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“I run on bananas and coke cola": Kyrgios wades into doping debate

<p>Nick Kyrgios has raised eyebrows over his out-of-pocket comments on the recent doping scandal surrounding the world of tennis. </p> <p>The Aussie champion spoke over current testing protocols in the wake of Romanian tennis player Simon Halep being slapped with a four-year ban from the game for doping offences.</p> <p>Naturally, many tennis champions from around the world have put in their two cents on the recent ban, as Greek player Maria Sakkari called out the measures for being "scary". </p> <p>She told a tennis news site, “One thing I can tell you for sure is the way they’re handling every situation with any player, any athlete, it’s just scary.”</p> <p>“We’re gonna get to a point where we’re not even gonna be taking electrolytes. Thankfully, I haven’t been in that position. I never want to be. I’ve been very careful with everything that has to do with supplements. But I don’t know what the process is, how things are done behind closed doors."</p> <p>Nick Kyrgios was quick to jump in to the debate, responding to Sakkari's comments on Twitter saying, “Ehhhh not really lol.”</p> <p>“I run on bananas and coke cola in 5 set battles. And my record in them speaks for itself."</p> <p>“Maybe players should just stop taking shady sh*t. Look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and say yep I did it right. Not hard.”</p> <p>Fans soon came after Kyrgios, but he doubled down.</p> <p>Kyrgios responded to one Twitter user’s sledge by posting, “I’d imagine if I was taking similar things to be banned for 4 years I’d have about 5 slams. Potato”.</p> <p>Kyrgios has had a difficult season as he has been forced to take time off to recover from injuries to his wrist and knees. </p> <p>He has urged his fans to be patient as he works on his recovery, as he is determined to get back on the court. </p> <p>"To my millions of fans out there, I guess we just have to be patient,” Kyrgios wrote in an Instagram story, accompanied by a picture of him in the gym.</p> <p>“Trust me, I still have some fire left in the tank, my body just needs time to recover and get back.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

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Too big, too heavy and too slow to change: road transport is way off track for net zero

<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/robin-smit-594126">Robin Smit</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a></em></p> <p>The need to cut the emissions driving climate change is urgent, but it’s proving hard to decarbonise road transport in Australia. Its share of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions <a href="https://ageis.climatechange.gov.au/">doubled</a> from 8% in 1990 to 16% in 2020. New vehicles sold in Australia have <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-thought-australian-cars-were-using-less-fuel-new-research-shows-we-were-wrong-122378">barely improved</a> average emissions performance for the last decade or so.</p> <p>The federal government <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/publications/australias-emissions-projections-2022">publishes</a> emission forecasts to 2035 – 15 years short of 2050, the net-zero target date. Our <a href="https://www.transport-e-research.com/_files/ugd/d0bd25_7a6920bdd9e8448385863a7c23ec9ecf.pdf">newly published study</a> forecasts road transport emissions through to 2050. The estimated reduction by 2050, 35–45% of pre-COVID levels in 2019, falls well short of what’s needed.</p> <p>Our findings highlight three obstacles to achieving net zero. These are: Australia’s delay in switching to electric vehicles; growing sales of large, heavy vehicles such as SUVs and utes; and uncertainties about hydrogen as a fuel, especially for freight transport. These findings point to policy actions that could get road transport much closer to net zero.</p> <h2>How was this worked out?</h2> <p>Emissions and energy use vary from vehicle to vehicle, so reliable forecasting requires a detailed breakdown of the on-road fleet. Our study <a href="https://www.transport-e-research.com/software">used</a> the Australian Fleet Model and the net zero vehicle emission model (n0vem).</p> <p>The study focused on so-called <a href="https://www.cummins.com/news/2022/05/26/well-wheel-emissions-simplified">well-to-wheel emissions</a> from fuel production, distribution and use while driving. These activities account for about 75–85% of vehicle emissions. (<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-climate-friendly-is-an-electric-car-it-all-comes-down-to-where-you-live-179003">Life-cycle assessment</a> estimates “cradle-to-grave” emissions, including vehicle manufacture and disposal.)</p> <p>Working with European Union colleagues, our emissions simulation drew on an updated <a href="https://www.transport-e-research.com/_files/ugd/d0bd25_7a6920bdd9e8448385863a7c23ec9ecf.pdf">EU scenario</a> (EU-27) showing the changes in the EU vehicle fleet needed to meet the latest (proposed) CO₂ targets. Our study assumed Australia will be ten years behind the EU across all vehicle classes.</p> <p>We further modified the scenario to properly reflect Australian conditions. For instance, the EU has a much higher proportion of plug-in hybrid vehicles than Australia, where buyers are now bypassing them for wholly electric vehicles.</p> <h2>Energy use is shifting, but too slowly</h2> <p>Using this modified scenario, the simulation produces a forecast fall in total wheel-to-wheel emissions from Australian transport from 104 billion tonnes (Mt) in 2018 to 55-65Mt in 2050. Within the range of this 35–45% reduction, the outcome depends largely on the balance of renewable and fossil-fuel energy used to produce hydrogen.</p> <p>The modelling nonetheless predicts a large shift in energy use in road transport in 2050, as 2019 was basically 100% fossil fuels.</p> <p>The on-road energy efficiency of battery electric vehicles is roughly twice that of fuel cell electric (hydrogen) vehicles and roughly three times that of fossil-fuelled vehicles of similar type.</p> <p>The modelling results make this clear. In 2050, battery electric vehicles account for about 70% of total travel, but 25% of on-road energy use and only about 10% of total emissions.</p> <p>In contrast, fossil-fuelled vehicles account for about 25% of total travel in 2050, 60% of energy use and 75-85% of emissions. That’s even allowing for expected efficiency improvements.</p> <p>This means the shift to a mostly electric fleet by 2050 plus the use of hydrogen is predicted to fall short of what’s needed to get to net zero. It will require aggressive new policies to increase the uptake of electric vehicles across all classes.</p> <h2>Lighter vehicles make a big difference</h2> <p>But that is not the whole story. One neglected issue is the growing proportion of <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-may-be-underestimating-just-how-bad-carbon-belching-suvs-are-for-the-climate-and-for-our-health-190743">big, heavy passenger vehicles</a> (SUVs, utes). This trend is very noticeable in Australia. The laws of physics mean heavier vehicles need much more energy and fuel per kilometre of driving, and so produce more emissions.</p> <p>Currently, a large diesel SUV typically emits a kilogram of CO₂ for every 3 kilometres of driving, compared to 15km for a light electric vehicle and 200 kilometres for an e-bike. An average electric vehicle currently emits 1kg of CO₂ every 7km.</p> <p>This distance is expected to be around 60km in 2050, when renewables power the electricity grid. A lightweight electric car will more than double the distance to 125km per kilogram of CO₂. Reducing vehicle weights and optimising energy efficiency in transport will be essential to meet emission targets.</p> <p>The study modelled the impacts of <a href="https://www.automotiveworld.com/special-reports/vehicle-lightweighting-2/">lightweighting</a> passenger vehicles while keeping buses and commercial vehicles the same. If Australians had driven only small cars in 2019 for personal use, total road transport emissions would have been about 15% lower.</p> <p>The reduction in emissions from simply shifting to smaller cars is <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/publications/national-greenhouse-accounts-2019/national-inventory-report-2019">similar to</a> emissions from domestic aviation and domestic shipping combined. Importantly, lightweighting cuts emissions for all kinds of vehicles.</p> <h2>The uncertainties about hydrogen</h2> <p>Fuel cell electric vehicles using hydrogen account for only a few percent of all travel, but most will likely be large trucks. As a result, in our scenarios, they use a little over 10% of total on-road energy and produce 5-20% of total emissions, depending on the energy source used for hydrogen production and distribution.</p> <p>The modified EU scenario includes a significant uptake of hydrogen vehicles by 2050. That’s by no means guaranteed.</p> <p>The uptake in Australia has been negligible to date. That’s due to costs (vehicle and fuel), the need for new hydrogen fuel infrastructure, less mature technology (compared to battery electric vehicles) and limited vehicle availability. <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-must-rapidly-decarbonise-transport-but-hydrogens-not-the-answer-166830">Unresolved aspects</a> of hydrogen in transport include lower energy efficiency, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-australia-to-lead-the-way-on-green-hydrogen-first-we-must-find-enough-water-196144">need for clean water</a>, uncertainty about leakage, fuel-cell durability and value for consumers.</p> <h2>How do we get back on track?</h2> <p>Our study suggests Australia is on track to miss the net-zero target for 2050 mainly because of the large proportions of fossil-fuelled vehicles and large and heavy passenger vehicles.</p> <p>These two aspects could become targets for new policies such as public information campaigns, tax incentives for small, light vehicles, bans on selling fossil fuel vehicles and programs to scrap them. Other options to cut emissions include measures to reduce travel demand, optimise freight logistics and shift travel to public transport, to name a few.</p> <p>The study confirms the scale of the challenge of decarbonising road transport. Australia will need “all hands on deck” – government, industry and consumers – to achieve net zero in 2050.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208655/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/robin-smit-594126">Robin Smit</a>, Adjunct Associate Professor, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: </em><em>Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/too-big-too-heavy-and-too-slow-to-change-road-transport-is-way-off-track-for-net-zero-208655">original article</a>.</em></p>

