily on the poorest in society who have few assets to fall back on.

Protecting people and businesses

Retail depositors provide the bulk of bank funding in New Zealand (more than 60% of bank funding comes from households) and they currently carry a degree of risk of bank failure but are not properly protected by the law.

The Reserve Bank has traditionally opposed deposit insurance because of “moral hazard”. Their argument has been that protecting retail depositors from bank failure would discourage depositors from monitoring and disciplining their banks by withdrawing their savings if banks engage in overly risky activities.

This argument is based on the premise that retail depositors are capable of monitoring their banks, which requires a high level of financial literacy. The weakness in this argument was exposed during the GFC when New Zealand was forced to establish a temporary deposit guarantee scheme to reassure depositors that their savings were safe. Other countries, like the UK, recognise this vulnerability and provide an appropriate level of deposit insurance.

Read more: Vital Signs. If we fall into a recession (and we might) we’ll have ourselves to blame

The New Zealand government has proposed a limit of between NZ$30,000 and NZ$50,000, saying that this would cover up to 90% of depositors. But this is well below the limits set by other comparable countries. For example, the limit is about NZ$374,000 in the US, NZ$114,000 in Canada, NZ$161,000 in the UK and NZ$262,000 in Australia.

If the limit is too low, the risk is that the deposit insurance scheme will not stop bank runs and not protect financial stability and the economy. It could even cause pre-emptive bank runs. If that happened, the government would need to urgently increase the deposit insurance limit and take other extraordinary measures, but this can lead to other difficulties, including increased overall costs, which ultimately fall back on the taxpayer.

Defining the best limit

One rule of thumb says the limit should be two to three times a country’s per-capita GDP. For New Zealand, this would mean between NZ$100,000 and NZ$150,000.

The government should be given credit for raising the issue of deposit insurance – a scheme should have been introduced years ago. But the low limit was proposed without public consultation. That is wrong.

The deposit insurance limit should not be decided solely by the Reserve Bank and Treasury. Other stakeholders have an important and valuable contribution to make. The debate should be transparent and well informed.

The second phase of the current review of the Reserve Bank Act will look at how a deposit insurance scheme should be funded. It should also include public consultation on the optimal level of deposit insurance. Having finally got the issue on the table, we should not squander the opportunity to do something important for New Zealanders.

– ref. NZ’s plan for deposit insurance falls well short of protecting people’s savings – http://theconversation.com/nzs-plan-for-deposit-insurance-falls-well-short-of-protecting-peoples-savings-117890

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dave Drayton, Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of Technology Sydney

Why do we tell stories, and how are they crafted? In this series, we unpick the work of the writer on both page and screen.

Ryan O’Neill’s recent book The Drover’s Wives joins a rich corpus of Australian literary works inspired by Henry Lawson’s short story, The Drover’s Wife (first published in The Bulletin in 1892).

But O’Neill’s approach differs from that of other authors, by offering not one reinterpretation – as in Frank Moorhouse’s satirical take and Barbara Jefferis’ feminist retelling, for example – but 99 different versions of the story.

His book envisages the Lawson story in various forms, including: as a tweet, a school English essay, an Amazon book review, a limerick, a computer game, a gossip column, and even a sporting commentary.

O’Neill’s book is dedicated to both Henry Lawson and French novelist Raymond Queneau. The latter was a founding member of the Oulipo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle), a mostly French assortment of experimental writers, mathematicians and scientists, founded in 1960.

O’Neill attempts Queneau’s method of literary variations on a theme in Exercises In Style (first published in French in 1947), but with an Australian context.

Lawson’s The Drover’s Wife provides the central narrative of O’Neill’s test. In the story, the titular wife of the absent drover spends a sleepless night keeping watch for a snake that had earlier alarmed her children. She passes the time reminiscing on hardships she has faced in the bush before. As daylight nears, the snake appears, and she clubs it to death.

As with Exercises In Style, the original narrative in O’Neill’s book is of secondary importance to the telling and the myriad ways these tellings transform the tale.

O’Neill’s experiment highlights the fact all writing is constrained by certain rules. It’s easier to play the game when you know these rules (and bend them, too).

By taking a text so familiar as its starting point, O’Neill’s tweaks show the conventions of 99 different forms of writing, while shining new light on Lawson’s classic in the process.

Narrative techniques

The fourth reinterpretation in The Drover’s Wives – a “Year 8 English Essay” – begins with the prompt: “What narrative techniques does Lawson use to shape the reader’s perception of the drover’s wife?” With some substitution, we might re-render the question: “What narrative techniques does O’Neill use to shape the reader’s perception of The Drover’s Wife?” Let me count the ways …

Among the most interesting rewrites is a version of the poem where the story is reduced to only onomatopoeia (words that look like the sound they make): the snake is represented by “slithers, sizzles and snaps”.

In another version, he experiments with “spoonerisms” – a display of shining wit where the initial syllables of two or more words are transposed. Instead of a “small herd of grass eaters”, O’Neill renders the drover’s flock as a “small herd of ass greeters”.

He even includes a tanka, a Japanese poetic form similar to haiku:

A snake approaches.
The woman and children run
And hide in the house.
Through the long night she watches –
Shedding memories like scales
And the snake burns with the dawn.

O’Neill departs from the methods originally proposed by Queneau’s book by progressing into more contemporary territory (using PowerPoint lecture slides; a 1980s computer game; emojis; tweets; an Amazon book review; a reality TV show; a meme; a spam e-mail; and internet comments).

He also uses forms specific to an Australian cultural context (an RSCPA report; a letter to the Daily Telegraph; Ocker; and Bush Ballad).

Techniques of transformation

A useful way to illustrate the impact of each technique employed by O’Neill is to examine its effect on the opening paragraph in Lawson’s original, used to establish the scene:

The two-roomed house is built of round timber, slabs, and stringy-bark, and floored with slit slabs. A big bark kitchen standing at one end is larger than the house itself, veranda included.

In O’Neill’s text:

• the Monosyllabic chapter re-renders the opening with single syllable words: “They lived in the bush in a shack with two rooms, miles and miles from the main road […] ”

• the Yoked Sentence chapter, requiring each sentence to begin with the last word of the previous sentence, opens: “The drover’s wife and her four children lived in an isolated house deep in the bush. Bush was all around, and the nearest neighbour was miles away. Away to the north somewhere, the drover […]”

• in the Lipogram chapter, which requires the conscious omission of one or more letters, the omission of the letter E renders the exposition differently: “A bush cabin in an outlying part of Australia marks a distant location for our story”.

The opening paragraph is likewise transformed by the use of rhyme in various other chapters.

One that takes the form of a 1950s Children’s Book begins: “There was once a bush farm that the sun rose over, and on that little farm lived the wife of a drover.”

In the Elizabethan Drama chapter, the chorus does the expositional work, beginning their prologue: “A household, poor but rich in dignity / In fair Australia where we lay our scene / Bush all around in stretches to infinity / No indoor plumbing, just an old latrine.”

As is common, the opening lines of the limerick chapter introduce not the house, but the central character of the poem: “There once was the wife of a drover, Who met with a snake, and moreover …”.

In the 1980s Computer Game chapter, the new level of interactivity is made apparent with a shift to second person narration: “You are in a large kitchen by a two-room house”.

A similar technique is used to achieve the tone in the Cosmo Quiz chapter, which parodies the conventions of a glossy magazine quiz: ten multiple choice questions to show you whether you’re a time traveller’s wife, a Stepford wife or a drover’s wife.

How do these various narrative techniques shape perception of Lawson’s original story? On their own, each may heighten or enhance a latent quality that lies in waiting. For instance, the Cosmo Quiz reveals the gender dynamics, satirising the protagonist’s apparent absent agency.

Taken as a whole, the book functions equally as a playful and experimental collection of brief narratives, and an illustrative compendium of writing techniques.

– ref. Inside the story: 99 versions of the same tale in The Drover’s Wives – http://theconversation.com/inside-the-story-99-versions-of-the-same-tale-in-the-drovers-wives-112407

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rodney Sinclair, Professor of Dermatology, University of Melbourne

Unwanted facial and body hair can affect the way we feel, our social interactions, what we wear and what we do.

