freelance science journalist and author
From Australian Geographic, May/June edition: IT’S BARELY 8AM ON A spring morning in Sydney’s inner south-west. Already the indoor ice rink is alive with lithe figures swooping and twirling in the cool internal air. These world-class figure skating hopefuls have been here for hours, practising their gravity-defying leaps, forcing themselves to their feet after each … Continue reading Forever young
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 21 March 2016: We can talk about good deaths and bad deaths, cheating death or embracing it, but the one thing that we all seem to reach for is this: when we die, we want to do it our way. Tony Smith (not his real name) says his mother and … Continue reading The tough question we all need to think about: what type of death do you want?
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 17 January 2014: In the 15th century, an unknown Dominican friar penned Ars Moriendi, or The Art of Dying. At the time, it offered an immensely popular guide on the attainment of a ‘good death’ and spawned a rash of translations and copycats across Europe. One wonders what its author … Continue reading Is there a right way to approach death?
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 17 September 2013: Talk to people about the kind of death people want to avoid and almost everyone has a story to share. It may be of a grandfather diminished and ridiculed by dementia until he is incontinent, incoherent, and bed-bound; or a young friend wracked with the agony of … Continue reading Is it possible to have a good death?
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 9 July 2013: Death is a lot like birth. Sometimes it’s a peaceful, even beautiful event that goes according to plan. Sometimes it’s a horrible bloody mess that is utterly beyond all control. Most of the time, it’s a bit of both. We have this idea that death is something … Continue reading Death: what are your choices?
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 6 june 2013: What is death? On the surface, this seems like a simple question. After all, if somebody is not breathing, their heart is no longer beating, they are cold, waxy and stiff, then it is possible to say with a fair degree of certainty that they are dead. … Continue reading Defining death: when exactly do we die?