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Astonishing report identifies Covid’s alleged “patient zero”

<p>A bombshell report has claimed the infamous Covid-19 "patient zero” was a Wuhan scientist carrying out experiments on souped-up coronaviruses.</p> <p>The scientist in question, Ben Hu, was conducting risky tests at the Wuhan Institute of Virology with two colleagues, Ping You and Yan Zhu, the report states.</p> <p>It is understood that all three suffered Covid-like symptoms and required hospital care weeks before China broke the news of the virus outbreak to the rest of the world.</p> <p><em>The Sun</em> reported that the name of “patient zero" has never been disclosed until now.</p> <p>Many US government officials have now identified the three scientists in a shocking report by journalists Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi.</p> <p>Writing in the Substack newsletter <em>Public</em>, the pair alleged the scientists were experimenting with coronaviruses when they fell ill in 2019.</p> <p>Several experts and intelligence officials have long suspected scientists at the lab accidentally spread the virus during so-called “gain of function” experiments on bat coronaviruses.</p> <p>The naming of “patient zero” could prove to be the smoking gun, only adding to mounting circumstantial evidence of a lab leak.</p> <p>It is unclear who in the US government had the intelligence about the sick lab workers, how long they had it, and why it was not shared with the public.</p> <p><em>The Australian</em> journalist and <em>Sky News</em> host Sharri Markson spoke to <em>The Sun</em> about the lab leak theory in 2021 and dubbed it an “explosive development”.</p> <p>Jamie Metzl, a former member of the World Health Organisation advisory committee on human genome editing, described it as a possible “game changer”.</p> <p>“It’s a game changer if it can be proven that Hu got sick with Covid before anyone else,” he said.</p> <p>“That would be the ‘smoking gun’. Hu was the lead hands-on researcher in (virologist Shi Zhengli’s) lab.”</p> <p>DRASTIC, an international team of scientists and sleuths attempting to piece together Covid-19’s origins, researched the three scientists in 2021.</p> <p>The Wuhan Institute of Virology’s website lists Hu’s biography showing he was working as an assistant researcher.</p> <p>He was said to be the “star pupil” of virologist Shi Zhengli — the virologist at the lab who became known as “batwoman” for her research on bat coronaviruses.</p> <p>Markson, the author of <em>What Really Happened in Wuhan</em>, said that Hu was running a state-funded project in 2019 to test if new coronaviruses could infect humans.</p> <p>The study involved souping up the viruses and experimenting with them on humanised mice.</p> <p>However, the results were never published and the study’s existence was erased from the internet as Covid-19 was spreading around the globe, which raised suspicion of a possible lab leak.</p> <p>A source told <em>The Sun</em> that footage from 2017 that was aired by Chinese state-run TV showed Hu working in the lab without protective gear.</p> <p>The same video shows scientists from the Wuhan lab searching for bat viruses with inadequate protective gear.</p> <p>Alina Chan, a molecular biologist at MIT and Harvard, told <em>Public</em>, “Ben Hu is essentially the next Shi Zhengli.</p> <p>“He was her star pupil. He had been making chimeric SARS-like viruses and testing these in humanised mice.</p> <p>“If I had to guess who would be doing this risky virus research and most at risk of getting accidentally infected, it would be him.”</p> <p>She noted, “If this info had been made public in May of 2020, I doubt that many in the scientific community and the media would have spent the last three years raving about a raccoon dog or pangolin in a wet market.”</p> <p>US scientist Dr Steven Quay, “He was always my first choice for one of the infected Wuhan Institute of Virology workers but it seemed too simple.”</p> <p>A bill signed by US President Joe Biden in 2023 called for the release of the names of the sick scientists, their symptoms, and whether they had been involved with or exposed to coronavirus research.</p> <p>The US is currently preparing to release previously classified material, which could include the names of the three Wuhan scientists.</p> <p>Earlier in 2023, FBI director Christopher Wray said, “the FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan”.</p> <p>China has long been accused of attempting to cover up or distort its involvement with Covid-19, but they continue to deny claims.</p> <p>In March 2023, China’s former government scientist confessed the Wuhan lab leak theory shouldn’t be ruled out, sparking uproar in Beijing.</p> <p>Professor George Gao, the former chief of China’s Centre for Disease Control, played a key role in the efforts to trace the origins of Covid-19, insisting scientists should “suspect anything”.</p> <p>Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 podcast <em>Fever: The Hunt for Covid’s Origin</em>, Professor Gao said, “You can always suspect anything. That’s science.</p> <p>“Don’t rule out anything.”</p> <p>Professor Gao retired from the CDC in 2022 after playing a key role in the pandemic response and efforts to find the mysterious origin of the virus.</p> <p>He would have had access to highly classified government information on the outbreak of Covid-19.</p> <p>According to Professor Gao, a formal investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology was carried out by a government department.</p> <p>The government scientist claimed the “lab was double-checked by the experts in the field”.</p> <p>Investigators believe scientists were working with the Chinese military to develop a mutant virus and pursue bioweapons just as the pandemic began.</p> <p>The findings followed a team of US investigators who combed through top-secret intercepted communications and research.</p> <p>In 2016, researchers discovered a new fatal type of coronavirus in a mineshaft in Mojiang, Yunnan province.</p> <p>However, they kept it under wraps, with the sample then transported to the Wuhan lab and dubbed as classified work.</p> <p>The virus is the only known immediate relative of Covid-19 known to exist prior to the pandemic.</p> <p>Speaking to<em> The Times</em>, one US investigator said, “The trail of papers starts to go dark.</p> <p>“That’s exactly when the classified program kicked off.</p> <p>“My view is that the reason it was covered up was due to military secrecy related to the army’s pursuit of dual-use capabilities in virological biological weapons and vaccines.”</p> <p>The findings came after a scientist who worked closely with the Wuhan lab claimed the virus was genetically engineered and leaked from the facility.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Getty</em></p>

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Movies that received zero stars

<p>There are good movies, so-so movies and bad movies. Is there anything worse, though, than a bad movie? Yes, there is. And I have seen my share.</p> <p>For decades, <em>Newsday </em>has used a four-star rating system for its film reviews. When I became the paper's movie critic in 2008, I had to figure out how to approach this system. Obviously, it's rare to see a four-star movie – even if it's not <em>Citizen Kane</em>, it has to be something truly outstanding.</p> <p>Three stars signals a wholehearted recommendation, though not exactly a masterpiece. Many movies fall into the two-and-a-half-star range: They're just meh. Tougher to call is the one-star or half-star movie – how do you decide between a D grade and a D-minus?</p> <p>Then there's the nuclear option: zero stars. What makes a movie so awful that it deserves zero stars? Like the four-star movie, this is a rare breed.</p> <p>This is a movie whose redeeming qualities are either infinitesimal or non-existent. It's a movie that fails so spectacularly it doesn't get credit for decent lighting or being in focus. A zero-star movie doesn't even get credit for existing.</p> <p>Every zero-star movie is unique in its own way, but over the years I've noticed that the worst of the worst tend to fall into a few different categories.</p> <p>Here are four examples.</p> <p><strong>Vanity projects</strong></p> <p>It's easy to poke fun at A-list stars and their outsize egos, but they often bring it upon themselves. Remember when John Travolta thought that <em>Battlefield Earth</em> would turn us all into Scientologists? Or when Mariah Carey played a version of herself in <em>Glitter</em>? Remember almost every movie Madonna ever made?</p> <p>For sheer self-centredness, though, nothing beats last year's <em>By the Sea</em>, written and directed by Angelina Jolie-Pitt and starring herself and her husband, Brad. (They produced it as well.) They play an American writer and his wife who stay in a beachside French hotel during the 1970s.</p> <p>He's depressed, she's depressed, they never have sex. With little dialogue and even less action, the movie mostly features the two stars standing around in chic outfits, smoking cigarettes and gazing with despair upon million-dollar views of the coast.</p> <p>Kinder critics praised the cinematography and scenery, but I couldn't find a reason to give this extended Chanel No. 5 commercial even a half-star. I figured the two actors got enough gratification just admiring themselves on screen for two hours.</p> <p><strong>Insults to intelligence</strong></p> <p>Filmmakers often assume their audiences will swallow just about anything. In the sci-fi failure <em>Transcendence</em>, Johnny Depp uploaded his consciousness into the cloud – a literal one, in the sky. (I gave that movie a half-star for sheer nuttiness.)</p> <p>In the zero-star fantasy<em> Jupiter Ascending</em>, the Wachowskis told the story of a housemaid (Mila Kunis) who sells her eggs to buy a telescope but discovers she's a princess. These movies took years to make, yet we spotted their idiocy within minutes.</p> <p>Then there's <em>Aloha</em>, Cameron Crowe's zero-star comedy-drama from 2015.</p> <p>Among its many terrible ideas were casting Emma Stone as a native Hawaiian (as if nobody would notice?), hoping we'd swoon when Bradley Cooper says cheesy things like "Would you stop getting more beautiful?" and creating a baffling climax in which an orbiting space object is destroyed by rock music.</p> <p>Filmmakers tend to be smart people, but moviegoers are no dopes, either.</p> <p><em>Aloha </em>made just US$26.3 million on its US$37 million budget, one of the year's major flops.</p> <p><strong>Lapses in taste</strong></p> <p>Taste is subjective, of course, but some movies cross a line just to cross it. Adam Sandler's zero-star comedy <em>That's My Boy </em>(2012), whose plot hinged on statutory rape and incest, marked a new low – until Peter Farrelly reset the bar with<em> Movie 43</em>.</p> <p>An anthology comedy spearheaded by Farrelly with several directors and writers, <em>Movie 43</em> (2013) rounds up more than a dozen A-list stars in an orgy of nastiness and vulgarity.</p> <p>Among the more hideous highlights are Chris Pratt and his real-life wife, Anna Faris, as lovers with a scatological fetish; Richard Gere as the CEO of a product that hacks off its customers' penises; and Chloe Grace Moretz as a teenager getting her period.</p> <p>"Once you see it, you can't unsee it," the trailers promised.</p> <p>As for the cast, they probably wish they could un-be in it.</p> <p><strong>Sheer ineptitude</strong></p> <p>Finally, some movies are so badly made that they barely qualify as movies. <em>Left Behind</em>, for instance, a faith-based rapture-fantasy starring Nicolas Cage, was so sloppy and disorganised that it literally couldn't keep track of night and day.</p> <p>At least that film was made by relative amateurs. <em>The Last Airbender</em> (2010), a fantasy-adventure based on the Nickelodeon series, was directed by M Night Shyamalan, the maestro who gave us <em>The Sixth Sense</em>. Here, Shyamalan completely loses his ability to coherently tell the story of Aang (Noah Ringer), a boy with mystical powers trying to unite four tribes. The dialogue is so crammed with fictional exposition that the actors sound like they're reading a Pokemon manual, while the choppy editing seemed almost random.</p> <p>Not even the special effects deserved a half-star: The postproduction 3-D made the whole movie look as flat as a View-Master slide. With its US$150 million budget, <em>The Last Airbender</em> was an inexcusable, zero-star disaster.</p> <p>As a last note, a truly terrible movie is just as exceptional as a truly great one, and in some ways just as fascinating. It's my job, though, to sit through them so you don't have to.</p> <p>You're welcome.</p> <p><strong>THE WORST OF THE WORST</strong></p> <p><strong>10. <em>All About Steve</em> (2009)</strong></p> <p>There's a reason you've never heard of this romantic comedy starring A-listers Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper: It's because she plays an irritating crossword fanatic and he plays an uninteresting person. In terms of on-screen chemistry, they're the equivalent of bleach and ammonia.</p> <p><strong>9. <em>Moms' Night Out</em> (2014)</strong></p> <p>This botched comedy (starring Trace Adkins and Patricia Heaton) stands out for many things, but one is a technical reason: The filmmakers somehow managed to capture the weirdest, ugliest facial expression on nearly every actor in nearly every scene. It's like a 90-minute flip-book of ruined family photos.</p> <p><strong>8. <em>Jem and The Holograms</em> (2015)</strong></p> <p>Aubrey Peeples plays an aspiring singer who is shocked – shocked! – to discover that global stardom requires personal and artistic sacrifice. File this movie's profound message under Things a 9-Year-Old Could Have Told You.</p> <p><strong>7. <em>Remember Me</em> (2010)</strong></p> <p>In this saccharine yet creepy romance, Robert Pattinson plays a young, moody guy – no stretch there – who sleeps with a woman to get revenge on her father. Aww, how cute! The plot also hinges on the World Trade Centre attacks. Double cute!</p> <p><strong>6. <em>Jupiter Ascending</em> (2015)</strong></p> <p>This sci-fi fantasy from the Wachowskis (The Matrix) defies description, but here's an attempt: A humble house-cleaner (Mila Kunis) discovers she's a galactic princess thanks to a part-wolf warrior (Channing Tatum). It's a statistical marvel whose 127 minutes include not a single good idea.</p> <p><strong>5. <em>Rock The Kasbah</em> (2015)</strong></p> <p>A washed-up rock manager (Bill Murray) decides to make a pop star out of an Afghan singer (Leem Lubany). Magically, she reverses centuries of religious and cultural stigmas by performing the songs of Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam. Possibly the most misguided comedy ever made.</p> <p><strong>4. <em>Aloha </em>(2015)</strong></p> <p>Cameron Crowe's cloying romance stars Bradley Cooper as an ex-military man trying to bed a happily married woman (gross!) while flirting with a native Hawaiian (played by Emma Stone?) and trying to stop an outer-space missile (say what?). The movie is so wide of the mark that you can't even tell where it was aiming.</p> <p><strong>3. <em>Movie 43</em> (2013)</strong></p> <p>Richard Gere, Halle Berry, Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman and many other talented people run through the most repulsive, unimaginative and unfunny skits ever filmed. The whole thing almost literally stinks. <em>Movie 43</em> currently holds a difficult-to-attain 4 per cent rating on RottenTomatoes.com.</p> <p><strong>2. <em>The Last Airbender</em> (2010)</strong></p> <p>M Night Shyamalan's fantasy-adventure is so disjointed and disorganised that you might think the reels got mixed up – possibly with a whole other movie. You could watch it 10 times and still not understand a thing, though by then you'd have gone permanently insane.</p> <p><strong>1. <em>By The Sea</em> (2015)</strong></p> <p>Think back to the most pretentious European art-film you've ever had to endure. Now imagine Angelina Jolie making that movie, and you've got <em>By the Sea</em>, starring herself and Brad Pitt as depressed Americans who visit France and smoke a lot. Remember how Jean-Paul Sartre said hell is other people? That's because he hadn't seen this movie.</p> <p><em>Written by Rafer Guzman. First appeared on <a href="http://Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz</span></strong></a>.</em></p> <p><em>Images: Columbia Pictures</em></p>

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Body language expert zeroes in on PM's meeting with Xi Jinping

<p>Anthony Albanese and Xi Jingping have shared in a historic handshake on the sidelines of the G20 summit, bringing an end to a six-year diplomatic freeze. </p> <p>The PM met with the Chinese President at the event in Bali on Tuesday, as a body language expert has dissected their meeting, pointing out some hard-to-spot details. </p> <p>Body language expert Katia Loisel has revealed the way the leaders shook hands held secrets about their power dynamic. </p> <p>“The way you shake hands reveals important information about your personality, levels of confidence and the power dynamic between two people and can dramatically influence how others perceive and interact with you,” Loisel explained to <a href="https://7news.com.au/politics/body-language-expert-reveals-the-subtle-sign-you-missed-when-albanese-met-chinas-president-c-8872610" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7News</a>.</p> <p>“As a leader, Xi uses several tactics to assert his dominance when shaking hands during meet and greets and photo opportunities.”</p> <p>Loisel said by choosing to stand out on the left with “his hand thrust out first”, Xi is able to “upset the balance of power”.</p> <p>“By orientating his body to the left away from Anthony Albanese, Xi restricts Albanese’s movement and forces him into a submissive position,” she said.</p> <p>“In contrast, this position allows Xi to project an air of confidence, standing in an open, unrestricted pose directly facing the camera."</p> <p>“This handshake is an attempt to assert dominance, get the upper hand and upset the balance of power quite literally forcing the receiver, in this case Albanese, into a submissive position.”</p> <p>The image of the two leaders sparked further conversation online, with some pointing out where Xi “always” stands for photos with other leaders.</p> <p>“This is why (check where Xi always stands for pictures),” one Twitter user posted along with a series of images of Xi standing on the left.</p> <p>At the meeting, China’s $20 billion trade sanctions on Australia, detention of Australian citizens and relationship with Russia were discussed.</p> <p>The pair also discussed climate change and Albanese urged Xi to maintain the status quo when it comes to the status of Taiwan.</p> <p>Albanese said both leaders spoke honestly with each other about these issues.</p> <p>“We have big differences to manage, but we’re always going to be better off when we have dialogue and are able to talk constructively and respectfully, but also honestly, about what those differences are,” he said after the meeting.</p> <p>“(Australia) will cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and act in the national interest.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

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"Zero regrets": Hugh Sheridan reveals secret marriage

<p dir="ltr">Hugh Sheridan has revealed they were married to a well-known entertainer for nine years but the pair opted to keep the relationship a secret.</p> <p dir="ltr">The 37-year-old actor, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, appeared on Jessica Rowe's Big Talk Show podcast, and revealed their past relationship. </p> <p dir="ltr">Hugh did not want to reveal their former partner’s name but said the pair tied the knot on July 11, 2011 and were married for nine years. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I can't say their name because they were in the same industry, so. Couldn't really be specific about that, but I was married,” Hugh said. </p> <p dir="ltr">“We were solidly together for about seven years and then the last couple of years we were travelling a lot and it got too hard and, but we're still very good friends.” </p> <p dir="ltr">Hugh confessed that close family and friends knew about the marriage but they decided to keep it private from the public. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I was finding out if you don't speak out about your private life, people can assume that you're ashamed or that you've got some sort of an agenda or that you are denying other people their self expression by not talking about it.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Hugh and their ex officially got divorced a couple of years ago and revealed they are “very single right now”. </p> <p dir="ltr">“​​I am definitely single. I can confirm that right now,” Hugh said. </p> <p dir="ltr">The news comes just months after Hugh announced their split from fiancé Kurt Roberts after just eight months.</p> <p dir="ltr">In an Instagram post, the actor reminisced about their good times and that it was time to move on. </p> <p dir="ltr">“In retrospect, having a first public relationship, that public, that fast, might’ve been too much pressure on us,” they wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Maybe it was COVID or quarantines or us working to (sic) hard (I take the blame for full responsibility for the working hours), maybe it’s dads death or all the above.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The point is Kurt is incredibly kind, someone who is earnestly caring and helped me through a very tough time.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Transparency is what I promised you all. For now we didn’t make it, but we tried very, very hard, I’m so sorry for us that it wasn’t easy and I’m sorry for the added pressure.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Lots learned, the heartache is heavy, but zero regrets for the greatest love.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Instagram</em></p>

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Sustainable aviation fuels – is Australia being left behind?

<p>Some solutions in renewable energy are relatively easy. Solar panels on roofs for example, or battery powered cars.</p> <p>But our obsession with air travel is significantly harder to decarbonise. Batteries are too heavy except on very short flights, and other zero carbon solutions in aviation are few and far between. Without removing air travel altogether, the next best thing is something called ‘sustainable aviation fuels’ or SAFs.</p> <p>While many other countries are ramping up their SAF production and already mixing it in with traditional fuels, Australia is being left behind.</p> <p>“It’s a shame if Qantas meets its 10 per cent sustainable aviation fuel target in 2030 by just buying it offshore,” said Qantas CEO Alan Joyce earlier this year.</p> <p>“That would be terrible outrage in my mind, and it’s a terrible dropping of the ball in Australia.”</p> <h2>What is sustainable aviation fuel?</h2> <p>SAFs are lower carbon fuels. They can be made of either biomass like waste oil or alcohol – called biofuels, or built chemically, brick-by-brick from carbon dioxide and green hydrogen – called e-fuels.</p> <p>Biofuels particularly are not a zero-carbon alternative, but they are markedly better than traditional fossil fuel-based jet fuel.</p> <p>These fuels can be used just by themselves – called 100% SAF-powered – and they have very similar chemistry to traditional fossil jet fuel so they’re just as effective.</p> <p>The problem though is the cost. They’re up to four times as expensive as traditional jet fuel, and around the world there’s just not that much of it on the market – less than 1% of jet fuel available.</p> <p>“Aviation fuels represent about 7-8% of all fuel consumption I believe, and of course in a country like Australia it’s an even bigger part of our liquid fuel consumption,” Lars Nielsen, a professor at the Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, told Cosmos.</p> <p>“A very large part of the cost of flying is the aviation fuel. Nobody’s jumping to pay more for flying to Europe, therefore, it’s market demand. Are the customers willing to pay the extra price that would be involved with it?”</p> <p>As we decarbonise other areas of emissions – like electricity, transport and agriculture – aviation emissions as a percentage of total emissions are likely to skyrocket. While we could lower our reliance on flying (a small but growing habit), or discover completely zero carbon solutions for aviation, working out how to make SAFs sustainable and cost effective is important.</p> <p>Nielsen has worked with SAF in the past, as part of a project called the Queensland Sustainable Aviation Fuel Initiative.</p> <p>The group was trying to work out if three different sources of biofuels – sugar cane crop, algae, and a drought resistant tree called pongamia – could be made cost efficient compared to traditional fossil based jet fuels.</p> <p>“Whenever the prices of jet fuel go high, people start getting interested,” he says.</p> <p>“The only thing that could happen at a reasonable speed was sugar to fuel. But even then, we could see the prices were not competitive [even though] it’s technically very feasible.”</p> <h2>International Jet Fuel</h2> <p>Despite these problems, companies have started creating SAFs and selling them to aviation companies around the world.</p> <p>Heathrow for example is the largest major airport user of SAFs. This is partially due to a government mandate requiring 10% of jet fuel be SAF by 2030, and a priority to have at least 5 commercial-scale SAF plants under construction in the UK by 2025.</p> <p>This is on top of Heathrow airport putting in place SAF incentives earlier this year.</p> <p>In the US, the government has launched the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge to reduce the cost, enhance the sustainability, and expand the production and use of SAF.</p> <p>United Airlines has used over five million gallons at Los Angeles International Airport, while JetBlue has signed a ten-year uptake agreement to receive at least 670 million gallons of blended SAF to its three New York area airports – JFK, La Guardia, and Newark.</p> <p>But there have already been some kinks in the system, particularly with first generation biofuels.</p> <p>“What was really quite disastrous is that in 2005 Europe committed to using biodiesel. Of course, biodiesel manufacturers in Europe found out the cheapest oil source we have is palm oil,” Nielson said.  </p> <p>“It expanded quite significantly the amount of biodiesel incorporated.”</p> <p>Unfortunately, a report in 2016 found that Europe’s switch might have increased greenhouse gas emissions. They reported that emissions from biodiesel are more than three times higher than those from conventional diesel engines when indirect effects are considered.</p> <p>The EU has now committed to phasing out these ‘first generation biofuels’ by 2030, but it highlights that not all sustainable fuels are equal.</p> <h2>Australia is being left behind</h2> <p>Meanwhile, in Australia we have barely made it into first-generation biofuels. The Queensland Sustainable Fuel Initiative shut down in the early 2010s, and there hasn’t been much traction since.</p> <p>This is both in getting the SAF into planes, as well as creating the fuel in Australia. Having a SAF industry in Australia would create jobs, potentially use waste products like used fry oil, as well as lower the emissions getting the fuel shipped halfway across the world.</p> <p>There have been a few toes dipped into the water in the past few years.</p> <p>In 2017 Virgin Australia announced a trial to add SAF through Brisbane Airport’s fuel supply system. It finished up in 2018, after being used in 195 flights from Brisbane. However, since the completion of the trial, there has been no other SAF incorporated into Australia’s jet fuel supply.</p> <p>Despite Virgin committing to net zero emissions by 2050, there’s currently no concrete plans for SAF to be used in their planes. Instead, they are prioritising modernising planes, lowering operational efficiencies, ground emissions, waste management and expanding the carbon offsetting programs.</p> <p>“Virgin Australia continues to work proactively with government and industry to establish a program for the viable commercial production of sustainable aviation fuel here in Australia,” a Virgin Australia Spokesperson told Cosmos in a statement.</p> <p>In March this year Qantas announced a Climate Action Plan where they pledged 10% SAF by 2030, and 60% by 2050. They also invested $50 million dollars in domestic production of SAF.</p> <p>Currently, the only SAF being used in the Qantas fleet is from the Heathrow Airport, but they’ve agreed to purchase SAF for its operations from California from 2025.</p> <p>In April, the Queensland government announced the first commercial sustainable aviation fuel biorefinery in Australia, which is hoping to provide 350 million litres of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel once it’s up and running.</p> <p>We might be waiting a while though – construction isn’t set to start until 2023, and the company behind the facility – Oceania Biofuels – has suggested that operations won’t begin until at least 2025.</p> <p>With the government’s 35% reduction in emissions by 2030, and net zero by 2050, working out how to create and incorporate SAFs to meet demand needs to be a priority.</p> <p>The previous government released a ‘bioenergy roadmap’ back in November last year, however the report has almost no commitments and limited funding for SAFs.</p> <p>Currently the Albanese government is still in the planning stages of creating any SAF initiatives.</p> <p>“The Minister for Transport has already outlined her intention to form a Jet Zero-style council to work across the aviation sector to help co-ordinate ongoing work to drive down aviation emissions,” a spokesperson for the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Catherine King, told Cosmos.</p> <p>“In addition, our upcoming Aviation White Paper will consider as a priority how to maximise the aviation sector’s contribution to achieving net zero carbon emissions, including through sustainable aviation fuel and emerging technologies.</p> <p>“The Minister is also establishing a unit in the department to work across government and with industry to drive down domestic transport sector emissions.”</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/sustainable-aviation-fuels-is-australia-being-left-behind/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Jacinta Bowler.</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Travel Trouble

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"We are back to zero": Family speak out after son’s fatal sting