Options to camouflage or remove unwanted hair include plucking, shaving, bleaching, using creams and epilation (using a device that pulls out multiple hairs at once).

Longer-term options include electrolysis, which uses an electrical current to destroy individual hair follicles, and laser therapy.

So what is laser therapy? What can it achieve? And what are the side-effects?

Read more: Friday essay: how 19th century ideas influenced today’s attitudes to women’s beauty

How does laser treatment work?

Lasers emit a wavelength of light with a specific single colour. When targeted to the skin, the energy from the light is transferred to the skin and hair pigment melanin. This heats up and damages the surrounding tissue.

But to remove hair permanently and to minimise damage to the surrounding tissue, the laser needs to be targeted to specific cells. These are the hair follicle stem cells, which sit in part of the hair known as the hair bulge.

As the skin surface also contains melanin, which we want to avoid damaging, people are carefully shaved before treatment.

Read more: Monday’s medical myth: shaved hair grows back faster and thicker

Will it remove hair permanently?

Laser treatment can either permanently reduce the density of the hair or permanently remove unwanted hair.

Permanent reduction in hair density means some hairs will regrow after a single course of therapy and patients will need ongoing laser treatment.

Permanent hair removal means none of the hairs in the treated area will regrow after a single course of therapy and no ongoing laser therapy is needed.

Whether hair is removed permanently or just reduced in density is influenced by:

• the colour and thickness of the hairs being treated
• the colour of the patient’s skin
• the type and quality of the laser used, and
• the competence and training of the person operating the laser.

However, if you have grey hairs, which have no melanin pigmentation, currently available lasers don’t work.

How many treatments will I need?

The number of treatments you’ll need depends on your Fitzpatrick skin type. This classifies your skin by colour, its sun sensitivity and its likelihood to tan.

Pale or white skin, burns easily, rarely tans (Fitzpatrick types 1 and 2) People with dark hair can usually achieve permanent hair removal with 4-6 treatments every 4-6 weeks. People with fair hair will generally only achieve permanent hair reduction and after an initial course of treatment may need 6-12 treatments a month apart.

Light brown skin, sometimes burns, slowly tans to light brown (type 3) People with dark hair can usually achieve permanent hair removal with 6-10 treatments every 4-6 weeks. People with fair hair will generally only achieve permanent hair reduction and after an initial course of treatment may require 3-6 repeat treatments a month apart.

Moderate brown to dark brown skin, rarely burns, tans well or to moderate brown (type 4 and 5) People with dark hair can usually achieve permanent hair reduction with 6-10 treatments every 4-6 weeks. Maintenance will usually be required with 3-6 monthly repeat treatments. People with fair hair are unlikely to respond.

Re-treatments must be long enough apart to allow new hair growth to reach the level of the bulge.

What side effects or complications should I be aware of?

You will be advised to wear goggles during the treatment to prevent eye injury.

You will also experience some pain during treatment, especially the first few. This is mainly due to not removing all hair in the area to be treated before the procedure. Hairs missed while shaving absorb laser energy and heat the skin surface. There is less pain with repeat treatments at regular intervals.

Your skin will feel hot for 15-30 minutes after laser treatment. There may be redness and swelling for up to 24 hours.

More serious side effects include blisters, too much or too little skin pigmentation, or permanent scarring.

These generally occur in people with a recent suntan and the laser settings have not been adjusted. Alternatively, these side-effects can occur when patients are taking medications that affect their skin’s response to sunlight.

Does the type of laser matter?

The type of laser not only influences how well it works, it influences your chance of side-effects.

Lasers suitable for hair removal include: long-pulse ruby lasers, long-pulse alexandrite lasers, long pulse diode lasers and long-pulse Nd:YAG lasers.

Read more: Explainer: how are tattoos removed?

Intense pulsed light (IPL) devices are not laser devices but flash lamps that emits multiple wavebands of light simultaneously. They work in a similar way to lasers, albeit less effectively and they are much less likely to permanently remove hair.

To minimise the risk of damage to melanin producing cells on the skin surface, the choice of laser and how it’s used can be matched to your skin type.

Fair skinned people with dark hair can use an IPL device, an alexandrite laser or a diode laser; people with dark skin and dark hair can use a Nd:YAG or diode laser; and people with blond or red hair can use a diode laser.

To control the spread of heat and unwanted tissue damage, short laser pulses are used. The energy of the laser is also adjusted: it needs to be high enough to damage the bulge cells but not so high to cause discomfort or burns.

Can I buy a home laser device and do it myself?

Home laser devices and IPL home devices are available in Australia and cost between $200 and $1,000. But they don’t tend to work as well and you need to use them repeatedly to maintain hair reduction.

Parameters are only set for people with fair skin (Fitzpatrick types 1 and 2) and dark hair. For safety, energy settings are capped. And in inexperienced hands, complications may still arise. This includes burns, pain, blistering and changes to skin pigmentation.

Read more: ‘Do I need to shave my pubic hair before having sex?’

By contrast, medical grade lasers must be registered with the government regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration. There are also national and state-based regulations about the facility where the laser is used, compulsory laser safety training requirements and state-based qualifications and licensing for laser operators.

So, a safe and regulated laser in the hands of a skilled professional is recommended.

When to see your GP

Not all excess hair is cause for concern. But severe hirsuitism (excess growth of dark and coarse hair over areas of the body where it ordinarily wouldn’t grow) or hypertrichosis (excess hair growth for someone’s age, sex or race) can be clues to underlying illness.

Hirsutism, especially when associated with symptoms including irregular periods or acne, can be caused by extra androgen hormones. Hypertrichosis later in life can be a sign of malignancy.

Your GP can investigate these.

– ref. Thinking of laser hair removal? Here’s what you need to know – http://theconversation.com/thinking-of-laser-hair-removal-heres-what-you-need-to-know-113561

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

Michelle Grattan talks with University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Deep Saini about the new parliament’s first week back on the hill, including how Jacqui Lambie and Centre Alliance’s vote made it possible for the government’s tax cuts to be passed, and the Reserve Bank’s decision to further cut interest rates.

– ref. VIDEO: Michelle Grattan on the 46th parliament’s first week, and Jacqui Lambie – http://theconversation.com/video-michelle-grattan-on-the-46th-parliaments-first-week-and-jacqui-lambie-119924

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Wardle, Weather Services Manager, Queensland, Australian Bureau of Meteorology

This is an article from I’ve Always Wondered, a series where readers send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. Send your question to alwayswondered@theconversation.edu.au

Who calls cyclones their names? – Guy Mullin, Mozambique.

In the Australian region, the Bureau of Meteorology gives tropical cyclones their name. You can write to the Bureau of Meteorology to suggest a cyclone name, but it is likely to be more than a 50-year wait.

Tropical cyclones are named so we can easily highlight them to the community, and to reduce confusion if more than one cyclone happens at the same time. The practice of naming tropical cyclones (or storms) began years ago to help in the quick identification of storms in warning messages. Humans find names far easier to remember than numbers and technical terms.

Read more: Explainer: ‘bomb cyclones’ – the intense winter storms that hit the US (and Australia too)

Clement Wragge began naming cyclones in 1887

Now, people ask us all the time how we come up with the names for tropical cyclones. It started in 1887 when Queensland’s chief weather man Clement Wragge began naming tropical cyclones after the Greek alphabet, fabulous beasts, and politicians who annoyed him.

After Wragge retired in 1908, the naming of cyclones and storms occurred much less frequently, with only a handful of countries informally naming cyclones. It was almost 60 years later that the Bureau formalised the practice, with Western Australia’s Tropical Cyclone Bessie being the first Australian cyclone to be officially named on January 6, 1964.

Other countries quickly began using female names to identify the storms and cyclones that affected them.

Read more: I’ve Always Wondered: How do we know what lies at the heart of Pluto?

How cyclone names are chosen

While the world was giving female names to cyclones and storms, International Women’s Year in 1975 saw Bill Morrison, the then Australian science minister, recognise that both sexes should bear the shame of the devastation caused by cyclones. He ordered cyclones to carry both male and female names, a world first.

These days the Bureau is responsible for naming tropical cyclones in the Australian region, with the names coming from an alphabetical list suggested by the Australian public. These names alternate between male and female. The Bureau of Meteorology receives many requests from the public to name tropical cyclones after themselves, friends, and even pets.

The Bureau cannot grant all these requests, as they far outnumber the tropical cyclones that occur in the Australian region.

Read more: Curious Kids: What causes windy weather?

Cyclone Oma was named in Fiji

Cyclone names are reused, but when a tropical cyclone severely impacts the coast, or is deadly, like Debbie in 2017 and Tracy in 1974, the name is permanently retired for reasons of sensitivity.

If a listed name comes up that matches the name of a well-known person, or someone in the news for a sensitive or controversial reason, the name is skipped to avoid any offence or confusion.

When a cyclone forms in another region, say near Fiji or in the Indian Ocean, and then travels into the Australian region, the original name given by that region’s weather agency is kept, such as 2019’s Cyclone Oma, which came from Fiji.

A list of cyclone names around the world can be found here.

– ref. I’ve always wondered: who calls cyclones their names? – http://theconversation.com/ive-always-wondered-who-calls-cyclones-their-names-116885

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liang Ma, Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University

In Australia, more than 9 million people commute to work every weekday. The distance they travel and how they get there – car, public transport, cycling or walking – can influence their well-being and performance at work.

Our study, involving 1,121 full-time workers who commute daily to work, made several important findings:

• those who commute longer distances tend to have more days off work
• among middle-aged workers, those who walk or cycle performed better in the workplace
• Those who commute short distances, walk or cycle to work, are more likely to be happy commuters, which makes them more productive.

Read more: How the everyday commute is changing who we are

In Australia, full-time workers spend 5.75 hours a week on average travelling to and from work. Among them, nearly a quarter of commutes can be classed as lengthy (travel for 45 minutes or more one way).

Long commutes not only cause physical and mental strains on workers, but may also affect their work participation, engagement and productivity.

And Australia’s pervasive urban sprawl means most workers commute by car. But driving has been found to be the most stressful way to commute.

Driving to work is associated with a series of health problems and lower social capital (smaller social networks with less social participation), which all affect work performance and productivity.

What did the study look at?

Our research investigated how and to what extent our daily commuting can influence workplace productivity. We surveyed 1,121 employees from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. These employees are all employed full-time, have a fixed place of employment, make regular commuting trips and work in different industries and occupations.

We found that workers with a long-distance commute have more absent days, as the graph below shows.

Two reasons can explain this result. First, workers with long commutes are more likely to become ill and be absent. Second, workers with long commutes receive less net income (after deducting travel costs) and less leisure time. Therefore, they are more likely to be absent to avoid the commuting cost and time.

The average commuting distance for Australian capital cities is about 15km. Workers with a commuting distance of 1km have 36% fewer absent days than those commuting 15km. Workers who commute 50km have 22% more absent days.

This study also finds that middle-aged (35-54) commuters who walk or cycle – known as active travel – have better self‐reported work performance than public transport and car commuters. This result may reflect the health and cognitive benefits of active travel modes.

Finally, this study finds the short-distance and active travel commuters reported they were relaxed, calm, enthusiastic, and satisfied with their commuting trips, and were more productive.

Read more: Commuters help regions tap into city-driven growth

How does commuting affect productivity?

Urban economic theory provides one explanation of the link between commuting and productivity. It argues that workers make trade-offs between leisure time at home and effort in work. Therefore, workers with long commutes put in less effort or shirk work as their leisure time is reduced.

Commuting can also affect work productivity through poorer physical and mental health. Low physical activity can lead to obesity as well as related chronic diseases, significantly reducing workforce participation and increasing absenteeism. The mental stress associated with commuting can further affect work performance.

A growing number of studies have found active commuting by walking and cycling is perceived to be more “relaxing and exciting”. By contrast, commuting by car and public transport is more “stressful and boring”. These positive or negative emotions during the commute influence moods and emotions during the work day, affecting work performance.

Finally, commuting choice could influence work productivity through cognitive ability. Physical activity improves brain function and cognition, which are closely related to performance. So it’s possible that active travel commuters might have better cognitive ability at work, at least in the several hours after the intense physical activity of cycling or walking to work.

Read more: Stop working on your commute – it doesn’t benefit anyone

What are the policy implications?

Employers should consider types of commuting as part of their overall strategies for improving job performance. They should aim to promote active commuting and, if possible, to shorten commuting time. For example, providing safe bike parking and showers at work could significantly increase cycling to work.

As for governments, in most states of Australia, only a tiny portion (less than 2%) of transport funding is devoted to bicycling infrastructure.

By contrast, in the Netherlands most municipalities have specific budget allocations to implement cycling policies. Australia should allocate more transport infrastructure funding to active travel, given the economic benefits of walking and cycling to work.

Read more: Cycling and walking are short-changed when it comes to transport funding in Australia

– ref. Walking and cycling to work makes commuters happier and more productive – http://theconversation.com/walking-and-cycling-to-work-makes-commuters-happier-and-more-productive-117819

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Gawne, David Myers Research Fellow, La Trobe University

We’re much more likely to be hanging out on social media than at the watercooler these days. But just because we’re no longer face-to-face when we chat, doesn’t mean our communication is completely disembodied.

Over the last three decades, psychologists, linguists, and anthropologists, along with researchers from other traditions, have come together to understand how people gesture, and the relationship between gesture and speech.

The field of gesture studies has demonstrated that there are several different categories of gesture, and each of them has a different relationship to the words that we say them with. In a paper I co-authored with my colleague Gretchen McCulloch, we demonstrate that the same is true of emoji. The way we use emoji in our digital messages is similar to the way we use gestures when we talk.

Read more: What your emojis say about you

What gestures and emoji have in common

We can break speech down into its component parts: sentences are made of words, words are made of morphemes, and morphemes are made of sounds.

Signed languages have the same features of grammar as spoken languages, but with hand shapes instead of sounds. They have some advantages in complex expressions that spoken languages don’t have, but there are gestures as well as grammatical features when people sign.

By contrast, gestures and emoji don’t break down into smaller parts. Nor do they easily combine into larger words or sentences (unless we’re using a clunky version of the grammar of our language).

While there are preferences, there is nothing “grammatical” about using ? instead of ?. Rather, what is most important is context. ? could be a reference to your own dog, a good dog you saw while out for a walk, or a sign of your fondness for puppers over kitties.

There are some gestures that can have a full meaning even in the absence of speech, including the thumbs up ?, the OK sign ? and good luck ?. Gestures like these are known as emblems, some of which are found in the emoji palette. Some object emoji have also developed emblematic meanings, such as the peach ?, which is most typically used non-illustratively to represent a butt.

Many gestures and emoji do not have these specific meanings. So, let’s take a look at different ways emoji are used to communicate with reference to a common framework used to categorise gestures.

Illustrative and metaphoric emoji

Illustrative gestures model an object by indicating a property of its shape, use, or movement, such as the classic “the fish was THIS big” gesture. Similarly, we often use emoji to illustrate the nature of a message. When you wish someone a happy birthday you might use a variety of emoji, such as the cake with candles ?, slice of cake ?, balloon ?, and wrapped gift ?.

It’s not grammatically correct to say “birthday happy”, but there’s no “correct” sequence of emoji, just as there is no one correct way to gesture your description of the fish you caught.

We also have metaphoric uses of gesture and emoji. Unlike a “big fish”, a “big idea” doesn’t have a physical size, but we might gesture that it does. Similarly, our analysis showed that people typically use the “top” emoji ? to mean something is good.

