freelance science journalist and author
Medical reporting
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 9 December 2014: “You’re too young to be in here.” I couldn’t agree more. I look around the cardiologist’s waiting room, guessing that I’m the youngest person by at least 20 years. Everyone else is slightly crumpled; soft, wrinkled and grey. But, despite my youthful vigour – well, maybe slightly … Continue reading When health anxiety set my mind (and heart) racing
From Australian Doctor, 21 November 2014: When Archie Cochrane attempted what he later described as his “first, worst and most successful clinical trial” among fellow prisoners of war in World War II suffering from jaundice and oedema, he might have been reassured that whatever the outcomes of his efforts, the majority of his study subjects … Continue reading The race to find a cure for Ebola
From Nature Outlook, 13 November 2014: At first glance, a child with sickle-cell disease may appear healthy. But what you cannot see — and what dominates the child’s life — are bursts of searing, crippling pain that strike without warning. These episodes require trips to hospital, and even the highest doses of the most powerful … Continue reading Life beyond the pain of sickle cell disease
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 11 November 2014: When talking about the problems of illicit drug use in Australia, conversations will tend to focus on ice, heroin, ecstasy and similar drugs. But one class of drugs rarely gets a mention, despite the fact that it’s now overtaking heroin as the cause of calls to drug … Continue reading Our growing addiction to prescription painkillers
From Monash magazine, October 2014: Giving someone the wrong blood in a transfusion causes the body to go into anaphylactic shock as the immune system is effectively forced to attack itself. Determining a patient’s blood type traditionally requires complex and expensive laboratory equipment, careful refrigeration of antibody reagents and a university degree in pathology. It … Continue reading Blood lines spelled out
From Monash magazine, October 2014: One of the big challenges facing health officials trying to supply, and use, vaccines in remote regions where refrigeration is either limited, unreliable or non-existent is that vital vaccines are sensitive to hot conditions. Too often vaccines fail to provide the necessary immune protection because the refrigerated supply chain that … Continue reading Cool cubes
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 27 October 2014: With the recent political debate around medical cannabis trials, you could be forgiven for thinking that the notion was something altogether new. In fact, cannabis has been used medicinally for thousands of years in India and Asia. It was introduced to western medicine in the mid-nineteenth century … Continue reading Why some doctors are in favour of medical cannabis
From ABC News in Science, 23 October 2014: People handling shopping receipts on a regular basis may want to avoid using hand sanitiser. New research suggests the combination can increase absorption of the hormone-mimicking chemical BPA. The study found that bisphenol A — or BPA — on shopping receipts printed on thermal paper was easily … Continue reading Hand sanitisers boost BPA absorption from receipts
From ABC Health, 18 September 2014: For a condition as complex, poorly understood and stigmatised as depression, it should come as no surprise that one of the major treatments – antidepressants – suffers the same problems. Those who are most likely to benefit are often reluctant to take antidepressants, while those less likely to benefit … Continue reading Are antidepressants overprescribed?
From ABC News in Science, 11 September 2014: The ultimate guide to pain-free sexual positions for men with lower back pain has been developed by Canadian researchers using motion-capture technology. A lack of evidence-based guidelines on how to avoid triggering back pain during sex prompted the research, says co-author Professor Stuart McGill, professor of spine … Continue reading Best sexual positions for a bad back
Bianca Nogrady 