freelance science journalist and author
From Australian Doctor, 3 March 2009: IT should have been a routine operation: a knee arthroplasty for an elderly man that would have cost about $15,000 and kept the patient off his feet for perhaps a few weeks. There would have been some small risks of complications, but in a high- standard health care environ … Continue reading Sun, surf and sutures
From The Australian, 21 February 2009: Emerging into the cold, harsh light of the delivery room can hardly be a pleasant experience for newborns. And to add insult to injury, just as they are adapting to this new world a baby’s delicate, soft heel is assaulted with a needle and several drops of blood are … Continue reading Screening for fragile X sidelined
From Scientific American, March 2009: Even in the teeming and varied world of bacteria, Wolbachia is something of a standout. Within its insect host, the bacterium acts as a gender-bending, egg-killing, DNA-hijacking parasite that is passed down from one generation to the next via the female to her eggs. Hosted by at least one fifth … Continue reading A bug for a bug for a bug
From ABC Science, News in Science, 23 January 2009: A bacterial parasite known to cause stomach ulcers is shedding new light on ancient patterns of human migration across the Pacific region, according to an international study. In the latest edition of Science, researchers report that their study of the distribution of Helicobacter pylori genotypes has … Continue reading Gut bacteria reveals human migration
From Pathway magazine, the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, Winter 2008: Being a baby one hundred years ago was a pretty dicey affair. Up to one in three would not live to see their first birthday, instead falling victim to any one of a long list of diseases including smallpox, diphtheria, measles, tetanus and … Continue reading The vaccine revolution
From The Australian, 10 January 2009: At age two years and seven months, William Long is already an unstoppable chatterbox. “People say ‘oh my goodness, he really doesn’t stop talking’,” says his mother Sandra. Not that this would normally be considered that unusual, except for the fact that William is profoundly deaf, and has been … Continue reading This sound barrier can be broken
From 6minutes.com.au, 5 January 2009:A single extra hour of sleep can reduce the five-year risk of coronary artery calcification by 33%, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.The five-year study of nearly 500 healthy, middle-aged Americans found the coronary benefits of sleep remained even after adjusting for potential confounders such … Continue reading Sleep longer for healthier arteries
From 6minutes.com.au, 5 January 2009:Outlawing corporal punishment of children, and improved detection of early psychotic illness in mothers, could go a long way towards reducing the number of child homicides in Australia, according to research in the Medical Journal of Australia this week.A study of 165 child homicides found 27 deaths were caused by offenders … Continue reading Smacking ban could help save children’s lives
From ABC Science Online, News in Science, 18 December 2008:Led Zeppelin’s immortal song ‘Dazed and Confused’ might well have been a clinical observation on the state of their audience’s brains, say Australian researchers who have found over-enthusiastic head-banging can cause mild brain injury.In a study published in the British Medical Journal this week, two University … Continue reading Head-banging hammers the brain
From ABC Science, News in Science, 11 December 2008:Female dolphins that use marine sponges to help them forage for prey spend less time socialising with others, but still produce the same number of offspring, according to a US study.Researchers have long known of a bottlenose dolphin population in Western Australia’s Shark Bay that use sponges … Continue reading Dolphin spongers are workaholic loners
Bianca Nogrady 