Read more: Emoji are becoming more inclusive, but not necessarily more representative

Beat gestures are used for emphasis

Another common type of gesture used to draw attention is a beat gesture, distinguished by a repetitive “beat” pattern. Some uses of emoji have a direct parallel to beat gestures. For example, using the double clap ? for emphasis, which has its origins in African American English.

The emphatic nature of beat gestures helps explain something about common strings of emoji. When we looked at sequences of emoji the most common patterns are pure repetition, such as two tears of joy emoji ??, or partial repetition such as two heart eyes and blowing a kiss/heart ???. Repetition for emphasis is rare (but possible) with words, but very common for gesture and emoji.

Along with these categories, we also looked at pointing and illocutionary gestures and emoji, which help show your intentions behind what you’re saying – whether that’s amused ? or ambivalent ?.

Read more: Understanding the emoji of solidarity

Emoji have limitations that gestures don’t

There are obviously some differences between online and physical chat. Gestures and speech are closely synchronised in a way emoji and text can’t be. Also, the scope of possibilities with gesture are limited only to what the hands and body can do, while emoji use is limited to the (currently) 2,823 symbols encoded by Unicode.

Despite these differences, people still use the resources available to them online to do what they’ve been doing in face-to-face conversations for millennia. Bringing together research on gesture and internet linguistics, we argue there are far more similarities between emoji and gesture than there are between emoji and grammar.

Instead of worrying that emoji might be replacing competent language use, we can celebrate the fact that emoji are creating a richer form of online communication that returns the features of gesture to language.

– ref. Emoji aren’t ruining language: they’re a natural substitute for gesture ??? – http://theconversation.com/emoji-arent-ruining-language-theyre-a-natural-substitute-for-gesture-118689

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Carey, Group Leader: Metabolic and Vascular Physiology, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute

Researchers from the University of Nottingham in the UK recently published a study in the journal Scientific Reports suggesting caffeine increases brown fat.

This caught people’s attention because brown fat activity burns energy, which may help with weight loss. Headlines claimed drinking coffee can help you lose weight, and that coffee is possibly even the “secret to fighting obesity”.

Unfortunately, it’s a little more complicated than that. The researchers did find caffeine stimulated brown fat, but this was mainly in cells in a lab.

For a human to reap the benefits seen in the cells, we estimate they’d need to drink at least 100 cups of coffee.

Although part of this research did look at people, the methods used don’t support coffee or caffeine as weight-loss options.

Read more: These 5 foods are claimed to improve our health. But the amount we’d need to consume to benefit is… a lot

What is brown fat?

Brown adipose (fat) tissue is found deep within the torso and neck. It contains fat cell types which differ from the “white” fat we find around our waistlines.

Brown fat cells adapt to our environment by increasing or decreasing the amount of energy they can burn when “activated”, to produce heat to warm us up.

When people are cold for days or weeks, their brown fat gets better at burning energy.

We understand caffeine may be able to indirectly accentuate and prolong some of these processes, mimicking the effects of cold exposure in stimulating brown fat.

Brown fat – and anything thought to increase its activity – has generated significant research interest, in the hope it might assist in the treatment of obesity.

What did the researchers do in this latest study?

The research team first conducted experiments where cells taken from mice were grown into fat cells in petri dishes. They added caffeine to some samples, but not others, to see whether the caffeinated cells acquired more brown fat attributes (we call this “browning”).

The dose of caffeine (one millimolar) was determined based on what would be the highest concentration that browned the cells but didn’t kill them.

The fat cell culture experiment showed adding caffeine did “brown” the cells.

Read more: Can ‘brown fat’ really help with weight loss?

The researchers then recruited a group of nine people who drank a cup of instant coffee, or water as a control.

Before and after the participants drank coffee, the researchers measured their brown fat activity by assessing the temperature of the skin near the neck, under which a major region of brown fat is known to lie.

Skin temperature increased over the shoulder area after drinking coffee, whereas it didn’t after drinking only water.

How should we interpret the results?

Some people will criticise the low number of human participants (nine). We shouldn’t make broad recommendations on human behaviour or medicine based on small studies like this, but we can use them to identify new and interesting aspects of how our bodies work – and that’s what these researchers sought to do.

But whether the increased skin temperature after drinking coffee is significant cannot be determined for a few important reasons.

Firstly, although the study showed an increase in skin temperature after drinking coffee, the statistical analysis for the human experiment doesn’t include enough data to accurately compare the coffee and water groups, which prevents meaningful conclusions. That is, it doesn’t use appropriate methods we apply in science to decide if something really changed or only happened by chance.

Second, measuring skin temperature is not necessarily the most accurate indicator for brown fat in this context. Skin temperature has been validated as a way to measure brown fat after cold exposure, but not after taking drugs which mimic the effects of cold exposure – which caffeine is in the context of this study.

Myself and other researchers have shown the effects of these “mimic” drugs result in diverse effects including increased blood flow to the skin. Where we don’t know if changes in the skin temperature are due to brown fat or unrelated factors, relying on this measure may be problematic.

Although also suffering its own limitations, PET (poistron emission tomography) imaging is currently our best option for directly measuring active brown fat.

It’s the dose that matters most

The instant coffee used in the study contained 65mg of caffeine, which is standard for a regular cup of instant coffee. Brewed coffees vary and might be double this.

Regardless, it’s difficult to imagine this dose could increase brown fat energy burning when studies using large doses of more potent “cold-mimicking” drugs (such as ephedrine) cause no, or at best modest, increases in brown fat activity.

Read more: Health check: can caffeine improve your exercise performance?

But let’s look at the caffeine dose used in the cell experiments. The one millimolar concentration of caffeine is a 20-fold larger dose than 300-600mg of caffeine dose used by elite athletes as a performance-boosting strategy. And this dose is five to ten times higher than the amount of caffeine you’d get from drinking an instant coffee.

Rough calculations therefore suggest we’d need to drink 100 or 200 cups of coffee to engage the “browning” effects of caffeine.

So people should continue to drink and enjoy their coffee. But current evidence suggests we shouldn’t start thinking about it as a weight loss tool, nor that it has anything meaningful to do with brown fat in humans. – Andrew Carey

Blind peer review

This Research Check is a fair and balanced discussion of the study. The limitations identified by this Research Check apply equally to diabetes, which the study encompassed, but didn’t get picked up as much in the headlines.

Coffee contains more than caffeine, and while there is some evidence that modest coffee consumption may reduce diabetes risk, decaffeinated coffee seems to be as effective as caffeinated coffee. This is consistent with the point made by the Research Check that you would need to drink an implausible number of cups of coffee to produce the effect seen with caffeine in the cultured fat cells. – Ian Musgrave

Research Checks interrogate newly published studies and how they’re reported in the media. The analysis is undertaken by one or more academics not involved with the study, and reviewed by another, to make sure it’s accurate.

– ref. Research Check: can drinking coffee help you lose weight? – http://theconversation.com/research-check-can-drinking-coffee-help-you-lose-weight-119740

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Dombroski, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Canterbury

This year, the small Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu announced a plan to ban disposable nappies, as well as other throwaway items such as plastic bags. While some commentators praised the move, others worried about what the alternatives might be, and how this might affect household workloads, particularly for women.

While Vanuatu is the first nation to take such a bold step, it is not the first nation to recognise the environmental problems disposable nappies pose. Although most landfill waste in Australia and New Zealand consists of building waste, disposable nappies make up a significant percentage of household waste entering landfill – Australia uses an estimated 3.75 million of them every day.

Read more: Does becoming a mother make women ‘greener’?

Many urban parents find that a week’s worth of nappies barely fits into their kerbside bin, especially for families with two children in nappies. I’ve certainly met these parents stalking the streets on the evening before bin day, searching for half-empty bins to dump their surplus dirty nappies.

But this is not the only problem: nappies are a significant source of contamination in the waste stream. Infant faeces are a source of live vaccine, bacteria such as E. coli, and many other hazardous contaminants. The correct procedure is to scrape faeces into the toilet before disposing of the nappy. But let’s be honest – the whole attractiveness of disposable nappies is not having to do this, especially while out and about.

Lessons from a bygone age

So what is the alternative? Obviously, before disposable nappies, parents had to use cloth nappies. In Australia, the standard was the fluffy terry cloth folded into a triangle; in New Zealand, the flat flannelette folded differently for boys and girls.

Traditional cloth nappies were much less absorbent, and therefore had to be changed about 15 times per day, before being washed, dried, and folded for next time. It’s no coincidence that this practice dates to an era when households typically featured a stay-at-home mother.

In recent years, modern cloth nappies have emerged, with more absorbent designs that require less frequent changing. They use modern materials such as microfibre, microfleece, polyurethane laminate, and fabrics derived from bamboo. These nappies may be snug in design, pleasing to the eye, and less prone to leaks. They also require less water for laundry, because they can be put straight into a washing machine rather than being soaked as traditional nappies were.

Yet, as Ni-Vanuatu commentators have already pointed out, these designs are not necessarily suitable for tropical climates or warmer weather due to the use of non-breathable fabrics. These fabrics might also encourage nappy rash and other related problems for babies’ delicate skin.

Lessening the load

The search for alternatives does not need to be limited to Oceania, however. My research with families with young infants in northwestern China examined a practice known as ba niao, or “holding out to urinate”. This method of infant hygiene involves very limited use of nappies, meaning laundry can feasibly be done by hand.

Briefly, it involves learning the signals and timing of a baby’s patterns of poop and pee, then holding them out over a basin, toilet or potty for them to release, nappy-free. Caregivers look for signs such as squirming, pushing, fussing, stillness, and other forms of more direct communication that precede an “elimination”. As babies get older and begin to walk, they can be taught to urinate in Chinese-style squat toilets or other appropriate places, with the help of pants with a hole cut out of the crotch.

In colder parts of China, this is done by using several layers of pants, each with a hole, so babies do not have to be undressed. Caregivers tuck nappy-cloths made from old sheets or other soft rags up into the waistband of the pants, to be quickly and easily removed when a baby seems ready to “go”. If the caregiver misses the signal, the small, light cloth can be easily handwashed and dried on a balcony or radiator. If the caregiver is not near a toilet, the baby may even be held out over the ground or tiles, and urine cleaned up with a mop.

For faeces, babies are encouraged into a regular routine through a large morning feed of milk, and patient “holding out” until the morning elimination is done. If the baby’s bowel movements are less predictable, perhaps due to illness, some families use disposable nappy pads, tucked in the same way as the traditional nappies, but more as a backup for missing a signal rather than relying on it.

Households without indoor toilets also use this method, including families who live in their shop and rely on public showers and toilets for hygiene.

This method is used by rich and poor families alike. Research by disposable nappy producers Proctor & Gamble estimated that Chinese consumers of disposable nappies use only one per day – or more accurately, per night. Even those who can afford disposable nappies tend to eschew them in favour of ba niao during daylight hours. Besides a lot less laundry, the reported benefits include less nappy rash, earlier toilet independence, and less crying and fussing.

Read more: Toilet training from birth? It is possible

Is this a realistic practice for countries seeking to quit disposable nappies? It may seem far from westernised norms, but my research has also analysed the content of Australian and New Zealand-based web forums and Facebook groups, with collectively around 2,000 members. These caregivers, mostly mums, are trying to work out the best way to introduce a similar practice to everyday life here, too.

They are inspired by the fact that this is possible in other parts of the world, and may indeed be a key to reducing the laundry load. And if they’re not quite ready to quit disposable nappies altogether, they might at least give up the weekly raid on the neighbours’ rubbish bins.

– ref. What other countries can teach us about ditching disposable nappies – http://theconversation.com/what-other-countries-can-teach-us-about-ditching-disposable-nappies-114604

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liang Ma, Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University

In Australia, more than 9 million people commute to work every weekday. The distance they travel and how they get there – car, public transport, cycling or walking – can influence their well-being and performance at work.

Our study, involving 1,121 full-time workers who commute daily to work, made several important findings:

• those who commute longer distances tend to have more days off work
• among middle-aged workers, those who walk or cycle performed better in the workplace
• Those who commute short distances, walk or cycle to work, are more likely to be happy commuters, which makes them more productive.

Read more: How the everyday commute is changing who we are

In Australia, full-time workers spend 5.75 hours a week on average travelling to and from work. Among them, nearly a quarter of commutes can be classed as lengthy (travel for 45 minutes or more one way).

Long commutes not only cause physical and mental strains on workers, but may also affect their work participation, engagement and productivity.

And Australia’s pervasive urban sprawl means most workers commute by car. But driving has been found to be the most stressful way to commute.

Driving to work is associated with a series of health problems and lower social capital (smaller social networks with less social participation), which all affect work performance and productivity.

What did the study look at?

Our research investigated how and to what extent our daily commuting can influence workplace productivity. We surveyed 1,121 employees from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. These employees are all employed full-time, have a fixed place of employment, make regular commuting trips and work in different industries and occupations.

We found that workers with a long-distance commute have more absent days, as the graph below shows.

Two reasons can explain this result. First, workers with long commutes are more likely to become ill and be absent. Second, workers with long commutes receive less net income (after deducting travel costs) and less leisure time. Therefore, they are more likely to be absent to avoid the commuting cost and time.

The average commuting distance for Australian capital cities is about 15km. Workers with a commuting distance of 1km have 36% fewer absent days than those commuting 15km. Workers who commute 50km have 22% more absent days.

This study also finds that middle-aged (35-54) commuters who walk or cycle – known as active travel – have better self‐reported work performance than public transport and car commuters. This result may reflect the health and cognitive benefits of active travel modes.

Finally, this study finds the short-distance and active travel commuters reported they were relaxed, calm, enthusiastic, and satisfied with their commuting trips, and were more productive.

Read more: Commuters help regions tap into city-driven growth

How does commuting affect productivity?

Urban economic theory provides one explanation of the link between commuting and productivity. It argues that workers make trade-offs between leisure time at home and effort in work. Therefore, workers with long commutes put in less effort or shirk work as their leisure time is reduced.

Commuting can also affect work productivity through poorer physical and mental health. Low physical activity can lead to obesity as well as related chronic diseases, significantly reducing workforce participation and increasing absenteeism. The mental stress associated with commuting can further affect work performance.

A growing number of studies have found active commuting by walking and cycling is perceived to be more “relaxing and exciting”. By contrast, commuting by car and public transport is more “stressful and boring”. These positive or negative emotions during the commute influence moods and emotions during the work day, affecting work performance.

Finally, commuting choice could influence work productivity through cognitive ability. Physical activity improves brain function and cognition, which are closely related to performance. So it’s possible that active travel commuters might have better cognitive ability at work, at least in the several hours after the intense physical activity of cycling or walking to work.

Read more: Stop working on your commute – it doesn’t benefit anyone

What are the policy implications?

Employers should consider types of commuting as part of their overall strategies for improving job performance. They should aim to promote active commuting and, if possible, to shorten commuting time. For example, providing safe bike parking and showers at work could significantly increase cycling to work.

As for governments, in most states of Australia, only a tiny portion (less than 2%) of transport funding is devoted to bicycling infrastructure.

By contrast, in the Netherlands most municipalities have specific budget allocations to implement cycling policies. Australia should allocate more transport infrastructure funding to active travel, given the economic benefits of walking and cycling to work.

Read more: Cycling and walking are short-changed when it comes to transport funding in Australia

– ref. Why walking and cycling to work makes commuters happier and more productive – http://theconversation.com/why-walking-and-cycling-to-work-makes-commuters-happier-and-more-productive-117819

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW

This week US president Donald Trump announced two more nominees — Judy Shelton and Christopher Waller — for the two vacant positions on the US Federal Reserve’s board of governors.

He will be hoping for better luck than he has had thus far in filling the vacant slots. Four nominees have already gone down in varying degrees of flames.

These are important positions, with the board’s seven members having significant influence over monetary policy and financial supervision.

The board doesn’t sets official interest rates, but all seven governers are also members of the Federal Open Market Committee, which does.