<p dir="ltr">A 14-year-old boy who was stung by a box jellyfish in Far North Queensland has died.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mark Angelo Ligmayo was stung on Saturday at Eimeo Beach in the Mackay region and was taken to Mackay Hospital in a critical condition.</p> <p dir="ltr">He went into cardiac arrest on the beach and succumbed to his injuries about an hour after he arrived at the hospital.</p> <p dir="ltr">A witness told the <em><a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/mackay/eimeo-beach-teenager-suffers-reported-cardiac-arrest-after-jellyfish-sting/news-story/d91418b68df167610cd2ecf652b2b5c6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Mercury</a></em> that she saw him make it to shore with an “unreadable expression on his face” and his legs “covered in tentacles”.</p> <p dir="ltr">The publication also reported that the screams erupted on the beach from parents calling for their children to get out of the water while others rushed to help him.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We were there as he exited the water, quickly after that he was semi-conscious,” Eimeo Surf Life Saving Club president Ross Gee told the outlet.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We had a defib on him the whole time, he never lost his pulse, there was shallow breathing.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We doused him with approximately 30 litres of vinegar, all the vinegar on the beach.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The beach has been closed until further notice and the public has been urged to stay out of the water.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-de6e0373-7fff-aba5-364d-57c6cb94adde"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Eimeo Surf Life Saving Club shared their condolences for the family on Sunday, and thanked the members of the public who assisted their volunteer lifesavers in helping Mark Angelo.</p> <p><iframe style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Feimeo.slsc%2Fposts%2F3137194476599351&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500" width="500" height="725" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p> <p dir="ltr">Agnes Guinumtad, Mark Angelo’s mother, told <em><a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/mackay/mackay-fatal-box-jellyfish-sting-parents-tribute-to-14yearold-boy/news-story/14d5421b775d48f88080528702a266e3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Mercury</a></em> the family had been excited to spend the day at the beach together three months after she, Mark Angelo, and his sister joined her husband in starting a new life in Australia.</p> <p dir="ltr">Nick Guinumtad came to Australia nearly a decade ago, working as a boilermaker and taking every opportunity to visit his family in the Philippines, where they waited for visas to join him.</p> <p dir="ltr">After Covid delayed their reunion, they were reunited in December last year and began to settle in.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I could see my son’s face, and I could see the pain,” Mrs Guinumtad said of the moment she saw lifeguards and bystanders attempt to save her son’s life.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I kept praying and praying, I didn’t stop praying. I prayed that he would say something.”</p> <p dir="ltr">With the death of Mark Angelo, his family said they don’t know where to go from here.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We are back to zero,” Mr Guinumtad told the outlet.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mrs Guinumtad has expressed her wish to take her son’s body back to the Philippines so that her parents, who often raised him while she worked, can say a final goodbye.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I don’t know the process, I don’t even know where to start,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">The family has asked for anyone in the community who may know how to help to reach out and have started a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-guinumtad-family-bring-their-son-home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoFundMe</a> to raise funds to take him home.</p> <p dir="ltr">They have also thanked the lifeguards and bystanders who worked so hard to save their son and others who cared for their daughter while they went with him to the hospital.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mark Angelo’s death marks the third fatal box jellyfish sting since 2006.</p> <p dir="ltr">Large box jellyfish - which are regarded as one of the world’s most venomous animals - have caused more than 70 fatalities in Australia, according to Queensland Health.</p> <p dir="ltr">“If you don’t have a protective suit and you know there could be stingers or jellyfish in the water, just don’t go in,” Queensland Health has previously <a href="https://7news.com.au/news/disaster-and-emergency/deadly-box-jellyfish-sting-kills-queensland-teen-near-mackay-c-5855865" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s also important that people are familiar with resuscitation methods - early resuscitation after major stings from box jellies has saved lives in the past few years.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-6f2ffc80-7fff-c775-9bfa-c5243c61dc54"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Nic Guinumtad (Facebook)</em></p>

Travel Trouble

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Free to good home: The house that costs zero dollars but comes with a catch

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In a deal that’s almost too good to be true, a four-bedroom Sydney house is free to a good home. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But, it comes with a catch: its new owners will need to remove it from the property and find a new patch of land to transport it to.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The home, listed on Facebook and </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/cronulla/other-real-estate/house-for-removal-free-/1288343408" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Gumtree</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, is sure to gain some interest as property prices continue to skyrocket across the city.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In Kirrawee in Sydney’s south, where the home is currently located, the median house price reached $1.3 million in the year ending last September, coming at an 18.2 percent increase on prices from the year prior.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In comparison, the new homeowners will only need to pay to remove the home - which can cost </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/four-bedroom-house-offered-free-with-just-one-catch-20220117-p59oru.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">around $70,000</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> on top of reconnection to services and plaster setting at the new site.</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">Not your usual Facebook marketplace item! Free house - you only need to pay for removal and transport! How does that work out financially? Is that something anyone’s had experience with? Excuse me for being fascinated by any concept that isn’t COVID and/or Djokovic 😂 🏡 <a href="https://t.co/ugD9keuSLV">pic.twitter.com/ugD9keuSLV</a></p> — Lucy Thackray (@LucyThack) <a href="https://twitter.com/LucyThack/status/1482281605163286530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2022</a></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">According to the ad, which has since been shared on Twitter, the home is about 60 years old and comes with two bathrooms, two living spaces, a modern kitchen and a laundry.</p> <p dir="ltr">Homes have been known to sell without the land they stand on, with the home used as the set for<span> </span><em>The Castle</em><span> </span>selling for $40,000 at auction in 2017 as a relocatable home.</p> <p dir="ltr">In 2018, another house-only sale made headlines when it was listed for just $5,000 - a much cheaper option compared to the $25,000 it may have cost to demolish.</p> <p dir="ltr">As for the Kirrawee house, the deadline to clear the site is at the end of February, with the home able to be picked up at the start of March.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: @LucyThack (Twitter), Gumtree</em></p>

Real Estate

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Blue-sky thinking: net-zero aviation is more than a flight of fantasy

<p>As international air travel rebounds after COVID-19 restrictions, greenhouse gas emissions from aviation are expected to rise dramatically – and with it, scrutiny of the industry’s environmental credentials.</p> <p>Aviation emissions have almost <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2253626-aviations-contribution-to-global-warming-has-doubled-since-2000/">doubled since 2000</a> and in 2018 reached <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviation">one billion tonnes</a>. Climate Action Tracker rates the industry’s climate performance as <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/sectors/aviation/">critically insufficient</a>.</p> <p>As the climate change threat rapidly worsens, can aviation make the transition to a low-carbon future – and perhaps even reach net-zero emissions? The significant technological and energy disruption on the horizon for the industry suggests such a future is possible.</p> <p>But significant challenges remain. Achieving a net-zero aviation sector will require a huge collaborative effort from industry and government – and consumers can also play their part.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nW6J989UBhA?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <h2>Build back better</h2> <p>The aviation sector’s progress in cutting emissions has been disappointing to date. For example, in February last year, <a href="https://theconversation.com/major-airlines-say-theyre-acting-on-climate-change-our-research-reveals-how-little-theyve-achieved-127800">research</a> on the world’s largest 58 airlines found even the best-performing ones were not doing anywhere near enough to cut emissions.</p> <p>Most recently, at the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, the industry merely reasserted a commitment to a plan known as the <a href="https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/CORSIA/Pages/default.aspx">Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation</a>.</p> <p>The scheme relies on carbon offsetting, which essentially pays another actor to reduce emissions on its behalf at lowest cost, and doesn’t lead to absolute emissions reduction in aviation. The scheme also encourages alternative cleaner fuels, but the level of emissions reduction between fuels varies considerably.</p> <p>Governments have generally failed to provide strong leadership to help the aviation sector to reduce emissions. This in part is because pollution from international aviation is not counted in the emissions ledger of any country, leaving little incentive for governments to act. Aviation is also a complex policy space to navigate, involving multiple actors around the world. However, COVID-19 has significantly jolted the aviation and travel sector, presenting an opportunity to build back better – and differently.</p> <p>Griffith University recently held a <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/institute-tourism/our-research/rethinking-aviation/aviation-reimagined-2021?fbclid=IwAR3Hd8xLJkEWMaHae8sho1MiSfV6TzbPbf30vo2fbJ0CHMg-xdvywNCmZbU">webinar series</a> on decarbonising aviation, involving industry, academic and government experts. The sessions explored the most promising policy and practical developments for net-zero aviation, as well as the most significant hurdles.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437570/original/file-20211214-25-1rc1cnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="passengers queue at airport" /> <span class="caption">COVID-19 has significantly jolted the aviation sector.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steven Senne/AP</span></span></p> <h2>Nations soaring ahead</h2> <p>Some governments are leading the way in driving change in the aviation industry. For example, as a result of <a href="https://www.government.se/495f60/contentassets/883ae8e123bc4e42aa8d59296ebe0478/the-swedish-climate-policy-framework.pdf">government policy</a> to make Sweden climate-neutral by 2045, the Swedish aviation industry developed a <a href="https://fossilfrittsverige.se/en/roadmap/the-aviation-industry/#:%7E:text=The%20strategic%20objective%20for%202030,line%20with%20the%20Government%27s%20goals">roadmap</a> for fossil-free domestic flights by 2030, and for all flights originating from Sweden to be fossil-free by 2045.</p> <p>Achieving fossil-free flights requires replacing jet fuel with alternatives such as sustainable fuels or electric and hydrogen propulsion.</p> <p>The European Union plans to <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_21_3662">end current tax exemptions</a> for jet fuel and introduce measures to <a href="https://www.eurocontrol.int/article/eus-fit-55-package-what-does-it-mean-aviation">accelerate</a> the uptake of sustainable fuels.</p> <p>The United Kingdom is finalising its strategy for <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/achieving-net-zero-aviation-by-2050">net-zero aviation</a> by 2050 and a public body known as UK Research and Innovation is <a href="https://www.ukri.org/our-work/our-main-funds/industrial-strategy-challenge-fund/future-of-mobility/future-flight-challenge/">supporting</a> the development of new aviation technologies, including hybrid-electric regional aircraft.</p> <p>Australia lacks a strategic framework or emissions reduction targets to help transition the aviation industry. The <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/infrastructure-transport-vehicles/aviation/emerging-aviation-technologies/drones/eatp">Emerging Aviation Technology Program</a> seeks to reduce carbon emissions, among other goals. However, it appears to have a strong focus on freight-carrying drones and <a href="https://www.greenbiz.com/article/7-urban-air-mobility-companies-watch">urban air vehicles</a>, rather than fixed wing aircraft.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437569/original/file-20211214-13-lsswi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="plane taking off" /> <span class="caption">Some governments are leading the way in driving change in the aviation industry.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zhao Xiaojun/AP</span></span></p> <h2>Building tomorrow’s aircraft</h2> <p>Low-emissions aircraft technology has developed substantially in the last five years. Advancements include electric and hybrid aircraft (powered by hydrogen or a battery) – such as that being developed by <a href="https://www.airbus.com/en/innovation/zero-emission/hydrogen/zeroe">Airbus</a>, <a href="https://www.rolls-royce.com/innovation/accel.aspx">Rolls Royce</a> and <a href="https://www.zeroavia.com/">Zero Avia</a> – as well as <a href="https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2021-07-14-Boeing-and-SkyNRG-Partner-to-Scale-Sustainable-Aviation-Fuels-Globally">sustainable aviation fuels</a>.</p> <p>Each of these technologies can reduce carbon emissions, but only battery and hydrogen electric options significantly reduce non-CO₂ climate impacts such as oxides of nitrogen (NOx), soot particles, oxidised sulphur species, and water vapour.</p> <p>For electric aircraft to be net-zero emissions, they must be powered by renewable energy sources. As well as being better for the planet, electric and hydrogen aircraft are likely to have <a href="https://www.zeroavia.com/">lower</a> energy and maintenance <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/electric-aviation-could-be-closer-than-you-think/">costs</a> than conventional aircraft.</p> <p>This decade, we expect a rapid emergence of electric and hybrid aircraft for short-haul, commuter, air taxi, helicopter and general flights. Increased use of sustainable aviation fuel is also likely.</p> <p>Although electric planes are flying, commercial operations are not expected until at least 2023 as the aircraft must undergo rigorous testing, safety and certification.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437571/original/file-20211214-23-1clsep1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="A solar powered aircraft prototype flies in mountainous terrain" /> <span class="caption">Electric planes exist, but the route to commercialisation is long. Pictured: a solar powered aircraft prototype flies near the France-Italy border.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laurent Gillieron/EPA</span></span></p> <h2>Overcoming turbulence</h2> <p>Despite real efforts by some industry leaders and governments towards making aviation a net-zero industry, significant strategic and practical challenges remain. Conversion to the commercial mainstream is not happening quickly enough.</p> <p>To help decarbonise aviation in Australia, industry and government should develop a clear strategy for emissions reduction with interim targets for 2030 and 2040. This would keep the industry competitive and on track for net-zero emissions by 2050.</p> <p>Strategic attention and action is also needed to:</p> <ul> <li> <p>advance aircraft and fuel innovation and development</p> </li> <li> <p>update regulatory and certification processes for new types of aircraft</p> </li> <li> <p>enhance production and deployment of new aviation fuels and technologies</p> </li> <li> <p>reduce fuel demand through efficiencies in route and air traffic management</p> </li> <li> <p>create “greener” airport operations and infrastructure</p> </li> <li> <p>build capability with pilots and aerospace engineers.</p> </li> </ul> <p>The emissions created by flights and itineraries can <a href="https://theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/variation-aviation-emissions-itinerary-jul2021-1.pdf">vary substantially</a>. Consumers can do their part by opting for the lowest-impact option, and offsetting the emissions their flight creates via a <a href="https://theconversation.com/flying-home-for-christmas-carbon-offsets-are-important-but-they-wont-fix-plane-pollution-89148">credible program</a>. Consumers can also choose to fly only with airlines and operators that have committed to net-zero emissions.</p> <p>Net-zero aviation need not remain a flight of fantasy, but to make it a reality, emissions reduction must be at the heart of aviation’s pandemic bounce-back.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171940/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emma-rachel-whittlesea-1280917">Emma Rachel Whittlesea</a>, Senior Research Fellow, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tim-ryley-1253269">Tim Ryley</a>, Professor and Head of Griffith Aviation, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/blue-sky-thinking-net-zero-aviation-is-more-than-a-flight-of-fantasy-171940">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Domestic Travel

