We got some key things wrong about long COVID. Here are 5 things we've learnt
In late 2020 as we hid from COVID behind the moat of “fortress Australia”, we started to hear that in some people, COVID symptoms persisted for months. They were called “long haulers” or had “long COVID”. Contrary to what we’d expected, it wasn’t just affecting people’s lungs or breathing. Long haulers were experiencing an enormous range of other symptoms: fatigue that was worse after activity, muscle aches and pains, headache, and cognitive dysfunction or brain fog. Continued here |
Why do we stop exploring new music as we get older?
According to an estimate from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, an organisation that represents the international music industry, people around the world spend on average 20.1 hours per week listening to music, up from 18.4 hours in 2021. We have more ways to access music than at any time in history and a whole world of unfamiliar styles to explore. Continued here |
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Would a nature repair market really work? Evidence suggests it's highly unlikely
Why should governments do all of the heavy lifting to arrest the steep decline of many ecosystems? Endangered species live on private land too – so why not give farmers and landholders incentives to look after them and restore habitat? Framed like this, it’s easy to see the appeal of nature repair markets. Harness private money and direct it towards rescuing nature. No wonder the Albanese government is forging ahead with its nature repair market bill and seeking public submissions. If it becomes law, landholders will be able to gain tradeable biodiversity certificates for projects that protect, manage and restore nature. Continued here |
Satellite data: The other type of smartphone data you might not know about
Master's Student in Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County When you think about location data on your mobile phone, tablet or laptop, what comes to mind? Mailing addresses? Postal codes? These data indicate where you live, where you work, and the places you visit. Continued here |
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Labor's lead drops in Resolve and Essential polls, but they are still far ahead
Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A federal Resolve poll for Nine newspapers, conducted February 15-19 from a sample of 1,604, gave Labor 40% of the primary vote (down two since January), the Coalition 31% (up two), the Greens 10% (down one), One Nation 5% (down one), the UAP 1% (down one), independents 9% (up one) and others 2% (steady). Two points were lost to rounding. Continued here |
'Special thanks': how comic book writers and artists are forgotten during the superhero film boom
When the new creative head of DC Studios, James Gunn, announced their upcoming slate of films and TV, it included many names you might expect: Superman, Batman, maybe even Swamp Thing. It also included some lesser-known and leftfield picks, such as the take-no-prisoners superhero team The Authority. The team’s co-creator, artist Bryan Hitch, found that out when everyone else did. “The Authority…?” he tweeted. “I’m glad someone told me…” Continued here |
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Landslides and law: Cyclone Gabrielle raises serious questions about where we've been allowed to build
Given the death toll, it’s important we consider the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle sensitively. But we must also begin looking into the history of land-use and planning decisions in areas worst hit by landslides. One such area is the beach community at Muriwai in West Auckland, where two volunteer firefighters were tragically killed in a landslide. Continued here |
Ride-share companies are losing billions, so why their interest in unprofitable public transport?
Why do Uber, Lyft, Didi, OLA and other ride-sharing companies want to partner with public transport agencies? For Uber and Lyft, the reason is simple: their business plans were based on eventually using driverless vehicles to eliminate their main cost, the labour cost of the driver. But human drivers won’t be replaced for some time. While many of these companies have raised lots of cash from venture capitalists, they are burning though it at an alarming rate. Uber made a loss of US$8.8 billion in 2022. Lyft, Uber’s main competitor in the United States, lost US$1.28 billion. Continued here |
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See when Australia's biggest banks stopped paying proper interest on your savings - and what you can do about it
Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Whenever interest rates went up in the past, I used to get told it wasn’t all bad news. At least it was good for some people: savers – people with money in the bank. Continued here |
Crusty, blistering and peeling: where do cold sores come from and what can you do about them?
Three quarters of Australians are living with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), an infection which causes cold sores. These tiny fluid-filled lesions and blisters sit along the mouth and nose area. This is not the same virus that causes genital herpes, HSV-2, which is present in about 13% of people worldwide. Continued here |
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As veganism grows in popularity, some people are still eating meat with friends - could a 'social omnivore' diet work for you?