Given this, and the fact the governors serve terms of up to 14 years, they are influential and important figures.

Read more: Why Federal Reserve independence matters

In the pre-Trump era, those nominated to be governors tended to be distinguished individuals with an extensive background in a relevant field.

A significant number of recent governors have been academic economists. Examples include Janet Yellen, Jeremy Stein, Lael Brainard, Richard Clarida, Stanley Fischer, Ben Bernanke, Randall Kronser, Frederic Mishkin and Alice Rivlin.

Some have been long-term employees of the Federal Reserve system (Donald Kohn, for example), while others have had extensive experience in financial markets (Jerome Powell, Sarah Bloom Raskin and Betsy Ashburn Duke).

The Fed Board’s weighting towards PhD economists and those with impeccable credentials in financial markets contrasts somewhat with the Reserve Bank of Australia, which is largely comprised on people from the business community.

Read more: Vital Signs: the RBA’s marching orders are no longer realistic. They’ll have to change

Current RBA board member Ian Harper has a PhD in economics, and so did former member Warwick McKibbin, but there has never been more than one such member (setting aside the RBA governor and deputy governor) at a time.

Failed nominees

Trump tends to favour people who agree with him. Two of his failed nominees were former presidential rival Herman Cain and Club for Growth founder Stephen Moore. Both were criticised as being egregiously unqualified, but both had consistently said very nice things about Trump.

Before Cain and Moore, Trump nominated Marvin Goodfriend, a Carnegie Mellon professor, and Nellie Liang, a long-time Fed official.

Goodfriend failed to gain enough support in the Senate because he had put both Democrats and Republicans offside. He had been critical of the stimulus spending following the Global Financial Crisis. This alienated Democrats. In 2000, he suggested the government put magnetic strips on money so it could tax cash to avoid deflation. This did not endear him to the libertarian Republican senator Rand Paul.

Liang should have been a slam dunk. She was widely respected and her nomination was smiled upon by Fed chairman Jay Powell. But she had led the Fed’s post-GFC efforts to tighten regulation of financial institutions. The banking lobby apparently didn’t like this too much. A confirmation hearing was never scheduled before the Republican-led Senate, and she withdrew.

Current nominees

With Waller and Shelton, one is qualified (if not exceptional), the other is dubious.

Waller has been director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis (one of the 12 regional US reserve banks). He has a Phd from Washington State University, and has been a professor at the University of Notre Dame.

He has written academic papers about the independence of central banks, and on the determinants of low inflation. His view on the latter is perhaps why Trump nominated him.

In an interview last week he said he didn’t think low unemployment drove up inflation:

We don’t buy into it. Look at Japan. If you take that off the table, suddenly you’re like: Unemployment can stay low, and it doesn’t cause inflation, then what are you worried about?

The implication is that he wants the Fed to cut rates – a position consistently argued by Trump.

Shelton also favours rate cuts and seems to support almost every position Trump holds – from tax cuts to deregulation to the trade war with China. She is also an advocate of pegging the value of the US dollar to gold or some composite basket of commodities.

She lacks the academic credentials of anyone who has ever served as a governor of the Fed. But her views on economic matters line up with Trump’s.

Will the Senate confirm?

It’s hard to predict what the US Senate will do. The confirmation hearings may prove pivotal. Waller is not a star, but he is well-credentialled enough. He holds views on interest rates and inflation – that the Fed can safely cut – that might appeal to both Democrats and Republicans.

Shelton’s path to confirmation is much less clear. Gold bugs like Rand Paul will presumably be excited, but her position is way out of the mainstream, and reflexively pro-Trump positions are unlikely to endear her to Democrats.

Perhaps the key question is whether enough Republican senators see her as a Cain/Moore-level intellect, completely out of keeping with past Fed governors.

But Cain’s and Moore’s nominations ostensibly failed because of their history with and remarks about women. So who knows.

– ref. Vital Signs: Trump’s nominations for the US Federal Reserve are an odd lot, and an even bet – http://theconversation.com/vital-signs-trumps-nominations-for-the-us-federal-reserve-are-an-odd-lot-and-an-even-bet-119868

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mitch Goodwin, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne

Last weekend I sat down for a chat with Lisa Sullivan, senior curator at the Geelong Gallery, to get a handle on the gallery’s new exhibition, The Moon. Two and a half years in the making, the exhibit is timed to coincide with this month’s 50th anniversary of the Apollo program’s crowning achievement: a manned spaceflight to the lunar surface.

The exhibition is an ambitious take on this event and, more broadly, our relationship with our nearest celestial neighbour. Or as Sullivan characterises it: “a beautiful poetic presence in the night sky”.

The moon is of the Earth, the product of a celestial collision, whether in part or in whole. We consider it as we would a fellow traveller. After all, the near side of the moon is perhaps the grandest example of pareidolia – the psychological phenomenon that makes us see patterns (often human characteristics) in random objects. And so it is that we see our likeness emblazoned on its crater-filled surface.

We are enamoured by the courting arc of this shapeshifter across our night sky. We anthropomorphise its gaze – the “man in the moon” is said to be “facing us”, while the concealed facade is known as “the dark side”. The moon has revealed itself to be a complicated character.

The Geelong Moon exhibition is an opportunity to examine this relationship, to pause and reflect on how our perception and interpretation of the moon has evolved. This is particularly relevant now, not only with the Apollo anniversary, but also in the absence of a return to the moon and our retreat from manned space exploration. We do so now at a distance, via Twitter and YouTube. Our experience of the moon and space has become a virtual one.

Read more: Satellite of love: our on-off relationship with the moon

In the exhibition, one is reminded not of the record of history so much – though it’s there in those iconic photos, the media sampling and the multitude of graphical renderings – but more so how an object so ubiquitous as the moon becomes a conduit for a shared narrative.

There are no werewolves in Geelong, but there is a blend of fantasy, the domestic and the ancient. There is Arthur Loureiro’s painting Study for The spirit of the New Moon (1888), inspired by an epic poem in which the goddess Venus wards off the dangerous seas allowing safe passage for the explorer Vasco de Garma.

And there is a James Gleeson painting, The Siamese Moon (1951), demonstrating in exquisite detail the moon’s ethereal embrace, and according to Sullivan, how “important the moon was to the surrealists in terms of dreams and the subconscious and representing the unknown”.

Images of the moon, like Kawase Hasui’s Full Moon in Magome (1930), evoke a familiarity with the moon as a companion, a beacon or as a singular yet powerful light source; a seductive aesthetic if there ever was one.

The moon across time and culture

It is impossible to imagine today, but there was a time when only moonlight lit the streets and the pathways, its luminance stretching out across the moors and the ocean swells. It wasn’t until as recently as around 1807 that 23 of the first gas-fired street lamps were installed in London. By 1825, there were 40,000.

When electricity finally did arrive in the 1870s, the economical route to municipal lighting was by erecting light towers, designed to mimic the moon, the first appearing in San José, California, in December 1881.

There are ancient stories to tell here too. Oral traditions of Indigenous Australians not only mapped the night sky, but the stars helped to choreograph one of the earliest cultural dreamings of space. First Nations people had a sophisticated understanding of the subtle variations in the night sky.

The moon too is a strong romantic presence in Indigenous culture. Hector Jandanay’s moon dreaming Garnkeny (Moon man) (1993), on display in the Geelong exhibition, tells a story of forbidden love, the merging of Earth and Moon and the endurance of love eternal, reborn in the lunar cycle.

Through Sullivan’s curation of the exhibition, cultures speak across time, the works becoming a collective voice that detail the technique of space exploration but also the mystery of what it goes in search of. “People do ask me, ‘Is it about the science?’ and I say, ‘No, it is about the romance.’”

Photographs behind glass appear like rare artefacts from a distant time. Familiar iconic photo plates – the Earthrise image from Apollo 8, a moon boot in the space dust, the Apollo 11 Landing Module hurtling towards the lunar horizon – sit alongside the rare and the uncommon, such as photographic prints of the Russian Luna 3 flyby of the far side of the moon in 1959 and the landing of Lunar 9 spacecraft in 1966.

There is a stunning engineering document, The Apollo 11 Earth Orbit Chart (1969), showing in detail the rocket revolutions, ground tracking trajectories and burn initiation points of the launch vehicle as prepared by the US Department of Defence.

And then there is the lunar map Almagestum Novum (published in 1651) by 17th century astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli, which has been playfully decoded and re-purposed by Mikala Dwyer in her installation piece, The Moon (2008).

Sullivan points out that “while some may say this is not art, that these images are not taken by artists”, she counters that these images are “a part of our visual culture. They are ingrained in our psyche and I very much wanted this exhibition to create that nexus between art and the sciences”.

The moon and the media

The Apollo moon landing represented the dawn of the global media event. Bringing the images back to Earth – the descent to the surface, those first steps down the gantry, and those immortal words of Neil Armstrong – were just as important as bringing back the crew.

After all, this was a time of war – a Cold War – this was nation building stuff, this must be seen, this must be recorded and most significantly transmitted as it happens. In 1969, live television would emerge as an important cornerstone of American public life.

The Apollo program was also a prized commission for American artists. In 1969 Robert Rauschenberg was invited by NASA to witness the preparation and eventual launch of Apollo 11, producing a series of 34 lithograph prints he called Stoned Moon (1969-70).

Meanwhile, that year’s Pulitzer Prize winner Norman Mailer was charged with writing the definitive journalistic account of the mission for Life magazine, over three sprawling essays.

The Apollo missions had already provided the perfect heroic setup, a tragic (Apollo 1) and euphoric (Apollo 8) narrative built around a cast of characters, that Mailer would describe as “men with a sense of mission so deep it could not be communicated”. And yet, it sat uneasily with Mailer – he found the power of the Saturn V and the pomp of NASA’s patriotism a difficult sell.

Of the astronauts, he could not reconcile the fact these men were walking contradictions, “technicians and heroes, robots and saints, adventurers and cogs of machine”. Where Rauschenberg was enamoured by the promise of technology and its relationship with nature, Mailer sensed a foreboding. America, he was sure, was being “gassed by the smog of computer logic”.

Read more: Friday essay: shadows on the Moon – a tale of ephemeral beauty, humans and hubris

NASA was guilty of Cold War posturing to be certain, and the Apollo program was not one without its critics and satirists. In 1968, Stanley Kubrick had provided the cinematic warm-up in his epic ode to space exploration 2001: A Space Odyssey. Here, he anticipated the celestial dance of the slowly rotating Command and Service Module, the descent of the Lunar Module to the surface, and the docking of the two vehicles.

David Bowie, who had seen the film on more than one occasion stoned “off my gourd”, understood the irony of Kubrick’s film. The space fever that pre-occupied those months leading up to the Apollo 11 launch would foreground the writing of his own playful moon cabaret, Space Oddity.

Virtualising the moon

Sullivan tells me there are other efforts to tap into the Apollo anniversary. Locally, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and the Queensland Museum are both conducting an object based survey of the period, while the Grand Palais in Paris and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto are hosting similar artistic reflections on the moon’s cultural significance.

It is certainly the season for such reflections. I have recently attended two moon-related installations at Scienceworks in Melbourne, the Museum of the Moon by Luke Jerram and the Earthlight Lunar Hub VR (virtual reality) experience.

The Earthlight narrative was simple: it is 2038 and we have colonised the moon. As a participant, you don a VR headset and a PC backpack enabling full movement and navigation of the VR world. You are an astronaut exploring the technology and the habitation environment of this new lunar colony.

Eventually you and your fellow crew members – also in VR gear but represented in the experience as other (very realistic) astronauts – step out onto a bridge-like structure, and before you is the lunar landscape, and in the distance – the Earth.

It is akin to the stunning scene at the end of Damien Chazelle’s film, First Man (2018), when Ryan Gosling’s Neil Armstrong steps down onto the lunar surface and the camera pans around to reveal his perspective. Like Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, and Ridley Scott’s The Martian, the realism is palpable.

These image constructions try to make the remoteness of space a tangible reality, to evoke a sense of realism. Clearly, the hope – from NASA, from Hollywood, from space agencies in Japan and China and from the entrepreneurial space exploration community – is to bring the spectator in all of us a little closer to the action.

Stunts and gimmicks

Despite the clamouring towards commercialising the cosmos, from space tourism to the quest to mine the moon and even asteroids for resources, manned missions to the moon or even to Mars seem like a very remote and distant proposition. The economics don’t add up and the rise of robotic exploration provides a safe, if remote alternative.

And so human interactions in space have become a gimmick, a floor show for the underlying science that makes them possible. Remember astronaut Chris Hadfield singing David Bowie’s Space Oddity from the International Space Station? (Oh, how I would have loved to have seen Bowie in space!). And then there was model Kate Upton sporting a bikini for a Sports Illustrated photo shoot aboard a zero gravity test facility, and skydiver Felix Baumgartner, adorned in Red Bull garb, live streaming his free fall from the edge of space.

Read more: Five ethical questions for how we choose to use the Moon

And then of course, perhaps the most audacious advert of them all, Elon Musk stowing a Tesla Roadster vehicle into the SpaceX Heavy Falcon rocket, to be jettisoned into Earth’s orbit during the vehicle’s maiden voyage in February 2018.

The cherry-red Tesla, replete with a Starman at the wheel, has since sailed passed Mars on its journey into the cosmos to the soundtrack of Bowie’s Space Oddity. And yet, as we know, in space no one can hear the unexpected harmonic shifts of a stylophone.

As our chat about all things moon-like, dreamt or otherwise foretold draws to a close, Sullivan notes that we are left with what can only be a virtual space dream. I tend to agree, perhaps it has always been so. This is the near and the far of the lunar embrace. All we admire, so clear and stark in the night sky, is perceptibly a thing of beauty but so tantalisingly out of reach. As Sullivan says:

The majority of the Earth’s population will never experience what it is like to walk on the moon. That experience will always be unattainable. Even if we see some lunar dust in a museum, or handle a sample of moon rock, it is not the same as seeing the lunar landscape, of experiencing what it is like to walk on the lunar surface. Perhaps that is part of the romance of the moon. This ever-present but ever shifting shape in our night sky.

The Moon is on at Geelong Gallery until September 1.

– ref. Friday essay: romancing the moon – space dreaming after Apollo – http://theconversation.com/friday-essay-romancing-the-moon-space-dreaming-after-apollo-119816

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

This first week of the new parliament has been bitter sweet for Senate leader Mathias Cormann.

With journalist Niki Savva’s book Plots and Prayers out on Monday, Cormann that morning faced yet another barrage of questioning over his role in last year’s coup against Malcolm Turnbull.

His spectacular desertion of the then prime minister has much tarnished Cormann, and it is certainly not pleasant to be asked in a radio interview about being seen as a “political Judas”.

But while Cormann’s personal reputation has taken a big knock from the events of August, his reputation as a Senate wrangler has been retrieved with the Thursday passage of the government’s $158 billion three stage tax plan. Cormann had failed last year to get the then crossbench to pass the tax cuts for big business, which he persuaded Turnbull to hang onto for far too long, costing the government votes in the Longman byelection of Super-Saturday.

Despite Cormann’s insistence there would be “no deals” to secure the income tax package, agreements there were, although there’s some lack of clarity around the edges. Centre Alliance extracted undertakings on gas policy. Jackie Lambie, the last crucial vote, has been promised help for Tasmania on the housing front. There may be debate about what constitutes a “deal” but the government would fail to live up to its word at its peril.

Read more: Morrison’s $158 billion tax plan set to sail through Senate after deals with crossbenchers

There will also probably be plenty of such deals ahead, even if Cormann declines to acknowledge them as such.

This initial parliamentary week has vindicated the observation that the Senate non-Green crossbench, smaller than the last, is set to be easier for the government to cope with.

