freelance science journalist and author
From Nature, 25 September 2024: “Women are born with pain built in. It’s our physical destiny.” With those words, Kristin Scott Thomas’s character in the TV show Fleabag nailed a truth: that to be female is to be over-represented in statistics about pain. A study of more than 27,000 people in 19 European countries found … Continue reading How pain is misunderstood and ignored in women
From The Saturday Paper, 24 August 2024: In September 2020, the United Kingdom government commissioned the British Academy – the national academy for the humanities and social sciences – to explore the long-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. What they got in March 2021 was a report titled “The Covid Decade”. Even then, in the … Continue reading Dispatch from the long Covid frontline
From ABC Science, 7 August 2024: A 700,000-year-old fragment of arm bone has shed light on the origins of the early human species known as the “hobbit”. The tiny piece of bone is from an early hobbit (Homo floresiensis) individual, which researchers estimate was just 100 centimetres tall. This was 6cm smaller than its descendants, … Continue reading Smallest adult human arm bone fossil so far discovered points to origins of ‘hobbit’
From The Saturday Paper, 3 August 2024: The beaches of South America’s south-eastern and western coastlines are breeding grounds for sea lions. Every year, hundreds of thousands of these marine mammals converge in riotous crowds along the sandy and rocky beaches that stretch from Lima and Rio de Janeiro down to the southern-most tip of … Continue reading Authorities race to combat the threat of bird flu
From Nature, 12 July 2024: A New Zealand court has ruled that the University of Auckland breached its obligations to protect high-profile microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles from the intense abuse and harassment she experienced while providing public information about the COVID-19 pandemic. But the court did not find that the university had suppressed Wiles’ academic freedom … Continue reading Microbiologist wins case against university over harassment during COVID
From The Saturday Paper, 1 June 2024: Tuesday, May 7, was an ordinary, moderate autumn day in New South Wales; nothing to suggest a risk of excessive electricity use, price spikes or blackouts. Between 5.15pm and 5.20pm, however, the wholesale spot price of electricity skyrocketed from about $450 per megawatt-hour – typical for that time … Continue reading Fossil fuels are unreliable backstops in the energy transition
From Nature, 22 May 2024: As a vocal advocate of vaccinations for public health, Peter Hotez was no stranger to online harassment and threats. But then the abuse showed up on his doorstep. It was a Sunday during a brutal Texas heatwave in June 2023 when a man turned up at Hotez’s home, filming himself … Continue reading Harassment of scientists is surging — institutions aren’t sure how to help
From Nature, 20 May 2024: A ubiquitous household pest has unexpected origins. A cockroach that lives in human dwellings all over the world is known as the German cockroach — but it did not come from Germany originally. A study published today1 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the creature … Continue reading The origin of the cockroach: how a notorious pest conquered the world
From the Guardian, 1 April 2024: There’s a meme featuring a confident, suave, smiling Henry Cavill – the actor best known for playing Superman – posing for photographers on the red carpet. Sneaking up behind him is wild-looking, maniacally gleeful co-star Jason Momoa. To me, this is the perfect metaphor for perimenopause. Cavill is at … Continue reading ‘I’m as baffled as the next ovary-owner’: navigating the science of treating menopause
From the BMJ, 5 March 2024: Fewer than one in 10 Australians now smoke tobacco daily, although rates of vaping in teenagers and young adults have almost tripled in five years, a survey of more than 21 000 people has found. Research by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in people aged 14 and over … Continue reading Smoking rates in Australia drop below 10%, but vaping increases
Bianca Nogrady 