Print media is dying — at least, that’s the conventional wisdom. Circulation figures show sales of major Australian newspapers have been in consistent decline. And that’s a worldwide trend. In its State of the News Media 2015 report the Pew Research Center said: ‘Newspapers continue to struggle as an industry.’ In the United States, newspaper advertising revenue is less than half what it was a decade ago and daily circulation is down 19 per cent over that same period
Our world in the second decade of the 21st century is characterised by extensive growth of the human population (7.2 billion humans in 2014, with one billion extra expected in the next 12 years), and a parallel increase in the use of fossil fuels such as crude oil, natural gas and coal. These present trends cannot continue without resulting in grave implications affecting the global quality of life. Numerous speculations exist regarding future scenarios
Depression has been judged by experts to be as debilitating to the individual as multiple sclerosis. It is responsible for more disability in Australia than any other medical condition and has been estimated to cost Australian workplaces over 6 billion dollars annually
As the NCDs rain down, or even pour, and the forecast is for torrential rain, we can bask in the success of tobacco control in places like Australia. Unlike when I grew up, my children, and yours can dance without having to choke on tobacco smoke. So, tobacco control in Australia is a story about dancing in the rain! Rates in Australia have relentlessly decreased to an all-time low of less than 13%
In 1981 a young political junkie with progressive sympathies, Joe Trippi, joined the campaign to make Tom Bradley governor of California, and so the first black governor in US history. An alumnus of San Jose University,Trippi had taken in the ‘vibe’ of the incipient Silicon Valley. He suggested using a computer to help track voters and manage the campaign
Shortly after Barack Obama became the first US President to build his campaign around online social media, his new administration held an online ‘brainstorming’ session, seeking ideas for making government ‘more transparent, participatory and collaborative’
Why are our oceans important to us? How is our health, the health of the environment, the strength of our economy and indeed, our future, dependent on the seas? How can marine science help us, collectively, to sustainably develop our marine- based industries and at the same time protect our unique marine ecosystems so that they can be appreciated and enjoyed by future generations?
My father, who was born in Poland in 1898, only received one vaccine in his childhood, which was designed to protect him against smallpox. In Radom, as elsewhere, infectious diseases were regarded as an inescapable part of growing up, and there were regular outbreaks of diphtheria, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, causing fear, inconvenience and significant mortality. At that time, around 30% of all deaths occurred in children under the age of 5 years, with tuberculosis, pneumonia and diarrhoeal disease the biggest killers
The interlocking themes of creativity and innovation are as important for me as they are for anyone engaged in the creative industries. Without great acts of innovation and the wonderful, creative sparks that ignite them, the world we inhabit would be a quite different, infinitely less exciting and productive place
For over three decades, scientists have had the ability to alter the genomes of other species of animals. Using viruses to alter DNA sequences, scientists were able to create a range of transgenic animals — with altered physical, cognitive and social characteristics. In 2007, scientists at Case Western Reserve University used viruses to alter a gene called PEPCK-A in mice. The resulting transgenic mice could run for six kilometres without a break — 30 times longer than a normal mouse’s limit of 200 metres (Hakemi et al., 2007)