freelance science journalist and author
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 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 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 The Australian, 10 May 2008: THEY were just ordinary pork spare ribs, properly cooked and harmless. But they were enough to land Peter Moore in hospital with a severe allergic reaction. “It wasn’t instantaneous,” says Moore, 32. “Maybe a couple of hours later I went to bed and woke up with hives, really big … Continue reading One tick red meat can do without
