Articles from "The Conversation" 2013

[KichigaiNeko]

I randomly view articles of interest from this web site and thought that a few just may be of interest and points of discussion for our members here (those who may not have heard of this site)


So today's samplings are:-

Monday's medical myth: you can't mix antibiotics with alcohol


Ordering the vegetarian meal? There's more animal blood on your hands


Link to the web site:-
http://theconversation.edu.au/

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Some more interesting topics:-

2 January 2013, 7.37am AEST
The cultural assumptions behind Western medicine

[KichigaiNeko]

3 January 2013, 8.02am AEST
Australia’s unusual species

[KichigaiNeko]

http://theconversation.edu.au/love-thy-n...laws-11634

17 January 2013, 6.52am AEST
Love thy neighbour: religious groups should not be exempt from discrimination laws


It’s time some religious organisations saw the light about employing LGBT individuals. Leonard John Matthews

The Gillard government has announced it will preserve existing exemptions in anti-discrimination legislation, allowing religious organisations to refuse to employ LGBT individuals – and indeed anyone else whose very presence might cause “injury to the religious sensitivities of adherents of that religion”. The Australian Christian Lobby has hailed this as a win for “religious freedom”.

This is disingenuous at best. The issue really has nothing to do with the free exercise of one’s religion and everything to do with denying the moral depth of gay and lesbian lives.

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17 January 2013, 6.52am AEST
What the government wants to ignore about sole parents and jobseeking

http://theconversation.edu.au/what-the-g...king-11582

Cutting sole parent payments devalues social relationships and redefines parents as individual economic units. The primary carer is still usually the mother, so the cuts are sexist.

The policy also fails to recognise kids, even aged eight and above, need time, skill and social inputs as against just covering costs. These gendered prejudices against single mothers use a vulnerable group to make money savings

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17 January 2013, 6.52am AEST
Spread the word: the value of local information in disaster response

http://theconversation.edu.au/spread-the...onse-11626

As dozens of bushfires continue to burn across the country (not least in New South Wales) many Australians find themselves unable to return home while many others have no home to return to.

While we all rely on the media for information about imminent threats, it’s at the local level that some of the most valuable information-gathering is being done.

Local communities, and especially those who are at “the first mile”, are the first responders in the case of a bushfire: the people that take immediate action when danger is imminent and that provide crucial information as the event unfolds.

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15 January 2013, 2.36pm AEST
New norovirus strain could cause gastroentiritis epidimic

Umm Sorry Cthulhu......

A new strain of norovirus has been discovered which scientists warn could cause a severe epidemic of gastroentiritis this winter.

The highly infectious Sydney 2012 mutant virus was identified last March, and was found to be one of the GII.4 strains of norovirus which are responsible for epidemics and pandemics.

Members of the UNSW research team worked out the complete genetic sequence of the virus and found it was a combination of two strains originating in Holland and Japan.

The strain has so far been responsible for 1.2 million cases of gastroenteritis in the UK, and is expected to be the dominant strain in the Australian winter

Full Article Here:- UNSW

[KichigaiNeko]

PMS is real and denying its existence harms women
1 February 2013

A recent opinion piece in the Fairfax papers – based on a Conversation article – discussed “the theory that (PMS) is all in women’s minds as opposed to their endocrinology …” Why is this debate from the 1970s about whether or not PMS is “just an excuse” that women use for their anger resurfacing now?

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a broad term used to describe the physical and psychological symptoms experienced by some women prior to menstruation. The term was first coined by British doctor Katharina Dalton in 1957, and her clinic successfully treated many women over 40 years.

The issue has resurfaced because of a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto. The authors did a meta-analysis of 41 studies, concluding

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25 January 2013, 11.24am AEST
Climate change signals the end of the social sciences

The invention of these two boxes was the defining feature of modernity, an idea founded on Cartesian and Kantian philosophies of the subject. Its emergence has also been tracked by science studies in the contradiction between purified science and the messy process of knowledge creation, leading to Bruno Latour’s troubling claim that the separation of Human and Nature was an illusion, and that “we have never been modern”.

