Health

Animals
Short-tailed shearwaters have a long life-span. Picture: Trevor Pescott.

Why washed up birds are a worry

Authorities are monitoring beaches along the eastern seaboard as migrating bird dying of ‘malnutrition’ wash ashore, with bird flu experts on alert in the bid to keep H5N1 out of Australia

Health
The artifical tissue mimics the top crucial layers of skin and comes after years of work at The Alfred and Monash University. Picture: supplied

Grow your own ‘skin’ for burns

In a world-first medical trial, an Australian patient has received human-like skin grown in a lab to treat severe burns – a major breakthrough doctors say could improve healing and save lives

Health
Jaxon Pambid, Riley Gillece, Ewan Wood, George Philp and James Johnston for News Corp UNPLUGGED 24 PROJECT, Wednesday, October 23, 2024 - Picture: Richard Walker

23,000 Aussie kids turn off socials

More than 20,000 Aussie schoolchildren have given up social media for 24 hours, as part of a national campaign to highlight the dangers – WARNING: RED LEVEL (SECONDARY ONLY)

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Health
A study from Murdoch Childrens which identified a key change in the immune system that underpins peanut allergy remission, enabling them to develop a targeted treatment. Stella 9 years old was diagnosed with a peanut allergy at 18 months of age. But after taking part in a Murdoch ChildrenÕs allergy trial, she has had been in clinical remission for almost four years and now eats peanut regularly. At her home in Carnegie. Picture Rebecca Michael.

Peanut allergies linked to pollution

What raises the risk of developing peanut allergies – and what changes could “help turn the tide” on the rise in food sensitivities – has been revealed for the first time by an Australian team

Explainers
mark Knight toon on death of James Earl Jones

Social media Australia’s Death Star

Parents battling social media harm is like the Rebellion fighting the Death Star as Mark Knight channels Darth Vader’s much-needed voice of authority in tribute to the actor who voiced him

UPDATEDNews
Australia has demanded social media platforms reveal how many children are on their sites and what protections are in place to detect underage users

Australia moves on social media

PM Anthony Albanese has announced his government will work with states and territories on a ‘national approach’ to impose a unified social media age limit to better protect Australian children

Health
DEAL 16 AUG 2019
Brain science Pic : iStock

Breakthrough could ‘melt cancer’

Australia could be on the brink of revolutionising brain cancer treatment as Victorian researchers hope to transform patient outcomes with a startling discovery that enables the body to melt tumours from the inside

Environment
WARRANGAMBA, AUSTRALIA. APRIL 6, 2024 Warragamba Dam spill gates opened. , Following heavy rainfall overnight at the upper end of the forecasts (the 25% chance), Warragamba Dam reached full capacity and started spilling at 5:45am., The Warragamba catchment received a significant amount of rain from midnight at an average of 100 mm over 6 hours, with the sub-catchment, close to the dam wall, receiving ~130mm. Up to 200mm was received over 24 hours in some areas., This created flash flooding in the catchment and into the dam, causing it to spill., Warragamba Dam is spilling at a rate of around 200 gigalitres per day (GL/day) with that rate continuing to rise., With the flooding in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley the spill will contribute to the flood waters already in the system. Picture: Via NCA NewsWire.

Would you drink recycled water?

The biggest ever push for introducing recycled drinking water to millions of Australians is underway, after one major authority floated the new approach in its future water management proposal

Health
Associate Professor Daniel Gray from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research is analysing blood cancer cells to work out why some evade destruction. Picture: Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

‘Fountain of Youth’ scientific find

Okay, so it’s not immortality, but why an important organ in the human immune system stops working properly as we age has baffled scientists for decades – until this revolutionary discovery

Health
etching of David Mills nanoplastics

Plastic not so fantastic for people

Plastic seems to be everywhere – and it’s even in our bodies! Scientists have now revealed the five main chemicals used in plastic are bad for human health at every stage of development

EXPLAINERExplainers
(FILES) This undated image obtained from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland, shows a colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (green) found within an infected cell (pink and purple), cultured in the laboratory. The World Health Organization on May 11, 2023, has declared that mpox no longer constitutes a global health emergency , almost exactly a year after the disease formerly known as monkeypox started spreading globally. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the decision was prompted by falling case numbers worldwide, but emphasised that the disease remains a threat, particularly in areas of Africa where it has long been present. (Photo by Handout / National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

What is mpox and how does it spread?

The World Health Organisation has declared a surge in mpox cases a ‘global public emergency’. But what is mpox, how does it spread and why have health authorities upgraded the warning?

Spelling Bee
Sydney based Author Suzanne Leal and her daughter Miranda, 8, have been receiving letters from Suzanne's mother's best friend Alison Whittle for years and believe there may have been a resurgence in letter writing during the Covid-19 era. Pictured are some general photos of the letters Alison has sent over the years. Picture: David Swift.

Letters worth writing home about

Writing letters by hand was once a primary form of human communication – it’s a dying art now but experts say the practice should be rescued from the dustbin to help Gen Alpha thrive

Sport
Mark Knight cartoon for Paris Olympics triathlon

Stink erupts over Seine swimming

From River Seine to river stench, not even the dubious water quality of Paris’ famous waterway was enough to deter triathletes from attempting Olympic glory in Mark Knight cartoon