freelance science journalist and author
Medical reporting
From ABC Science, News in Science, 8 August 2012: The current whooping cough vaccine offers less protection against infection but is much safer than the older whole-cell vaccine, Australian researchers have found. The study examined Queensland immunisation and disease registers, which included more than 40,000 children born in 1998 who had received the vaccine. They … Continue reading Whooping cough vaccine weaker but safer
From Scientific American, July 2009 (online May 8, 2009): Mind control has been traditionally the realm of the hypnotist, but research in the field of fluorescent proteins is opening up the possibility of controlling cellular processes, gene activity and even behavior using nothing more than infrared light. Fluorescent proteins, which are compounds that can absorb … Continue reading Deep into the red
From the ABC Health and Wellbeing , 18 March 2009: David’s troubles began after a trip to the Middle East. It might have been the hefty dose of food poisoning he copped, or the fact he spent much of the trip lugging someone else’s heavy luggage. Either way, it did not come as a huge … Continue reading Web diagnosis: healthy searching
From The Australian, 4 April 2009: THEY are called “silent angels”, little girls with beautiful faces, touched by a random genetic mutation that has rendered them speechless and robbed them of their chance of a normal life. Meredith Drakes is one of these silent angels. Now 21, she cannot speak or walk, is wheelchair-bound and … Continue reading United front tracks silent menace
From The Australian, 7 March 2009: When a journalist from The New York Times asked British mountaineer George Mallory why he was planning to scale Mt Everest, the reply was simple: “Because it’s there.” I feel the same way about a drug-free childbirth. When confronted with the opinion that because modern medicine has developed the … Continue reading When push comes to scalpel
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 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
Bianca Nogrady 