It’s Sunday and your family are sat around the dinner table. There’s a bird roast, gravy and then there’s your vegan brother Tom. Your mum’s upset that he will not try a bit of the gravy on his vegetables and Grandpa is surprised that chicken even counts as meat. We can be certain that the dinner conversation will soon circle around to how “normal, nice, necessary and natural” meat eating is. These are the four main rationalisation strategies that omnivores use to defend their dietary choices. Continued here |
Morning exercise burns more body fat, mouse study shows
Our latest study found that when mice did a single exercise session in the late morning (around three hours after waking up), they burned more adipose tissue (body fat) compared to mice who exercised in the late evening. Along with this, we saw changes in the way adipose tissue genes respond following exercise. Using mice to gather evidence about what happens in our own physiology is common because almost every set of genes in humans has a closely related form in mice. This makes it likely that the effects we observe in mice may be similar to what we’d expect to see in humans. Continued here |
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My child is in a composite class this year. Is this a good thing?
The majority of classes in Australian primary school are made up of children from the same grade. The philosophy behind this is students of similar ages are grouped together to align with similar stages of learning development. But composite classes – also called “multi-age” or “split year” – are also common. For example, in New South Wales last year, one quarter of classes in state schools had composite groupings. These combine different grades into one class, usually two consecutive grades, say a Year 1 and a Year 2. Continued here |
Were viruses around on Earth before living cells emerged? A microbiologist explains
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Were there already viruses on Earth when the first living cells appeared billions of years ago? – Aayush A., age 16, India Continued here |
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Herding cats: councils' efforts to protect wildlife from roaming pets are hampered by state laws
Project Officer, School of Earth and Environmental Science, The University of Queensland How we manage pet cats in our suburbs is in the spotlight. As the estimated number of pet cats in Australia passes 5 million, people are increasingly aware of the damage cats do to wildlife. Continued here |
Decriminalizing hard drugs in B.C. will help reduce the stigma of substance abuse
Unlike other physical and mental health conditions, however, substance use disorder — or addiction — has historically been seen as a moral failing and was for many years relegated to the fringes of the medical community. Instead of receiving treatment in an accessible medical setting, many individuals went untreated or turned to a largely unregulated system of public and private treatment options. Drug use was criminalized and because many still believe that people who use drugs are engaging in deliberately deviant behaviour, we often choose to punish, rather than treat, drug addiction. Continued here |
Radioactive waste isn't going away. We've found a new way to trap it in minerals for long-term storage
There are around 440 nuclear power plants operating in 32 countries around the world, supplying some 10% of the world’s electricity. Another 60 reactors are under construction, and 300 more are proposed. Read more: Uranium prices are soaring, and Australia's hoary old nuclear debate is back in the headlines. Here's what it all means Continued here |
First ladies from Martha Washington to Jill Biden have gotten outsized attention for their clothing instead of their views
First ladies’ fashion choices tend to attract a lot of attention and often, quite literally, go down in history. Now, with their new home at the Smithsonian Museum’s popular gallery showcasing first ladies’ fashion, the inauguration outfits of Jill Biden will attract attention for years to come. Continued here |
Epigenetic and social factors both predict aging and health - but new research suggests one might be stronger
While each person has a genetic makeup that largely does not change over their lifetime, chemical changes to their genetic material that occur throughout life can change which genes are turned on or off and lead to more rapid aging. These changes typically involve the addition of methyl groups to DNA and are influenced by social and environmental exposures, such as adverse childhood experiences, smoking, pollution and depression. In 2013, geneticist and biostatistician Steve Horvath introduced the idea that a person’s rate of aging would be captured by the level of methylation in their genome. He also developed ways to measure epigenetic age in terms of years and compare this age to one’s chronological age. Continued here |
Can adultery be inherited? Kate Legge investigates after the 'king hit' of her husband's affair - which seems to run in his family
When journalist and writer Kate Legge first let her ex-husband read her work on infidelity – his infidelity (particularly with “a close girlfriend” of Legge’s, but also more wide-ranging) – he thought she was too judgemental. But the book she eventually published, Infidelity and Other Affairs, is a wonderfully thoughtful, mature and somewhat eclectic exploration of the breakdown of a marriage and Legge’s endurance through and beyond it. drought in the marital bedroom, domestic discord, impulsiveness, insecure attachment, loneliness, neuroticism, narcissism, discontent, substance abuse, a desire for risk-taking, a quest for self-discovery, an escape from the monotony of monogamy. Continued here |
Pancakes and football: a brief history of Shrove Tuesday in the UK
Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday is once again upon us. Celebrated in many countries around the world, for Christians, Shrove Tuesday marks the last day, or the feast day before Lent - the 40 days leading up to Easter. This is traditionally a time of abstinence associated with clearing your cupboards of things like eggs, sugar and fats. Pancakes are eaten on this day to use up these foods before the fasting season of Lent begins. Continued here |
Pandemic finger-pointing: New research sheds light on who Canadians blame in times of crisis
A little over a year ago, thousands of people descended on Ottawa protesting COVID-19 pandemic countermeasures as part of a “freedom convoy.” They contested the science around vaccines, chanted and held signs condemning the Trudeau government. A key theme of the protest movement was anger directed toward the government, scientists and even ordinary people following public health recommendations. Continued here |
How your brain decides what to think
You’re sitting on the plane, staring out of the window at the clouds and all of a sudden, you think back to how a few months ago, you had a heart-to-heart with a good colleague about the pressure you experience at work. How do thoughts seemingly completely unrelated to the present pop into our heads? Why do we remember certain things and not others? Why does our mind go off on tangents and why do we have daydreams? Underlying these processes is a shared pattern of common brain activity, in regions which together make up the “default mode network”, discovered and named by neurologist Marcus Raichle in the early 2000s. It’s engaged when we are daydreaming, thinking about ourselves or others, recalling memories, or imagining future events. Continued here |
3 things the pandemic taught us about inequality in college -- and why they matter today
Elise, a nursing student at an elite U.S. university in the Northeast, found herself back home and sleeping on the floor of her parents’ one-bedroom apartment after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020. It was tough to get a good night’s sleep as family members passed through to the kitchen or the front door. Such interruptions also made it difficult to concentrate during lectures and exams. Sometimes, limited internet bandwidth made it impossible for Elise to attend class at all. She couldn’t ask her parents to buy her a new computer to replace the one that was breaking down, she explained, because she knew they couldn’t afford it. Continued here |
Noble false widows: the tiny spiders taking a big bite out of British and Irish wildlife
Over the last two decades, an uninvited guest has made an appearance in and around homes throughout western Europe, including Britain and Ireland, as well as west Asia and the Pacific coast of North and South America. It is small and inconspicuous, yet nothing seems to stop its expansion. From its native habitat in the nooks and crannies of caldera rocks in the highlands of Madeira and the Canary Islands, to feeding on shrews, bats and lizards in the suburbs of London and Dublin, the noble false widow spider (Steatoda nobilis) is a threat to ecosystems that you’d probably overlook. Continued here |
Real-life autism disclosures are complex -
Media personality Em Rusciano has expressed shock after another radio presenter accused her of “leaping on the bandwagon” by widely sharing her autism diagnosis and its impact on her daily life. Here’s what Autistic people told us about what real-life disclosure experiences look like. And what workplaces should do to make it safer for people to share this aspect of their identity if they choose to. Continued here |
Roald Dahl rewrites: rather than bowdlerising books on moral grounds we should help children to navigate history
Although several of his best-known children’s books were first published in the 1960s, Roald Dahl is among the most popular authors for young people today. The recent decision by publisher Puffin, in conjunction with The Roald Dahl Story Company, to make several hundred revisions to new editions of his novels has been described as censorship by Salman Rushdie and attracted widespread criticism. The changes, recommended by sensitivity readers, include removing or replacing words describing the appearance of characters, and adding gender-neutral language in places. For instance, Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is no longer “fat” but “enormous”. Mrs Twit, from The Twits, has become “beastly” rather than “ugly and beastly”. In Matilda, the protagonist no longer reads the works of Rudyard Kipling but Jane Austen. Continued here |
How transformative justice can address abuse in Canadian sport
In January 2023, dozens of scholars (ourselves included) signed an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for an independent judicial inquiry into widespread allegations of abuse in the nation’s sporting organizations. Our movement, Scholars Against Abuse in Canadian Sport, encompasses experts on law, education, sociology, criminology, history, psychology, and numerous other disciplines, collectively tackling the issue of abuse in sport. Continued here |
Why Biden is the Democrats' best hope of winning the 2024 election
The 2024 US presidential election race is already under way. In recent polls, President Joe Biden is the clear favourite among Democrats for the 2024 nomination. No one else comes close, with Vice-President Kamala Harris a distant second, some twenty points behind. Biden is the only candidate who would preserve the coalition that he built during the last two and a half years. He has managed to construct a base support of young voters, suburban voters, as well as maintaining the share of Hillary Clinton’s support among Black and Hispanic voters. Continued here |
Islamist terrorism is rising in the Sahel, but not in Chad - what's different?
Since the rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria and the emergence of Islamist-Salafist groups in northern Mali in 2013, the Sahel has increasingly been caught in the maelstrom of Islamist terrorism. The region is now described as the new global epicentre of violent extremism. The population is suffering immensely, and in some areas more than 2 million people have been displaced. Agriculture and development have come to a halt there. Continued here |
Much Ado About Nothing: National Youth Theatre gives Shakespeare the Love Island treatment
“What’s your type on paper?” is frequently asked by contestants on the popular reality dating show Love Island. “Rich, that’s certaine” responds Benedick, a contestant on “Nothing Island”, who appears to know exactly what he likes. “Wise, or I’ll none”, “virtuous”, “fair”, “mild” – though he concedes he is not fussed about hair colour. In this National Youth Theatre production celebrating their tenth anniversary, poet and playwright Debris Stevenson (Poet in Da Corner) adapts Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing as the final segment of reality TV show “Nothing Island”. “If it ain’t love,” executive producer Leonato (Jessica Enemokwu) says: “it’s Nothing”. Continued here |
How queuing leads to city centre violence and what our research says about preventing night-time brawls
People go out at night because they want to socialise, drink and be entertained. Unfortunately, all too often that leads to violent behaviour in our towns and city centres. But the events that lead to such violence are poorly understood. We set out to explore some of the possible explanations of night-time violence using data on Cardiff city centre footfall (the number of people in the city centre) and assault-related attendances at the nearby University Hospital of Wales. We found that a break down in the unwritten etiquette of queuing may be one of the reasons behind increases in violence at night. Continued here |
In the far from diverse publishing industry, sensitivity readers are vital
Publishing houses have set the cat among the pigeons. They have introduced “sensitivity readers”. Some authors are claiming this amounts to censorship. But what is the truth of this relatively new practice? Sensitivity readers are contracted by a publisher to provide editorial feedback on omissions, discontinuity, cliche and credibility issues in a book draft – specifically where they relate to subject matter about people from marginalised groups. Continued here |
Presidential greatness is rarely fixed in stone - changing attitudes on racial injustice and leadership qualities lead to dramatic shifts
Every American president has landed in the history books. And historians’ assessments of their performance have been generally consistent over time. But some presidents’ rankings have changed as the nation – and historians themselves – reassessed the country’s values and priorities. Historians have been ranking presidents in surveys since Arthur Schlesinger Sr.’s first such study appeared in Life magazine in 1948. The results of that survey categorized Presidents Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson as “great.” Continued here |
The Best Fossils for Your Buck
Fossil collecting doesn’t have to be the élitist hobby that it’s often perceived as. So your bid of fifty dollars was just shy of the $6.1-million hammer price of the T. rex skull sold at Sotheby’s this December. Sure, it stings, especially because you were outbid by both Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicolas Cage on that other dino skull a few years back. But, for the thrifty fossil hunter, there are plenty of affordable options if you know where to look. A small piece of amber with a fossilized mosquito suspended in it. That’s $18.02 on Etsy. This starter fossil is also an investment piece: in sixty-five million years’ time, DNA from this mosquito can be used to create actual living dinosaurs, which can be kept in an amusement park on a distant tropical island. Continued here |
A year on, Russia's war on Ukraine threatens to redraw the map of world politics - and 2023 will be crucial
