Science
Folly of climate alarmism
Opinion | Fear tactics might work in elections but in the climate debate, apocalyptic scenarios play into the hands of right-wing sceptics.
Bright ideas go unrewarded
The record shows that Australia is not a place where innovators are richly supported. Few inventors have made it onto the BRW Rich 200, however useful or appealing their inventions.
Countdown to space travel privatisation
United States rocket company SpaceX will soon launch itself into the history books when it delivers supplies to the crew of the orbiting International Space Station.
The economics of DNA
Macken | Some time soon you won’t have to explain your risk profile to the financial planner, you’ll just hand over a copy of your DNA.
Warming since 1950 unprecedented: study
The rise in temperatures in and around Australia since 1950 has been unprecedented, a study shows.
Two sets of experts, two opposite opinions
The extent of disagreement about statins was recently highlighted in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It asked two sets of experts whether an otherwise healthy middle aged man with elevated cholesterol should be taking a daily statin.
Extinction rates cut down to size
Whenever a relative or neighbour has the audacity to point out that my suburban garden could be better groomed, I lecture them about biodiversity.
Robots, telehealth in NBN sell
Labor has set aside $120 million in its latest budget to fund programs like NBN-controlled robots in museums and video teaching in the bush as part of efforts to justify the $36 billion national broadband network.
Don’t believe the type
Myers-Briggs testing has its place in human resources, but it isn’t the whole story.
Consent 2.0 open source for gene research
In an age where people post personal data on the web and regularly click “I agree” to reams of legalese they have never read, news of yet another electronic consent form might seem like a big yawn.
Capitalist climate
Pierpont’s “Something in the air: Labor’s carbon con” (April 27) alleges it is only “greenies and lefties” who feel that there may be a risk that human activity contributes to climate change and that we should do something about it. Many conservative governments including France, UK and Germany agree.
The technology of space mining and power lifting
In two ideas straight out of science fiction, robots have been developed that could mine outer space and make lifting a breeze.
Hot air and fair-weather friends
Dean | “Predicting future weather patterns is an inexact science,” explained Professor Weathervain.
Science not always right
Mark Latham seems unable to comprehend why so many successful, well-educated people should ignore the “hard evidence” of human induced climate change (“Mass denial”, Review, April 20). It is quite simple.
Mining: the final frontier, robots to dig on asteroids
In a theory straight out of science fiction, plans are afoot to use space-faring robots to mine precious resources like gold, platinum and rocket fuel from asteroids.
Scrutiny on Latham’s climate science
That someone as astute as Mark Latham has joined the “progressive intelligentsia” (Robert “left-right-left” Manne, et al) and adopted their ad hominem rhetoric of “denial” is a surprise (“Mass denial”, Review, April 20).
Goodwill wasted on climate change
It was disappointing to read Mark Latham, known advocate of lifelong universal education, lay the blame for failure to address climate change at the feet of the educated masses (“Mass denial”, Review, April 20).
Science pool expands brain research power
In the largest collaborative study of the brain to date, scientists using imaging technology at more than 100 centres worldwide have for the first time zeroed in on genes that they agree play a role in intelligence and memory.
Premier’s vision boosts our biotechnology base
While innovation has become a driving force for government policy in most advanced countries from Europe to the United States, it is still something of an also-ran in Australia.
Climate debate mix
Mark Latham wonders how even intelligent people can doubt the allegedly settled science forecasting a dangerously warmer planet due to man-made carbon “pollution” (“Mass denial”, Review, April 20).
Claims on sea level findings
Scientist Michael Brown’s “Stats on sea levels” (Letters, April 18) attacked my research on the Australian coastline demonstrating sea levels are not accelerating here or elsewhere in the world “Sea height increases underwhelming” (April 16).
Books | Insights into an eerie land
The Antarctic holds the key to our future and we interrogate it anxiously for portents. Gabrielle Walker’s book brings us up to date on the continent.
Hunt on sidelines
As the opposition’s climate action hero, Greg Hunt is sounding rather “can’t-do.”
Move that may cut prostate cancer risk
Some new evidence has emerged to show that men who were circumcised before their first sexual encounter have a 15 per cent lower risk of developing prostate cancer.
Statistics on sea levels
Mark Lawson’s “Sea height increases underwhelming” (April 16) is a low point in the reporting of sea level rise. Rather than focusing on years of painstaking research by Australian experts, much is made of the work of Alberto Boretti. Boretti is an expert on car engines and has fitted simple curves to sea level data. Such fits can be done in minutes with Microsoft Excel. Boretti’s articles on sea levels are, at best, sloppy science. