Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Suzanne Hudson, School Director, Professional Experience, Southern Cross University

Teaching is hard. Staying in the teaching profession can sometimes be even harder. There’s a lack of national data about attrition, but the Queensland College of Teachers estimates anywhere between 8-50% of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years.

High workloads, perceived lack of support, work-life balance and the absence of recognition appear to impact new teachers’ decisions to stay. Some new teachers also report a lack of job security.

Read more: Seven reasons people no longer want to be teachers

Other early-career professionals, such as doctors, are provided with structured support as they transition into their careers. The Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) confirms new teachers need similar support.

Some support initiatives have emerged from employment systems, with the funding attached to each new teacher allocated to a school. Even though there are pockets of success, a report found support for new teachers was not equally available to all of them. Here are six ways schools can support new teachers so they can transition successfully into the profession and stay there.

1. Schools and universities should work together

School-university partnerships can be very useful. These partnerships can lead to positive outcomes for all. University staff working in collaboration with school staff can provide informed professional learning designed to build the capacity of mentor teachers to better support new teachers.

It’s in everyone’s best interest to have high quality teachers. University teacher educators can work with school staff as critical friends that can guide and support the implementation of effective mentoring and induction processes. Technology can be used for these connections to overcome the tyranny of distance and time constraints.

An orientation day can help new teachers feel more comfortable in their new work environment. from www.shutterstock.com

2. A planned orientation

When new teachers first arrive in schools, they likely have completed up to four professional experience placements in schools during their university program. But all schools are different, so a planned orientation is most helpful in introducing new teachers to their new workplace. These practices should also be considered for new casual teachers or those employed on long term contracts.

Outlining the size of the school, the number of staff and their roles in the school, the timetable and an overview of the school philosophy can help new teachers feel more comfortable.

Read more: Teachers who feel appreciated are less likely to leave the profession

As part of any orientation, new teachers need to have access to the school intranet systems before teaching starts so they can access important information about the students in their classes. Information about students is essential in the planning of suitable and supportive lessons. A working knowledge of school resources will also support these new teachers to develop appropriate teaching programs.

Morning tea gatherings and welcome events can ensure newcomers are introduced to staff and the wider school community. A sense of belonging can be maximised through these initiatives and help new teachers develop collegial relationships. The goal is that beginning teachers feel they are connected to and valued in their new school.

3. Allocation of an effective mentor teacher

The selection of a mentor teacher needs to be given careful consideration. While a teacher may be effective in the classroom, it’s important they have the enthusiasm, personal attributes and practices to offer the support and guidance required to be an effective mentor.

Mentor teachers need to be prepared to dedicate time to develop a professional relationship with their mentee (the new teacher). This happens through professional conversations, active listening, confidentiality, trust, modelling lessons, providing feedback, unpacking the requirements for teaching and sharing the mentor’s professional knowledge of teaching.

Mentor teachers can pass on their professional knowledge with new teachers, but they need support too. from www.shutterstock.com

Teachers who are selected to be mentors should also be supported. To better support new teachers professional learning should be offered to mentors to strengthen their professional knowledge. Such professional learning is available through programs such as the Mentoring for Effective Teaching program and the Mentoring Beginning Teacher program.

As with all professional learning, there needs to be ongoing support and follow-up conversations. University partnerships can help by providing ongoing support for mentors as they guide the development of their mentee.

4. Creating a school community of mentors

Supporting new teachers should be a shared responsibility. Developing a community of mentors within the school culture ensures the sustainability of future mentoring support.

While the mentor may be the first point of call for a new teacher, school leaders and teachers with specific expertise should have the opportunity to participate. School leaders can share their knowledge of key policies and procedures while teachers with particular expertise can share their practices. Through the sharing of mentoring responsibilities new teachers can benefit from support from the whole school.

Read more: Teachers are leaving the profession – here’s how to make them stay

In-school professional learning for new teachers can also be helpful. Schools have reported innovative ideas such as Visiting Other Teachers programs where experienced teachers share and model their expertise during the new teacher’s non-contact time.

5. Ongoing strategic induction program

Induction is often confused with orientation. For new teachers, an induction program is a sustained professional learning program that helps them make the transition to the profession.

Induction can be provided by the mentor teacher but it’s better if a community of mentors are involved to share responsibilities and provide a diversity of expertise. The literature has advocated for some time that new teacher induction be sustained for between one to three years, but most education systems advocate for two years.

New teachers and their mentors may need time outside school hours to catch up. from www.shutterstock.com

The induction is strategic in supporting the beginning teacher because it aligns to the activities in the school calendar. For example, in first term regular meetings may involve topics such as key school policies related to recording attendance, child protection, planning and classroom management. Term two may consist of topics such as writing student reports and parent-teacher interviews.

6. Evaluation of the induction and mentoring program

At the start of any induction and mentoring program, clear objectives must be established. Allocation of funds need to be responsive and adjusted as the developing needs of new teachers are addressed.

Read more: Being able to adapt in the classroom improves teachers’ well-being

For example, as the new teacher transitions to the school, more support is required. So, the allocation of funds needs to correspond. The mentor teacher and the new teacher may need time outside of school hours to share planning or participate in collegial observations to share practices for teaching.

By the beginning of the second year, less funding may be required as the new teacher understands the school context, the requirements and becomes more independent. The induction program and funding should then be modified to adjust to the new teacher’s development.

At the conclusion of each year, induction and mentoring programs can be evaluated against the objectives, with feedback from the mentors, the critical friends and the new teachers. Through reflection and evaluation, future planning can be informed and modified to better support future new teacher induction programs.

– ref. Six ways to support new teachers to stay in the profession – http://theconversation.com/six-ways-to-support-new-teachers-to-stay-in-the-profession-106934

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Broomhall, Professor of History, University of Western Australia

In a new series, we look at under acknowledged women through the ages.

A 17th-century dolls’ house must number among the more unusual source “texts” through which we can find out about women’s lives in the past. Yet, for Petronella Oortman (1656-1716), this exquisite object forms an important window into the creative and imaginative life of a wealthy, married woman in Amsterdam.

Petronella came from a large family of seven children and grew up on the Singel canal. Her father was a gun-maker. She began to construct her dolls’ house as an adult, during her second marriage to a silk merchant, Johannes Brandt. Petronella’s dolls’ house appears to have been made in the late 1680s before the birth of four children.

Petronella’s house in full. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Petronella was one of a small group of wealthy Dutch women who created exquisitely crafted dolls’ houses in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Like her female contemporaries, she spent vast sums of money on creating and decorating her house, commissioning artwork and furniture for her miniature world from leading manufacturers and artists of the day.

The house itself, made of tortoiseshell with pewter inlay, was crafted by a French cabinetmaker. It was over two and a half metres high and almost two metres wide. Some women kept detailed notebooks about their additions, expenses and renovations to their houses. Petronella’s house was even painted by a local artist, Jacob Appel, showing it full of life.

Jacob Appel, The dolls’ house of Petronella Oortman, c. 1710. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

When Petronella died at the age of 60, her dolls’ house passed to her only living daughter, Hendrina. These houses were often mentioned in their owners’ wills as important possessions to be passed on through the family (usually female) line.

Petronella’s house, today one of the most popular exhibits in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, was not a children’s toy. It was likely only opened at adult parties for people to marvel at the clever craftsmanship, as well as the creative vision and wealth of its owner.

Visualising child-bearing

So what can we learn about Petronella, and women like her, from her miniature house? Unlike other dolls’ houses that we know existed at this time, those made by these Dutch women each contained a nursery and lying-in room. This was a special room the mother occupied for up to six weeks after the birth of a baby, where she received visitors and held parties.

The Lying-In Room and Nursery of Petronella Oortman’s dolls’ house, detail. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Having a dedicated lying-in room was unusual, as most people just held their parties in their best and warmest room. People took these celebrations very seriously, because the birth of a healthy child was important. The inclusion of such rooms reflected the importance for wealthy women of bearing children, and also its joys when mother and child came through the experience safe and sound.

But Petronella’s arrangement may have originally recorded other feelings too. Appel’s painting of the dolls’ house shows a layout that we no longer see in it today. In one room, he depicts a laid out infant surrounded by other living children. This may reflect Petronella’s mourning for the loss of her firstborn child.

Over the course of her ten-year marriage to her first husband, silk merchant Carel Witte, Petronella had had a daughter but she had died in 1684, less than 12 months old. Carel himself passed away the following year.

Materialising female domestic work

Petronella’s dolls’ house also had a special linen or laundry room. In 17th-century Dutch society, wealthy people sent out their linen to be washed and bleached and it was then returned to the house for drying and ironing.

Often this might be done just once a year, with maids hired specially to carry out the household part of the laundry process. The less frequently you did this, the richer it showed you were, because it meant that you had a lot of linen to spare when it got dirty.

The Laundry and Linen Room of Petronella Oortman’s dolls’ house, detail. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Petronella’s dolls’ house had special places for the maidservants to sleep, each with different fabrics for the maids’ beds, its own chair and chamberpot. These dolls’ houses also had foot-warmers, a special box where warm coals from the fire were placed, which women rested their feet on underneath their skirts. Women putting together dolls’ houses thought of such things – after all, it was women who traditionally sat furthest away from the fire.

Petronella’s house also has a beautiful kitchen full of fashionable blue and white china. The houses of some other women even had two kitchens – a working one and a “best kitchen” where you might invite your friends and show off your best crockery.

The kitchen of Petronella Oortman’s dolls’ house, detail. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Writing her own history

Unfortunately not much more is known about Petronella’s life. There are no known portraits of her. But we can interpret her dolls’ house as a kind of ego-document, or self-narrative, that presented a vision of her as she wanted to be remembered by future generations.

It was a vision that her widower respected, preserving his wife’s creation intact after her death. An eye-witness recorded visiting the Brandt home in 1718 where Johannes and his daughter reverently showed him the beautiful house Petronella had created.

Her dolls’ house partly conformed to contemporary expectations of wealthy women. Books from that era suggested that girls should play with toys that could teach them how to become useful housewives. Girls were given pots to polish or dresses to sew for dolls. Thus, when rich women like Petronella thought about what their fantasy home would look like, perhaps it was indeed one with gleaming pots, dishes and fine china in their kitchens, lots of linen and the maids to manage it, and the joy of healthy babies to celebrate.

Women’s real domestic work was never far removed from these creative objects. Most were in cabinets based on the design for linen and clothing cupboards, and some contained drawers for clothing as well as the dolls’ house. So the real and the imagined worlds of the household interacted in these spaces.

Yet Petronella’s house shows us that it was possible for an elite female patron to find a creative way to operate with these expectations and still signal her wealth and status, engage with the artistic milieu of her era, and craft an identity of her own.

– ref. Hidden women of history: Petronella Oortman and her giant dolls’ house – http://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-petronella-oortman-and-her-giant-dolls-house-108248

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Davina Jackson, Honorary Academic, School of Architecture, University of Kent

Today’s smart cities rely on networks: squillions of semiconductor devices that constantly pulse electromagnetic waves (light and radio frequencies) through telecommunications satellites.

Data Cities, by the author. Lund Humphries (2018), Author provided

Another genre of satellites, equipped especially for Earth observations, is accelerating a more advanced form of urbanism: data cities. These realms are not only “smart and connected” but also increasingly responsive to electronic evidence revealing real situations and challenges.

In various publications and a new book, Data Cities: How satellites are transforming architecture and design, I explain how this century’s Earth observation science paradigm is destined to transform traditional practices among built environment professionals. That includes land surveyors, architects, engineers, landscape designers, property developers, builders and urban planners.

How do all the satellite data affect urban design?

In essence, much more detailed and accurate information about local environmental conditions will be supplied to development teams before new building concepts are designed. This should be more informative and less time-wasting than current routines. At present, planning authorities determine building proposals based on environmental impact assessment reports prepared after the design phase.

Architects and engineers already share the on-screen construction of building information models. They should benefit from obtaining more site-specific information earlier than is now usual. This would allow them to calculate more useful parameters, and receive more accurate performance predictions, for their virtual buildings and landscapes.

Earth observation satellites carry sensor and scanner systems that bounce different signals to and from the Earth. These systems constantly monitor and display many environmental conditions that normally are invisible to humans.

Some innovations in sat-imaging include: the patterns of street lighting that reliably map different cities at night; thermo-imaging (infrared) of the surface temperatures and energy losses of buildings; and high-res overviews of areas affected by drought, flooding, fires, chemical spills, eruptions, wars and other disasters.

Earth observation has come a long way since this first photograph taken from space, on October 24 1946. White Sands Missile Range/Applied Physics Laboratory

Earth observation satellites are not new. In 1946, a camera aboard a V-2 (aka A-4) missile launched from New Mexico took the first picture of Earth from space. The first satellite weather map was broadcast through small black-and-white television screens in 1960.

Today, more than 650 Earth observation satellites operate beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. Some orbit the planet to allow scanning in swathes. Others hold geostationary positions above specific places.

These satellites also operate at different distances from the Earth. And they carry different types of scanning and sensing equipment. As a result, they produce a diverse range of image resolutions, styles and scales of ground coverage.

The satellites record various kinds of environmental information, depending on which waves of the electromagnetic spectrum are used. These data are analysed and processed using precise algorithms.

A common example is data visualisations – often 2D or 3D video maps recorded over time. Typically, bright colours are applied to highlight contrasting conditions. For example, temperature data are colourised to show heat islands in cities. The same thing is done with aerosol data to depict patterns of carbon pollution.

What’s Australia’s role in this?

Australia does not fly satellites yet. But in July 2018 it launched the Australian Space Agency (ASA). Headed by former CSIRO director Megan Clark, it has an initial budget of A$300 million.

Read more: Ten essential reads to catch up on Australian Space Agency news

The ASA is working with Geoscience Australia (GA) on a A$225 million program to improve data positioning accuracy – to 3cm in cities with mobile coverage. Another A$37 million is going into developing the Digital Earth Australia program for environmental data simulations.

Digital Earth, a term Al Gore coined in his 1992 book, Earth in the Balance, is an international science agenda to use Earth observation systems to update the ancient cartography ambition to “present the known world as one and continuous”.

Buckminster Fuller’s 1927 vision of a ‘4D Interconnected, Unified World’. Biography of R. Buckminster Fuller

This dream was championed most influentially in the 20th century by US scientist Richard Buckminster Fuller, with his evolving concepts for an Air-Ocean World Town Plan (1928), Dymaxion map (1943), Geoscope (a giant electronic space-frame globe, 1962) and his book, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1969).

In the early 2000s, NASA (World Wind) and Google (Google Earth) launched the first internet-enabled “virtual globes”.

In 2005, major nations established the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) secretariat in Geneva to develop a globally networked administration and online access system for geospatial data. These data are mainly from satellites at this stage.

The Global Earth Observations System of Systems (GEOSS) program now involves more than 200 national governments, United Nations data agencies, and global science and non-government organisations.

Australia’s representative on GEO is Geoscience Australia’s environmental division chief, Stuart Minchin. Working with Minchin, a GA team led by Adam Lewis produced the world-leading Data Cube system for rapidly analysing time-series stacks of American Landsat images covering Australia’s 40-plus zones of latitude and longitude.

European scientists are now using this method to compile a data-layered map of human settlements around the world.

Another notable advance in urban modelling comes from a public-private partnership between the Australian government’s data-marketing company, PSMA, and two global corporations: US satellite imagery supplier DigitalGlobe and business software vendor Pitney Bowes Australia. They offer information-rich online aerial imagery of Australian suburbs. Multispectral and shortwave infrared sensors aboard DigitalGlobe’s WorldView satellites are used to create these images.

Menu options enable users to clarify footprints and heights of buildings and trees, roof materials, and locations of swimming pools and solar panels. PSMA adds cadastral and other government land data, including plot areas and street addresses. This covers more than 15 million buildings over 7.6 million square kilometres.

Mapping of building and roof materials in an Australian suburb, using GeoVision tools by Pitney Bowes derived from PSMA’s Geoscape data system, with imagery from shortwave infrared and multispectral sensors aboard DigitalGlobe’s WorldView 3 satellite. Pitney Bowes Australia courtesy PSMA, Author provided

So where do people fit into this world?

As Al Gore noted in 1992:

… no one yet knows how to cope with the enormous volumes of data that will be routinely beamed down from orbit.

But he cited the importance of machines learning to improve their methods and a global infrastructure of massive parallelism — using dispersed chips and computers to process information at faster speeds.

Where do people step into this auto-piloting system? That remains moot.

– ref. Digital Earth: the paradigm now shaping our world’s data cities – http://theconversation.com/digital-earth-the-paradigm-now-shaping-our-worlds-data-cities-104938

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julia Kindt, Professor, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Sydney

This is an article from Curious Kids, a series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome: find out how to enter at the bottom. You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.

Who were the Spartans? – Trystan, a young reader who left a comment on an earlier Curious Kids article republished by the ABC.

The Spartans were the inhabitants of one of the largest and most powerful cities in ancient Greece.

Even in ancient times, the Spartans were famous for the way they lived. From a very young age, Spartan children learned to fight and practise rigour, physical fitness and obeying orders. They also staged pretend battles.

This kind of formal training, called agōgē, started when they were about seven years old and continued to age 29. Boys and girls were trained separately.

Young Spartans did not live with their families but in large living quarters with others the same age. It might have been fun to live among lots of other children, although being away from home at such a young age could also have been pretty scary.

Read more: Curious Kids: Do most volcanologists die from getting too close to volcanoes?

Why were the Spartans so obsessed with fighting?

One important reason for this obsession with fighting was the constant possibility they would need these skills at home, in Sparta itself.

A Spartan helmet at the British Museum. Flickr/john antoni, CC BY

Sparta had once conquered and captured an entire group of people living nearby. These “helots” (as they were called) were put to work, farming so the Spartans could focus on military training. The helots also helped the Spartans in wars against other peoples.

But the helots were unhappy at having lost their freedom and there were many more helots than Spartans. That meant they could possibly rise up and fight back against the Spartans who had captured them. The Spartans prevented this ever-present threat by being constantly on the alert and ready for war.

Famous wars and battles

The Spartans fought many important wars and battles. They took up weapons alongside the Athenians against the Persian king Xerxes in the Persian Wars (490-449 BCE, which means about 2,500 years ago).

An artist’s impression of the Battle of Thermopylae. Wikimedia

In a famous battle at Thermopylae, a group of 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas heroically defended a narrow mountain pass even though they were much fewer in number than the enemy.

All the Spartans died, including King Leonidas. In the end, however, the remaining Spartans won the war together with the Athenians and other Greeks.

The ancient historian Herodotus, who wrote about this war, tells us that a stone was set up at Thermopylae to remind everybody passing by of the bravery and loyalty of those Spartans who had died there. On the stone was written:

Go tell the Spartans you who read:

We took their orders and lie here dead.

Later, in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), the Spartans no longer fought alongside the Athenians and their allies but against them. You won’t be surprised to learn that Sparta won.

Yet the Athenian historian Thucydides did not foresee this outcome when he started keeping a record of that war, even as he himself fought in it. Given that the Spartans were so famous for their military, perhaps he might have known better.

Ancient Sparta with its unique way of life is long gone. But today there is still a town called Sparta in Greece in the very same spot as the ancient city.

So, in a way, Spartans still exist, although these days they tend to be a little less strict and certainly not as good at fighting with spears and shields as the ancients.

Read more: Curious Kids: Why does English have so many different spelling rules?

Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to us. You can:

* Email your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au
* Tell us on Twitter by tagging @ConversationEDU with the hashtag #curiouskids, or
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Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. You can send an audio recording of your question too, if you want. Send as many questions as you like! We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.

– ref. Curious Kids: who were the Spartans? – http://theconversation.com/curious-kids-who-were-the-spartans-108606

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Tuffin, Research Fellow, University of New England

It’s our experience that most people think archaeology mainly means digging in the dirt.

Admit to strangers that you are of the archaeological persuasion, and the follow-up question is invariably “what’s the best thing you’ve found?”.

Start to tell them about a fantastic ink and watercolour plan you unearthed in library archives, or an old work site you stumbled upon in thick eucalypt bush, and their eyes glaze over.

People invariably want to hear about skeletons, pots and bits of shiny metal. It’s this type of stuff that you will often see in the media, giving the misleading impression that archaeological process is only about excavation.

While the trowel and spade are an important inclusion in the archaeological toolkit, our core disciplinary definition – that of using humanity’s material remains to understand our history – means that we utilise many ways of engaging with this past.

Read more: Poor health in Aboriginal children after European colonisation revealed in their skeletal remains

A hole in the ground

Of course, there’s nothing like a tidy hole in the ground to get people’s attention. Yet what often gets lost in the spotlight’s glow is that excavation is the last resort; it’s the end result of exhaustive research, planning and design.

In the research environment, excavations are triggered by having no, or only a low level of, other streams of evidence.

This similarly applies in mitigating the impacts of development, where the threat of an historical site’s partial or complete removal adds an element of evidence recovery.

Should the excavation be ill-thought out, or divorced from proper research goals, the results – and therefore the net benefit of the whole exercise – are lessened, if not completely lost.

This is particularly so for historical archaeologists, where the availability of documentary archives, oral testimony and the remaining landscape itself can reveal so much – before trowels meet dirt.

Read more: Essays On Air: how archaeology helped save the Franklin River

Lots of work before digging

For the historical archaeologist, a huge amount of work must take place before an excavation can even be planned, with invasive investigations sometimes not even considered.

In our particular field, the historical archaeology of Australia’s convict system (1788-1868), there is a vast amount of documentary evidence that requires interrogation before any archaeological process can begin.

Convicts at work turning the Australian bush into a tamed cultivated field (Thomas Lempriere ‘Philips Island from the N.W. extremity to the overseer’s hut, Macquarie Harbour’ circa 1828.) Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Tasmania Archive and Heritage Office, Author provided

As an example, in the Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office, 35 metres of shelf space is taken up just by the official correspondence records for the period 1824-36.

Correspondence, reports, tables, diaries, newspapers, maps, plans, illustrations and photographs contain a wealth of information about the convict past. These can be used to query how people interacted with each other and the places, spaces and things that were created and modified as a result.

The experience of convict labour

We are currently over a year into a research project (called Landscapes of Production and Punishment) that uses evidence of the built and natural landscape to understand the experience of convict labour on the Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania (1830-77).

At its peak, nearly 4,000 convicts and free people lived on the penal peninsula. Their day-to-day activities left traces in today’s landscape that we locate and analyse using historical research, remote sensing and archaeological field survey.

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, a form of 3D mapping) has been used to great effect, mapping large areas in high detail, which have then been surveyed to find the sites of convict labour. These include quarries, sawpits, charcoal-burning stands, brick pits, tramways, roads and paths, cultivated fields and boundaries.

LiDAR image of the immediate area around the Port Arthur penal station, showing the. range of activities carried out in the landscape Landscapes of Production and Punishment, 2017-19, Author provided

Read more: What Australia’s convict past reveals about women, men, marriage and work

No soil was disturbed

Without turning a sod, we have recreated historic landscapes that have long lain dormant.

These have then been brought to life through the records of the system, which were historically used to account for the convicts and their labour. These include records about the lives of convicts whilst under sentence, as well as statistics on the products and processes of their labour.

This raw data shows us the outputs of industrial operations carried out by the convicts, like brick making, sandstone quarrying, lime burning and timber-getting, as well as the manufactories that produced leather, timber and metalwork goods by the thousand.

The records also locate convict and free settlers back into time and space, reconnecting them to the places and products of their labour.

As the project develops, excavation may be one of the archaeological methods used to retrieve our evidence – but only once we have exhausted all other avenues of enquiry.

Controlled destruction

As archaeologists, we have a responsibility to ensure that the controlled process of destruction that is an archaeological investigation has the greatest possible research return.

Without this due process, our work becomes unhinged from research frameworks. The excavations devolve into expensive and directionless treasure hunts from which little research value can be extracted.

The archaeologist’s profession – be it as an academic or working in the commercial and government sector – is more than excavation. It encompasses a diverse range of skills and techniques which can be deployed to aid in our central task of understanding the lives of those who came before.

Read more: A fresh perspective on Tasmania, a terrible and beautiful place

The authors would like to thank Caroline Homer (Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office) and David Roe, Jody Steele and Sylvana Szydzik (Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority).

– ref. Why archaeology is so much more than just digging – http://theconversation.com/why-archaeology-is-so-much-more-than-just-digging-108679

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rick Sarre, Adjunct Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, University of South Australia

The warm days of summer are almost upon us. Nudity on some Australian beaches is inevitable. But exactly how much of our flesh can we bare, and when, and where?

It should surprise no-one that, when it comes to the law and naked bodies, context is everything. The man who strips off for the sauna at the gym without any repercussions could be subject to a fine of many thousands of dollars if, a few hours later, he were to streak across the MCG during the cricket. The woman who plays beach volleyball in her birthday suit at New South Wales’ oldest nudist stretch of sand, Lady Bay Beach, without legal consequences could be fined an hour later should she not put on some form of covering when walking back to her car.

Whether someone’s personal exposure attracts the attention of law enforcement depends upon what is deemed by officers to be an “obscene” act or “indecent” exposure. The words of the Office of Film and Literature Classification can be adopted usefully here. To determine whether something (or someone) is obscene or indecent, police must take into account the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults.

Read more: Explainer: the rise of naked tourism

While there are many prosecutions around the country each year for lewd behaviour generally (which would include “flashing” and indecent exposure), prosecutions for nakedness on its own are extremely rare. There is one famous exception, but we need to go back four decades to rural Western Australia to find it.

Peter Shaffer’s 1973 play Equus requires a male actor to appear naked on the stage for a short period. When it was staged in Geraldton in 1977, a woman in the front row complained to police. The Dutch actor Robert van Mackelenberg was arrested after a subsequent performance. He spent a few hours in the local lockup before being released on bail.

Upon his later prosecution for obscene behaviour, the magistrate posed the following question: Did the actor’s lack of modesty offend modern sensibilities by violating contemporary standards of decency? The magistrate quickly determined that the answer was “no” and the prosecution failed. Indeed, the court report mentions that the police officer investigating the matter and subsequently giving evidence “enjoyed the play and found it meaningful”.

Let’s look more closely at the issue of public undress on a beach during the summer.

The statutes governing the broad field of indecent exposure or lewd behaviour are scattered throughout the criminal law of all states and territories, typically in what are referred to as “summary offences” acts. “Summary” is a legal term that refers to the fact that they are less serious offences, heard in magistrates’ courts.

Police are given the responsibility of deciding, at their discretion, whether the circumstances of a person found in a state of undress amount to indecent or disorderly conduct, or involve an obscene or lewd act.

One finds these powers in, for example, the Victorian Summary Offences Act section 19, and the Northern Territory Summary Offences Act section 50. The latter employs a quaint turn of phrase, empowering the police to arrest anyone “who offends against decency by the exposure of his person in any street or public place”.

The use of the word “person” saved the legislators from having to use the word “penis” or “genitalia” which, presumably, offended the sensibilities of members of the Northern Territory legislative chamber at the time.

If a beach has been proclaimed as permitting unclad bathing, there will be a proviso in the legislation, for example as found in section 23A of the South Australian Summary Offences Act, enacted when then Premier Don Dunstan inaugurated nude bathing at Maslin’s Beach in 1975.

Read more: Friday essay: the naked truth on nudity

Here is my take on likely law enforcement scenarios for the coming summer: Will police move to arrest anyone who, on a public beach in Australia, removes her top before sunbaking face down? No. Will they ask her to cover up should she turn on her back? Only if someone on the beach complains. Will they arrest her? No. Will they move to intervene if a young man decides to do a naked streak through a children’s game of beach cricket on a crowded seashore on Australia Day? Yes. Will they arrest and lay charges? No. Will they provide a towel to him and offer the sage advice that he needs to alter his behaviour immediately? Yes.

Are we becoming more or less prudish in our beach conduct? Are we more or less prudish than beach-goers in international settings? I will leave those questions for the sociologists. I simply observe, from my considerable experience on Australian beaches over the past 50 years, that we do take our modesty seriously, and do not deliberately seek to offend those who may be more modest.

Finally, will discreet topless bathing continue through this summer on most Australian beaches without social and legal consequences? Most certainly.

– ref. Avoid a bum steer this summer: here’s what Australian law says about public nudity – http://theconversation.com/avoid-a-bum-steer-this-summer-heres-what-australian-law-says-about-public-nudity-107525

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marnie Campbell, Chevron Harry Butler Chair in Biosecurity and Environmental Science, Murdoch University

Our beaches are our summer playgrounds, yet beach litter and marine debris injures one-fifth of beach users, particularly children and older people.

Our research, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, found more than 7,800 injuries on New Zealand beaches each year – in 2016, some 595 of them were related to beach litter. The most common injuries caused by litter were punctures and cuts, but they also included fractured limbs, burns, head trauma, and even blindness.

Children under 14 suffered 31% of all beach litter injuries, and were injured by beach litter at twice the rate compared with other locations in New Zealand. Beach litter injury claims exceeded NZ$325,000 in 2016, representing a growing proportion of all beach injury claims. Beach injury claims changed from 1.2% of the total in 2007 to 2.9% in 2016.

Read more: This South Pacific island of rubbish shows why we need to quit our plastic habit

Our study relied on reported injury insurance claims in New Zealand, and thus probably underestimates the true injury rate, particularly for minor wounds. Our 2016 survey of beachgoers in Tasmania found that 21.6% of them had been injured by beach litter at any time previously – even on the island state’s most picturesque beaches.

Alarmingly, most beach users in the Tasmanian survey did not consider beach litter an injury risk, despite the high rate of self-reported injuries.

Awash with danger

As more debris washes ashore and our recreational use of our coasts increases, it is more likely than ever before that we will encounter beach litter, even on remote and “pristine” beaches.

Global studies have found up to 15 items of debris per square metre of beach, even in remote locations. On Henderson Island – a supposedly pristine South Pacific outpost miles from anywhere – some 3,570 new pieces of litter arrive every day on one beach alone.

Your local beach might not be as bad as this, but it still pays to take care. Jennifer Lavers/AAP Image

Beach litter typically includes a huge range of items, such as:

• broken glass
• sharp and rusted metal such as car bodies, food cans, fish hooks, and barbed wire
• flammable or toxic materials such as cigarette lighters, flares, ammunition and explosives, and vessels containing chemicals or rotten food
• sanitary and medical waste such as used syringes, dirty nappies, condoms, tampons and sanitary pads
• bagged and unbagged dog faeces and dead domestic animals.

The health hazards posed by beach litter include choking or ingesting poisons (particularly for young children), exposure to toxic chemicals, tripping, punctures and cuts, burns, explosions, and exposure to disease.

Degrading plastic can also produce toxins that contaminate seafood, potentially entering human or ecological food chains.

Rubbish knowledge

Despite the potential severity of these hazards our understanding and study of human health impacts from beach litter is poor. We know more about the impacts of beach litter and marine debris on wildlife than on humans.

Two of our previous studies in Australia and New Zealand have found beach litter that can cause punctures and cuts at densities 227 items per 100 square metres of beach, and choking hazards at densities of 153 items per 100 square metres of beach. These exposures to beach litter hazards in Australia and New Zealand may be 50% higher than global averages (based on preliminary data).

Read more: How much plastic does it take to kill a turtle? Typically just 14 pieces

Even “clean” beaches can be hazardous, and may even increase the likelihood of injury. Visitors to a recently cleaned or supposedly “pristine” beach may be less vigilant for hazards. What’s more, European studies have found that actively cleaned beaches can still have hazardous debris items.

The risk of injury will continue to increase without concerted efforts to prevent addition of new debris and the active removal of existing rubbish. Besides watching where we tread when at the beach and participating in beach cleanups, we also need to make sure we deal with rubbish thoughtfully, so litter doesn’t end up there in the first place.

– ref. Forget sharks… here’s why you are more likely to be injured by litter at the beach – http://theconversation.com/forget-sharks-heres-why-you-are-more-likely-to-be-injured-by-litter-at-the-beach-109002

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judith Armstrong, Honorary Fellow of the School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne

In a new series, we look at under acknowledged women through the ages.

The Russian poet Anna Akhmatova is too tragic and striking a figure ever to be forgotten. A famous portrait depicts her in a midnight blue dress and brilliant yellow shawl beside an objectivist arrangement of lighter blue hydrangeas. Nose aquiline and eyes contemplative under the signature black fringe, she is utterly transfixing. Yet much of our knowledge of Akhmatova is due to the self-effacing journals of a less remembered woman, Lydia Chukovskaya, who brought her friendship, food and unfailing support.

Lydia was a literary editor and a significant poet, novella-writer and memoirist, born in 1907. Her father was Kornei Chukovsky, a prolific and highly regarded writer of much-loved children’s books – a kind of Russian Dr Seuss.

Lydia Chukovskaya. Wikipedia

In cultured St Petersburg, young Lydia developed a passion for literature, but soon after the outbreak of the 1917 Revolution she was briefly exiled to the city of Saratov because one of her friends had used her father’s typewriter to produce an anti-Bolshevik pamphlet.

Permitted to return to newly-named Leningrad, she got a job editing children’s books in the state publishing house, began to write stories, and married a brilliant young physicist, Matvei (Mitya) Bronstein.

Their marriage took place shortly before the outbreak of the Great Terror of 1936-38, one of the most brutal periods in the history of the Soviet Union. Both Mitya Bronstein and Akhmatova’s son Lev were arrested. By the time Chukovskaya was informed that Mitya had been sentenced to ten years in a labour camp, he had in fact been executed. Lev was held in a Leningrad prison for 17 months.

Mitya Bronstein. Wikimedia Commons

The frantic wife and devastated mother met each other while desperately seeking information about their loved ones. Lydia fled briefly to Kiev, but soon returned to their looted flat in St Petersburg to remake a home with her baby daughter Lyusha. Mitya’s room was occupied by a government surveillant.

Lydia kept a diary, but she now omitted from it everything that was “really important”, including her friendship with Akhmatova, whose intransigence invited arrest at any moment. She knew that to write down their conversations endangered both their lives; yet not to record them, she felt, would be “criminal”. She compromised by waiting until much later to fill in names.

Akhmatova was in the process of writing a long poem, her now-famous Requiem. An extended elegy for all who suffered under the Terror, it was obviously far too dangerous to commit to paper.

When visiting Lydia she would whisper parts of it for Lydia to retain, but in her own bugged apartment she would gesture at the ceiling and say in a loud voice, “Will you have some tea?” while passing over a handwritten page.

Lydia would memorise the poems on it and give it back. “How early autumn has come this year,” Anna would then muse, striking a match and burning the paper over the ashtray.

A 1922 portrait of Anna Akhmatova by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. Wikimedia Commons

‘Hands, match, ashtray’

Lydia wrote of this act of rebellion: “It was a ritual: hands, match, ashtray – a beautiful and mournful ritual”. She would then use her nightly walk home to recall what she had memorised, oblivious to her route. “Poems guided me instead of the moon,” she wrote. “The world was absent”.

Leningrad was yet to experience the extreme shortages of the Siege (1941–1944), but food was far from plentiful. Lydia brought sugar, eggs or rissoles to the impractical Anna, but also lilacs, “so it would seem more like a present”.

During those years she described herself as feeling “less and less alive”, reviving only when she was with Anna,

a certainty amidst all those wavering uncertainties… her words, deeds, head, shoulders and hand-movements possessed of [the] perfection which, in this world, usually belongs only to great works of art.

But writing also sustained Lydia’s own spirit. In 1938 she’d been allowed a stint in a writers’ colony where she completed a novella, Sofia Petrovna – naturally unpublishable given that it described the realities of living under the Terror. Sofia is a typist whose son Kolya, a promising engineering student, is arrested.

Sofia embarks on the existence so familiar to Chukovskaya and Akhmatova: frozen hours standing in queues, the lack of news, the attempt to sneak food into the prison. Falling foul of the authorities. When a letter from Kolya finally arrives, Sofia is so terrified of compromising him she forces herself to burn the precious scrap.

After 1956, the year of Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin, Sofia Petrovna was circulated in samizdat (manuscript form), and even, during the thaw of the early 60s, came close to publication, but was ultimately rejected for “ideological distortions”. It finally appeared 25 years later, thanks to Gorbachev’s glasnost.

Grit and grief

Chukovskaya’s “acceptable” work included an Introduction to the Ukrainian anthropologist Maclouho-Maclay’s account of life in New Guinea, but her second book, Going Under, published in Paris in 1972, describes how in 1949 Akhmatova and the satirical writer, Mikhail Zoshchenko, were thrown out of the Writers’ Union. She also wrote letters of support regarding Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and the physicist Andrei Sakharov, harassed by the KGB but later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

However, her best-known work remains the two volumes recording the almost daily conversations with Akhmatova, an overwhelmingly impressive mix of grit and grief as the two women confronted threats, cold, privation and starvation.

The journals first appeared in Paris in 1976 and 1980, alongside several volumes of autobiographical poetry, On This Side of Death, which express the profound sense of loss that afflicted both her and her country. In 1976 Chukovskaya received the first ever PEN Freedom Prize for the journals, and in 1990, the first Sakharov Prize for her life’s work.

Akhmatova died in 1966; from then on Lydia lived in Moscow, moving between a central flat and her father’s dacha in Peredelkino, the writers’ colony outside the city. She died in 1996, not altogether forgotten, but her memory outdazzled, as she would have deemed appropriate, by that of her more splendid friend.

Quotations from Lydia Chukovskaya, The Akhmatova Journals, Vol. 1, 1938-41, Harvill 1994, tr. Milena Michalski and Sylva Rubashova.

– ref. Hidden women of history: Lydia Chukovskaya, editor, writer, heroic friend – http://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-lydia-chukovskaya-editor-writer-heroic-friend-108509

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland

The year gets off to a bang with the Quadrantids, the first of the annual big three meteor showers. Active while the Moon is new, it gives northern hemisphere observers a show to enjoy during the cold nights of winter. Sadly, the shower is not visible from southern skies.

The other two members of the big three — the Perseids and Geminids — are not so fortunate this year, with moonlight set to interfere and reduce their spectacle.

So, with that in mind, where and when should you observe to make the best of 2019’s meteoric offerings? Here we present the likely highlights for this year – the showers most likely to put on a good show.

Read more: Explainer: why meteors light up the night sky

We provide details of the full forecast activity period for each shower, and the forecast time of maximum. We also give sky charts, showing you where best to look, and give the theoretical peak rates that could be seen under ideal observing conditions – a number known as the Zenithal Hourly Rate, or ZHR.

It is important to note that the ZHR is the theoretical maximum number of meteors you would expect to see per hour for a given shower, unless it were to catch us by surprise with an unexpected outburst!

In reality, the rates you observe will be lower than the ZHR – but the clearer and darker your skies, and the higher the shower’s radiant in the sky, the closer you will come to this ideal value.

For any shower, to see the best rates, it is worth trying to find a good dark site (the darker the better) – far from streetlights and other illuminations. Once you’re outside, give your eyes plenty of time to adapt to the dark – half an hour should do the trick.

Showers that can only really be seen from one hemisphere or the other are denoted by either [N] or [S], while those that can be seen globally are marked as [N/S].

You can download this ics file and add to your calendar to stay informed on when the meteor showers are due.

Quadrantids [N]

Parent: It’s complicated (comet 96P/Macholz and asteroid 2003 EH1)

Despite being one of this year’s three most active annual showers, the Quadrantids are often overlooked and under-observed. This is probably the result of their peak falling during the depths of the northern hemisphere winter, when the weather is often less than ideal for meteor observations.

For most of the fortnight they are active, Quadrantid rates are very low (less than five per hour). The peak itself is very short and sharp, far more so than for the year’s other major showers. As a result, rates exceed a quarter of the maximum ZHR for a period of just eight hours, centred on the peak time.

The Quadrantid radiant lies in the northern constellation Boötes, relatively near the tail of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The radiant is shown here at around midnight, local time, as it begins to climb higher in the northeastern sky. Museums Victoria/Stellarium, Author provided

The Quadrantid radiant lies in the northern constellation Boötes, the Herdsman, and is circumpolar (never sets) for observers poleward of 40 degrees north. As a result, observers in northern Europe and Canada can see Quadrantids at any time of night. The radiant is highest in the sky (and the rates are best) in the hours after midnight.

For this reason, this year’s peak (at 2:20am UT) is best suited for observers in northern Europe – and given that peak rates can exceed 100 per hour, it is certainly worth setting the alarm for, to get up in the cold early hours, and watch the spectacle unfold.

This false-color composite image shows a combination of Quadrantid and non-Quadrantid meteors streaking through the skies over NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, in the US, on the night of January 3-4, 2012. NASA/MSFC/Meteoroid Environments Office/Danielle Moser and Bill Cooke, CC BY-NC

Alpha Centaurids [S]

The Alpha Centaurids are well placed for the southern hemisphere. This view from Brisbane around the time of maximum activity. Museums Victoria/Stellarium

Alpha Centauri is just 30 degrees from the south celestial pole. As a result, the radiant essentially never sets for observers across Australia. The best rates will be seen from late evening onward, as the radiant rises higher into the southern sky.

This year, the peak of the Alpha Centaurids coincides with the New Moon, making it an ideal time to check out this minor but fascinating shower.

Eta Aquariids [S preferred]

Parent: Comet 1P/Halley

The Eta Aquariids are possibly the year’s most overlooked treat, particularly for observers in the southern hemisphere. The first of two annual showers produced by comet 1P/Halley, the Eta Aquariids produce excellent rates for a whole week around their peak.

The radiant rises in the early hours of the morning, after the forecast maximum time, and best rates are seen just as the sky starts to brighten with the light of dawn. It can be well worth rising early to observe them, as rates can climb as high as 40 to 50 meteors per hour before the brightening sky truncates the display.

Look for the Eta Aquariids before sunrise and catch Venus and Mercury too. Museums Victoria/Stellarium

Eta Aquariid meteors are fast and often bright, and the shower regularly rewards those who are willing to rise early. Spectacular Earth-grazing meteors that tear from one side of the sky to the other can be seen shortly after the radiant rises above the horizon.

This year conditions are ideal to observe the shower, with New Moon falling on May 4, just two days before the forecast maximum. As a result, the whole week around the peak will be suitable for morning observing sessions, giving observers plenty of opportunity to see the fall of tiny fragments of the most famous of comets.

Southern Delta Aquariids, Piscis Austrinids and Alpha Capricornids [N/S; S favoured]

Parent: Comet 96P/Macholz (Southern Delta Aquariids); Unknown (Piscis Austrinids); Comet 169P/NEAT (Alpha Capricornids)

In most years, the approach of August is heralded by keen meteor observers as the build up to the Perseids – the second of the year’s big three showers. This year, moonlight will interfere, spoiling them for most observers.

But this cloud comes with a silver lining. A fortnight or so before the peak of the Perseids, three relatively minor showers come together to provide an excellent mid-winter show for southern hemisphere observers. This year, the Moon is perfectly placed to allow their observation.

These three showers – the Southern Delta Aquariids, Alpha Capricornids and Pisces Austrinids – favour observers in the southern hemisphere, though they can also be observed from northern latitudes.

Regardless of your location, the best rates for these showers are seen in the hours after midnight. Reasonable rates begin to be visible for southern hemisphere observers as early as 10pm local time.

The radiants of the Southern Delta Aquariids, Alpha Capricornids and Piscis Austrinids ride high in the southern hemisphere sky around local midnight. Museums Victoria/Stellarium For northern hemisphere observers, the radiants of the same three showers sit low to the horizon around local midnight. Museums Victoria/Stellarium

The Southern Delta Aquariids are the most active of the three, producing up to 25 fast, bright meteors per hour at their peak, which spans the five days centred on July 30.

The Alpha Capricornids, by contrast, produce lower rates typically contributing just five meteors per hour. But where the Southern Delta Aquariids are fast, the Alpha Capricornids are very slow meteors and are often spectacular.

Like the Alpha Centaurids, in February, they have a reputation for producing large numbers of spectacular fireballs. This tendency to produce meteors that are both very bright and also slow moving makes them an excellent target for astrophotographers, as well as naked-eye observers.

An Alpha Capricornid meteor captured among the star trails in 2013. Flickr/Jeff Sullivan, CC BY-NC-ND

Taurids [N/S]

Parent: Comet 2P/Encke

The Taurids are probably the most fascinating of all the annual meteor showers. Though they only deliver relatively low rates (approximately five per hour from each of the two streams, north and south), they do so over an incredibly long period – three full months of activity.

In other words, the Earth spends a quarter of a year passing through the Taurid stream. In fact, we cross the stream again in June, when the meteors from the shower are lost due to it being exclusively visible in daylight.

So a third of our planet’s orbit is spent ploughing through a broad stream of debris, known as the Taurid stream. In total, the Taurid stream deposits more mass of meteoric material to our planet’s atmosphere than all of the other annual meteor showers combined.

So vast is the Taurid stream that there is speculation that it originated with the cataclysmic disintegration of a super-sized comet, thousands or tens of thousands of years in the past, and that the current shower is a relic of that ancient event.

The two Taurid radiants, as seen from northern Europe before dawn [Paris 6:30am, October 10] Museums Victoria/Stellarium The November maximum will be hindered by the Moon, this view as seen from Melbourne during the early hours of November 13. Museums Victoria/Stellarium

Taurid meteors are slow, and are often spectacularly bright. Like the Alpha Capricornids, they have a reputation for producing regular fireballs, making them another good target for the budding astrophotographer.

Rather than having a single, sharp peak, Taurid activity stays at, or close to, peak rates for the best part of a month, between the maxima of the northern and southern streams, meaning that it is always possible to find some time when moonlight does not interfere to observe the shower.

Geminids [N/S]

Parent: Asteroid 3200 Phaethon

Another of the big three annual meteor showers, the Geminids are probably the best, with peak rates in recent years exceeding 140 meteors per hour.

A composite image of the Geminids shower from the vantage point of Johnson Space Center, US. NASA/Lauren Harnett, CC BY-NC

The Geminids are visible from both hemispheres – although the radiant rises markedly earlier for northern observers. Even in the south of Australia, the radiant rises well before midnight, giving all observers the rest of the night to enjoy the spectacle.

The Moon interferes with the Geminids, which radiate close to the bright star Castor. This view is from Perth in the hours before sunrise. Museums Victoria/Stellarium

Moonlight will seriously interfere with the peak of the shower this year, washing out the fainter meteors, with the result that observed rates will be lower than the ZHR might otherwise suggest.

But the shower regularly produces abundant bright meteors, and yields such high rates that it is still well worth checking out, even through the glare of the full Moon.

Ursids [N]

Parent: Comet 8P/Tuttle

The final shower of the year – the Ursids – is a treat for northern hemisphere observers alone. Much like the shower that started our journey through the year, the Quadrantids, the Ursids remain poorly observed, often lost to the bleak midwinter weather that plagues many northern latitudes.

But if skies are clear the Ursids are visible throughout the night, as their radiant lies just 12 degrees from the north celestial pole. As such, they make a tempting target for observers to check out in the evening, even if the radiant is at its highest in the early hours of the morning.

Most years, the Ursids are a relatively minor shower, with peak rates rarely exceeding ten meteors per hour. They have thrown up a few surprises over the past century, with occasional outbursts of moderately-fast meteors yielding rates up to, and in excess of, a hundred meteors per hour.

The Ursid radiant, in the constellation Ursa Minor, is circumpolar for almost the entire northern hemisphere, as it lies just 12 degrees from the north celestial pole. It is shown here as it would be seen at 11pm from near Tokyo, Japan. Museums Victoria/Stellarium

While no such outburst is predicted for 2019, the Ursids have proven to be a shower with a surprise or two left to show and so may just prove to be an exciting way to end the meteoric year.

If you have a good photo of any of this year’s meteor showers that you’d like to share with The Conversation’s readers then please send it to readerspic@theconversation.edu.au. Please include your full name and the location the photo (or any composite) was taken.

– ref. Look up! Your guide to some of the best meteor showers for 2019 – http://theconversation.com/look-up-your-guide-to-some-of-the-best-meteor-showers-for-2019-106863

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University

On the morning of Monday, March 4 1996, the young treasurer in the Howard government, Peter Costello, and his press secretary, Tony Smith – now the speaker of the House of Representatives – took an Ansett flight from Melbourne to Sydney for their first departmental briefing. The treasury secretary, Ted Evans, who had initially asked to see Costello privately, offered his resignation in light of the change of government. Costello assured Evans he wanted him to stay on.

Once the meeting began, Evans had some startling news for his new boss. The budget had an underlying deficit of about A$9 billion. “Costello appeared genuinely shocked”, his biographer, Shaun Carney, has reported. The size of the deficit probably did take him by surprise, even if the existence of a deficit of some kind did not. John Howard recalls that he had wind of it before his March 2 election victory.

A submission released today by the National Archives of Australia in its 1996-1997 cabinet records sets out the nature and scale of the problem that the new government saw as its most serious during its first term. But problem would become opportunity. In his autobiography, Lazarus Rising, Howard would call the 1996 budget “the most important of all budgets” delivered during his almost 12 years in government, as well as “the best and bravest in 25 years”.

Read more: An evening with the treasurer: how governments belt out budget hits and hope someone is listening

Howard is hardly a disinterested party. Nonetheless, there is a persuasive strand of opinion among commentators that the fiscal decisions taken in 1996, while creating political pain for the government and economic pain for voters, were foundational for Howard and Costello.

Some have credited this early decision-making for Australia’s economic resilience in the face of turbulent global winds: the Asian financial crisis, the bursting of the dot-com bubble, even the global financial crisis.

The cabinet submission of March 18 1996 predicted economic growth of 3.75% for 1995-96 and 1996-97, on the back of improved performance from the farm sector as the drought ended. Weak demand was likely cyclical, a “temporary slowdown of the type which often occurs at this stage of the business cycle and that growth should strengthen in subsequent quarters”, as business investment again took off.

Howard’s quip from opposition in 1995 – that the recovering economy was “five minutes of economic sunlight” – was effective politics. But it was not supported by the new government’s own records, which referred to a “generally favourable outlook”.

Compared with the skyrocketing interest rates and then the recession the Hawke and Keating governments faced in the early 1990s (or the recession the Hawke government inherited in 1983), these were happy days.

However, unemployment remained high at well over 8% and was projected to stay there in the following year.

The government was also concerned about the drag on economic performance of continuing budget deficits and rising government debt. This was running down national savings, undermining investment and worsening Australia’s current account deficit – the difference between the value of imports and exports of goods, services and capital.

Costello committed the government to reducing the underlying deficit of 3.5% of gross domestic product to 0.5% over three years, thereby reducing public sector lending, relieving pressure on the current account deficit, and returning the budget to a structural surplus. The government rejected the idea of a single massive cut of A$8 billion in the 1996 budget as running the risk “of knocking the economy off course”. It therefore committed to cuts of A$4 billion in each of the budgets of 1996 and 1997, with an eye to less pain in the 1998 budget leading up to an election.

With defence spending quarantined from the cuts, the August 1996 budget was indeed a tough one. The usual suspects – health, welfare, the public service and tertiary education – bore much of the load. Nonetheless, the government’s own polling suggested most voters thought its measures “tough but fair”, dispensing necessary if bitter medicine.

Howard remarked at the December launch of the latest cabinet records release that the government applied to the budget a “fair go” test, although he would ultimately bear pain for his too-clever distinction between “core” and “non-core” election promises.

Tony Abbott was a young parliamentary secretary in 1996, on his way up but still some way from the real levers of power. By 2013, however, he had his own government and with his treasurer, Joe Hockey, faced the problem of framing his first budget.

The 1996 effort would have provided a strong clue for Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey to frame their first budget after their 2013 election win. AAP/Lukas Coch

The 1996 effort would have been a powerful precedent for a new Coalition government in 2013 and, at a superficial level, the Abbott government did many similar things. As Howard and Costello had done, it established a National Commission of Audit.

Costello had complained of the “Beazley black hole” – the deficit bequeathed by Labor’s finance minister, Kim Beazley. Conveniently for the government, he was also the new opposition leader. The phrase lived on as a way of reminding electors of the Labor Party’s weaknesses in economic management and the Coalition’s achievements and strengths.

In 2014, Abbott and Hockey spoke of a “budget emergency”. But whereas the public seems to have bought the “black hole” image – although described recently by economist Warwick McKibbin as more like a temporary “pothole” – voters appear to have regarded the Abbott government’s “budget emergency” as invented.

One reason for this failure ironically lies in legislative changes that Costello announced at the very time he drew public attention to the black hole. This was the Charter of Budget Honesty, which mandated more rigorous reporting on the national finances, including the alphabet soup of MYEFO (Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook) and PEEFO (Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook), as well as five-yearly intergenerational reports.

These initiatives, which a Costello cabinet submission of August 2 1996 said were intended to promote “responsible fiscal management”, made it well nigh impossible to spring the surprise of a large deficit on an unsuspecting public and successor.

Unlike Hawke and Keating in 1983, and Howard and Costello in 1996, Abbott and Hockey could not stoke panic to implement unpopular measures and back out of difficult election commitments. The Charter of Budget Honesty meant they could not claim to have been blind-sided by an unanticipated budget deficit.

Howard and Costello also faced a much more helpful set of parliamentary numbers than their Coalition successor. With a massive 94 seats in a House of 148, they had political capital to burn. While few imagined the government would last almost 12 years, equally few considered it could be defeated after one term.

But it is in the Senate that the differences between 1996 and 2014 become clearer. There, the Howard government held 37 seats in a chamber of 76. After the defection of disgruntled Labor senator Mal Colston in August 1996, the government could get its legislation passed without the support of the Australian Democrats if it had Colston and the other independent senator, Brian Harradine, on side.

By way of contrast, the Abbott government faced a Senate cross bench of considerable complexity and diversity. And, as Howard has remarked, dealing with the Australian Democrats was notably easier for a Coalition government than getting Greens support.

Read more: Grattan on Friday: Budget blues as government reels under the blows

In 1996, Howard and Costello got the politics right. They still paid a political price, but it did not prove fatal. McKibbin argues that the introduction of a GST in 2000 was made easier by the reduction of government outlays and the elimination of the budget deficit in the government’s first term.

By dealing with spending in 1996, the government was able to turn its attention to revenue and taxation in a more favourable fiscal environment for politically difficult reform.

The image remains: as they contemplated their own horror budget, Joe Hockey and Mathias Cormann relaxed with cigars. Trivial in itself, this clumsiness epitomised the Abbott government’s muddled budget politics.

In 2014, after decades of strong economic performance, few believed that the drastic measures the Abbott government proposed in 2014 were either necessary or fair. Hockey declared the “age of entitlement” over, but voters suspected this did not extend to politicians or their friends.

The contentious measures in the 2014 budget – such as the Medicare co-payment and the winding back of unemployment benefits – did not pass Howard’s “fair go” test.

But the tough spending cuts Costello announced in 1996, while hardly provoking an outbreak of national joy, were an early taste of the professionalism and toughness that he and Howard brought to their long years at the helm.

– ref. 1996-1997 cabinet papers show how Howard and Costello faced a budget black hole – http://theconversation.com/1996-1997-cabinet-papers-show-how-howard-and-costello-faced-a-budget-black-hole-107273

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maarten De Brauwer, PhD-candidate in Marine Ecology, Curtin University

We all enjoy watching animals, whether they’re our own pets, birds in the garden, or elephants on a safari during our holidays. People take pictures during many of these wildlife encounters, but not all of these photographic episodes are harmless.

There is no shortage of stories where the quest for the perfect animal picture results in wildlife harassment. Just taking photos is believed to cause harm in some cases – flash photography is banned in many aquariums as a result.

But it’s not always clear how bright camera flashes affect eyes that are so different from our own. Our latest research, published in Nature Scientific Reports, shows that flash photography does not damage the eyes of seahorses, but touching seahorses and other fish can alter their behaviour.

Read more: New map shows that only 13% of the oceans are still truly wild

Look but don’t touch

In the ocean it is often easier to get close to your subject than on land. Slow-moving species such as seahorses rely on camouflage rather than flight responses. This makes it very easy for divers to approach within touching distance of the animals.

Previous research has shown that many divers cannot resist touching animals to encourage them to move so as to get a better shot. Additionally, the high-powered strobes used by keen underwater photographers frequently raise questions about the welfare of the animal being photographed. Do they cause eye damage or even blindness?

A researcher photographing a ghost pipefish. © Luke Gordon

Aquariums all around the world have taken well-meaning precautionary action. Most of us will have seen the signs that prohibit the use of flash photography.

Similarly, a variety of guidelines and laws exist in the scuba-diving community. In the United Kingdom, flash photography is prohibited around seahorses. Dive centres around the world have guidelines that include prohibiting flash or limiting the number of flashes per fish.

While all these guidelines are well-intended, none are based on scientific research. Proof of any damage is lacking. Our research investigated the effects of flash photography on slow-moving fish using three different experiments.

What our research found

During the first experiment we tested how different fish react to the typical behaviour of scuba-diving photographers. The results showed very clearly that touching has a very strong effect on seahorses, frogfishes and ghost pipefishes. The fish moved much more, either by turning away from the diver, or by swimming away to escape the poorly behaving divers. Flash photography, on the other hand, had no more effect than the presence of a diver simply watching the fishes.

For slow-moving fishes, every extra movement they make means a huge expense of energy. In the wild, seahorses need to hunt almost non-stop due to their primitive digestive system, so frequent interruptions by divers could lead to chronic stress or malnutrition.

Researchers tested the effect of high-strobe flashes on frogfish. Author provided

The goal of the second experiment was to test how seahorses react to flash without humans present. To do this we kept 36 West Australian seahorses (Hippocampus subelongatus) in the aquarium facility at Curtin University. During the experiment we fed the seahorses with artemia (“sea monkeys”) and tested for changes in their behaviour, including how successful seahorses were at catching their prey while being flashed with underwater camera strobes.

Read more: Now you see us: how casting an eerie glow on fish can help count and conserve them

An important caveat to this experiment: the underwater strobes we used were much stronger than the flashes of normal cameras or phones. The strobes were used at maximum strength, which is not usually done while photographing small animals at close range. So our results represent a worst-case scenario that is unlikely to happen in the real world.

The conclusive, yet somewhat surprising, result of this experiment was that even the highest flash treatment did not affect the feeding success of the seahorses. “Unflashed” seahorses spent just as much time hunting and catching prey as the flashed seahorses. These results are important, as they show that flashing a seahorse is not likely to change the short-term hunting success (or food intake) of seahorses.

Scuba divers should always avoid touching animals. sanc0460/Flickr, CC BY

We only observed a difference in the highest flash treatment (four flashes per minute, for ten minutes). Seahorses in this group spent less time resting and sometimes showed “startled” reactions. These reactions looked like the start of an escape reaction, but since the seahorses were in an aquarium, escape was impossible. In the ocean or a large aquarium seahorses would simply move away, which would end the disturbance.

Our last experiment tested if seahorses indeed “go blind” by being exposed to strong flashes. In scientific lingo: we tested if flash photography caused any “pathomorphological” impacts. To do this we euthanised (following strict ethical protocols) some of the unflashed and highly flashed seahorses from the previous experiments. The eyes of the seahorses were then investigated to look for any potential damage.

The results? We found no effects in any of the variables we tested. After more than 4,600 flashes, we can confidently say that the seahorses in our experiments suffered no negative consequences to their visual system.

What this means for scuba divers

A potential explanation as to why flash has no negative impact is the ripple effect caused by sunlight focusing through waves or wavelets on a sunny day. These bands of light are of a very short duration, but very high intensity (up to 100 times stronger than without the ripple effect). Fish living in such conditions would have evolved to deal with such rapidly changing light conditions.

This of course raises the question: would our results be the same for deep-water species? That’s a question for another study, perhaps.

Read more: Genes reveal how the seahorse got its snout and became a great father

So what does this mean for aquariums and scuba diving? We really should focus on not touching animals, rather than worrying about the flash.

Flash photography does not make seahorses blind or stop them from catching their prey. The strobes we used had a higher intensity than those usually used by aquarium visitors or divers, so it is highly unlikely that normal flashes will cause any damage. Touching, on the other hand, has a big effect on the well-being of marine life, so scuba divers should always keep their hands to themselves.

– ref. Flash photography doesn’t harm seahorses – but don’t touch – http://theconversation.com/flash-photography-doesnt-harm-seahorses-but-dont-touch-108346

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Heslin, Associate Professor, UNSW Business School, UNSW

Every year most of us make New Year’s resolutions. Eat healthier. Exercise regularly. Invest more in valued relationships. Learn a language. And so on. Often they are the same resolutions as last year.

Why do our resolutions often so swiftly wither away?

A prime culprit in this annual rollercoaster of optimism and disappointment is overconfidence in the power of our intentions.

Read more: A behaviourist’s guide to New Year’s resolutions

The excitement of a new year (and perhaps the fruit of celebrating a little too hard) cloud remembering a hard fact of life: good intentions readily evaporate without a trace in the face of everyday experiences such as exhaustion, temptation and long-standing habits.

Fortunately, academic research on goal-setting can help. Studies over several decades have identified some effective ways to overcome these common obstacles to realising your plans.

Beyond SMART goals

It’s well-known (and also true) that New Year’s resolutions are more likely to be attained if they are “SMART”:

• Specific (about exactly what you want to achieve)
• Measurable (with clear indicators of progress)
• Achievable (given your available resources, constraints and other priorities)
• Relevant (to what you most value)
• Time-bound (with the specific date by when you aim for mission accomplished).

Crafting SMART goals is a good start. But the odds of realising your resolutions will be improved by building what I call “goal infrastructure” – that is, resources that enable goal attainment.

Below are three powerful ways to build goal infrastructure.

1. Link your goals to your cherished values

Useful insights about how to do this may be drawn from a study of how a goal-setting program could help struggling students improve their academic performance.

The research involved 85 students at McGill University in Montreal. Participants given the goal-setting intervention answered questions about their ideal future, qualities they admired in others, things they would like to do better, things they would like to learn more about, and habits they would like to develop.

They then developed and prioritised the goals they were excited to pursue, before writing about the specific positive impacts the thought achieving each goal would have on their lives and the lives of those they cared about.

Compared to students in the control group, those who participated in this goal-setting intervention significantly improved their academic results four months later.

Why not brainstorm your own responses to the questions addressed by the study participants?

Then develop a compelling rationale for working persistently to achieve your highest priority goal(s), by answering the following questions:

• what benefits do I expect to flow from reaching my goal?
• how might achieving my goal enhance my life and/or the lives of those I care about?

Write down your answers and put them where you will see them often.

2. Create implementation intentions

Implementation intentions supplement SMART goals with details of when and how you will act to attain your goals.

Two types of implementation intentions are:

• if-then-plans (“If situation X arises, then I will Y”)
• when-then plans (“When situation X arises, then I will Y”).

For example, “If I feel upset by an email, when possible I will wait until the following day before sending my response.” Or, “When it is 5.27pm, then I will have left the office for the gym within the next three minutes.”

Several hundred studies have shown that deciding ahead of time when and how you will act in accordance with your goals helps you get started and avoid being derailed by tiredness or other distractions. As a result, goals are far more likely to be reached when paired with implementation intentions.

3. Establish peer accountability

What gets measured gets managed! This maxim is particularly valid when you feel accountable for acting in accordance with your goals.

The Agile software development methodology features mandatory morning stand-up meetings where team members publicly answer the following two questions:

• “What did you do yesterday?”
• “What will you do today?”

Knowing that tomorrow you will answer the first question helps brings focus to what you do today. Why not try this for a week so see if it works for you?

Read more: Time for a reset? How to make your New Year’s resolutions work

Another way to harness the power of peer accountability is to partner with someone else (ideally other than a life partner) who is also serious about adhering to their resolutions.

Text or email each other what you commit to do each day for a month (for example, swim 1 km, not open email after 8 pm, no screens after 10 pm, call a friend, do 50 pushups, pray for 10 minutes).

Then in a brief phone chat at the same time each week, ask each other whether you adhered to each of your daily commitments during the past week. Make no excuses and provide no explanations. Simply answer “yes” or “no” regarding whether you kept each commitment.

The anticipated satisfaction in saying “yes” to those scheduled questions, as well as the powerful drive to avoid having to admit failure, can be a powerful motivator to keep yourself on track.

Of course, there’s no magic wand to materialise your New Year’s resolutions. But if you are serious about making a change, play with the possibilities to discover what “goal infrastructure” works for you.

– ref. Three ways to achieve your New Year’s resolutions by building ‘goal infrastructure’ – http://theconversation.com/three-ways-to-achieve-your-new-years-resolutions-by-building-goal-infrastructure-105292

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter McPhee, Emeritus professor, University of Melbourne

In a new series, we look at under acknowledged women through the ages.

Anne-Josèphe Théroigne or Terwagne (1762–1817) was born at Marcourt, a village south of Liège in modern Belgium. From a comfortable farming family, Théroigne had a remarkably unsettled life after her mother died when she was five years old, living with relatives who provided only erratic access to education. While working as a governess she lived and studied singing in London and Paris, but also survived through unhappy relationships with far older, wealthy men.

Presumed portrait of Théroigne de Méricourt, painted by by Antoine Vestier, 1788-89. Wikimedia Commons

By 1789 she was living in Rome, from where she rushed back to Paris after news arrived of a revolution that immediately inspired her with its promise of individual freedoms and civic equality.

This frail and often hated woman became a passionate advocate of a woman’s place in a democratic society before a tragic episode broke her.

Much of her life is shrouded in silence and myth. While commonly assumed to have fought at the Bastille on July 14 1789 and to have led the famous march of market women from Paris to the court at Versailles in October dressed as a man or on horseback, it seems instead that she lived at Versailles throughout the summer of 1789, attending debates at the National Assembly and meeting leading political figures.

Politics and war

She returned to Paris with the Assembly in October and began speaking at the democratic club des Cordeliers and on the terraces outside the Assembly. She supported the formation of mixed-sex and women’s patriotic clubs and, with other individuals such as Olympe de Gouges, the Dutch activist Etta Palm d’Aelders and the Marquis de Condorcet, an expansion of women’s civic rights.

Anon., Advance Guard of Women going to Versailles, October 1789, illustrating belief in the myth of Théroigne’s presence on a white charger. Wikimedia Commons

While the word “feminism” was not used until 1837, there is no doubt about its applicability to Théroigne, who argued women,

have the same natural rights as men, so that, as a consequence, it is supremely unjust that we have not the same rights in society.

Théroigne’s outspoken presence and discourse provoked the ire of the counter-revolutionary press, in which she was the subject of vituperative mockery and allegations. She was ridiculed as a debauchee, the antithesis of femininity, a “patriots’ whore” whose 100 lovers a day each paid 100 sous in contributions to the Revolution “gained by the sweat of my body”.

Théroigne de Méricourt, Portrait drawn by Jean Fouquet and engraved by Gilles-Louis Chrétien, inventor of the physionotrace, c1791. Wikimedia Commons

It was about this time that “de Méricourt” was added to her name in the press, an inference of noble background alluding to her birthplace which she did not repudiate, a politically unwise step at a time when noble titles and privileges were being abolished.

In May 1790, Théroigne returned to Marcourt and Liège, where she was arrested on the orders of the Austrian Government, anxious about the possible contagion of revolutionary ideas across the border, and interrogated about her revolutionary activities. By the time of her release and return to Paris in January 1792 she was impoverished and suffering from depression, insomnia, and other ailments.

“La belle Liégoise”, as she was dubbed, was welcomed back enthusiastically and, once France went to war with Austria in April she began campaigning, unsuccessfully, for women’s rights to bear arms:

Frenchwomen … let us raise ourselves to the height of our destinies; let us break our chains! At last the time is ripe for women to emerge from their shameful nullity, where the ignorance, pride and injustice of men had kept them enslaved for so long …!

During the insurrection on August 10, which overthrew the monarchy and created the republic, Théroigne was involved with the killing of royalists and awarded a “civic crown” for her courage. But her sartorial flair – she enjoyed wearing her white riding habit and large round hat in public – and her political choices made her unpopular with women of the people.

As the military position of the republic became more precarious, and the economy worsened, Paris and France became violently divided. Paris itself was a militant republican Jacobin city, but Théroigne preferred the more conservative Girondins. In vain she wrote a passionate pamphlet urging the election of women representatives with “the glorious ministry of uniting the citizens and of inculcating in them the respect for freedom of opinions”.

Institutionalisation and death

Théroigne de Méricourt, Marcellin Pellet, sketch done at the Salpêtrière Hospital in 1816, on the request of Etienne Esquirol. Wikimedia Commons

On May 15 1793, she was attacked by a group of Jacobin women outside the doors of the National Convention. The women, objecting to her pro-Girondin sentiments, lifted her dress and whipped her bared flesh.

Théroigne never fully recovered mentally or physically, and on 20 September 1794 she was certified insane and put into an asylum. It was a time when the first “scientific” diagnoses were being made of “dementia”, but the physical surrounds were medieval. She was ultimately sent to La Salpêtrière Hospital in 1807, where she lived in terrible squalor for ten years, only intermittently lucid and speaking constantly about the Revolution.

There the “alienist” (as psychiatrists were then called) Étienne Esquirol used her as a case-study of the mental illness caused by revolutionary “excess”. Following a short illness, she died there on 9 June 1817.

Théroigne was a charismatic but tragic figure who inspired later romanticised and creative works, for example, Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal (1857):

See Théroigne, by blood and fire enraged,
Hounding a shoeless rabble to the fray,
Who plays herself on a flaming stage,
As she climbs, sword in hand, the royal stairway.

She appears as a character in Hilary Mantel’s 1992 major novel about the Revolution, A Place of Greater Safety and in the video game Assassin’s Creed Unity (2014)

Théroigne de Mericourt’s character in Assassin’s Creed Unity. SilveryDeath/flickr

She has especially interested male writers fascinated by the links they imagine between women, madness and revolution. Indeed, in 1989 Simon Schama closed his best-selling Citizens with Théroigne’s sad incarceration as its epilogue, as if to imply that revolution drives women to feminism and madness.

The same year, this male fascination was explored by the Lacanian psychoanalyst Élisabeth Roudinesco, who brilliantly exposed the links between early feminism, the birth of the modern asylum and masculine phantasms.

Whereas the English title of her biography is Madness and Revolution, in French it was Une femme mélancolique: for Roudinesco, Théroigne was not mad in 1794, rather she was in mourning for the revolution she had lost.

– ref. Hidden women of history: Théroigne de Méricourt, feminist revolutionary – http://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-theroigne-de-mericourt-feminist-revolutionary-107802

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrice Rey, Associate Professor, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney

This is an article from Curious Kids, a series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome – serious, weird or wacky! You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.

How do mountains get made? – Astrid, age 6, Marrickville

Hello Astrid. You may not believe this but when I was about your age my teacher (Mr Rouve) explained to the class how mountains get made.

He took a sheet of paper and put it flat on the table. Then, he put the tips of his right and left hands’ fingers on each side of the flat sheet and slowly moved his hands toward each other. Try to do it and you will see that the middle part of the paper will lift off the table to form a nice fold.

My teacher explained that mountains form in a similar way, when flat layers of rocks are pushed toward each other they move upward forming tall mountains.

My teacher was really exited by a discovery made by geologists at that time, when I was a kid. These geologists had figured out that the surface of the Earth was, like a giant jigsaw puzzle, made of pieces. Those pieces, called “tectonic plates”, move and bump into each other.

This bumping creates earthquakes, which slowly push the ground surface upward to make mountains. It happens so slowly that, in fact, you are getting taller faster than mountains do, except mountains keep growing and growing and growing for many millions of years until they are so heavy they can no longer grow taller, only wider.

Nat Geo simulation of mountains forming.

In fact, Australia and New Zealand are sitting on two different “tectonic plates” that move towards each other at the speed of a few centimetres per year. Where they bump into each other, the ground gets lifted to form the stunning New Zealand Alps, the top of which stands close to 4,000 metres. Can you imagine about 4,000 people as tall as you, standing straight up on each other shoulders? That’s how tall these mountains are.

Mountains also form when the Earth’s crust is pushed upward from underneath. Shutterstock

Mountains also form when the Earth’s crust is pushed upward from underneath. At the same time the New Zealand Alps started to form, a large hot bubble of rocks raising from deep in the Earth, like a giant air balloon, was pushing upward the surface of the eastern part of Africa forming a 4,000 metre high plateau. This plateau split to form what is known as the East African Rift, a valley twice as long as the New Zealands Alps.

There are many mountains at the surface of the Earth. Some we can see, some we can’t because they are under the sea. If you could take a submarine and dive under the sea, for instance in the ocean in between Australia and Antarctica, you could visit a long mountain where the Australian and Antarctica tectonic plates move away from each other.

Thank you again for your fantastic question.

Read more: Curious Kids: What existed before the Big Bang? Did something have to be there to go boom?

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

CC BY-ND

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: how do mountains form? – http://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-do-mountains-form-108246

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Enzo Palombo, Professor of Microbiology, Swinburne University of Technology

Refrigeration is the most important invention in the history of food. But while commercial and home refrigerators have only been used for the past 100 years or so, people have long used cool natural environments to store foods for extended periods.

Temperature is important for controlling microbial growth. Just as we find food wholesome, bacteria and fungi also enjoy the nutritional benefits of foods. They will consume the food and multiply, eventually “spoiling” the food (think mouldy bread or slimy lettuce).

Read more: How to keep school lunches safe in the heat

If the microbe can cause disease – such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli or Listeria – you’re at risk of food poisoning. Most disease-causing microbes can grow to dangerous levels even before the food is noticeably spoiled without changing the smell, taste or appearance of the food.

How to stop bugs growing in our food

All forms of life require a few basic things to grow: a source of energy, (sugar for us, sunlight for plants), oxygen (for higher forms of life), water and simple chemical building blocks that provide nitrogen, phosphorous and sulphur – and the correct temperature. Water is key, and denying it severely restricts microbial growth.

That’s why salt has long been used as a preservative for perishable foods like meats; salt binds the water and makes it unavailable to microbes. Acid can also be used (via pickling or fermentation), as most microbes don’t like acidic conditions.

Don’t delay – put it in the fridge as soon as you can. Gary Perkin/Shutterstock

Of course, cooking kills the microbes of concern, but they can contaminate and grow in the food afterwards.

If the food can’t be salted or pickled, or you have leftovers of cooked food, you’ll need to store the food at a temperature microbes don’t like. Refrigeration is the most effective and economical option.

Typically, the greater the moisture level, the more perishable the food. That’s why we can store dry foods (such as nuts) in the cupboard but high-moisture foods (such as fresh meat, vegetables) will quickly spoil if unrefrigerated.

Read more: Food safety: are the sniff test, the five-second rule and rare burgers safe?

How to store food safely

The “danger zone” is the temperature range between 5°C and 60°C, where most common food poisoning bacteria like to grow. To avoid the danger zone, keep hot foods above 60°C and store foods below 5°C.

The two-hour/four-hour guidelines can also help avoid food poisoning from leftovers. If perishable food has been in the danger zone for:

• less than two hours, use it immediately or store it appropriately
• two to four hours, use it immediately
• longer than four hours, discard it.

So, if the food has been sitting on the table after a long lunch on a warm day, it’s probably best to discard or consume it soon afterwards.

If the food is OK, store it in small portions, as these will reach the right temperature sooner than larger volumes, before refrigerating or freezing.

Read more: Monday’s medical myth: leave leftovers to cool before refrigerating

Using some common sense, and understanding how microbes grow, can help avoid a nasty case of diarrhoea – or worse. All food business must comply with food safety standards but how we prepare, store and consume food in our homes is equally important in preventing food-borne illness.

– ref. Health Check: when should you throw away leftovers? – http://theconversation.com/health-check-when-should-you-throw-away-leftovers-92256

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Lydon, Wesfarmers Chair of Australian History, University of Western Australia

In a new series, we look at under acknowledged women through the ages.

In 1913, at the age of 23, Elsie Masson was travelling on a steamer near Port Essington, 150 miles from Darwin, when it was approached by a small lugger. The boat was manned by one white man and two black men. As she later recounted,

The white man raised a sunburnt face, fierce with grief and excitement, and shouted hoarsely, ‘My mate – Jim Campbell – speared by blacks at Junction Bay’. It was curious what a thrill of rage the words brought to the hearers – a sudden instinctive spasm of hatred of white for black.

Masson’s account of her own and the steamer’s other passengers’ visceral response to this event remains unusual and powerful in its candid confession of race hate. Like the moment in Heart of Darkness when an African “boy” announces, “Mistah Kurtz, he dead”, for Masson, this moment marked a shocking moment of reckoning with the other.

Masson in 1917. Copyright unknown.

Yet Masson’s sympathy for the Territory’s Aboriginal people was actually awakened through this violent clash and its judicial aftermath. As a journalist, she attended the trial of those accused of murdering Campbell, reporting on the proceedings for the Northern Territory Times. Her growing advocacy for Aboriginal people expresses the contradictions of racial thought at this time.

As one of the “first white women” to travel in the Northern Territory, Masson’s newspaper articles and book An Untamed Territory – a profusely-illustrated narrative of life in the wild north – show how she popularized the “expert” views of her circle: an elite global network of colonial administrators, including the famous anthropologist Walter Baldwin Spencer.

Read more: How Conrad’s imperial horror story Heart of Darkness resonates with our globalised times

Who was Elsie?

Elsie Masson was born in Melbourne in 1890, the second daughter of Lady Mary and Professor Orme Masson, the chair of chemistry at Melbourne University. Masson senior was a close colleague and friend of Spencer, anthropologist and foundation chair of biology at the university.

Masson was clever and well-educated. At 16, she was taken to Europe for an extended tour with her mother and sister, studying music in Leipzig and art in Florence, and developing a good knowledge of French, German and Italian.

When the Commonwealth Government assumed control of the NT in January 1911, it appointed Spencer to lead a preliminary scientific expedition with three other scientists, including University of Melbourne veterinarian John Gilruth, a forthright Scot. Impressed with their findings, the government appointed Spencer to Darwin for a year as Special Commissioner and Chief Protector of Aborigines. Gilruth accepted the post of Administrator of the Territory in February 1912.

Elsie Masson joined Gilruth’s household as au pair in April 1913, departing toward the end of 1914. She was recruited on the promise of “pretty walks” and a comfortable verandah, but she managed to fit in considerable travel and observation of Territory life during this time, as well as taking and collecting many photographs now held by Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum.

The ‘first white woman’

Masson’s life entailed daily interaction with a large, multiracial servant workforce, many of whom she photographed. These photos are unusual in that she named the subjects and sometimes recorded details about their lives.

However, they are also racially segregated, locating their subjects within their place of work. Her photos include Dhobie, the picturesque Chinese cook and laundryman; white Residence staff, and a labourer called “No More”, pictured with his buffalo.

Masson’s photo of Dhobie. Wayne Collection, Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

As the “first white woman”, Masson travelled to outlying parts of the Territory, such as Pine Creek Railway Line, the Daly River, Oenpelli (now Gunbalanya) in Arnhem Land, and as far as the Roper River in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

She wrote a report for Spencer on the Roper River Mission, established in 1908 by the Church Missionary Society at Mirlinbarrwarr, now known as Ngukurr.

Baldwin Spencer, The Motor-Car in the Bush, in Masson’s An Untamed Territory. Author provided.

Masson’s relish of the exotic places and culture she saw disguised the harsh racial segregation implemented by Gilruth, Holmes and Spencer through new legislation and regulations. In her writings, Masson contrasted moments of modernity, such as the first car trip in the NT, with what she imagined to be a disappearing Indigenous way of life.

Household servants, Government Residence. Wayne Collection, Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.

But today, the reader is struck most powerfully by Masson’s transition from dislike to respect, as she describes her developing relationships – with her Chinese hawker, whose strange vegetables the household learns to enjoy, the Aboriginal maidservants, and finally even black men accused of murder.

Her portrait of Aboriginal housemaid Nellie is framed by a humorous account of her “strange” dress sense. But Masson soon “forgets her first repulsion, and finds the good-humoured face almost comely, and an easy grace beneath”.

Recognising customary law

In 1913 Masson attended the trial of nine Aboriginal men accused of murdering James Campbell, a trepanger (fisher of sea cucumber). Despite her initial “thrill of rage” toward the accused black murderers, Masson’s views changed as she witnessed the men’s unfair treatment within the British legal system, due to the language barrier and cultural misunderstandings.

Masson’s account of this trial ultimately argued for the need to acknowledge the coherence of Indigenous tradition, and what today is termed customary law.

During the trial, one witness Ada, for instance, described how Campbell and his ten companions had been fishing one night when he was attacked. But she also explained that Campbell had been murdered in retaliation for his “punishing” an old Aboriginal man by putting him into a trepang boiler, causing a painful death.

Masson’s photograph of trepang boilers provided graphic testimony to this agonising assault, showing a crime scene, the aftermath of torture and death. Alongside portraits of the accused and their families, she effectively humanised these people for her audience, asking,

Who can blame them for what they did? … It is to be feared that only too often the savage black who commits an act of violence is only avenging equal outrages done to his own race by the savage white.

Many agreed with Masson. The judge sentenced five men to death, but after review, their sentences were commuted to imprisonment for life with hard labour. In the context of increasingly punitive “protection” policies, this was at least something.

While Masson never returned to the Territory, she married the famous Polish anthropologist, Bronislaw Malinowski, and they went on to live in six countries. Sadly her adventures ended all too soon, as Elsie was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1928, and died in 1935.

More about Elsie Masson can be found in Photography, Humanitarianism, Empire (Bloomsbury, 2016).

– ref. Hidden women of history: Elsie Masson, photographer, writer, intrepid traveller – http://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-elsie-masson-photographer-writer-intrepid-traveller-107808

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling

It’s that time of year when we all start to make promises to ourselves about how this year it’ll be different. This is the year I’ll get my health in order, exercise more, save money, cut that bad habit, do more of this, less of that, and just be better. But the fact is, change is hard. Most of us need help.

So, we found some.

Today, experts who have researched this terrain will be sharing with us insights into how to make a change – big or small – using evidence from the world of academic research.

Read more: Trust Me, I’m An Expert: the science of sleep and the economics of sleeplessness

We’ll hear from Amanda Salis, a professor of obesity research at the University of Sydney’s Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders in the Charles Perkins Centre. She explains exactly is happening inside your body when you get that feeling you’ve eaten too much this silly season, that it’s time to step away from the festive feasts, put down the bubbly beverages and do a bit of exercise:

If you’re interested in participating in one of Amanda Salis’ weight loss trials, please contact her.

Also on the podcast episode Lisa Williams, a social psychologist from UNSW, shares with us all the research-backed tips and tricks for setting a goal and meeting it:

Read more: Trust Me, I’m An Expert: Competition

We’ll also hear from Amy, our case study, on how she stuck to her goals and made some big changes in her life:

Trust Me, I’m An Expert is a podcast where we ask academics to surprise, delight and inform us with their research. You can download previous episodes here.

And please, do check out other podcasts from The Conversation – including The Conversation US’ Heat and Light, about 1968 in the US, and The Anthill from The Conversation UK, as well as Media Files, a podcast all about the media. You can find all our podcasts over here.

The segments in today’s podcast were recorded and edited by Sunanda Creagh, with additional editing by Dilpreet Kaur Taggar.

New to podcasts?

Podcasts are often best enjoyed using a podcast app. All iPhones come with the Apple Podcasts app already installed, or you may want to listen and subscribe on another app such as Pocket Casts (click here to listen to Trust Me, I’m An Expert on Pocket Casts).

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Additional audio and credits

Kindergarten by Unkle Ho, from Elefant Traks

Refraction by Podington Bear, Free Music Archive

Gruyere by Podington Bear, Free Music Archive

– ref. Trust Me, I’m An Expert: What research says about how to stick to your New Year’s resolutions – http://theconversation.com/trust-me-im-an-expert-what-research-says-about-how-to-stick-to-your-new-years-resolutions-107279

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Matthews, Postdoctoral Research Officer – Cognitive Neurology Laboratory, Monash University

Does it ever strike you as odd that you and a friend can experience the same event at the same time, but come away with different memories of what happened? So why is it that people can recall the same thing so differently?

We all know memory isn’t perfect, and most memory differences are relatively trivial. But sometimes they can have serious consequences.

Imagine if you both witnessed a crime. What factors lead to memory differences and whom should we trust?

Read more: You can’t ‘erase’ bad memories, but you can learn ways to cope with them

There are three important aspects to memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval.

• encoding is how we get information into the brain

• storage is how we retain information over time

• retrieval is how we get information out of the brain.

Differences in each or a combination of these aspects might help explain why memories differ from one person to another.

How different people encode memories

Memory encoding starts with perception — the organisation and interpretation of sensory information from the environment.

The salience of sensory information (for example, how bright a light is or loud a sound) is important – but perception does not rely on salience alone.

Rather, perception is strongly affected by what we have experienced in the past and our expectations of what we might experience in the future. These effects are called top-down processes, and have a big impact on whether we successfully encode a memory.

One of the most important top-down processes is attention — our ability to focus selectively on parts of the world, to the exclusion of other parts.

While certain visual items can be perceived or encoded into memory with little or possibly no attention, attending to items is hugely beneficial for perception and memory.

How different people focus their attention on an event will affect what they remember.

For example, your preference for a particular sporting team can bias your attention and memory. A study of American football found that sports fans tended to remember rough play instigated by their opponent, rather than their own side.

Age also contributes to differences in memory, because our ability to encode the context of memories diminishes as we get older.

Context is an important feature of memory. Studies show that if we attend to both an item and its context, we remember the item better than if we attend to the item alone.

For example, we are more inclined to encode the location of our car keys if we focus on both the keys and how we have placed them in a room, rather than just focusing on the keys alone.

How different people store memories

Memories are first encoded into a temporary memory store called short-term memory. Short-term memories decay quickly and only have a capacity of three or four bits at a time.

But we can group larger bits of information into manageable chunks to fit into memory. For instance, consider the challenging letter sequence:

C, I, A, A, B, C, F, B, I

This can be chunked into the easily memorised:

CIA, ABC, FBI

Information in short-term memory is held in a highly accessible state so we can bind features together. Techniques such as verbal rehearsal (repeating words aloud or in our head) allow us to consolidate our short-term memories into long-term memories.

Long-term memory has an enormous capacity. We can remember at least 10,000 pictures, according to a study from the 1970s.

Memories can differ between people on the basis of how we consolidate them. Many studies have investigated how memory consolidation can be improved. Sleep is a well-known example.

A study found that long-term memory can also be enhanced by taking caffeine immediately after learning. The study used caffeine tablets to carefully control dosage, but this builds on growing evidence for the benefits of moderate coffee consumption.

How different people retrieve memories

Retrieving episodic memories, our memory of events, is a complex process because we must combine objects, places and people into a single meaningful event.

The complexity of memory retrieval is exemplified by tip-of-the-tongue states — the common and frustrating experience that we hold something in long-term memory but we cannot retrieve it right now.

The emergence of brain imaging has meant we have identified many brain areas that are important for memory retrieval, but the full picture of how retrieval works remains mysterious.

There are many reasons that memory retrieval can differ from one person to another. Our ability to retrieve memories can be affected by our health.

For example, memory retrieval is impaired if we have a headache or are stressed.

Retrieval is also affected by the outside world; even the wording of questions can change how we recall an event. A study instructed people to view films of car accidents and then asked them to judge the speed the cars were moving. If people were asked how fast the cars were moving when they “crashed” or “smashed” into each other they judged the cars as moving faster than if the words “contacted” or “hit” were used.

Memory retrieval can also be affected by the presence of other people. When groups of people work together they often experience collaborative inhibition — a deficit in overall memory performance when compared to the same group if they work separately and their memories are pooled after each individual has recounted their version.

Read more: It’s not so easy to gain the true measure of things

Effects such as collaborative inhibition highlight why memory differences occur but also why eyewitness testimony is so problematic.

Thankfully, the proliferation of smartphones has lead to the development of innovative apps, such as iWitnessed, that are designed to help witnesses and victims preserve and protect their memories.

Technology such as this and knowledge of memory encoding, storage, and retrieval can help us determine whom to trust when differences in memory occur.

– ref. Why two people see the same thing but have different memories – http://theconversation.com/why-two-people-see-the-same-thing-but-have-different-memories-104327

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernice Plant, Assistant Lecturer, Monash University

If you feel you consistently fail at your New Year’s resolutions, you are not alone. Despite our good intentions, we’re pretty poor at changing our own behaviour. We continue to smoke, eat or drink too much, and exercise too little, all of which affect our health and well-being.

In trying to change behaviour (including our own), we need to reduce resistance. You’ve likely heard some of the pitfalls of setting unspecific or unrealistic goals. Another contributor to resistance is when our intended action is not something we are personally motivated to do.

Read more: The psychology of New Year’s resolutions

Psychological studies show we can overcome resistance by setting goals that tap into what we find meaningful and that reflect our needs.

Why New Year’s resolutions fail

Why is it when we set a New Year’s resolution our behaviour doesn’t change, or it only changes for a limited time? There is a common obstacle that could underlie the failure of changing behaviour: resistance or more particularly inertia.

Inertia is a form of resistance where we can’t motivate ourselves to perform a behaviour. We know what we need to do, the intention is there, we just don’t do it.

One trap we can fall into is setting goals that aren’t really our own – they’re not personalised. Instead, we often set generic resolutions, such as to exercise more.

Are your goals what you expect others want from you, or are they your own? from shutterstock.com

These may have been adopted from someone else’s goal or may be based on what we feel we should change, as per social expectations or norms.

Adopting broad, generic goals may be a good starting point for change, but generic goals can also be conducive to resistance because they are low in personal relevance.

Setting goals that draw on personal motivations produces greater confidence in our ability to change and a greater sense of ownership over the process. These lead to larger and more lasting changes in behaviour.

Read more: Can trying to meet specific exercise goals put us off being active altogether?

What are your personal motivations?

The importance of ownership for personal motivation is captured nicely in what is known as the self-determination theory of motivation.

This places a high level of importance on doing what we find to be intrinsically motivating or working from what is inherently rewarding or satisfying. It’s in contrast to extrinsic or external motivations which can create feelings of coercion when we follow goals imposed by invisible others.

If you choose to exercise more as your New Year’s resolution because you think people will find you more attractive or because you feel guilty for not doing it, chances are you are working primarily from external sources of motivation.

If, on the other hand, you find exercise interesting and enjoyable or feel it expresses a personal value to be healthy, you are likely to be working from internal, personal motivations.

So, say your personal goal is to read 50 books in the year because you value knowledge. How do you put this into practice and make sure your resolution sticks?

Say you want to read 50 books this year. How do you keep to it? Gaelle Marcel/Unsplash

How to put this into practice

One simple behaviour-change technique that can be applied to New Year’s resolutions is self-persuasion. This essentially involves generating an argument for why you would like to change a certain behaviour.

Try to consider what is most salient and personally motivating for you and what a certain change could bring that you value. Perhaps you value knowledge and empathy, and you believe the more books you read about people’s struggles, the greater understanding you will have of others.

Maybe exercising more, like getting involved in group sports, will help connect you with your friends. Or perhaps you enjoy alone time, and going for long hikes will give you more opportunities for quiet contemplation.

Although one of these examples may resonate with you, it’s possible these aren’t at all relevant to you. This is why it is important to examine what you find personally relevant.

The self-persuasion technique has been successfully applied in a variety of settings, including producing moderate, short-term reductions in smoking and work-related stress, and increases in tipping and intentions to help others.

Generating your own arguments is more effective in evoking change than reading multiple arguments generated by other people, even when the quality of the provided arguments is rated as being better than yours.

But when using the self-persuasion technique, remember less may be more. You are better off generating one to two reasons for your intended change than trying to generate a long list of arguments.

Also in studies that have tested this technique, participants have usually had to write their reasons down. This increased involvement may have also helped.

And then?

This is not the whole story of setting effective New Year’s resolutions. Changing behaviour takes time and effort – particularly if you are trying to change a well-established habit.

During the change process, reflect often: consider what is and what isn’t working, and how you could overcome obstacles that interfere with you achieving your goals.

This is where you can apply other goal-setting and behaviour-change techniques you may have learned about previously, such as understanding and altering what triggers and maintains your behaviour.

Read more: A behaviourist’s guide to New Year’s resolutions

Implementation intentions are particularly helpful in setting goals and overcoming obstacles. This technique requires setting specific if-then plans for how you will respond in a particular situation — such as how you will ensure you get your daily dose of exercise if it is raining.

Five steps to setting personalised New Year’s resolutions:

1. Generate a broad resolution or goal as a starting point (exercise more)
2. reflect on your motivation for this goal: is it driven by internal motivations and aligned with other aspects of your personality? If not, revisit the first step
3. write down one or two reasons why the resolution is important for you
4. write down plans for achieving your goal, including if-then strategies
5. continue to review your progress and modify your personal goal as required.

The most beautifully constructed goals will be ineffective if they aren’t personally relevant. Before you consider how to turn over your new leaf, it might be worth examining which leaf you want to turn over, and why.

– ref. Making New Year’s resolutions personal could actually make them stick – http://theconversation.com/making-new-years-resolutions-personal-could-actually-make-them-stick-106780

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By M. Leigh Ackland, Professor in Molecular Biosciences, Deakin University

Australia has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world, with 38% of Australian households owning dogs. Dogs improve the quality of our lives, and studies show that exposure to dogs can even improve our immune system.

However, one medium sized dog produces about 180 kilograms of poo a year. With about 9 million dogs in Australia, it can really start to pile up.

Rather than wrap it in plastic and throw it away – where it eventually ends up in landfill – you can use dog poo as a sustainable source of fertiliser.

Read more: Are you walking your dog enough?

There are alternatives to simply throwing your dog poo in the bin. Francesco83/Shutterstock

Poo problems

The waste products of humans and their associated animals have not always been a problem. In the past, even within the memory of people I met living on small Pacific islands, human poo was produced in relatively small amounts because the population was low, and could decompose naturally and safely within the soil. Healthy soil contains a vast number of microbes and organisms that thrive on organic material.

But burgeoning populations have changed this. Waste produced by humans is now an immense problem. Not only is there a waste issue, but human activities have caused soil pollution and degradation that kills soil microbes or impairs their capacity to process organic matter.

Dog poo is considered an environmental hazard. This is a consequence of its composition. It is comprised of three-quarters water plus undigested food including carbohydrates, fibre, proteins, and fats from the dog’s digestive system. Also present are a wide range of resident bacteria that are needed for digestion.

If dogs are infected with worms, or other disease-causing microbes, these can be present in their poo. Left on the street, dog poo is washed into waterways, creating a potential health hazard. Once pathogenic microbes from the poo get into waterways, they can find their way into other living things – including humans.

People also don’t like dog poo because of its smell. This is due to the volatile products produced by microbes in the gut that are involved in the digestion process. More than 100 different chemicals that could contribute to the bad smell have been identified.

The author’s pup, in a garden he helped fertilise. Author provided

Because poo smells bad we avoid dealing with it. Local councils offer plastic bags at parks and other public places to encourage dog owners to collect the poo. Bins, sometimes specifically for dog waste, are often placed nearby so the smelly package can be discarded as soon as possible.

But this is not the best solution, because ultimately the dog poo ends up going to landfill, contributing to our ongoing problem of waste accumulation.

Read more: Explainer: how much landfill does Australia have?

Why dog poo can become a nutrient

Rather than becoming a pollutant, dog poo can become a nutrient for your garden, by being composted in your backyard.

If you have a garden you can make your own compost bin by adding the dog poo to grass clippings, plant or other organic waste, and even sawdust as a source of food for the microbes. The microbes then break down the organic material into humus. During this process the temperature in the compost mixture rises to 50-60℃. Over time, the heat will kill most canine bacteria, as they are adapted to live at lower temperatures in the dog’s gut.

Compost contains billions of microbes per gram of material and competition from these (as well as the environmental conditions of the compost that are very different from the dog digestive system) assist in promoting destruction of pathogenic canine microbes, if present.

The compost needs to be turned over weekly to ensure uniform composing and oxygenation. Over days or weeks the temperature in the compost drops, indicating when the decomposition process is complete.

Then it’s time to use your compost to improve your garden!

A couple of dog-do dont’s:

• Don’t include waste from unknown dogs or from dogs that show signs of disease

• Avoid using it on vegetables for human consumption.

If you live in an apartment and don’t have a garden or access to green waste, you can still compost dog poo and use the product. There are small compost bins commercially available for this purpose. Composted material from these can be used on your outdoor or indoor plants.

Read more: Do dogs have feelings?

And if you don’t have any indoor plants, then you should think about getting some, as they can cut down on ozone in the air and even reduce indoor pollution.

– ref. Don’t waste your dog’s poo – compost it – http://theconversation.com/dont-waste-your-dogs-poo-compost-it-107603

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Pitman, Senior Researcher Fellow, Curtin University

This is a longer read at just over 1,300 words. Enjoy!

In 2018, the relationship between the Australian higher education sector and the federal government finished as it began: with the announcements of more funding cuts.

In between these financial bookends, the sector experienced somewhat of a culture war revival. Debate raged over Western civilisation values, academic freedom and what research was considered to be in the national interest.

We begin with a funding cut in late 2017

In late 2017, the federal government announced that funding for Commonwealth-supported places in 2018 would be capped at 2017 levels. This decision was designed to limit increases to higher education spending without needing to repeal the demand-driven system, a bill that the government believed might not pass the Senate.

Institutions could continue to enrol as many students as they wished. But they would not be funded for the extra numbers.

Unsurprisingly, the sector reacted angrily to the A$2.1 billion in cuts, warning these “would result in a smaller share of Australians having the chance of a university education in future”.

Protesters gathered in Adelaide early this year to protest the government’s cuts to university funding. David Mariuz/AAP

In response, the government argued the freeze was necessary to ensure the viability of the sector so “future generations also get to go to university with no upfront fees”.

Almost one year on, the actual impact of the funding freeze is not yet clear. This is because official enrolment figures for 2018 will not be released until 2019.

Furthermore, as some universities had already made strategic decisions on future enrolment levels, it may take some time for the effects to fully flow through the system – should a future government not reverse the cuts.

Academic freedom … again

Money aside, two words sum up a year’s worth of interaction between the government and the Australian higher education sector: “academic freedom”.

In reality, this is a perennial debate. The only thing that changes from year to year is what issue will be the tinder and where the spark will come from.

In 2018, there were two primary sources. The first had its roots in a cultural battle dating back to 2011, when Tony Abbott – then opposition leader and future prime minister – reportedly started discussing with billionaire Paul Ramsay the possibility of funding a Western civilisation university program based around reading the “great books” of the tradition.

Former prime minister John Howard speaking at the launch of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation in Sydney. Peter Rae/AAP

The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation was established in March 2017. In early 2018, negotiations began with the Australian National University (ANU) to develop and run course offerings.

From the outset critics of the program saw it as an ideological rather than educational venture. In evidence, they pointed to Abbott’s own statements, such as:

The key to understanding the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation is that it’s not merely about Western civilisation but in favour of it.

Concerns about the erosion of academic freedom and standards were raised and eventually ANU withdrew from negotiations, stating:

… alarm bells rang … as the Ramsay Centre continued to propose amendments to the evolving draft MOU, which amounted to more and more control over key academic matters.

Responding to this, Liberal Senator James Paterson called for universities to face fines for failing to uphold free speech. He argued financial penalties “would go some way to preventing the ‘administrative cowardice’ behind the Australian National University’s decision”.

The Ramsay Centre turned to the University of Sydney to host the program. A name change to the course was offered, but the same concerns arose.

The issue simmered throughout the latter half of the year until December, when the University of Wollongong announced it would host the centre. Wollongong academics immediately criticised the decision. The issue is almost certain to percolate into and beyond 2019.

Read more: The concept of ‘Western civilisation’ is past its use-by date in university humanities departments

Ministerial intervention in research grants

While the Ramsay Centre issue revolved around the control exerted by private funders over higher education teaching, the second issue inflaming the culture wars debate in 2018 concerned taxpayer-funded research.

In October, many Australian scholars were outraged to discover the former federal education minister, Simon Birmingham, had personally intervened to reject several Australian Research Council (ARC) funding grants.

The ARC is one of the peak bodies for allocating research funds and being awarded an ARC research grant is akin to winning Olympic gold for many scholars. It’s not an overstatement to say that, in many cases, academic careers are made or broken by grants (or lack thereof) won through the ARC.

The fact that all the grants Birmingham had rejected were humanities projects didn’t go unnoticed. Attacking the decisions, ALP Senator Kim Carr tweeted:

In support of his decision, Birmingham argued:

I‘m pretty sure most Australian taxpayers preferred their funding to be used for research other than spending A$223,000 on projects like ‘Post orientalist arts of the Strait of Gibraltar’.

Many peak academic, research and teaching organisations issued denunciations of Birmingham’s action. They pointed out not only had the peer-reviewed funding recommendations been overturned, the researchers in question had not been told this was due to ministerial veto (as opposed, for example, to reasons of academic rigour or the quality of the research).

The public universities called on the new federal education minister, Dan Tehan, to follow expert advice and not veto any grants in the future. Tehan declined to offer this assurance, but said he would instruct the ARC to let researchers know in the future when the minister had vetoed their grant.

Read more: Simon Birmingham’s intervention in research funding is not unprecedented, but dangerous

Australian universities rated on freedom of speech

The year-long debate surrounding academic freedom culminated in a report released in December by the Institute for Public Affairs (IPA). It rated each Australian university in terms of policies specifically enacted to protect free speech and/or policies hostile to free speech on campus.

The report headlined 35 out of Australia’s 42 universities were “red-rated” for policies and actions hostile to free speech on campus. This, said the IPA, was an increase from 33 in 2016 and 34 in 2017.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott speaking to an Institute of Public Affairs audience in Sydney. Mick Tsikas/AAP

Critics of the report, including Glyn Davis, the former vice-chancellor of Melbourne University, responded that the report was US-centric and not reflective of the Australian experience. On the wider issue of academic freedom, Davis noted that many times cases were offered as evidence of wider trends without providing evidence for those trends. He clarified that the separate issues of academic freedom and freedom of speech are frequently conflated.

More coal in university Christmas stockings

And finally, just as it did the year before, the government’s midyear budget update previewed a further A$328.5 million in funding cuts, this time to university research. The government claimed this would allow it to allocate additional spending for teaching at regional universities. But Universities Australia labelled it a “ram raid”.

Read more: MYEFO rips A$130 million per year from research funding despite budget surplus

So, higher education policy in 2018 was mostly about arguments over money and academic freedom. Then again, there’s nothing new in that.

Recommended reading from The Conversation in 2018

Read more: To fix higher education funding, we also need to fix vocational education

Read more: The typical university student is no longer 18, middle-class and on campus – we need to change thinking on ‘drop-outs’

Read more: Six things Labor’s review of tertiary education should consider

Read more: Vice Chancellor Barney Glover says universities must stand up for facts and the truth – ‘if we don’t, who will?’

– ref. Higher education policy in 2018: Culture wars reignite, but in the end it’s all about the money – http://theconversation.com/higher-education-policy-in-2018-culture-wars-reignite-but-in-the-end-its-all-about-the-money-109080

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Ellison, Lecturer in Creative Industries, CQUniversity Australia

Australians flock to the beach over the summer holidays: Bondi alone had 2.9 million visitors in 2017 – 2018. But while tourism campaigns often portray the beach as an idyllic, isolated haven, many of our beach stories depict it as a darker, more crowded and complex place.

Here are ten Australian beach stories (in no particular order) worth reading this summer.

Floundering by Romy Ash

Romy Ash’s debut novel Floundering, shortlisted for the 2013 Miles Franklin award, is a captivating, sometimes chilling story of two young boys who are taken, without warning, by their mother to a beachside caravan park.

Left to their own devices, the boys must make the most of their time by the beach without anything but their school bags and uniforms.

The un-named regional beach in this novel is uncomfortable, “a location of risk and danger” as author Robert Drewe once described it, and sometimes reveals the worst ways in which nature and humanity meet. It’s a refuge for people looking to escape from city life, a stark comparison to more urbanised beaches.

Puberty Blues by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey

When I tell people that I research the Australian beach, often their first response is to ask if I’ve watched Puberty Blues. Perhaps Australia’s most iconic beach text, the book (first published in 1979) is the story of two friends growing up in beachside suburbs of Sydney. It was adapted for film by Bruce Beresford in 1981.

Both the book and film, with their characteristic colloquialisms and Australian slang, capture a sense of Australian coastal identity while revealing uncomfortable truths about gender, sex, and drugs for the teenagers they depict.

Australian stories about the beach are often male-centred and written by men. Puberty Blues is an important contribution to beach literature because of Debbie and Sue, its female protagonists, and their perspectives on a blokey world.

Time’s Long Ruin by Stephen Orr

In 1966, the three Beaumont children disappeared from Glenelg Beach near Adelaide. They were last seen in the company of a tall, blond man. Despite continued searching, even earlier this year, they have never been found.

Time’s Long Ruin (2010) is a fictionalised account of the disappearance of three children as told through the eyes of their young neighbour. Loosely based on the Beaumont story, Orr captures the dread of the aftermath for those left behind who knew and loved the children, the challenge of dealing with false leads and unreliable information, and the growing realisation that they will likely never be found.

The case of the Beaumont children had an enormous impact on Australian culture. My mother, who was a young girl when they disappeared, still recalls how her parents would worry about her momentarily being out of sight at the beach at this time.

Breath by Tim Winton

Breath, published in 2008, earned Tim Winton his fourth Miles Franklin award and was recently adapted into a film, directed by and starring Simon Baker.

On the surface, this novel is about surfing. But it asks deep questions about masculinity, and boys’ attitudes towards sex, while capturing the feel of Australian coastal life in the 1970s.

Winton’s writings often engage with the ocean, the coast, and the beach – usually in West Australia, where he lives. His memoirs have revealed his love for the coastal landscape. As he writes in Land’s Edge (1993): “There is nowhere else I’d rather be, nothing else I’d rather be doing. I am at the beach looking west with the continent behind me as the sun tracks down to the sea. I have my bearings”.

The Empty Beach by Peter Corris

Peter Corris died in August, after publishing 102 novels. The Empty Beach (1983) was released early in his career and is the fourth novel featuring the private investigator Cliff Hardy – a homegrown, hard-boiled detective, firmly located in Sydney. It was adapted for film in 1985.

In this book, Hardy is investigating the disappearance of John Singer, missing and presumed dead. He begins his probe in the rough, working class Bondi of the early 1980s. Corris captures Bondi Beach through the eyes of his protagonist, depicting it as a seedy extension of the city.

Hassled by junkies, threatened by mobsters; Hardy spends much of the novel embroiled in the corrupt underbelly of Sydney’s criminal kingpins, never far from the now infamous shoreline.

The True Colour of the Sea, by Robert Drewe

Having lived in many coastal spots across the country, including Perth, Sydney, and Byron Bay, Robert Drewe’s stories regularly capture that very familiar, domestic sense of a beachside life.

Drewe’s The Bodysurfers (1987), a collection of short stories, became a bestseller.

His memoirs and short stories are all infused by the beach landscape, and this latest collection is no different.

As the narrator writes in Dr Pacific, the opening story in his new collection: “One thing’s for sure – it’s my love of the ocean that keeps me going. You know what I call the ocean? Dr Pacific. All I need to keep me fit and healthy is my daily consultation with Dr Pacific.”

Atomic City by Sally Breen

Sally Breen lives and works on the Gold Coast, and that strip of high density development on the beach works its way into much of her writing.

With its high rise skyline under a big sky, Surfers Paradise has been called a “pleasure dome” by Frank Moorhouse. But Atomic City (published in 2013), set largely in the lofty apartment buildings and businesses that abut, and look out on, the beach, captures perfectly the grift and graft of this place.

Jade arrives on the Gold Coast to make herself over and get rich. Together with shady croupier “The Dealer” this is a beach tale of cons, scams and identity theft.

Not Meeting Mr Right by Anita Heiss

Prominent Australian Indigenous author Anita Heiss straddles both fiction and non-fiction, with her work often grounded in ideas around Indigenous identity. Her series of “chick lit” novels includes Not Meeting Mr Right (first published in 2007).

In the novel, Alice lives beachside in Coogee and regularly walks the coastal path between it and Bondi. A proudly single, Indigenous woman, Alice has a change of heart about marriage and decides to get serious about settling down – which means embarking on the rocky road towards finding love. In contrast to the challenges – including racism – she encounters along the way, the beach is a comfortably ordinary presence in this novel. However, Heiss also parodied the white Australian beach experience in an earlier book Sacred Cows (1996).

After January by Nick Earls

If you grew up in Brisbane when I did, there was a high chance you were reading a Nick Earls novel or seeing one adapted into a play. After January (first published in 1996) is one of Earls’ first works for young adult readers, and is set in the long break after finishing high school.

Alex is on holidays at Caloundra in his family’s beach house, a teenage boy uncomfortable in his skin but comfortable in the ocean. Although now more than 20 years old, this story still captures the uncertainty of burgeoning adulthood and the comfort the ocean can bring.

Bluebottle by Belinda Castles

For many Australians, the beach can be wrapped up in childhood memory. These memories can blend and blur. In my mind, my summers spent at the beach with my grandparents were never-ending, from the moment school finished until the day before I was set to return. In reality, we spent some time there, often weekends, and certainly never the entire school holidays.

Belinda Castles’ Bluebottle tells the story of the Bright family, and is filled with that uncomfortable tension that arises when we realise memory is fallible. Siblings Jack and Lou recount key moments from their childhood, starting with the disappearance of a local school girl and their father’s unpredictable purchase of a beachside property in Bilgola, Sydney. However, they learn that growing older can change perspectives on the past and, like the beach, it can be hard to tell what’s under the surface while the waves distort our view.

– ref. Ten great Australian beach reads set at the beach – http://theconversation.com/ten-great-australian-beach-reads-set-at-the-beach-108083

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael J. I. Brown, Associate professor in astronomy, Monash University

Our senses are stuck in the past. There’s a flash of lightning, and then seconds pass until we hear the rumble of distant thunder. We hear the past.

We are seeing into the past too.

While sound travels about a kilometre every three seconds, light travels 300,000 kilometres every second. When we see a flash of lighting three kilometres away, we are seeing something that happened a hundredth of a millisecond ago. That’s not exactly the distant past.

Read more: Curious Kids: Are there living things on different galaxies?

But as we look further afield, we can peer further back. We can see seconds, minutes, hours and years into the past with our own eyes. Looking through a telescope, we can look even further into the past.

A second back in time

If you really want to look back in time, you need to look up.

When we look at the Moon, we are seeing it as it was just over a second ago. ESO/G.Hüdepohl, CC BY

The Moon is our nearest celestial neighbour – a world with valleys, mountains and craters.

It’s also about 380,000km away, so it takes 1.3 seconds for light to travel from the Moon to us. We see the Moon not as it is, but as it was 1.3 seconds ago.

The Moon doesn’t change much from instant to instant, but this 1.3-second delay is perceptible when mission control talks to astronauts on the Moon. Radio waves travel at the speed of light, so a message from mission control takes 1.3 seconds to get to the Moon, and even the quickest of replies takes another 1.3 seconds to come back.

Radio communications to the Moon have a perceptible time delay.

Minutes and hours

It’s not hard to look beyond the Moon and further back in time. The Sun is about 150 million km away, so we see it as it was about 8 minutes ago.

Even our nearest planetary neighbours, Venus and Mars, are tens of millions of kilometres away, so we see them as they were minutes ago. When Mars is very close to Earth, we are seeing it as it was about three minutes ago, but at other times light takes more than 20 minutes to travel from Mars to Earth.

The light travel time from Mars to Earth changes as the distance to Mars changes. NASA, ESA, and Z. Levay (STScI), CC BY

This presents some problems if you’re on Earth controlling a Rover on Mars. If you’re driving the Rover at 1km per hour then the lag, due to the finite speed of light, means the rover could be 200 metres ahead of where you see it, and it could travel another 200 metres after you command it to hit the brakes.

Not surprisingly, Martian Rovers aren’t breaking any speed records, travelling at 5cm per second (0.18kph or 0.11mph), and on-board computers help with driving, to prevent rover wrecks.

The finite speed of light presents some challenges for driving on Mars. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Let’s go a bit further out in space. At its closest to Earth, Saturn is still more than a billion kilometres away, so we see it as it was more than an hour ago.

When the world tuned into the Cassini spacecraft’s plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere in 2017, we were hearing echos from a spacecraft that had already been destroyed more than an hour before.

Years

The night sky is full of stars, and those stars are incredibly distant. The distances are measured in light years, which corresponds to the distance travelled by light in one year. That’s about 9 trillion km.

Alpha Centauri, the nearest star visible to the unaided eye, is at a distance 270,000 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. That’s 4 light years, so we see Alpha Centauri as it was 4 years ago.

Some of the brightest stars in the sky are hundreds of light years away. Y Beletsky (LCO)/ESO, CC BY

Some bright stars are much more distant still. Betelgeuse, in the constellation Orion, is about 640 light years away. If Betelgeuse exploded tomorrow (and it will explode one day), we wouldn’t know about it for centuries.

Even without a telescope we can see much much further. The Andromeda galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds are relatively nearby galaxies that are bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye.

The Large Magellanic cloud is a mere 160,000 light years away, while Andromeda is 2.5 million light years away. For comparison, modern humans have only walked the Earth for about 300,000 years.

As light moves at finite speed, we can see bursts of light echo off interstellar dust.

Billions

With the unaided eye you can look millions of years into the past, but how about billions? Well, you can do that at the eyepiece of an amateur telescope.

3C 273 can be seen with a small telescope despite being billions of light years away. ESA/Hubble & NASA, CC BY

Quasar 3C 273 is an incredibly luminous object, which is brighter than individual galaxies, and powered by a huge black hole.

But it’s 1,000 times fainter than what the unaided eye can see because it’s 2.5 billion light years away. That said, you can spot it with a 20cm aperture telescope.

A bigger telescope allows you to peer even further into space, and I once had the pleasure of using an eyepiece on a 1.5-metre diameter telescope. Quasar APM 08279+5255 was just a faint dot, which isn’t surprising as it’s 12 billion light years away.

Read more: An expanding universe and distant stars: tips on how to experience cosmology from your backyard

Earth is just 4.5 billion years old, and even the universe itself is 13.8 billion years old. Relatively few people have seen APM 08279+5255 with their own eyes, and in doing so they (and I) have looked back across almost the entire history of our universe.

With a big enough telescope you can see quasar APM 08279+5255 and look 12 billion years back in time. Sloan Digital Sky Survey, CC BY

So when you look up, remember you aren’t seeing things as they are now; you’re seeing things as they were.

Without really trying, you can see years into the past. And with the aid of a telescope you can see millions or even billions of years into the past with your very own eyes.

– ref. When you look up, how far back in time do you see? – http://theconversation.com/when-you-look-up-how-far-back-in-time-do-you-see-101176

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Papathomas, Senior Lecturer Sport and Exercise Psychology, Loughborough University

Women have long been subject to powerful social pressures to look a certain way. The “feminine ideal” – a svelte female figure – has dominated film, television and magazine culture.

The result is a narrow idea of what feminine beauty should look like and an associated crisis in body satisfaction.

The dominance of the feminine ideal has led to a body satisfaction crisis for many women. Mike Nelson/AAP

In recent years an “athletic ideal” – characterised by muscle tone and power – has emerged as an alternative conception of beauty. Female bodies on the track are as appealing as those on the catwalk.

This might be considered a good thing – a broader definition of beauty is more inclusive. More accepted body types, more body satisfaction, right?

From the perspective of former athletes, it’s a little more complicated than that.

Athletes are a useful population to explore in terms of the relationship between “athletic” and “feminine” ideals – they are exposed to both more than most women.

A recent study of 218 former athletes showed they found body image a difficult terrain to navigate. Gymnasts and swimmers, retired for between two and six years, were asked to identify what body changes they noticed, how they felt about them and how they coped.

Some former athletes embraced a new, less muscular body that emerged due to the retirement-induced reduction in training load.

Chelsea, a 26-year-old retired swimmer, commented:

Lost most of the heavier muscle I gained while training in college about six months after I stopped swimming. Due to the loss, I dropped about 15–20 pounds… I was surprised at how baggy my clothes felt and was pleasantly surprised that I could fit in smaller sizes. I didn’t feel as bulky or broad-shouldered.

With bulk and brawn confined to her former life, Chelsea rejoices in her increased sense of femininity. This suggests traditional conventions of feminine beauty remain the preference even for former athletes who often take pride in their physical strength and muscularity.

Read more: Size is largely in the mind: how your body image can change in two minutes

A stronger ideal doesn’t necessarily lead to a healthier body image. from shutterstuck.com

So, perhaps statements such as “strong is the new skinny” are overplayed and the feminine ideal remains powerful and difficult to resist.

Another finding was that the athletic ideal may be the alternative ideal, but it’s not necessarily a healthier ideal or one that will lead to a more positive body image.

Retired swimmer Abbey, 26, illustrated this point when she stated:

It took me a long time to realise that my body would never be what it was when I was an athlete… I still think back and use that image as a gauge to how I could look, but also know that my life does not revolve around working out 20-plus hours a week or needing to be in top shape to be successful. I still want to be as lean and as strong as I used to be.

Although Abbey remains committed to an athletic ideal, she is unable to fulfil it now she is no longer an athlete. Accepting this is a difficult process and she still pines for her former body.

An athletic ideal may not exclusively focus on thinness but it still demands stringent diets and training regimes and it has been linked to disordered eating and exercise behaviours.

Read more: Social media can damage body image – here’s how to counteract it

Ideals, by definition, aren’t healthy because they demand the unachievable: perfection.

Some athletes were torn between the athletic ideal and the feminine ideal, identifying with both and attempting to walk a tightrope between a sporty look and a feminine one.

Many former athletics walk a tightrope between a feminine and sporty body. from shutterstock.com

For example, former swimmer Simone, 26, reflected:

My weight is pretty much the same as when I was swimming, but I am significantly less muscular. I’m glad I am not as muscular as I was when I was swimming and that my shoulders shrunk to a size that would fit into clothes, but I would like to be a little more muscular/toned than I am now.

And 25-year-old Carrie, a retired gymnast, echoed the “toned but not too toned” mantra:

I am less muscular and my butt has gotten a little saggy. I feel OK because I am still thin and feel energetic, but I would like to be more toned but not as bulky (muscular) as I was when I was competing in my sport.

Carrie and Simone desired athletic tone but not at the expense of conventional femininity. At the same time, they sought the thin ideal but not at the expense of an athletic look.

The athletic and feminine ideal represent two contradictory masters; to serve one is to reject the other. Finding the middle ground necessary to appease both is an almost impossible task.

Read more: Children with facial difference have a lot to teach us about body image

It is naïve to view the athletic ideal as simply providing women with a different or new way to love their bodies; it might also provide a new way to hate them. The more ideals there are, the more ways there are to fall short.

Strong isn’t the new skinny quite yet. And, if it were, it would be nothing to brag about.

– ref. ‘Strong is the new skinny’ isn’t as empowering as it sounds – http://theconversation.com/strong-is-the-new-skinny-isnt-as-empowering-as-it-sounds-107703

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edmund Goh, Deputy Director, Markets and Services Research Centre, Edith Cowan University

Many Australians will take a trip to one of our national parks over the holidays. In New South Wales alone, there are more than 51 million visits to national parks each year. Few if any of us would expect not to make it out of one alive.

But national parks claim lives around the world every year. In the United States, an average of 160 visitors each year die in a national park. Australia’s numbers are unsurprisingly smaller – there have been 13 deaths in national parks since 2013 – but the common theme is that these fatalities are usually avoidable.

Wherever death and injury are avoidable, it pays to alert people to the dangers. In Australia the main risks – falling off cliffs and waterfalls, deadly snakebites, getting lost – can all be reduced by one crucial piece of advice: stick to the path.

Read more: Good signage in national parks can save lives. Here’s how to do it right

It sounds simple enough. But in fact, visitors failing to heed advice about walking trails is a significant problem for national park managers. Venturing off-trail poses significant danger to visitors, and puts unnecessary strain on emergency services and police.

Our 2017 study was the first to gather some hard numbers on the reasons why people tend to disobey the signs. We surveyed 325 visitors at Blue Mountains National Park on their attitudes to off-trail walking.

So, what’s behind our compulsion to get off the beaten track? First, 30% of respondents told us that off-trail walking can result in a shorter or easier walking route, whereas 20% said straying from the path can afford a closer look at nature.

Second, visitors are heavily influenced by other visitors and friends – the “monkey see, monkey do” effect. They are much more likely to leave the track if they see someone else do it first.

It might make for a great photo, but the dangers are obvious. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

Third, in the absence of a handy toilet, many visitors venture off-trail for a private “comfort break”.

Finally, visitors rely heavily on signage to help them stay on the designated trail. Some 13% of our survey respondents said they would venture off-trail if there was a lack of adequate signs.

What might change our behaviour?

There are several tactics park authorities can use to reduce off-trail walking at national parks. They can use direct management techniques such as capping site capacity to avoid congestion – basically, regulating the maximum number of walkers in a given area, so the paths don’t feel too congested. They may consider zoning orders to permit or limit certain events to control capacity.

Ropes or low barriers along the walking trail can give a clear indication of the trail’s boundary. Of course, there is a fine balance between building structural barriers and maintaining the feeling of natural wilderness in a park.

Social media marketing might also work well. Suggested slogans such as “A true mate sticks to the trail” or “Be safe and stay on the trail with your mates” might help influence visitors’ behaviour. Park visitors are ever more connected to social media – Parks Australia’s social media channels reach an estimated 30 million people.

Signs should also let walkers know exactly what they are getting themselves into, by posting clearly the length and typical duration of walking tracks, and the distance to popular destinations such as lookout points. These signs should be posted both at the beginning of trails at at intervals along it, particularly at junctions or river crossings.

Read more: Our national parks must be more than playgrounds or paddocks

When it comes to our national parks it’s best to assume that, as with most things in life, humans will look for alternatives to what is expected. It’s human nature to want to bend the rules in what we might wrongly think is a harmless way.

Bushwalking in a national park is a great way to spend some time this summer. But when going off-trail could turn a tranquil walk into a deadly accident, it pays to stay on the beaten track.

– ref. Stick to the path, and stay alive in national parks this summer – http://theconversation.com/stick-to-the-path-and-stay-alive-in-national-parks-this-summer-108062

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Natasha Wardman, Lecturer, School of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University

If we think back to our own childhood days, most of us would agree making good friends in primary school was not always an easy task. Sometimes friendship occurred out of convenience or survival when there was a limited number of peers to choose from. Sometimes friendship was a utility to be bought and sold through the transaction of lollies or other interesting lunchbox snacks.

Sometimes friendship developed through shared interests and extra-curricular activities. But the friendships found to stand the test of time are those that work to enhance both lives through a mutual sense of humour, empathy, honesty, loyalty, trust and respect.

Read more: Young people value diversity, humour and honesty in their friendships – new research

From this perspective, the best type of friendship is not based on utility, pleasure or convenience which may dissolve over time, but rather the character or virtues of both people. Such friendship needs to be given freely (rather than forced), reciprocal (rather than one-sided), and recognise the virtues both people contribute in getting to know each other and themselves more deeply.

What is developmentally normal?

From a psychological perspective, there are five stages of social competence that influence the formation of friendships:

1. stage one (three to seven years) involves momentary friendship with whoever is in close proximity
2. stage two (four to nine years) involves one-way friendship with someone who can help us achieve our own goals
3. stage three (six to 12 years) involves reciprocal friendship, but only under specific conditions
4. stage four (11-15 years) involves mutually close and supportive friendship
5. stage five (12 to adulthood) involves friendship which respects the autonomy of each individual even though they may share similar interests and deeper feelings.

From a sociological perspective, friendship is not a series of biologically determined hoops children are expected to jump through in sequential order. Children draw on social strategies to resist or create their own peer culture in ways that may differ from adult expectations. They don’t simply mimic adult socialisation.

Making friends in schools with more cultural diversity can minimise the risk of peer victimisation. from www.shutterstock.com

Yet, the members of select cliques still define what’s considered normal or acceptable within this peer culture. In fact, being chosen as friends by those of equal or higher peer status can decrease the risk of peer victimisation.

Given such complexity in friendship formation, it’s not surprising many parents are concerned with how their children can make quality friendships in primary school. Particularly as research has found a positive link between high-quality friendships and better academic results. They also experience less stress from peer exclusion.

So, if high-quality friendships are important for student academic results and stress reduction, what can parents and teachers do to facilitate this?

What parents can do

A magic formula doesn’t exist, but there are some general evidence-based strategies that have proven to assist in friendship formation without the risk of “bonsai parenting” (where parents over-nurture their children) or “bubble-wrapping” children. These include:

• sending your child to a more culturally diverse school where no ethnic group represents the majority of the population and there is a lower risk of visibility and peer victimisation
• encouraging your child to participate in school-based extra-curricular activities such as sport, creative arts or youth groups where they have the opportunity to broaden their social networks
• organising play dates with peers who are socially competent and have similar interests to your child
• supporting your child’s own strategies for making friends at school such as observing peers, making or accepting requests to play, initiating or participating in clubs or teams and intervening to include others.

Sometimes we’re lucky enough to maintain friendships all the way through adulthood. from www.shutterstock.com

What teachers can do

Given the large amount of time students spend at school, teachers also have a role to play in supporting students to make and maintain positive friendships through:

• explicitly teaching interpersonal skills such as expressing opinions in constructive ways, respecting difference, and caring about the feelings of others
• providing time, space and opportunities for students to work or play with others, identify new friends and maintain their own existing friendships
• being aware of peer culture and attuned to changes, tensions and exclusions in student friendship groups in the classroom or on the playground
• creating a safe space where children can discuss friendship issues such as regular “circle time”.

Read more: Nice guys finish first: empathetic boys attract more close female friends

How to work through ending friendships in primary school

Sometimes we’re lucky enough to maintain friendships as we transition from primary to secondary school (and beyond). Research has shown this may have a positive effect on academic performance and mental health.

But sometimes we grow out of friendships as we evolve in different directions and our values and interests change. There may be times when friendships need to be dissolved if they breach our trust and/or damage our well-being. Children as well as adults, need to know when and how to dissolve such friendships and how to work through any sense of loss that may result.

– ref. Making friends in primary school can be tricky. Here’s how parents and teachers can help – http://theconversation.com/making-friends-in-primary-school-can-be-tricky-heres-how-parents-and-teachers-can-help-107609

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Hu, Professor, Faculty of Arts and Design & Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra

The new economy and new technology are changing Canberra’s city centre, Walter Burley Griffin’s design legacy of 100 years ago. While the central area is becoming an innovation precinct and a dynamic place, it comes with a cost of social gentrification and unaffordability.

In Griffin’s design for Canberra, the city centre was planned to be a lively business centre with high-density retailing and commercial uses. The original idea included a citywide tram network supported by higher-density development along the corridors. City Hill was intended to be a heart for the city’s citizens.

Griffin’s vision was not truly fulfilled, however.

Read more: Friday essay: how to fix Parliament House – what about some neighbours?

The knowledge cluster effect

The new economy seems to provide an opportunity unforeseen by Griffin to revitalise the city centre.

Canberra is a knowledge city, despite its comparatively small population and employment sector. Knowledge is Canberra’s industry.

According to the Australian 2016 Census data, the city centre – known as the Civic – has the highest concentration of knowledge workers in the Canberra region (Figure 1). They are transforming the city centre’s functions, activities and spatial uses and pattern.

Figure 1. Spatial distribution of knowledge workers in Canberra. ABS 2016 Census

Read more: The Knowledge City Index: Sydney takes top spot but Canberra punches above its weight

The transformation of city centres is a global phenomenon. It is happening in major Australian capital cities.

Canberra presents an extreme case to illustrate this point, as a planned city known for being a “bush capital” with suburban sprawl. The city of just over 400,000 people has an area of more than 800 square kilometres. But its compact centre is becoming more important in a globalised and networked society.

The city centre is more than a geographical or spatial centre. Its “centrality” is cultural, social, political and economical. Canberra’s city centre, a Modernist planning legacy, now exists in a setting of multiple global and local forces. These forces are intersecting with economic restructuring, ubiquitous information technology, knowledge diffusion and people movement.

As a result, the city centre is becoming more “centralised”: it is a cluster of functions, a magnet of activities.

The knowledge work and workers are reshaping the use of spaces and the public realm in the city centre. Innovation activities require more interaction and exchange, more access to public space and amenities, and more spatial and temporal flexibility. They are blurring the conventional division of land uses and space uses and challenging the old ways of design thinking.

One spatial impact of the new economy is the growing presence and practice of smart work in Canberra’s city centre. Creative workers are sharing spaces and facilities.

A smart work hub in Canberra city centre.

Creatives are moving in

In Canberra’s city centre, more well-designed and medium-density dwellings are being built and provided to meet the needs of the new creative workers who work and live there.

Population growth rate year ended March 31 2018. ABS, CC BY

These creatives have impacts on both place and people. Canberra is growing fast, attracting people from interstate and internationally.

This growth includes large-scale movement of knowledge workers to the inner-city areas. The poorer socio-economic groups are being displaced from these areas.

People working as managers and professionals are moving into the increasingly desirable inner-city areas. As a result, rising housing and rental prices are pushing out existing inhabitants. According to Census 2016, nearly 1200 managers and professionals lived and worked in inner areas of Civic and Braddon, but only 170 technicians and labourers who worked there also lived there.

Urban renewal for everyone

While the precinct is becoming more dynamic and active, in contrast to people’s long-held (mis)perception of Canberra as a humdrum place, the change comes at a social cost. People on low incomes are dislocated and many young people, the most valuable capital for the city’s future, find the place increasingly unaffordable.

Thus, the very transformations that present opportunities for the city’s economic diversification and urban renewal also bring challenges in maintaining it as an equitable city.

Canberra’s urban renewal strategy should not embrace or celebrate the creative transformations only. It should also appropriately manage the social implications to genuinely make the city a place for everyone.

Read more: Canberra is 101 and Australia still hasn’t grown up

– ref. New creatives are remaking Canberra’s city centre, but at a social cost – http://theconversation.com/new-creatives-are-remaking-canberras-city-centre-but-at-a-social-cost-97322

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney

From ground-breaking to game-changing, rule-breaking to near parliament-breaking – 2018 has been a big year for TV makers and audiences. Here are some of the most memorable moments.

Doctor Who is finally a woman

What would the 1963 makers of the BBC’s Dr Who have made of television in 2018? They imagined aliens, other worlds and alternate realities, but it took 55 years to imagine a woman in the show’s title role.

Despite some hesitation from a select group of die hards , the 13th Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, took the TARDIS to great effect this year. With a fantastic mix of innovation and respect for the show’s legacy, Whittaker and new showrunner Chris Chibnall have allowed Dr Who to explore known worlds from a new perspective.

Standout episodes included Rosa, in which The Doctor and her companions returned to civil rights era USA to meet Rosa Parks, and The Witchfinders, where The Doctor was caught up in the witch hunting season in Lancashire in the era of King James.

Hannah Gadsby shakes up stand up

Comedy specials have been niche television events for decades, especially championed by US cable outlets like HBO and Comedy Channel. With Netflix now in the mix, the scope for comedy has expanded, and through this global “post-television” network, alternative voices like Hannah Gadsby have found their people.

In Nanette, Gadsby rails against self-deprecating jokes, announces she’s quitting comedy, takes on the canon of Art History and exposes her own traumatic sexual abuse. All done while being funny as.

Praised by the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The Guardian and many others, Gadsby’s impact can be measured by the feathers she’s ruffled, too. Comedians like Jerry Seinfeld have had to take note of Gadsby’s ability to go beyond “have you ever wondered why” jokes, and her boldness has also earned her a reputation as a strong voice amid whatever comes after #MeToo. A game changer for comedy, for international on-demand television, and for those who hold power generally.

A Honey Badger breaks The Bachelor

Reality television is, of course, never real, but it’s amazing how many real feelings these shows can evoke. Who knew that a quest for true love, staged in front of a national commercial TV audience, made up of a casting call of pretty young things with little in common might be doomed to fail?

This year’s Australian season of the American franchise The Bachelor added some extra spice with footballer Nick “The Honey Badger” Cummins, who dropped as many ocker sayings as possible while taking his shirt off. After all that, he broke the rules of the game by refusing to choose one of the show’s potential mates – leaving it a case of all sizzle, no steak; and making the show’s producers look like they couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery. Cue outrage. Cue surprise. Cue discussions about the spin off series.

Parliament House – the soap opera

Backstabbing! Affairs! Denials of knowledge about constitutional citizenship requirements! While politicians all over the world have made for extreme television watching this year, Canberra has been particularly spicy in 2018.

There was Barnaby Joyce airing his dirty laundry in the first half of the year for a reported $150,000. Meanwhile the dual citizenship saga, first sparked by Greens senator Scott Ludlam’s resignation in July 2017, continued. It ate up public funds and airtime.

The show that keeps spinning sequels, “Leadership spill”, continued in August, with Scott Morrison snatching the top job from Malcolm Turnbull. A program that the Australian people are increasingly getting sick of – and it was a shame to see Julie Bishop leave the show.

A royal wedding that’s actually interesting

The marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was a guilty TV pleasure for many, but also an important historical moment. Television has been a fundamental part of how the British Royal Family is understood (and tolerated) since 1957 when The Queen made her first televised Christmas address. The 2018 showstopper was not the bride’s dress or groom’s nod to his still beloved mother, but rather the sermon by Bishop Michael Curry and The Kingdom Choir’s version of Stand By Me.

Here the former oppressed and oppressors met and were brought together by what was an undeniably very sweet event. While there was some apparent uncomfortableness from certain members of the Royal Family, it was captivating viewing for those watching at home in tiaras and pyjamas.

Honourable mentions include the resignation of SBS newsreader and style icon Lee Lin Chin; American actor Roseanne fired from her own sitcom in a show of zero racism tolerance; ABC sketch show Tonightly coming, growing, then getting cut; (men’s) cricket being “ruined” by a ball tampering scandal and subsequent weepy press conferences; and NBC/Netflix’s The Good Place continuing to show that network sitcoms can be clever, philosophical, and still wonderfully funny.

– ref. Hannah Gadsby, a royal wedding and a female doctor: in 2018, TV got a shake up – http://theconversation.com/hannah-gadsby-a-royal-wedding-and-a-female-doctor-in-2018-tv-got-a-shake-up-109068

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, ARC DECRA Fellow, Australian National University

2018 has been miserable in so many respects, yet it ends with hope, and from the least expected quarter: the Australian cricket team.

Australian cricket and Australian public life have declined in tandem over the past few years, dragged down by the same bogies. Their tempers became foul, the mindset and rhetoric malign, and winning at all costs, driven by a voracious hunger for money, became everything.

People with decent values had their stomachs turned. We turned off the cricket, and turned away from the Liberal and National parties, which have been, and look set to continue, getting the electoral hidings of their lives.

Then summer arrived and with it, the touring Indian Test team. The Adelaide Test was engaging. The unexpectedly tight, clean contest kept us – and this felt surprising – watching just another over, and then another, until we surprised ourselves even more by watching the whole match.

Read more: Australian cricket’s wake-up call on a culture that has cost it dearly

Who were these batsmen? Most of the surnames were barely known. Some looked barely old enough to shave. They were fresh-faced, unpocked by the pestilence that marked the big, old and now ugly names of Australian cricket tarnished by a toxic sledging culture and, in the case of former captain Steve Smith and former vice-captain David Warner, outright cheating that shamed the nation.

Travis Head from the little South Australian country town of Gawler, north of Adelaide, embodied this new moment in Australian cricket. The young left-hander walked onto Adelaide Oval with boyish hope quietly written on his face that he could make a century for his country playing on his home ground for the first time in only his third Test match ever. He top-scored in the first innings with a fighting 72. When he walked from the field, one felt like giving him a hug and telling him not to drop his head – to keep it high. He had done well, played cleanly, made the country proud.

Australian batman Travis Head celebrates another half-century in the second Test in Perth. AAP/Dave Hunt

Some of the reportage around Head created what seemed like a wormhole into a previous Australia. His family and friends were concerned about the train timetable between Gawler and Adelaide, and whether it meant they would have to stay overnight in Adelaide so as not to miss any play. Could they afford it if they had to? That Australia still exists, and to hear it discussed in the context of the glittering, money-soaked world of international cricket was just the sort of philosophical corrective of which it needs more.

The Australian fightback to nearly win the Adelaide Test from an apparently hopeless position was another surprise, the kind that brought us back to the second Test at the new Perth Stadium. The Perth wicket was an enigma: playing up then quietening down in an unpredictable pattern, keeping bowlers and batsmen on their mettle and interest high. As commentator and former England cricketer Isa Guha said, the Perth wicket had its own entire narrative in the game.

And that was another pleasant surprise, the normalisation of women commentators mixed in with the usual wall of men: Isa Guha on Foxtel, and presenter Mel McLaughlin, former Australian Test player Lisa Sthalekar and regular BBC cricket commentator Alison Mitchell on the Seven Network.

Tone really matters. Australian captain Tim Paine is the man of the hour. While the male cricket commentators gush over Virat Kohli, Paine is the one showing outstanding leadership in the best Australian tradition rather than the ugly one. He is getting little recognition for it.

The fact is, Paine is a better captain than Steve Smith ever was. The team is in good psychological shape and his pleasant, matter-of-fact persona doesn’t detract from an unequivocal competitiveness that delivered a convincing Australian win in the second Test.

Kohli looked ridiculous with his machismo-driven attempted chest bump when India couldn’t overwhelm the Australian batting line-up at Perth. Paine was magnificent, refusing to take the bait and instead just getting on with an emphatic win.

Compare and contrast with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s embarrassing performance on his visit to Australian troops in Iraq just before Christmas. “So how good’s the 7th Brigade?” he posed, both thumbs up Trump-style, to 7th Brigade ADF troops assembled uncomfortably for a prime ministerial picture opportunity.

Read more: The day Australian cricket lost its integrity and a country reacted with shock and anger

Reluctant to be revved up, US-style, in Morrison’s political interest, they gave him a delayed and barely audible murmur in reply. “That wasn’t a very enthusiastic response!”’ he boomed back, raising his thumbs and his volume higher to demand again, forcefully: “How good is the 7th Brigade?”

Australians don’t like forced rah-rah. We don’t like cheats and clowns either. If the Australian cricket team can unexpectedly regenerate, after public revulsion made the wrongdoers pay a proper price and forced a clean-out of the administration that pushed them down the wrong path, maybe there is hope for Australian politics too. Happy Boxing Day and here’s to a good New Year.

– ref. From the ashes of shame arises an Australian men’s cricket team to make us proud – http://theconversation.com/from-the-ashes-of-shame-arises-an-australian-mens-cricket-team-to-make-us-proud-107423

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tanya Latty, Senior Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney

This is an article from Curious Kids, a series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome: find out how to enter at the bottom. You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.

How do ants make their own medicine? Thank you. – Anuva, age 5, Montreal.

Wow, what a wonderful question!

Ants are amazing animals. Even though they have brains smaller than a grain of sand, they know how to use chemicals in their environment to make themselves feel better when they are ill.

Read more: Curious Kids: Why do flies vomit on their food?

How ants get sick

If an ant touches the spores (which are like seeds) of a fungus called Beauveria bassiana the fungus begins to grow inside their bodies. Soon, they grow very sick.

This moth got very sick and died because of a fungus called Beauveria bassiana, which is the white stuff. flickr/MK – fotky, CC BY

Ants can cure themselves by drinking small amounts of a chemical that kills the fungus. The chemical is called hydrogen peroxide.

Hydrogen peroxide is found in two things many ants love to eat: nectar and honey dew. Nectar comes from flowers and honeydew is a sweet liquid made by tiny insects called aphids. Ants even like to collect aphids and keep them in little aphid farms.

These ants are tending to their aphids in their aphid farm. Flickr/Judy Gallagher, CC BY

Scientists think sick ants in nature sometimes choose to drink nectar or honeydew that contains higher amounts of hydrogen peroxide.

A science experiment

You might be wondering how scientists found out that ants can cure themselves by drinking hydrogen peroxide. After all, it is very hard to watch what happens inside a wild ant nest.

The scientists did a very clever experiment where they gave sick ants and healthy ants a choice between honey water that contained hydrogen peroxide and plain honey water.

Sick ants preferred to drink honey water mixed with hydrogen peroxide while healthy ants preferred to drink plain honey water. Sick ants that drank the hydrogen peroxide were more likely to get better than those that drank plain honey water.

This experiment showed that sick ants could choose to eat foods that contained chemicals that helped them fight off the infection.

Leaf medicine for food fungus

Leafcutter ants are another type of ant that can use medicine to treat diseases. Leafcutter ants are common in South American jungles, where they can be seen marching in long lines, carrying leaves over their heads like little green umbrellas.

Here are some leafcutter ants. Flickr/lana.japan, CC BY

The ants do not eat the leaves. Instead, they mash them up into a paste and use them to feed a special fungus they keep in little gardens. Fungus gardens are very important to the ant colony as they provide almost all of the colony’s food.

Sometimes the fungus gardens get sick; when this happens, gardener ants get rid of the sickness using a special chemical called an “antibiotic”. Antibiotics work by killing the germs that make animals (including humans) sick.

Of course, leafcutter ants can’t just walk to the doctor’s office or chemist to get their antibiotics. Instead, they grow a special type of bacteria on their bodies. The bacteria makes the antibiotic that cures the fungus when it gets sick. The friendly, antibiotic-making bacteria are white, so gardener ants look as though they have been sprinkled with white powder.

Next time you are sick, just think of the ants and their amazing ant-ibiotics!

Read more: Curious Kids: Where do flies sleep?

Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to us. You can:

* Email your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au
* Tell us on Twitter by tagging @ConversationEDU with the hashtag #curiouskids, or
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Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. You can send an audio recording of your question too, if you want. Send as many questions as you like! We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.

– ref. Curious Kids: how do ants make their own medicine? – http://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-do-ants-make-their-own-medicine-108609

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tara Colley, Casual lecturer, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney

The increasingly intricate entanglement of social media celebrity and popular music demands more of artists and their private lives than ever before. But in what has been dubbed the “post-truth” era, it should perhaps come as a comfort that what 2018’s biggest artists have in common is their willingness to lay their emotions bare.

2018 was a standout year for Australian singer-songwriters, with Gold Coast native Amy Shark dominating the airwaves – and the awards.

Shark’s triumphant synth-pop album Love Monster is an exultant exhale of breath for an artist who has fought for recognition for the better part of a decade. Shark is a candid narrator and her voice, which slips in and out of Australian accent in her unique singing style, compels repeated listening.

Her ability to elevate the mundane to the noteworthy – “And I chew my gum on the left side of my mouth/wondering when I’ll spit it out” – has also become a trademark of her work, which bears a sense of familiarity that is the unique bond between Australian artists and their native audience.

Sydney’s Dean Lewis likewise matched the 2017 success of his debut single Waves with another radio favourite, Be Alright. The song narrates, with tenderness and an unmistakeably Australian character, the breakdown of a relationship over infidelity.

“You say the cigarettes on the counter weren’t your friend’s/They were my mate’s/And I feel the colour draining from my face,” he sings. Lewis also seeks solace in his friends: “And my friends say,/I know you love her, but it’s over mate/It doesn’t matter/Put the phone away.”

It was a victorious year, too, for homegrown talent Troye Sivan, who surpassed the promise of his 2015 debut Blue Neighbourhood with his second album Bloom. Where Blue Neighbourhood saw the then 20-year-old Sivan grapple with his sexuality, his burgeoning fame, and the demands of a successful music career, the aptly-titled Bloom announced a strikingly mature and emboldened artist. The sleeker, sexier, and notably less melancholy production of Bloom made it especially radio friendly. It also established Sivan as an international success.

As Sivan told the Sydney Morning Herald, “I have got enough confidence now to make an album for myself, for people like me, who are going to hear this and understand.”

Sivan’s androgynous sex appeal and experimentation with styling this album have drawn comparisons to David Bowie, Madonna, and both Michael and Janet Jackson. But his ambition to make mainstream music about gay relationships – to refuse to obscure or mystify his music or identity – is in many ways quintessentially 2018.

The international hits

One of Bloom’s standout tracks, Dance to This, features pop superstar Ariana Grande, who has taken centre stage throughout 2018 both personally and professionally. Grande lived out much of her turbulent personal life on social media for the rabid consumption of gossip sites and internet trolls. After her five-month engagement to actor Pete Davidson abruptly ended, and in the wake of the death of her previous boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, Grande released the pop hit of 2018, thank u, next.

The song, which received 100 million streams on Spotify in a record-breaking 11 days, namedrops several of Grande’s famous ex-boyfriends and lays bare the soul-searching and daddy issues that apparently underpin her tumultuous relationships. It was as though Grande was responding directly to her Twitter mentions, stripping away the remaining divide between social media engagement and pop music artistry.

2018 saw several hip-hop heavyweights release albums: Kanye West, Drake, Nas, Nicki Minaj, and Eminem. But the year in hip-hop will be remembered for a few striking moments: Travis Scott’s single SICKO MODE, Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s cinematic Apeshit, and Childish Gambino’s masterful This is America video.

Read more: Nicki Minaj flips the script on hip-hop hypermasculinity with her album Queen

It was also a significant year for women in rap, as the irrepressible Cardi B took aim at the hip-hop throne with the release of her hotly anticipated debut album, Invasion of Privacy. The title captures Cardi’s overexposure since the success of her debut single Bodak Yellow in 2017.

Unpolished, unfiltered, and underestimated, Cardi B surprised critics and hip-hop fans alike with a decidedly decent album. Tracks like I Like It, as well as Cardi’s various features throughout the year on songs such as Bruno Mars’ hit Finesse, secured her position in the hip-hop limelight. Like Grande, she also invited fans – and haters – into her complicated personal life through social media.

Men bare their souls

Continuing the longstanding tradition of repackaging hip-hop trends for more mainstream audiences, singer/rapper Post Malone saturated 2018 with his curious blend of soulful crooning, grunge, and autotuned warbling on his record-breaking album, beerbongs and bentleys. The album broke Spotify streaming records in the 24 hours following its release as well as surpassing The Beatles and fellow rapper J.Cole for the most simultaneous top 20 hits on Billboard.

Tracks like Rich and Sad, and Paranoid, adhere to the popular formula of second albums in rap: an extended contemplation on the truism that fame and riches do not guarantee happiness. Malone’s ambivalence between lauding his success and viewing his new lifestyle with scepticism and paranoia is not unique.

Malone delivers lines – like “I been fuckin’ hos and poppin’ pillies/Man, I feel just like a rock star” – as though he’s barely conscious enough to muster the words. He is the latest in the tradition of so-called “mumble” rappers, including Future, 21 Savage, and Chief Keef. But beerbongs and bentleys is evidently the most pop-friendly iteration thus far of this burgeoning subgenre, and Malone’s success in 2018 may well pave the way for more of this sound.

The album has its share of run-of-the-mill rock star misogyny – for instance, “Population four million/How I see the same bitches?”. But Malone’s raw emotional indulgence, such as on the hit single Better Now, exemplifies the compelling shift in how hip-hop and its pop outgrowths are performing masculinity.

Khalid, another of 2018’s most successful pop/R&B artists, manifests a distinctly more fluid approach to masculinity than urban music has enjoyed since the advent of gangsta hypermasculinity.

In the video for his song Better, Khalid dances with a casual abandon that could be likened to Drake’s moves in “Hotline Bling.”

His collaboration with the DJ Marshmello, Silence, as well as hit singles like Better and Love Lies (featuring singer Normani) lend to 2018 a haunting, reflective, and soulful soundscape in which men are not afraid to dance – or cry.

– ref. From Amy Shark to Cardi B, pop stars got personal in 2018 – http://theconversation.com/from-amy-shark-to-cardi-b-pop-stars-got-personal-in-2018-108829

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephanie Harrison, Research fellow, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute

Many diseases develop and become more likely as we age. Here are some of the most common conditions, and how you can reduce your risk of getting them as you clock over into a new decade.

In your 40s

Maintaining a healthy weight can reduce the risk of developing arthritis, coronary heart disease, and other common and related conditions, including back pain, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and many cancers. But almost one-third of Australians in their 40s are obese and one in five already have arthritis.

Read more: Arthritis isn’t just a condition affecting older people, it likely starts much earlier

From the age of 45 (or 35 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders), heart health checks are recommended to assess risk factors and initiate a plan to improve the health of your heart. This may include changing your diet, reducing your alcohol intake, increasing your physical activity, and improving your well-being.

Checks to identify your risk of type 2 diabetes are also recommended every three years from age 40 (or from age 18 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders).

If you don’t already have symptoms of arthritis or if they’re mild, this decade is your chance to reduce your risk of the disease progressing. Focus on the manageable factors, like shedding excess weight, but also on improving muscle strength. This may also help to prevent or delay sarcopenia, which is the decline of skeletal muscle tissue with ageing, and back pain.

Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight will set you up for decades of better health. Sue Zeng

Most people will begin to experience age-related vision decline in their 40s, with difficulty seeing up close and trouble adjusting to lighting and glare. A baseline eye check is recommended at age 40.

In your 50s

In your 50s, major eye diseases become more common. Among Australians aged 55 and above, age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, diabetes-related eye diseases and glaucoma account for more than 80% of vision loss.

A series of health screenings are recommended when people turn 50. These preventive measures can help with the early detection of serious conditions and optimising your treatment choices and prognosis. Comprehensive eye assessments are recommended every one to two years to ensure warning signs are detected and vision can be saved.

National cancer screening programs for Australians aged 50 to 74, are available every two years for bowel and breast cancer.

Read more: Women should be told about their breast density when they have a mammogram

To screen for bowel cancer, older Australians are sent a test in the post they can do at home. If the test is positive, the person is then usually sent for a colonoscopy, a procedure in which a camera and light look for abnormalities of the bowel.

In 2016, 8% of people screened had a positive test result. Of those who underwent a colonoscopy, 1 in 26 were diagnosed with confirmed or suspected bowel cancer and one in nine were diagnosed with adenomas. These are potential precursors to bowel cancer which can be removed to reduce your future risk.

To check for breast cancer, women are encouraged to participate in the national mammogram screening program. More than half (59%) of all breast cancers detected through the program are small (less than or equal to 15mm) and are easier to treat (and have better survival rates) than more advanced cancers.

In your 60s

Coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (a disease of the lungs that makes breathing difficult), and lung cancer carry the biggest disease burden for people in their 60s.

If you’re a smoker, quitting is the best way to improve both your lung and heart health. Using evidence-based methods to quit with advice from a health professional or support service will greatly improve your chances of success.

Quitting smoking is the best way to improve your health. Ian Schneider

The build-up of plaques in artery walls by fats, cholesterol and other substances (atherosclerosis) can happen from a younger age. But the hardening of these plaques and narrowing of arteries, which greatly increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, is most likely to occur from age 65 and above.

Exercise protects against atherosclerosis and research consistently shows any physical activity is better than nothing when it comes to heart health. If you’re not currently active, gradually build up to the recommended 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise on most, preferably all, days.

Read more: Too much salt and sugar and not enough exercise – why Australians’ health is lagging

Other potentially modifiable risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, a high-fat diet, alcohol consumption, and smoking.

Your 60s is also a common decade for surgeries, including joint replacements and cataract surgery. Joint replacements are typically very successful, but are not an appropriate solution for everyone and are not without risks. After a joint replacement, you’ll benefit from physiotherapy, exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight.

The treatment for cataracts is to surgically remove the cloudy lens. Cataract surgery is the most common elective surgery worldwide, with very low complication rates, and provides immediate restoration of lost vision.

In your 70s

Many of the conditions mentioned above are still common in this decade. It’s also a good time to consider your risk of falls. Four in ten people in their 70s will have a fall and it can lead to a cascade of fractures, hospitalisations, disability and injury.

Osteoporosis is one cause of falls. It occurs most commonly in post-menopausal women but almost one-quarter of people with osteoporosis are men. Osteoporosis is often known as a silent disease because there are usually no symptoms until a fracture occurs. Exercise and diet, including calcium and vitamin D, are important for bone health.

Exercise and diet can improve bone health. Geneva, Switzerland

Older people are also vulnerable to mental health conditions because of a combination of reduced cognitive function, limitations in physical health, social isolation, loneliness, reduced independence, frailty, reduced mobility, disability, and living conditions.

In your 80s and beyond

Dementia is the second most common chronic condition for Australians in their 80s, after coronary heart disease – and it’s the most common for people aged 95 and above.

Many people think dementia is a normal part of the ageing process, but around one-third of cases of dementia could be prevented by reducing risk factors such as high blood pressure and obesity at mid-life.

Read more: Why people with dementia don’t all behave the same

Early diagnosis is important to effectively plan and initiate appropriate treatment options which help people live well with dementia. But dementia remains underdiagnosed.

Around 70% of Australians aged 85 and above have five or more chronic diseases and take multiple medications to manage these conditions. Effective medication management is critical for people living with multiple conditions because medications for one condition may exacerbate the symptoms of a different coexisting condition.

– ref. Diseases through the decades – here’s what to look out for in your 40s, 60s, 80s and beyond – http://theconversation.com/diseases-through-the-decades-heres-what-to-look-out-for-in-your-40s-60s-80s-and-beyond-104392

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marigold Black, AARC Research Fellow, Australian National University

“Do something for yourself, join the Army Reserve.”

This was one of the Army’s most iconic campaigns, broadcast on Australian television throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The advertisements were set to Tchaikovsky’s rousing battle hymn, the 1812 Overture, and portrayed an Army that was as comfortable displaying its militarism as it was exhorting the perks of enlistment.

But as every child of that era knows, the ads were particularly memorable because of the irreverent lyrics they inspired. In households across Australia, a chorus of children’s voices entered the refrain “join the Army get your head blown off” into the annals of Australian history.

‘Do something for yourself’ Army campaign.

For a long time, the identity of the Army was inextricably connected to the landing at Gallipoli in 1915 and the sacred legends of the first world war. The institution stood for such ANZAC values as:

reckless valo[u]r in a good cause … enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship, and endurance that will never own defeat

This lore nourished the public’s broad-based support for the institution.

What Australians think of the Army today

But as the spectre of war has faded in recent years, the purpose of the Army has diverged from the priorities of broader Australian society. A tension between the two has become more apparent: civil society now has the expectation of peace, whereas the military is still preparing for possible war.

In truth, the process of dislocation was well underway when the “Do something for yourself” campaign was launched. Overall support for the armed forces was in decline, and a review conducted prior to the release of the 1987 Defence White Paper indicated the Army “was having difficulties adjusting to the post-Vietnam War era”.

As Australia’s strategic circumstances became more stable in the 1990s, the public shifted its focus to domestic priorities. National defence and security matters became detached from public discourse.

Today, the public’s connection with the Army is largely exercised through abstract or ceremonial means. ANZAC Day continues to capture the public’s imagination, as is demonstrated by the growing attendance at dawn services. This, however, has not translated into greater appreciation for the tasks and objectives of the institution. Australian society lacks an anchor by which to make sense of its own modern Army.

Under these circumstances, public attitudes towards the Army are influenced by ideology and politics, individual experience and contemporary values.

The Army is struggling to rebrand itself and attract new recruits. Francois Nascimbeni/EPA

To be sure, the Army is still praised for its courage and integrity, its aptitude to “punch above its weight,” and its readiness to fight hostile nations and protect vulnerable people in the region.

Read more: Australia’s naval upgrade may not be enough to keep pace in a fast-changing region

Extensive public consultations with everyday Australians prior to the release of the 2016 Defence White Paper showed that people viewed the armed services with a high degree of respect and took “pride in the professionalism, operational record and achievements” of military personnel.

Yet, the Army is also criticised for its adherence to outmoded traditions. As the media has exposed numerous scandals involving sexual harassment, bullying, hazing and allegations of rape in recent years, the Army has been chastised for allowing a toxic internal culture to develop.

In addition, the Army has increasingly been accused of involvement in “other people’s wars”, a reproach frequently heard during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to some historians, Australia’s participation in “unnecessary wars” is a distinguishing feature of the nation’s history.

Why this divide is problematic

Such conflicted characterisations are, in part, a product of the public’s segregation from military life. Unless one lives in Canberra or Townsville, where the Army is an ordinary and established part of daily existence, the military is seen as someone else’s remit.

This separation has been exacerbated by the Army itself. While the military shares the same core democratic values as civilians, it largely accepts the traditional ideological divide between its conservative leadership and liberal, individualistic civil society.

The Army remains a closed, insular system, committed first and foremost to producing first-class soldiers. The belief is the Army should operate in a separate domain so it can remain effective and apolitical. But as the inner workings of our liberal democracy become more convoluted, the disconnect is proving obstructive. For both sectors.