Notably, the two Centre Alliance (formerly called the Nick Xenophon Team) senators have a consultative arrangement with Lambie (back in parliament after her time out because of her citizenship problem). This is not an alliance, and they and she are very different politically. (Centre Alliance has shades of the old Australian Democrats, with which the Howard government struck important agreements over legislation, especially on tax and industrial relations.)

But the Centre Alliance-Lambie arrangement to talk on issues should work to the government’s advantage, not least because it will mean the very volatile Lambie won’t be so isolated, and thus angry and alienated, as often in the past. The Centre Alliance senators, Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick, showed her respect by going to Devonport after the election – and Lambie craves respect.

Whenever the government can work with Centre Alliance and Lambie, it won’t require One Nation’s two votes, something that will infuriate Pauline Hanson, who needs relevance.

The government was desperate to get the tax cuts through this week, despite time being tight due to the ceremonial commitments with the opening of parliament and the tributes to the late Bob Hawke. It wanted the first stage to be available for payment as quickly as possible after the due date of July 1. The money will be flowing in a week or so.

Labor was always going to be placed in a difficult position over the tax package. It felt it could not drop its argument of the election campaign that the third stage, paid from 2024-25 and costing $95 billion, was irresponsible given economic circumstances can’t be known so far ahead.

But to be voting against tax relief on which the re-elected government could be considered to have a clear mandate (if campaign promises mean anything) would leave Labor open to continued attacks.

The opposition’s contortions have been understandable but awkward, making the early days of new leader Anthony Albanese messy.

Inevitably, Labor’s final position, announced shortly before the Senate vote, was that if it couldn’t get its way with amendments it would not oppose the package.

But it also said it would “review” the third stage closer to the election, due in 2022. This sounds unrealistic – would a Labor government be able to roll back legislated cuts anyway? And it is politically counter-productive, keeping the argument alive.

Read more: Stages 1 and 2 of the tax cuts should pass. But Stage 3 would return us to the 1950s

There are some hints of changed dynamics in this parliament compared with the last. While Scott Morrison pours out the harsh rhetoric at his opponent (“this is a Labor Party which has more in common with Jeremy Corbyn than Paul Keating” he told parliament), the Prime Minister invited Albanese to his office on Wednesday to canvass areas of potential bipartisanship, especially Indigenous reconciliation and recognition.

Talk of bipartisanship is an easy gesture at the start of a term and mightn’t last. There have been such suggestions in previous parliaments. But equally it might be another pointer to Morrison’s pragmatic style. He may want to carve out some battle-free areas.

The new parliament’s first question time, which was on Thursday. also gave a hint of the Albanese approach. The opposition questions were framed tightly, without waffly preambles, designed to stop answers being just a rant. It’s a tactic that forces ministers, and the Prime Minister, into greater relevance.

It is to be hoped the opposition and the Speaker Tony Smith can hold the government to the point in answers this term. It has got away with far too much.

The cloud over the government’s political success this week was the delivery of yet another worrying message about the economy, with the Reserve Bank cutting interest rates for the second consecutive month and a fresh exhortation from Bank Governor Philip Lowe for further government action, beyond the tax cuts.

The bank wants unemployment and underemployment down and the spare capacity in the economy taken up. Australia is exposed to the risks in the international economy. Historically-low interest rates could be pushed down further. Lowe pointed to the need for more infrastructure spending and structural reforms that “support firms expanding, investing, innovating and employing people”.

Read more: Back-to-back Reserve Bank cuts take interest rates to new low of 1%

The only certainty about the Australian economy in the months and years ahead is uncertainty.

Presumably the government sooner or later will have to respond to Lowe’s high-end hectoring, which will require some challenging decisions that can’t be delivered by deals, however characterised.

– ref. Grattan on Friday: A kinder, gentler Senate – at least for now – http://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-a-kinder-gentler-senate-at-least-for-now-119902

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julaine Allan, Senior research fellow, Charles Sturt University

Around 16,700 Australians stay in residential rehabilitation centres each year, most commonly for problems with alcohol, amphetamines and opiates.

Rehab is a structured, drug- and alcohol-free environment. Residents participate in the same daily and weekly routines and activities, including educational and therapeutic groups and individual counselling sessions. Household chores, cooking, exercise, education and recreational activities fill the time.

Some rehabs have as few as 12 residents at one time, others have as many as 60. Programs last from six weeks to 18 months, with eight weeks the average in Australia.

Our recent study of 12 rehab residents in Australia found the safe, structured environment and the support of others going through the same experience were key to helping residents change their thinking about drug and alcohol use.

Read more: Drug rehab: what works and what to keep in mind when choosing a private treatment provider

Safety and routine

We asked people what program elements they thought were important. They most often talked about the safe environment, structured routines and staff support. As one woman explained, “I love my room, it’s my space. I am safe there.”

Living in a group environment with strangers while fighting mood swings and cravings is tough. The staff maintained the routines and monitored the group dynamics but they also responded to individual needs for support:

I’ve had down days and they’re (staff) pretty quick to pick it up. I’m not the sort of person that likes to talk about emotions and let it out, but they’re pretty quick. The times I’ve been down, they pick it up pretty quick.

Living in a group environment is part of learning how to manage without using drugs. Critical changes that study participants attributed to the program were about dealing with their own and others’ emotions:

I think, what I’ll take away is to understand that that’s the person I am and I’ll manage it. To understand my feelings, like when I am angry, to get away from the situation and take a breath and understand my feelings, I guess. Just understand what I’m feeling. If I’m angry, I know there’s other options than to go use, or drink.

A new way of living

Most participants described the shared experience of everyday life without drugs or alcohol for an extended period as particularly important. One woman said:

we’d sit around laughing our heads off and actually we’d say we’ve probably never laughed so much in our lives. We were just sitting around with no alcohol, no drugs and just making do with what we’ve got.

For many, that change was unexpected:

There was no drugs or alcohol involved and pretty much the first time since I was a young teenager, I realised you can be happy. I don’t know. It was just a bit of a change in life.

Rehab programs are not usually designed around a specific type of drug or individual. The same therapies are applied to everyone.

The group content used in the rehab we studied included health and well-being education and psychological therapies intended to help people deal with triggers and make decisions around drug use.

Read more: Drug rehab and group therapy: do they work?

However, the most important thing for most people was a daily, group-based reflection on personal values which helped create a different view of themselves as, say, a mother or friend. As one man said:

so it makes me look at myself, like I’m forgiving and humility, and really looking at me and going, okay, well, I’m not such a crap person, because I’m an addict. I’ve got some good values there.

Possibility of relapse

Fear and anxiety about relapse after leaving rehab were common. People felt vulnerable to resuming drug use despite gains made during the program and their desires to remain substance-free:

I’m getting a bit anxious, knowing that I’m going. I’ve been here, wrapped in cotton wool for two months, and being released back into the big, wide world, I’m scared that I’m going to relapse.

Few study participants had support to cope in the future. Friends and social groups were limited because past connections usually involved drug use:

That’s going to be the hardest thing for me, seeing old mates and them asking if I want some. That’s the hardest part. You are who you hang around. It’s sad to say, but I’ve started hanging around some pretty ordinary people. You think they’re your friends but they’re not.

Maintaining change after rehab is a challenge and few supports are available.

Relapse rates are high. Most people use drugs in the year after treatment. Between 40% and 60% return to substance dependence.

Read more: What is ‘success’ in drug rehab? Programs need more than just anecdotes to prove they work

The downsides

Several people described being fearful of what would happen when they got there. Others described conflicts between residents and lack of contact with children as challenges they faced.

Cost can also be an issue. The centre we studied charged A$240 a week for all facilities including therapeutic programs. But private rehabs are also available and can cost as much as A$30,000 a month.

Rehab fills the day and provides intensive support for people that doesn’t exist when they go home. Community support programs like counselling, employment and drug-free social and recreational programs, which bring safe family members and friends back into the picture, could reduce relapse.

– ref. How rehab helps heavy drug and alcohol users think differently – http://theconversation.com/how-rehab-helps-heavy-drug-and-alcohol-users-think-differently-118822