Wars are world-shaping. Beyond their immediate human and physical tolls, wars alter the fates of societies and states; of clans, cultures and leaders. They establish new lines of access to resources and influence, determining who has what – and who doesn’t. They set precedents for how future wars are justified and, in the case of attempted conquest, wars can ultimately redraw the map of world politics. One year after its unprovoked invasion on February 24, 2022, Russia’s war against Ukraine encompasses all these dangers. Continued here |
Why Ukraine should not become a testing ground for the world's new weapons
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been imploring the US, UK and other allies for advanced fighter jets to assist in defending against Russia’s unlawful invasion – a move that could come soon and potentially alter the course of the war. This comes after Germany and the US finally agreed to give more than 300 heavy tanks to Ukraine after much debate. Some observers have focused on whether providing increasingly sophisticated weaponry is a good idea for strategic reasons, such as whether it risks further escalating the conflict. Continued here |
Banshees of Inisherin: how location and language have set the scene for Ireland's vibrant film industry
From classic western films onwards, many cinematographers have made use of far flung places to transport viewers to other worlds and different times. Stories inspired by the west of Ireland have benefited from the beautiful visage that its landscape provides. John Ford’s The Quiet Man (1952) showcased the rolling hills of Connemara as the mise-en-scène for his award-winning romantic comedy drama. Tourists still come in search of Sean Thornton’s house, travelling along Ireland’s Atlantic edge to see what remains of the “old way of life”. Continued here |
Ghana wants fewer polluting old cars on the road. But it's going about it the wrong way
Used vehicles contribute greatly to transport emissions, undermining public health and the environment. In the US, Europe and parts of Asia, clunkers programmes – exchanging older, polluting used vehicles for cash – are becoming a popular approach for reducing the vehicles’ socio-environmental harms. Only so many of the vehicles in circulation are, however, exchanged and destroyed or recycled. A good number of them are exported to Africa and other low-income regions of the world for reuse. Continued here |
ChatGPT and Tinder: do smart chatbots make dating online better or worse?
Tinder and other dating apps have come to define modern dating, and notoriously so. Users download the Tinder app to their phones or other devices and can then view the profiles of potential dates nearby. If they think someone might be a match, they swipe to the right on their touchscreens to show interest. If the other person swipes right too, a chat can begin, which might lead to an in-person meeting. This initial introduction involves minimal information – a photo and some basic details about yourself. The result is that romance and trust are sometimes assumed to be missing from the dating process. Added to this are fears of harassment and scams as well as uninspirational (and often sexually aggressive) Tinder opening lines like, “Wow, your clothes would look great bundled on my bedroom floor”. Yet, Tinder remains firmly part of the repertoire when looking for love, casual connections or intimacy. Continued here |
The Poetry of Science: A Victorian Portal to Wonder
“Science describes accurately from outside, poetry describes accurately from inside,” Ursula K. Le Guin wrote in her wonderful meditation on subjectifying the universe. “Science explicates, poetry implicates. Both celebrate what they describe.” We have a word for that common celebration: wonder — the sense that the world is strange and beautiful, and we are hovering on the edge between understanding and awe as we behold the naked poetry of reality. A century and a half before Le Guin, a century and a half before the inception of The Universe in Verse, the polymathic scientist and poet Robert Hunt (September 6, 1807–October 17, 1887) explored the consonance and complementarity of these twin languages of wonder in his 1848 book The Poetry of Science; or, Studies of the Physical Phenomena of Nature (public library | public domain) — an ambitious summation of all the major discoveries of science to that point, from gravity and light to the molecular forces and the reproduction of plants, revealing the poetry and aesthetic ecstasy inside the scientific facts. Continued here
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