Climate science is now telling us that such a separation can no longer be sustained, that the natural and the human are mixed up, and their influences cannot be neatly distinguished.

This human-nature hybrid is true not just of the climate system, but of the planet as a whole, although it would be enough for it to be true of the climate system. We know from the new discipline of Earth system science that changes in the atmosphere affect not just the weather but the Earth’s hydrosphere (the watery parts), the biosphere (living creatures) and even the lithosphere (the Earth’s crust). They are all linked by the great natural cycles and processes that make the planet so dynamic. In short, everything is in play.

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1 February 2013, 6.44am AEST
Meet the largest structure ever discovered in our galaxy

It’s not every day that you discover a huge structure that stretches more than half way across the sky. But this exact thing happened to the international team of astronomers I was leading, as we pored over observations taken with the CSIRO’s Parkes Radio Telescope recently.

What we have discovered are giant outflows of charged particles emanating from the central regions of our galaxy, as reported in our paper published in Nature earlier this month.

So where do these charged particles come from? And what can they tell us about our galaxy?

Cones and particles

These outflows of charged particles consist of two lobes extending vertically from the disc plane of the galaxy on either side. Imagine two cones with their narrowest points joined together and you get an idea of what this structure looks like (see image above).

The lobes closely correspond to the gamma-ray bubbles discovered in 2010 using data from NASA’s gamma-ray space telescope Fermi (see image below).

These outflows are huge, stretching 120º across the sky – two-thirds of the way from horizon to horizon. In absolute terms, these outflows are spread across 50,000 light years – half the diameter of the entire galaxy. Quite simply, this is the largest structure ever discovered in our galaxy.

[KichigaiNeko]

Do you know how clean your electricity is?

12 March 2013, 2.28pm AEST

The study looked at the 36 licensed retailers in the National Electricity Market (NEM). We found it is not currently possible to find the actual energy source of electricity sold by any of them. Nor are they required to give this information to customers.

Australia’s electricity retailers do not hesitate to advertise how “green” their electricity is. But in the absence of any real facts about the source of their power, customers have no way of really knowing where the power they purchase is from.

http://theconversation.edu.au/do-you-kno...y-is-12224

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Climate change linked to declines in labour productivity
25 February 2013, 10.44am AEST

Increases in humidity caused as a result of climate change are reducing labour productivity and it’s only likely to get worse over time, argue researchers from America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In an article published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, the researchers say humidity is already reducing people’s working capacity by 10% during peak months of heat stress around the world, and this is likely to grow to 20% by 2050.

The researchers say even if the global community commits to active mitigation of CO2, there will be increasing environmental limitations on labour capacity in the coming decades.

In the worst case scenario considered by the model, safe labour would be prohibited in large areas during peak months by 2200, including the entire US east of the Rockies.

full article here

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Explainer: what are migraines?

13 March 2013, 2.30pm AEST

If you, or someone close to you suffers from migraine, you’ll know it is much more than your average headache – migraine is a debilitating disorder that can even affect your sight and speech.

Migraine without aura is the most common type of migraine, accounting for about 70% of all cases. This migraine is often characterised by recurrent headaches, nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and noise.

Migraine with aura is less common, affecting around a third of sufferers. This type of migraine is accompanied by neurological disturbances such as visual and speech impairment and muscular changes which is often experienced shortly before or during the early stages of a migraine.

Visual auras may appear as shimmering lights around objects or at the edges of a person’s field of vision; they may give the appearance of wavy images or even cause temporary loss of vision.

Non-visual effects can include weakness, speech or language abnormalities, dizziness, vertigo, and tingling or numbness of the face, tongue, hands or feet.

Migraine affects approximately 12% of the western population, with 18% of women, 6% of men and 4% of children suffering from the condition. There are considerable differences in the prevalence of migraine culturally, with Caucasian populations having the highest rates globally.

Full article here

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Resveratrol in a red wine sauce: fountain of youth or snake-oil?

13 March 2013, 6.40am AEST

Resveratrol, a molecule found in red wine (and red grape skin and elsewhere) is back in the headlines after an international team of researchers published a paper in the journal Science late last week. The news made headlines around the world.

Researchers believe resveratrol could extend the human life span, and protect people against a wide range of diseases such as cancer, type II diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease.

But is it too good to be true?

Is resveratrol the latest wonder drug that will add years to our lives? Or is this simply the newest science and marketing spiel that will take the rest of our lives to unravel?

And what if resveratrol does not live up to its promise? Who is to blame? The scientists? The media? The marketers? Or the gullible fools who make up the general public?

The health-giving properties of red wine have been advanced as a possible explanation for the French Paradox, the observation that the French have relatively low heart disease despite a high-fat diet. Researchers suggest that the resveratrol in the red wine could be a contributing factor.

The promise of resveratrol has been escalated with research suggesting that it has the capacity to activate a protein called SIRT1 found in mammals. SIRT1 is one of a larger class of proteins called sirtuins that have been shown to extend the life span of yeast, worms, flies and, maybe, mice.

Yes, “maybe mice” because whether it extends a mouse’s life is disputed. In fact, the truth seems less clear and more highly valued than a couple of cases of 1950s Grange Hermitage.

Full article here

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NASA discovers a new radiation belt around Earth

1 March 2013, 11.14am AEST

NASA revealed this morning (AEST) that its Van Allen Probes have discovered a third, previously unknown, radiation belt around Earth. The belt appears to be transient, depending strongly on solar activity.

The Probes mission is part of NASA’s Living With a Star geospace program to explore the fundamental processes that operate throughout the solar system, in particular those that generate hazardous space weather effects near Earth and phenomena that could affect solar system exploration.

In what could perhaps be described as serendipitous, scientists had switched on key instruments on the the twin probes (which are described in detail in the second video below) just three days after launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on August 30 last year.

Full article here

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[KichigaiNeko]

8 April 2013, 2.33pm AEST
Wikiworld: the future of investigative journalism

If you are a crooked corporate mogul, property tycoon or prominent politician, chances are you are sweating a little bit this week. Sure, your millions of secret tax-evading dollars are – for the moment – safe in offshore accounts. But now, a lot more people know exactly where your money is and just how much you’ve been hiding.

In the days and weeks to come, offshore banking schemes worth billions of dollars will be reported on by the International Consortium for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ), a network of over 38 media organisation and 86 journalists across 46 countries.

Senators in Canada, sons of dictators in Indonesia, and even the deputy Prime Minister of Russia are some of those caught in the spotlight. Major media will dutifully report on the duplicity and, in some cases, the illegality of keeping elite wealth hidden away from government tax departments.

However, the real insight to be had is not about the tax havens, but about the type of journalism which generated these headlines. It shows us the future of investigative journalism at a time when the survival of journalism is being questioned.

Muckraking headlines from collaborative investigations that span the globe and are based on massive data leaks represent a new chapter of investigative journalism. After WikiLeaks, this is becoming the new normal and mainstream media and the public should come to embrace it.

http://theconversation.com/wikiworld-the...lism-13284

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8 April 2013, 2.30pm AEST
Chemical looping: a carbon capture technology for the future

A new technology

Chemical looping involves an innovative approach to deliver only oxygen to the coal combustion process, excluding other gases, such as nitrogen found in air. This enables an almost pure CO2 gas to be produced, which can then be relatively easily stored without any further major processing.

The delivery of oxygen to the combustion zone is achieved through a metal or metal oxide reaction. Small particles of metal, such as manganese or iron, are exposed to air and react with the oxygen present to form a metal oxide; this is known as oxidation. This is exactly the same process as iron rusting, however it is done at a higher temperature and inside specially designed reactors to speed up the process.

The metal oxide (or rusted metal) is then transported to the coal combustion furnace where no nitrogen is present. In chemistry the resulting reaction between the fossil fuel and metal oxide is known as a reduction reaction, where the carbon in the fuel reacts with the oxygen in the metal oxide to produce CO2 and convert the metal oxide back to the pure metal. Given that there are no other gases present, a pure CO2 flue gas is produced which is ready for sequestration storage.

Importantly, the metal particles are then recycled back to undergo oxidation in air to produce the metal oxide and the process begins again. This recycling of the metal or metal-oxide is the looping part of the technology.

http://theconversation.com/chemical-loop...ture-12435

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8 April 2013, 1.54pm AEST
Light among the shadows: the upsides to a financial crisis in China

The scale of China’s off-balance sheet lending may seem extensive, but it’s not the scary beast that many commentators have made it out to be.
In recent months, talk of an emerging crisis in China’s financial sector has been getting louder. A few weeks ago such chatter reached a crescendo, at least in terms of a narrative, when two Nomura economists argued that China was looking increasingly like the US on the eve of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. And we all know how that ended.

China’s financial crisis, the Nomura economists contended, is rooted in the massive amount of credit that is extended off the balance sheets of banks. This credit takes two forms. Firstly, banks can move funds off their balance sheets by contracting with less regulated financial vehicles, such as trust companies. Secondly, informal credit markets, such as when a property developer raises funds through networks of friends and acquaintances promising a generous return in the future.

To the extent that off-balance sheet lending is opaque, nervousness on the part of investors and other interested onlookers is easily understood. If, as the story goes, a significant proportion of such lending is simply fuelling speculative activities, such as in the real estate sector for example, then a downturn in general economic conditions could quickly see the Ponzi scheme come crashing down.

To date, much commentary has been devoted to assessing the extent to which China’s banks are exposed to such potentially risky activities, or the ability of China’s central government to recapitalise them in the face of such an event.

A perspective that has been missing, however, is the basic point that off-balance sheet activity is not necessarily a bad thing. In a country such as China, in net terms it can be a distinct positive.

There is a very good reason why financial activity off the balance sheets of banks is more extensive in China than it is in Australia: the banking system in China performs its core tasks poorly.

Consider the predicament for savers. Interest rates in China are set by the State Council and the one year time deposit rate currently sits at 3.25%. Meanwhile, inflation is officially at 3.2%, and it is widely regarded that China’s CPI underestimates price increases for many items, particularly big-ticket items such as housing.

http://theconversation.com/light-among-t...hina-13206

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5 April 2013, 6.33am AEST
Can we resolve the ‘peak everything’ problem?

AUTHORS


Jason Alexandra
Honorary Fellow at Charles Darwin University

Andrew Campbell
Director, Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

Jason Alexandra was a non-executive director of Land and Water Australia between 1996 and 2002. He has received research funds from the Rural Research and Development Corporation and has consulted to a wide range of organisations but there are none with relevant conflicts of interest.

Andrew Campbell is the Director of the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University, which receives funding from a wide range of research funding bodies. He was Executive Director of Land & Water Australia from 2000-2006. He also owns, and manages from a distance, a family farm in western Victoria.


Provides funding as a Member of The Conversation.


We have plenty of resources that could stop us falling off the edge. Chris Philavanh
With world population exceeding seven billion, there is renewed interest in the limits to growth concept first articulated by the Club of Rome in the 1970s. How can a growing population with growing affluence sustain itself on a finite planet without wreaking havoc on nature and civilisation?

The potential for major economic and political shocks from the world’s energy, food, and water systems, with their vulnerability to climate change, is concentrating attention on food, water and energy security and their interdependence.

Is it reasonable to assume that the human population is on an inevitable and catastrophic collision course with the planet? Or will human ingenuity and innovation inspire successful adaptations that achieve an historic decoupling between economic growth and the depletion and degradation of natural resources?

Rather than rehashing a polarised debate between Malthusian determinists and technological optimists, we’d rather focus on what’s not “peak” and how we can make better use of resources that are abundant. These abundant resources include human creativity and capacity, global genetic resources, design solutions at all scales, and technological, policy and institutional innovations.

Human creativity and capacity

Problems created by humans are, by definition, amenable to human solutions.

People, their creativity and intellectual capacity, are among the most abundant resources on the planet. In the latter part of the 20th century, high population countries, including China and India, succeeded in bringing many of their people out of grinding poverty. Much of this population is young and increasingly well educated, with huge potential to contribute to global solutions. Unleashing this potential and using it to work out how to live within planetary means will be a major challenge of this century.

An ambitious, cooperative global innovation program focused on addressing the converging insecurities of food, energy and water could mobilise this potential. The world needs a 21st century “greener green revolution” that mobilises international global cooperation in developing integrated solutions to human energy, water and urban systems.

http://theconversation.com/can-we-resolv...blem-13070

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8 April 2013, 2.38pm AEST
Monday’s medical myth: yoghurt cures thrush

Vaginal thrush, or “vulvovaginal candidiasis” is a common condition, with around three-quarters of women experiencing an episode in their lifetime.

Many readers may be familiar with the unpleasant symptoms of vaginal thrush – vaginal itching and burning, “cottage cheese” discharge with a yeasty smell, inflammation of the vagina and vulva, and pain while passing urine or having sex.

Most cases of thrush are uncomplicated and are due to an overgrowth of a yeast called Candida albicans. It is normal for Candida to be present in small numbers in the bowel, mouth, skin and vagina.

Reasons why there may be an overgrowth of Candida include:

hormonal changes, such as pregnancy or starting on the oral contraceptive pill
diabetes
suppression of the immune system, such as HIV infection or chemotherapy for cancer
antibiotic treatment
In a survey of Australian women in general practice waiting rooms, a third reported experiencing thrush after antibiotics at some stage. Conceptually, antibiotics can kill bacteria that normally live in the vagina while Candida, a fungus not a bacteria, tends to be unaffected. With less competition, the Candida can overgrow, leading to the symptoms of thrush.

This leads us to yoghurt. A quick Google search reveals links to websites giving interesting and varied health advice. But the basic rationale is consistent: yoghurt is effective because it contains “good bacteria”, Lactobacillus. The idea is that in using yoghurt (by eating it, and/or by applying it directly to the vagina and vulva) the “good” bacteria will help fight off the “bad” Candida.

There is some biologic plausibility in this idea, though there is more than a smattering of sympathetic magic with how it is portrayed. However, the medical establishment shouldn’t be too smug – medical treatments for “vaginitis” a century ago was positively barbaric!

A number of highly unpleasant astringent chemicals were recommended (though curiously, boric acid has stood the test of time and is still used for types of complicated or recurrent vaginal thrush).

As many as 40% of the women in the aforementioned survey who had experienced vaginal thrush tried using yoghurt to cure or prevent thrush.

http://theconversation.com/mondays-medic...rush-12500

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8 April 2013, 2.06pm AEST
See change: is Google Glass all it’s cracked up to be?

It was labelled one of 2012’s most important inventions and “the next big thing”.

So it was, with great fanfare, that Google sent its first batch of Google Glasses out into the geekdom in March – and was met with a resounding “meh”.

Critics claim the sleek new device brands the wearer as an irredeemable nerd, will make it too easy to invade people’s privacy, and will be a danger when driving, to mention just a few problems.

But are the critics right, or are they simply reacting with knee-jerk aversion to an emerging paradigm of computing?

A culture of fear (of change)

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It shows us that new technological paradigms have a strongly polarising effect on public opinion – people either love them or hate them, with little common ground.


Sarah G…
But extreme views cannot last for ever.

When the telephone first came into widespread use, people were sure it would be an invasion of their privacy.

When television arrived, conventional wisdom held it would rot people’s brains – indeed some people are still saying it.

http://theconversation.com/see-change-is...o-be-13268

[KichigaiNeko]

In response to the "there is very little to read/ learn" here are some items from The Conversation" to entertain you on this fine sunny Sunday (here in Oz)

This looks promising.....
24 April 2013, 2.22pm AEST
Scientists grow fuel from E.coli tummy bug

A diesel-style fuel has been created from a modified version of the Escherichia coli bacteria, the tummy bug that causes Bali belly.

A new study, published in the journal PNAS and conducted by researchers from the University of Exeter and the Shell Technology Centre Thornton in the UK, aimed to produce a fuel that could be used in transport and did not require complicated production process.

By isolating genes from several different bacteria and putting them together in E.coli, the authors were able to produce a bacteria that converted free fatty acids to hydrocarbons.

Under certain conditions, the E.coli bacteria was able to pro

http://theconversation.com/scientists-gr...-bug-13689

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A Flow -on from previous threads regarding this...
27 April 2013, 1.24pm AEST
Beyond light bulbs: individual responsibility and climate action

My research with Australian Climate Action Groups suggests that such strategies will continue to fail until we overcome the social and institutional barriers stopping individuals from making more significant changes.

I identified three barriers:

disempowerment
lack of trust in politicians and political institutions
inability to reflect on the root causes of climate change (in effect, our systems of production and consumption that have ignored nature’s limits).

http://theconversation.com/beyond-light-...tion-12184

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26 April 2013, 1.46pm AEST
Dressing the part: women, power, fashion – and that bloody jacket!

As a garment conceived to give form to the human silhouette, the jacket expresses a relationship between form and formality; and as a staple item of business attire, it is a mandatory part of the western male dress code for formal occasions. Women have other options, but women in prominent political roles have generally resisted exploring them. There is a feminist issue here, though not the one that was running in the blog lines about the exchanges on Q&A. The earnest principle that professional women should not have to deal with a primary focus on their appearance has become over familiar, and Greer was deliberately flouting it, but in doing so she may have touched on a more interesting question: a question about the relationship between male and female dress codes and the ways in which power roles are culturally defined.

http://theconversation.com/dressing-the-...cket-13659

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27 April 2013, 8.33am AEST
No evidence H7N9 spreads between humans – but fear does

One of the world’s leading flu experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) has labelled H7N9 as one of the most lethal influenza viruses so far encountered. And a number of experts are now claiming the virus may be more transmissible to humans than previous strains of bird flu.

Over the past month, the Chinese poultry industry had taken a huge hit losing more than 10 billion yuan (A$1.57 billion) as it laboured to survive under major campaigns to slaughter thousands of birds and close many poultry markets. In parts of Eastern China poultry consumption has fallen by more than 50% and chicken prices have plummeted.

Unlike earlier outbreaks of avian flu, with H7N9 infected birds seem to show no visible signs of illness. Currently the virus also shows no signs of spreading from person to person, but such a transfer cannot yet be ruled out.

http://theconversation.com/no-evidence-h...does-13755

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26 April 2013, 11.56am AEST
Corporate accountability and gutting the US Alien Tort Statute

The US Supreme Court has handed down a landmark decision that will have drawn sighs of relief from corporate boardrooms in Australia and around the world.

Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum was brought by Nigerian citizens (now residing in the United States), alleging that Royal Dutch Petroleum, Shell and their local subsidiary aided and abetted the Nigerian government to commit serious human rights abuses against the local Ogoni people of the oil-rich Niger Delta in the 1990s.

The case was brought under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) – an obscure law that was passed by the first US Congress in 1789 in an effort to combat piracy. The ATS states that US courts:

have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.
In the past two decades, human rights activists rediscovered the little-used ATS and employed it as a means to hold large multi-national corporations accountable for human rights abuses committed in far-flung countries.

http://theconversation.com/corporate-acc...tute-13752

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Curious...

26 April 2013, 6.46am AEST
Australia’s colonisation was no accident, say the numbers

Despite correcting for taphonomic loss, these changes appear to remain, suggesting real change in the data, as opposed to losing older sites through other mechanisms. Two key points of interest came from this analysis:

1) during the Last Glacial Maximum (21-18,000 years ago), populations declined by as much as 60%. Put in modern-day terms, this equates to a loss of about 14 million people across Australia!

2) the population increase began much earlier in the Holocene than previously believed. In general, populations and a range of archaeological finds have always been considered to occur in tandem and in response to the onset of El Niño-Southern Oscillation intensification some 5,000 years ago.

El Niño-Southern Oscillation occurs when temperature variations of a band of water off the western coast of South America cause climate change across the Pacific, including Australia.

The data here suggests these changes may have occurred earlier and we may need to find another mechanism to explain them.

http://theconversation.com/australias-co...bers-13730