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Mum saves baby’s life while on hold to triple zero

<p>A Melbourne mother has recalled the terrifying moment she had to save her daughter's life after being placed on hold to triple zero for eight minutes.</p> <p>Sophea Mutsez leapt into action to save her four-month-old daughter Madeline, who stopped breathing after an epileptic fit on Wednesday night. </p> <p>She started performing CPR and dialled triple zero for help. </p> <p class="css-1316j2p-StyledParagraph e4e0a020">“I just did whatever I could do,” she told <a rel="noopener" href="https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/melbourne-mother-forced-to-perform-cpr-on-baby-for-eight-minutes-while-on-hold-to-triple-zero-c-4207405" target="_blank">7NEWS</a>.</p> <p class="css-1316j2p-StyledParagraph e4e0a020">“I knew I had to do something because if I didn’t I was going to lose her."</p> <p class="css-1316j2p-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><span>“All of a sudden I noticed her eyes went back into her head, her tongue came out of her mouth and her body went stiff.”</span></p> <p class="css-1316j2p-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><span>Sophea kept </span>performing CPR as she expected a seizure to take over. </p> <p class="css-1316j2p-StyledParagraph e4e0a020">Meanwhile, the phone kept ringing as Sophea "freaked out a bit" while she waited to be put through to an emergency operator. </p> <p class="css-1316j2p-StyledParagraph e4e0a020">After eight long minutes on hold, Sophea's call was answered and an ambulance arrived to help Madeline five minutes later. </p> <p class="css-1316j2p-StyledParagraph e4e0a020">Madeline has spent the last four days recovering in hospital and is on the road to recovery. </p> <p class="css-1316j2p-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><span>Triple zero operator ESTA is receiving a record 3000 calls every day, placing an unprecedented strain on the system.</span></p> <p class="css-1316j2p-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><span>A third of the phone calls they receive don't require an ambulance. </span></p> <p class="css-1316j2p-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><span>“I could have lost my little girl because of someone taking up the line over a runny nose,” Sophea said.</span></p> <p class="css-1316j2p-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><em>Image credit: 7News</em></p>

Family & Pets

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Patient zero of Black Death found

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">New evidence has suggested a man who died 5300 years ago in Latvia was infected with the earliest-known strain of the plague that caused the Black Death.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Waves of the plague swept through Europe for several centuries from the 1300s, causing millions of deaths.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Up to now this is the oldest-identified plague victim we have,” Dr Ben Krause-Kyora of the University of Kiel in Germany said of the remains.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The man was buried with three others at a Neolithic burial site in Latvia near the River Salac, which connects to the Baltic Sea.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The research, published in </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cell Reports</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, involved the sequencing of the DNA from the bones and teeth of the four individuals.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7842261/60da287e1477f300188c82ae.jpg" alt="Dominik Göldner / BGAEU" data-udi="umb://media/1f7ae3fb0a0c41a49c6b87ea085cbef8" /></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When the bodies were tested for bacteria and viruses, the researchers were surprised to find one hunter-gatherer - a man in his twenties - was infected with an ancient strain of the plague, caused by the </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yersinia pestis</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> bacterium.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“He was most likely bitten by a rodent, got the primary infection of </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yersinia pestis</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and died a couple of days [later] - maybe a week later - from the septic shock,” said Dr Krause-Kyora.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The researchers suggest that this strain appeared about 7000 years ago at the same time that agriculture started to appear in central Europe.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They also believe the bacterium may have sporadically jumped from animals to humans and that it became better at infecting humans over time, evolving into the form known as the bubonic plague.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The research has been welcomed by other experts, though it doesn’t rule out the hypothesis that the disease was spreading throughout Europe at the time.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though the disease is still around today, it is treatable with antibiotics if caught early.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Images: </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dominik Göldner / BGAEU</span></em></p>

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Patient zero of Sydney's latest outbreak revealed as restrictions are extended

<p>The Sydney COVID-19 patient dubbed "BBQ man" after he visited multiple BBQ stores around the city while infectious has been named, finally providing an explanation for his shopping spree.</p> <p>Investment company Apollo Global Management managing director Tom Pizzey has been identified by the Australian Financial Review as the man linked to Sydney's latest COVID-19 scare.</p> <p>Mr Pizzey is understood to have the "double mutant" Indian strain of the virus, with his wife also testing positive to COVID-19.</p> <p>AFR reported Mr Pizzey is still dealing with symptoms of the virus, with Apollo confirming it is assisting NSW Health in relation to a positive virus case.</p> <p>“The employee has not travelled outside Australia this year,” an Apollo spokesperson told<span> </span><em>AFR</em>.</p> <p>Mr Pizzey, who is one of Apollo's only two full-time employees in Australia, is understood to be the mystery COVID-19 case who visited multiple venues on May 1 while unknowingly infectious, including multiple BBQ stores.</p> <p>He visited two different Barbecue Galore stores as the chain is in its early stages of auction.</p> <p>Mr Pizzey was checking out the stores for Apollo, with reports the company is considering acquiring the chain.</p> <p>In the same day, Mr Pizzey also visited Joe’s Barbeques &amp; Heating in Silverwater, Tucker Barbecues in Silverwater and The Meat Store in Bondi Junction</p>

News

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Leaked emails reveal patient zero for Victoria's second wave disaster

<p><span>Leaked emails have determined who patient zero is in regards to the resurgence of the disastrous second wave of COVID-19.</span><br /><br /><span>It has been revealed that the spread of the deadly infection has been linked back to a night duty manager at the Rydges hotel on Swanston Street - not actually a badly behaved security guard.</span><br /><br /><span>Leaked information shows that the night manager reported on Monday, May 25, that he had come down with a fever.</span><br /><br /><span>The following day Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions officials were told the hotel employee had tested positive.</span><br /><br /><span>It is presumed he caught it from a returned traveller, who has not been identified.</span><br /><br /><span>The emails show a commendable effort was made to stop the spread of the infection, however their efforts were proven futile.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7837356/rydges-3.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/2c0bedc41c174b068038e22744c9635f" /><br /><br /><span>Seven security guards who were hired to patrol the hotel were stood down immediately and told to go home, isolate and get tested.</span><br /><br /><span>Another small number of hotel staff and health workers were told to do the same.</span><br /><br /><span>An email headed “Hotel staff member status and exposure to staff” reported on May 26 that the night manager himself was “now isolating at Rydges” and “feeling as well as can be expected”.</span><br /><br /><span>Unfortunately, it was already too late and attempts to curb the spread of the infection failed.</span><br /><br /><span>Five of the original seven guards, all from contractor Unified Security, soon returned positive COVID-19 tests.</span><br /><br /><span>The disease was spread to their families in the northern and western suburbs of Melbourne, which helped seed the second wave that has infected 15,863 Victorians, including 7866 active coronavirus cases as of Thursday.</span><br /><br /><span>As of Thursday, 275 people have died of COVID-19 in the state.</span><br /><br /><span>Officials assumed it was a security guard who had been the first one to contract the disease however as it turns out, it was the night manager.</span><br /><br /><span>There is no suggestion from any party that the hotel manager partook in any improper behaviour.</span><br /><br /><span>Victoria’s Health Minister Jenny Mikakos was running the operations of the crisis, however former Health Minister and Attorney General Jill Hennessy has taken charge.</span><br /><br /><span>“The suggestion that security guards ever had responsibility for infection control is one of the biggest myths of this debate,” a source closely involved in the hotel quarantine program told The Age.</span><br /><br /><span>“Private and public hospitals use security guards, but those guards don’t deliver babies, perform surgery or oversee infection control. Full responsibility for infection control lay with the authorised officers who were brought in from various government departments.”</span><br /><br /><span>Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews has created a board of inquiry to investigate the shortcomings in the</span><br /><span>hotel quarantine program.</span><br /><br /><span>Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has previously revealed that genomic sequencing carried out by Melbourne’s Doherty Institute shows that most, if not all of Victoria’s second-wave cases, may be traceable back to breaches in hotel quarantine.</span><br /><br /><span>“Clearly there has been a failure in this program,” Professor Sutton said in July.</span></p>

News

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Patient zero found from Crossroads cluster

<p>NSW authorities have revealed they have found patient zero who is believed to be a man from Melbourne who travelled on June 30.</p> <p>He is the most likely source of the coronavirus outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel in Sydney.</p> <p>The state’s chief coronavirus “detective” Jennie Musto explained to reporters on Wednesday that the man was the most likely source as he travelled to his workplace back in NSW.  </p> <p>Ms Musto manages all teams that trace coronavirus infections.</p> <p>She said that the workplace was a freight company, although the man was not a truck driver.</p> <p>“About six” of his colleagues were also infected with the virus.</p> <p>The man and a number of his colleagues went to the Crossroads for a party on July  which  led to an outbreak at the hotel.</p> <p>The hotel is now linked to at least 34 cases.</p> <p>“The man from Melbourne didn’t think he was particularly unwell, didn't think he was sick with COVID, he travelled on the 30th of June, he’s been in NSW for a while and it wasn’t until we interviewed him and his colleagues with more detail that we made the link that they were all on the Crossroads on the 3rd of July,” Ms Musto said.</p> <p>Authorities are not releasing details of the workplace but have revealed there is little to no risk there.</p> <p>NSW recorded 13 new cases of coronavirus to 8 pm on Wednesday, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard confirmed.</p> <p>“Don’t get an expectation that it (case numbers) will always be zero because we think this virus will continue to transmit lowly,” he said.</p> <p>“We will have transmission from time to time and that’s just the way it is.”]</p> <p>Three of the cases tested positive while in hotel and the other 10 are linked to the Crossroads Hotel.</p> <p>Six of the coronavirus cases actually attended the event at the hotel, while two are close relatives.</p> <p>Dr Chant says she is concerned about people who have been travelling NSW from Melbourne, even before the borders closed.</p> <p>“We are very concerned about areas where we may have had a number of visitors from Melbourne and the Mitchell Shires. Particularly in our coastal areas and border communities we need to have high rates of testing so if there’s been any seeding we can mop it up,” Dr Chant said.</p> <p>“The crossroads highlights we won’t gain control of this if we don’t have people on board.”</p>

News

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New Zealand hits zero active coronavirus cases: Here are 5 measures to keep it that way

<p><em>Editor’s update: New Zealand has<span> </span><a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-zealand-moves-alert-level-1">“eliminated”</a><span> </span>COVID-19 “for now”, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern<span> </span><a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/418524/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-reveals-move-to-level-1-from-midnight">has declared</a>, announcing the nation will move to<span> </span><a href="https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-system/covid-19-alert-system/#alert-level-1-%E2%80%94-prepare">alert level 1</a><span> </span>from midnight on June 8, lifting all requirements for social distancing and restrictions on businesses.</em></p> <p>We are confident we have eliminated transmission of the virus in New Zealand for now, but elimination is not a point in time – it is a sustained effort.</p> <p><em>Below, two of the key epidemiologists who worked on New Zealand’s elimination strategy explain today’s news – and the challenges ahead.</em></p> <p>Today is also the 17th day since the last new case was reported. New Zealand has a total of<span> </span><a href="https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-situation/covid-19-current-cases#summary">1,154 confirmed cases</a><span> </span>(combined total of confirmed and probable cases is 1,504) and 22 people have died.</p> <p>This is an important milestone and a time to celebrate. But as we continue to rebuild the economy, there are several challenges ahead if New Zealand wants to retain its COVID-19-free status while the pandemic continues elsewhere.</p> <p>It remains important that good science supports the government’s risk assessment and management. Below, we recommend several ways people can protect themselves. But we also argue New Zealand needs an urgent overhaul of the health system, including the establishment of a new national public health agency for disease prevention and control.</p> <p> </p> <h2>What elimination means</h2> <p>Elimination is defined as the absence of a disease at a national or regional level. Eradication refers to its global extinction (as with smallpox).</p> <p>Elimination requires a high-performing surveillance system to provide assurance that, should border control fail, any new cases would be quickly found. Agreed<span> </span><a href="https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert/2020/05/05/the-need-for-a-robust-scientific-definition-for-the-elimination-of-covid-19-from-new-zealand/">definitions are important</a><span> </span>for public reassurance and as a basis for expanding travel links with other countries that have also achieved elimination.</p> <p>It is important to remind ourselves that active cases are not the ones we need to worry about. By definition, they have all been identified and placed in isolation and are very unlikely to infect others. The real target of elimination is to stop the unseen cases silently spreading in the community. This is why we need mathematical modelling to tell us that elimination is likely.</p> <p> </p> <h2>Avoiding complacency – and new outbreaks</h2> <p>New Zealand’s<span> </span><a href="https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal-articles/new-zealands-elimination-strategy-for-the-covid-19-pandemic-and-what-is-required-to-make-it-work">decisive elimination strategy</a><span> </span>appears to have succeeded, but it is easy to become complacent. Many other countries pursuing a containment approach have had new outbreaks, notably<span> </span><a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-why-singapores-coronavirus-cases-are-growing-a-look-inside-the-dismal-living-conditions-of-migrant-workers-136959">Singapore</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/28/south-korea-faces-return-to-coronavirus-restrictions-after-spike-in-new-cases">Korea</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/10/lessons-learned-what-australia-needs-to-do-to-avoid-a-second-covid-19-wave">Australia</a>.</p> <p>New Zealand has spent months expanding its capacities to eliminate COVID-19. But maintaining elimination will be challenging. Airports, seaports and quarantine facilities remain potential sites of transmission from overseas, particularly given the<span> </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/27/australia-new-zealand-travel-bubble-jacinda-ardern-says-plan-will-be-presented-in-june-coronavirus">pressure to increase numbers of arrivals</a>.</p> <p>New Zealand’s move to<span> </span><a href="https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-system/covid-19-alert-system/#alert-level-1-%E2%80%94-prepare">alert level 1</a><span> </span>will end all physical distancing restrictions. If the virus is reintroduced, this creates the potential for outbreaks arising from indoor social gatherings. New Zealand is also moving into winter when respiratory viruses can spread more easily, as is seen with the<span> </span><a href="https://academic.oup.com/jid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/infdis/jiaa161/5815743">highly seasonal coronaviruses</a><span> </span>which cause the common cold.</p> <p>At midnight tonight, Monday 8th June, New Zealand will shift to Alert Level 1.</p> <p>At Alert Level 1, everyone can return without restriction to work, school, sports and domestic travel, and you can get together with as many people as you want.</p> <h2>5 key ways to protect New Zealand’s long-term health</h2> <p>Just as New Zealand prepared for the pandemic, the post-elimination period requires “<a href="https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert/2020/02/06/nz-should-prepare-for-a-potentially-severe-global-coronavirus-pandemic/">maximum proactivity</a>”. Here are five key risk management approaches to achieve lasting protection for New Zealand against COVID-19 and other serious public health threats.</p> <p><strong>1. Establish public use of fabric face masks in specific settings</strong></p> <p>Health protection relies on multiple barriers to infection or contamination. This is the cornerstone of<span> </span><a href="https://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/Files/Report-Havelock-North-Water-Inquiry-Stage-2/%24file/Report-Havelock-North-Water-Inquiry-Stage-2.pdf">protecting drinking water</a>, food safety and borders from incursions by biological agents.</p> <p>With the end of physical distancing, we recommend the government seriously considers making mask wearing mandatory on public transport, on aircraft and at border control and quarantine facilities. Other personal hygiene measures (staying home if sick, washing hands, coughing into elbows) are insufficient when transmission is often from people who appear well and can<span> </span><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/06/02/science.abc6197.1">spread the virus simply by breathing and talking</a>.</p> <p>The evidence base for the effectiveness of even simple fabric face masks is now strong, according to a<span> </span><a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext">recent systematic review</a><span> </span>published in the Lancet. The World Health Organization has also<span> </span><a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks">updated its guidelines</a><span> </span>to recommend that everyone wear fabric face masks in public areas where there is a risk of transmission. Establishing a culture of using face masks in specific settings in New Zealand will make it easier to expand their use if required in future outbreaks.</p> <p><strong>2. Improve contact tracing effectiveness with suitable digital tools</strong></p> <p>New Zealand’s<span> </span><a href="https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-general-public/contact-tracing-covid-19">national system for contact tracing</a><span> </span>remains a critical back-stop measure to control outbreaks, should border controls fail. But there is significant potential for new digital tools to<span> </span><a href="https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert/2020/04/15/we-need-rapid-progress-on-digital-solutions-to-help-eliminate-covid-19-from-new-zealand/">enhance current processes</a>, albeit with appropriate privacy safeguards built in. To be effective, such digital solutions must have<span> </span><a href="https://csda.aut.ac.nz/news/digital-contact-tracing-for-covid-19-new-policy-primer">high uptake and support very rapid contact tracing</a>. Downloadable apps appear insufficient and both<span> </span><a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/04/17/1132682/nz-considering-100m-contact-tracing-covidcard">New Zealand</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/coronavirus-singapore-contact-tracing-wearable-device-a9550841.html">Singapore</a><span> </span>are investigating bluetooth-enabled devices which appear to perform better and could be distributed to all residents.</p> <p><strong>3. Apply a science-based approach to border management</strong></p> <p>A cautious return to higher levels of inbound and outbound travel is important for economic and humanitarian reasons, but we need to assess the risk carefully. This opening up includes two very different processes. One is a broadening of the current categories of people permitted to enter New Zealand beyond residents, their families and a small number of others. This will typically require the continuation of<span> </span><a href="https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-situation/covid-19-border-controls">routine 14-day quarantine</a>, until improved methods are developed.</p> <p>The other potential expansion is quarantine-free entry, which will be safest from countries that meet similar elimination targets. This process could begin with<span> </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2020/may/01/if-australia-and-new-zealand-restart-travel-they-should-include-the-pacific-in-their-bubble">Pacific Island nations</a><span> </span>free of COVID-19, notably Samoa and Tonga. It should be possible to extend this arrangement to various Australian states and other jurisdictions such as Fiji and Taiwan when they confirm their elimination status.</p> <p><strong>4. Establish a dedicated national public health agency</strong></p> <p>Even before COVID-19 hit New Zealand, it was clear our national public health infrastructure was failing after decades of neglect, fragmentation and erosion. Prominent examples of system failure include the<span> </span><a href="https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert/2017/12/20/the-havelock-north-drinking-water-inquiry-a-wake-up-call-to-rebuild-public-health-in-new-zealand/">Havelock North campylobacter outbreak</a><span> </span>in 2016 and the<span> </span><a href="https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert/2020/02/05/a-preventable-measles-epidemic-lessons-for-reforming-public-health-in-nz/">prolonged measles epidemic</a><span> </span>in 2019. The comprehensive<span> </span><a href="https://systemreview.health.govt.nz/">health and disability system review</a><span> </span>report was delivered to the Minister of Health in March and was widely expected to recommend significant upgrading of public health capacity. This report and its recommendations should now be released.</p> <p>We also recommend an interim evaluation of the public health response to COVID-19 now, rather than after the pandemic. These reviews would inform the needed upgrade of New Zealand’s public health capacity to manage the ongoing pandemic response and to prepare the country for other serious health threats. A key improvement would be a dedicated national public health agency to lead disease control and prevention. Such an agency could help avoid the need for lockdowns by early detection and action in response to emerging infectious disease threats, as achieved by<span> </span><a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0574_article">Taiwan</a><span> </span>during the current pandemic.</p> <p><strong>5. Commit to transformational change to avoid major global threats</strong></p> <p>COVID-19 is having devastating health and social impacts globally. Even if it is brought under control with a vaccine or antivirals, other major health threats remain, including<span> </span><a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32596-6/fulltext">climate change</a>, loss of biological diversity and existential threats (for example, pandemics arising from developments in synthetic biology). These threats need urgent attention. The recovery from lockdown provides an opportunity for a sustained transformation of our economy that addresses wider health, environmental and social goals.</p>

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Pregnant New Zealand woman dies after drinking 3 litres of soft drink a day

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text "> <p>A pregnant woman who drank an excessive amount of Coca-Cola and energy drinks has passed away, and according to recent coroner reports, this caffeine consumption may have contributed to her death.</p> <p>Amy Louise Thorpe died of an epileptic seizure at her home on December 4, 2018.</p> <p>According to findings released by coroner David Robinson, Thorpe, who was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of her death, had a history of epilepsy and other conditions.</p> <p>Since she was pregnant, her seizures had increased in frequency to about once a week.</p> <p>She was also consuming two litres of Coca-Cola and between 500mls to one litre of energy drinks per day.</p> <p>Thorpe’s partner said that she was “addicted” to soft drink and a friend told police in a statement after her death that she consumed “more energy drinks in a day than people have coffee”.</p> <p>A month before her death, Thorpe was referred to a neurologist, Graeme Hammond-Tooke, who recommended she change her epilepsy medication.</p> <p>However, according to the coronial inquest, Thorpe was reluctant to change medication or undergo testing.</p> <p>Associate Professor Hammond Took provided advice for the coroner’s report, saying that it was possible that her excessive caffeinated drink intake had contributed to her death.</p> <p>“In the case of Ms Thorpe, I think it is possible that excessive caffeine contributed to poor seizure control,” he told<span> </span><em>The Sun</em>.</p> <p>“While modest intake of caffeine contained in drinks is not likely to affect seizure control, large amounts probably do increase seizures, and may have other adverse effects on health.”</p> <p>Robinson said that making Thorpe’s case public should serve to raise awareness of the consequences of excessive caffeine use, especially for people who had epilepsy.</p> <p><em>Hero photo credits:<a rel="noopener" href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&amp;objectid=12337029" target="_blank"> Otago Daily Times</a></em></p> </div> </div> </div>

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Ground zero: Australia’s biggest concern revealed after coronavirus modelling

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text ">The Chief Medical Officer for Australia has released details on the city that is of the greatest concern to health authorities as the country continues to fight off the deadly coronavirus.<br /><br />Brendan Murphy has said the rate of community transmission in Sydney, with a population of over 5 million, is the city that “worries us most of all.”<br /><br />The National Cabinet has joined together and used Sydney to base their tough social-distancing measures on.<br /><br />“In Australia, we don't have a diffuse outbreak across the whole country, we have focal outbreaks,” Prof Murphy said.<br /><br />“The one that worries us most of all is the community transmission in Sydney. I've been saying that for a while.<br /><br />“That's the one we're focusing on, that's why New South Wales Health has been so proactive and forward-leaning in doing a range of broadened testing in a whole lot of suburbs where they're concerned.<br /><br />“And the early indications, as we've said, are positive, but we cannot be complacent. We must not be complacent. We must hold our line.<br /><br />“Our current case rate is very, very low. Every death is a tragedy, but our death rate is one of the lowest in the world so far.<br /><br />“We don't know what it will be as disease progresses, but we are reassured to some extent about that.”<br /><br />NSW’s Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has urged people to get tested if they lived in any of the eight coronavirus hotspots and started showing symptoms.<br /><br />Three of these areas in Sydney – Waverley, Woollahra, Dee Why – are included.<br /><br />“In those areas, we have seen a case, or cases, of local transmission where we haven't been able to find the source,” she said.<br /><br />Dr Chant went on to say authorities “don't have any indication of broad-based outbreaks” in the areas she mentioned, but she wanted to stress “high levels of vigilance” is highly necessary.</div> </div> </div> <div class="post-action-bar-component-wrapper"> <div class="post-actions-component"> <div class="upper-row"><span class="like-bar-component"></span> <div class="watched-bookmark-container"></div> </div> </div> </div>

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