Read more: When Australia goes to war, public trust depends on better oversight

The public sees an institution inclined to living in its own myth, and more concerned with integrating with the wider Australian defence force and other allied armies than interacting with Australian society.

The Army sees a society that does not understand what it does, or what it needs. It believes there is general support for its role in counter-terrorism actions, border protection, peacekeeping and restoring order after natural disasters, but limited appreciation of its operational realities, resourcing and equipment challenges, or other activities that are absent from the public discourse.

The public upholds the Army for its integrity and bravery, but doesn’t fully understand its role in modern society. CPL Nunu Campos/PR handout

Solutions for re-engaging with society

So, how might this disconnect between the Army and society be ameliorated?

In an effort to keep pace with societal expectations, modern recruitment campaigns highlight a military that reflects the community it seeks to protect and the importance of a diverse and multicultural workforce with a broad skill base.

A Navy recruitment add emphasising the service’s multicultural make-up.

Likewise, the military leadership’s strong condemnation of misconduct among some personnel suggests that the institution is committed to improving its image and being more in line with the nation’s norms and standards.

An approach embraced by other liberal democracies, including the UK, US and Canada is to work within the myth-making paradigm to construct a strategic narrative that emphasises the Army’s value to society. Although such a narrative is only likely to resonate with those who already have a vested interest in the Army, it may well produce greater general awareness of its roles and missions.

These methods ignore the key strength of the Army, however. The service is in the business of direct engagement. Even as scandal, exclusivity and a sense of disconnection have undermined its reputation in recent years, the public continues to admire the institution’s readiness to put boots on the ground.

Read more: With China-US tensions on the rise, does Australia need a new defence strategy?

Perhaps the answer, then, lies in an intensification of direct associations with society. A more visible presence in communities, an expansion of the reserves and more engagement in activities that foster shared experience could ease the degree of separation between the sectors, and rekindle mutual trust.

That trust needs to be present. The Army is reliant on society for its very existence. Indeed, if the Army becomes segregated from its future ranks, and from the society it is entrusted to protect, it has lost its raison d’être.

The bond between the Army and society should be carefully nurtured and protected as a vital element of national security.

– ref. The Army has a public perception problem. Here’s how it can regain trust with society – http://theconversation.com/the-army-has-a-public-perception-problem-heres-how-it-can-regain-trust-with-society-104855

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Dubelaar, Professor of Marketing, Deakin University

Holidays are often a time of overindulgence and food-based regret. That’s partly because when people eat together, they tend to eat more.

But if you’re aware of the things that encourage you to eat more than you need – and perhaps more than you plan to – you might be able to nudge yourself towards eating less than you would otherwise.

Here are eight evidence-based actions you can take to actively control your food intake in the face of the abundant food on offer during the holiday season.

Read more: Will you gain weight this Christmas?

1) Plan your shopping list

If you’re hosting, setting out more food than you and your guests could reasonably eat is a surefire way to lead people to overeat.

Pre-plan your meals and food offerings. Make sure you stick to your shopping list and don’t shop for food when you’re hungry, or you’re likely to make impulse buys.

Is it on the list? Shutterstock

2) Don’t bring it into the house

If Santa brings chocolate, lollies and candy canes, of course people are going to eat them!

Start by limiting both the type and amount of food you bring into the house. And if you do slip up, keep the junk food out of view because if you can’t see it, you’re less likely to want to eat it.

3) Reduce portion sizes

Serve more and you’ll eat more, with no increase in satisfaction. One study found doubling the serving size resulted in people eating 35% more.

Read more: Health check: do bigger portion sizes make you eat more?

Conversely, if you reduce portion sizes, you’ll eat less. Just make sure the portion size doesn’t get too small, otherwise you’ll start compensating and end up eating more.

4) Use smaller plates

In situations where you’ll be self-serving, choose a smaller plate size. With a smaller area, you’re likely to end up with less food on your plate.

Small plate = small portion. Ildi Papp/Shutterstock

Conversely, doubling the sizes of plates and bowls leads to higher food consumption – 13% for plates and 51% for bowls.

5) Use tall, thin glasses

Tall, thin glasses look like they contain more volume than short, fat ones. Drinking out of champagne glasses not only looks elegant, it also encourages you to drink less than you otherwise might.

6) Use the power of social influences

Be aware of the example you’re setting for others, and how others’ habits affect you. People tend to match food consumption of people around the table.

In conditions where others are eating a lot, this can lead to overeating, so consider drafting a “designated eater” who sets the example for all.

7) Beware the multiple effects of alcohol

What is a holiday feast without alcohol? A lot less fattening! Alcohol contains 29 kilojoules per gram, or about 954 kilojoules for a 250 ml glass of wine.

Read more: What’s the most value for money way to tackle obesity? Increase taxes on alcohol

Alcohol also numbs the stomach and delays the signals to your brain to tell you you’ve eaten enough, resulting in overeating.

8) Cut down on processed foods

Reducing the energy density of foods can be an easy way to reduce the number of kilojoules you consume without giving up on the satisfaction of a filling meal.

Research shows people who replace processed foods with a more natural alternative find it easier to limit their intake and therefore maintain their weight or lose weight.

– ref. Eight ways to reduce the chances of overeating these holidays – http://theconversation.com/eight-ways-to-reduce-the-chances-of-overeating-these-holidays-104230

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurien Beane, Course Coordinator, Queensland Undergraduate Early Childhood, Australian Catholic University

As the new year dawns, parents likely turn their thoughts to their child and new beginnings they may experience as they enter an early childhood education and care centre or preschool. Naturally, it’s a time of reflection on the previous year, and excitement about the possibilities for the new year to come.

Parents might reflect on friendships their child makes in the coming year. Making friends is not always instinctive for a young child. Learning to make friends is part of the social development curriculum in early childhood.

Read more: What is physical activity in early childhood, and is it really that important?

Social development skills are just as important as cognitive skills when learning. In recent studies, positive social skills are highlighted as key predictors for better outcomes in adulthood. It’s important for parents to be aware of ways to ensure positive social development skills in their young child.

Parents can begin by looking for interpersonal people skills, such as empathy, listening and communication skills. This will help your child transition into the next stage of their educational journey.

Is your child’s social development on track, at risk or vulnerable?

The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) researches longitudinal data about the five important learning domains for a young child. The domains are:

1. social development
2. physical health and well-being
3. emotional maturity
4. language and cognitive skills
5. communication skills and general knowledge.

Each domain is essential for learning how to build friendships, though social development is the central one. The following table outlines what is considered developmentally on track, at risk or vulnerable in the social competence domain.

Australian Early Development Census

After reading this table, if you feel your child is developmentally at risk or vulnerable, there may be several reasons for this. Be guided by the educator at your preschool or early childhood education and care centre centre when deciding which service might best support your child to develop healthy social skills.

To help you, there are a broad range of services available. These include art and music therapists, dietitians, occupational therapists, speech therapists, physiotherapists, audiologists, and child counsellors.

Making friends through the stages of play

There is a range of research about stages of play a young child engages in when they’re learning to make friends. According to brain development research, a young child begins to develop pathways in their brain for social skills from birth.

Read more: Why do kids lie, and is it normal?

According to research, there are six stages of play with associated social skills. These are assessed in the early childhood curriculum. The following stages and social skills are approximate and to be used as a guide only:

The Conversation, CC BY-ND

Understanding some of these key indicators of social skills required to for play will help you consider their ability. Take time to observe your young child’s social interactions in a range of settings. Watch them at home, with family and friends, as well as in their preschool or early childhood education and care centre. This may help you determine if your child is engaging socially during play to make friends.

What’s next?

When a child moves from one educational setting to another, we call this movement a transition. Positive social development skills are an asset for your child during this time. Educators at both educational settings will work in partnership with you, and each other, to make sure the transition is as smooth as possible.

Read more: A new project shows combining childcare and aged care has social and economic benefits

Essentially there are some key indicators which will help children during transitions: self-care, separating from parents, growing independence, and readiness to learn. As parents you can:

• familiarise your child with the new environment
• engage in active listening as your child expresses their thoughts and feelings about starting in a new learning environment
• ensure children start the new year with all required equipment recommended by the centre or school
• arrange to meet other people starting in the new year and practice turn taking, listening, asking questions and asking for help before the new year begins.

This will support development of social skills for your young child and help them make new friends more readily.

– ref. How parents can help their young children develop healthy social skills – http://theconversation.com/how-parents-can-help-their-young-children-develop-healthy-social-skills-107431

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sujeet Kumar, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University

India’s urban population is growing. More than 50% of the country’s population is forecast to be living in cities by 2030. This is a major challenge for government because the country’s cities lack the infrastructure (affordable housing, roads) and basic services (sanitation, water, health care) for existing inhabitants, let alone the influx of people over the next decade.

Globally, one in eight people live in slums where they face issues of durable housing, access to safe drinking water and toilets, and insecure tenure. In India, one in every six city residents lives in a slum.

Read more: Will India’s experiment with smart cities tackle poverty – or make it worse?

Many Indian children are growing up in very disadvantaged circumstances. These two live in Mahmudi Chak slum next to Rajendra Nagar Railway Junction in Patna. Sujeet Kumar, Author provided

However, estimates of slum populations differ widely in many Indian cities due to differences in the counting criteria. For example, in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, it’s estimated more than 50% of the population live in slums, but the 2011 Indian Census put the figures at 41.3% and 14.6% respectively.

Launching the national Smart Cities Mission in 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “… if anything has the potential to mitigate poverty it is our cities”. He said the mission, which has a target of 100 smart cities, aims to ensure access to basic services for the people. This includes houses for the urban poor.

The program aims to fulfil the aspirations and needs of the citizens through comprehensive development of institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure. This comprehensive development would also ensure increased public participation, Modi said.

Villagers migrated to the Danapur Block slum after the Ganga river flooded. Sujeet Kumar, Author provided

Smart city plan has a dark side

In one of the 100 cities selected for the Smart City Mission, Patna (Bihar), I witnessed the flip side of the smart city. Patna, the state capital of Bihar, has a rich history, but 63% of its population lives in slums. And 93% of them are from the historically oppressed “scheduled castes” and “other backward castes” (based on data collected in 42 slums).

Demolished homes at Meena Bazar. Sujeet Kumar, Author provided

The city administration often demolishes slums without following due process of law in order to seize the land in the name of beautification and development of Patna.

In slums like Meena Bazar (near the famous Nalanda Medical College Hospital) and Amu Kuda Basti (near Patna Airport) people have been living there for generations in houses often partially funded by government housing projects. These have been bulldozed.

Riot police are on hand when slum dwellers’ homes are demolished at Amu Kuda Basti. Sujeet Kumar, Author provided

The city administration usually makes ad-hoc loudspeaker announcements before bulldozing these settlements. A massive police presence and riot vehicles are on hand in case residents protest the demolitions. They use derogatory language and forcefully enter houses and thrash male members, say women in Amu Kuda Basti.

The government could have given them more time or relocated them elsewhere in the city, rather than just bulldozing their houses, which they had built with hard-earned money, the slum dwellers said.

Residents of slums like Amu Kuda Basti say houses they built with their own hard-earned money are being demolished with little notice. Sujeet Kumar, Author provided

There is apparently reason to smash these homes. There always is. The usual arguments for demolition include: beautification of the city, construction of a government building or enterprise, extension of the airport, crime locations, governance, illegality, encroachment etc. The state says demolitions of such slums are necessary for the development of the city.

Read more: Smart or dumb? The real impact of India’s proposal to build 100 smart cities

In 2011, the state proposed a slum policy to relocate slum dwellers who had lived in the city for generations to the outskirts in a plan to develop Patna and make it a smart city, says Kishori Das, an advocate for the rights of slum dwellers for years. Faced with widespread protests, the state deferred the policy, but it is silently applying it on the ground, he said.

Who speaks for the marginalised poor?

These two leaders from Meena Bazar are among 84 community representatives, elected and non-elected, interviewed by the author. Sujeet Kumar, Author provided

Local and mainstream media are not reporting these demolitions and forced evictions, especially when it happens in non-metro cities like Patna. Civil society and advocacy NGOs also take little notice of these frequent demolitions, probably due to threats to life and, if not, then to co-option by the state. The roles of the ruling party and opposition are also dubious.

Bihar has been ruled by leaders who attracted votes by campaigning on issues of poverty, caste and social justice for the past three decades. In the early 1990s, the prominent leader Lalu Prasad Yadav mobilised the poor and the oppressed caste groups under the umbrella of “Vikas nahin, samman chahiye” (we want dignity, not development). The present chief minister, Nitish Kumar, also known as Sushaasan Babu (good governance man), adopted the slogan “Nyay ke saath vikas” (development with justice).

However, the frequent injustices suffered by the urban poor negate the political commitment. These actions are also in conflict with the motto of the Indian Constitution, which frames justice as a balancing wheel between the haves and have-nots.

Promises of social justice ring hollow for residents of bulldozed communities like Amu Kuda Basti. Sujeet Kumar, Author provided

These challenges are not limited to one city. In the name of smart and developed cities, the government is not only taking over urban land where millions of the poor have lived for decades but is also acquiring fertile land and violating the constitutional rights of farmers, tribes and other indigenous groups in various cities.

These reports of struggle and forced evictions contradict the statements by Modi when he said smart cities development would strictly follow large-scale public participation in preparing these plans.

Such demolitions reveal a dark side to making Indian cities smart and cast serious doubt on claimed government commitment to the urban poor. These actions hardly live up to the idea of the rights of the poor. It became more challenging when the head of the biggest democracy in the world denounces those who speak up for the poor, oppressed and voiceless as “urban Naxals”.

In the words of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is “government of the people, by the people, for the people”. For India, this means the urban poor need help both from political parties and civil society so that their voice finds expression and their demands and concerns are heard and considered in public policy.

Children sleep out in the open in a slum area in Harding Park, Patna. Sujeet Kumar, Author provided

– ref. Indians promised benefits of 100 smart cities, but the poor are sidelined again – http://theconversation.com/indians-promised-benefits-of-100-smart-cities-but-the-poor-are-sidelined-again-107787

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Veal, Adjunct Professor, Business School, University of Technology Sydney

A strange thing happened on the way to the leisure society.

It was once widely anticipated that the process which saw the standard working week fall from 60 to 40 hours in wealthy nations over the first half of the 20th century would continue.

As we now know, this did not happen. The official working week has not fallen significantly in several decades. Average working hours per household have increased. The effect is that many feel that life is now less leisured than in the past.

But why should it be?

Working fewer hours was once seen as an essential indicator of economic and social progress. I explore this history in my book Whatever Happened to the Leisure Society?

It’s time to put reduced working hours back on the political and industrial agenda.

There are strong arguments for working fewer hours. Some are economic. Others are about environmental sustainability. Yet others have to do with equity and equality.

Economists on board

In 1930 the economist John Maynard Keynes speculated that technological change and productivity improvements would make a 15-hour work week an economic possibility within a couple of generations.

A biographer of Keynes, the economic historian Robert Skidelsky, revisited those predictions in his 2012 book How Much Is Enough? He proposed legislating maximum hours of work in most occupations, without any reduction in output or wages, as a way to to achieve a more sustainable economy.

He is not alone. According to a report by the New Economics Foundation, a London-based think-tank, making the normal working week 21 hours could help to address a range of interlinked problems: “These include overwork, unemployment, over-consumption, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities and the lack of time to live sustainably, to care for each other, and simply to enjoy life.”

More recently, Belgian historian Rutger Bregman has argued in his best-selling 2017 book Utopia for Realists that a 15-hour work week is achievable by 2030, the centenary of Keynes’ prediction.

Broader motivations

Second and third-wave feminism tended to concentrate on women’s access to the labour market, equal pay for equal work, child care services, parental leave and flexibility, and men doing a greater share of unpaid domestic work.

Monowara Begum gathers torn and unusable plastic bags to recycle in a small factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She works about 12 hours a day to earn less than US$25 a week. Abir Abdullah/EPA

More recently, writers such as Nichole Marie Shippen, Cynthia Negrey and Kathi Weeks have argued that the quality of life would be generally improved if working hours were reduced for all.

British ecologist Jonathon Porritt described the leisure society as a “mega-fantasy” in his 1984 book Seeing Green. Many environmentalists agreed. As Andrew Dobson noted in his 1990 book Green Political Thought, they looked at the consumer-orientated, environmentally damaging, industrialised nature of the leisure industry and saw a future anathema to the green ideal of self-reliant and sustainable production.

But views have changed within environmental circles. Canadian Anders Hayden argued in his 1999 book Sharing the Work, Sparing the Planet that working less would mean lower resource consumption and therefore less pressure on the environment.

Some critical and neo-Marxist writers have viewed reduced working in the formal capitalist economy as a means of fundamentally changing it, even hastening its demise. The late French/Austrian sociologist André Gorz, first advanced the idea in the 1980s.

In The Brave New World of Work (2000), German sociologist Ulrich Beck calls on progressive movements to campaign for a “counter-model to the work society” in which work in the formal economy is reduced. In the Mythology of Work (2015), British sociologist Peter Fleming (now based in Australia) proposes a “post-labour strategy”, including a three-day work-week.

The Take Back Your Time organisation based in Seattle, argues the “epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine” threatens “our health, our relationships, our communities, and our environment”. It advocates for fewer annual working hours by promoting the importance of holiday times and other leave entitlements, including the right to refuse having to work overtime.

Workers marching for an eight-hour day in Victoria outside Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne, circa 1900. Wikimedia, CC BY

No time like the present

Despite these arguments, current prospects of working fewer hours without any reduction in wages seem unlikely. Wages are static. The pressure from employers is, if anything, to expect more hours.

In Australia the last great success in reducing working hours was 35 years ago, in 1983, when the Australia Conciliation and Arbitration Commission endorsed a 38-hour working week. Now reducing hours is not on the agenda of a union movement weakened by decades of declining membership.

But the 20th century did not begin with a strong union movement either. There were plenty of excuses not to reduce working hours, including the Great Depression and the economic deprivations of two world wars.

Few employers supported reduced working hours. For the most part they bitterly resisted union campaigns first for a ten-hour and then an eight-hour day (and five-day week).

Among the few exceptions were William Hesketh Lever (co-founder of Lever Brothers, later to become Unilever) and Henry Ford, who saw the potential for increasing productivity from a less fatigued workforce. Now countries such as Germany and Denmark demonstrate that working fewer hours is quite compatible with economic prosperity.

This month marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 24 of the declaration states: “Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.” All members of the United Nations that have formally endorsed the declaration have, inter alia, endorsed leisure as a human right.

Not so long ago the age-old desire for more leisure and less work was a key part of the industrial and social agenda. Are we now content just to complain about lack of time? Or should we be seeking to do something about it?

– ref. It’s time to put the 15-hour work week back on the agenda – http://theconversation.com/its-time-to-put-the-15-hour-work-week-back-on-the-agenda-106754

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom van Laer, Reader (Associate Professor) of Marketing, City, University of London

Every holiday season, you have new worlds at your fingertips. Reading books, listening to podcasts, and watching films and TV shows can help you break away from the frenzy of everyday life, and journey into other possible worlds.

As with any kind of travel, the journey affects you. The degree to which you become engaged with a story is known as narrative transportation. This effect causes feelings and thoughts consistent with the narrative world. The more a story transports you, the more likely you are persuaded to adopt the beliefs espoused within it.

Deeper changes occur too. Previous research shows that changes of attitudes and intentions are part of the narrative transportation effect. My colleagues Stephanie Feiereisen, Luca Visconti and I were interested in what factors predict a greater narrative transportation effect, so we used meta-analysis to measure the power of stories to both engage and change people.

Read more: How telling the right stories can make people act on climate change

Factors that increase narrative transportation

Meta-analyses aggregate the results of a large number of published empirical studies, which can greatly increase confidence in a phenomenon. No meta-analysis had been performed on narrative transportation for five years, so we investigated all the published research since.

We averaged the results of 64 different papers, reporting 138 separate effects, based on results from more than 20,000 participants.

We discovered that three factors reliably influence the narrative transportation effect: whether a story is commercial or noncommercial, whether it is user-generated or created by professionals, and whether there are other people present while you are engaging with the story.

Profit motive

A transporting story is 16% more likely to affect you if it has commercial profit, rather than an artistic or other value, as its primary aim.

Many films and TV series are primarily made for commercial purposes with the intention of making a profit. If you are not aware of this profit motive, the effect of narrative transportation is strengthened. As a result, you will be inclined to buy products – and even animals – featured in films and TV series.

For example, 101 Dalmatians made families want spotty dogs. Likewise, Finding Nemo led to a rapid growth in the trade of clownfish as pets – which, in turn, contributed to the decline of wild populations.

Read more: How the films you’ve seen influence your choice of dog

Self-publishing

A transporting story is 11% more likely to change you if it is made publicly available, reflects a certain amount of creative effort, and is created outside of professional routines and practices.

Many books and podcasts are user-generated, meaning they are self-published at their authors’ own expense. A creator’s emotional participation in the story strengthens the narrative transportation effect.

Take Andy Weir’s book The Martian. In 2011, after a long search for a professional agent, he gave up on big publishing. Instead, he posted the book to Amazon. It was soon climbing the charts and he attracted a dedicated, worldwide following. It was later made into a feature film starring Matt Damon, that was hailed for its attention to scientific detail.

Other examples of this kind of creator influence include teenagers like Charlotte D’Alessio, who became an overnight Instagram fashion sensation. Stand-up comedians at open mic nights are further examples of nonprofessional creators who are telling impactful stories.

Whether you’re alone

A transporting story is 10% less likely to influence you if you are with others, rather than alone, when you are consuming it.

Social groups weaken the narrative transportation effect. As a result, you are less likely to be persuaded if you share the experience with family or groups of friends.

Live-action role playing games are a case in point. These increasingly popular fan happenings encourage you to experience beloved films and TV series together with others. This collective form of narrative consumption protects you somewhat against the influence of a story.

Read more: Post-truth politics and the US election: why the narrative trumps the facts

The more you are transported by a narrative, the more likely that your beliefs, attitudes and intentions will converge with those of the story. This is neither good nor bad. Yet being aware of this effect – and the factors that increase it – could help you think critically about your desire to get a new pet after watching a movie.

When vacations return there is only one place many people want to be: ensconced in a story. Books, podcasts, films and TV series are prepackaged journeys. Just make sure that you steel yourself for what lies within.

– ref. Hooked on a book, podcast or TV show? Here’s how the story changes you – http://theconversation.com/hooked-on-a-book-podcast-or-tv-show-heres-how-the-story-changes-you-106062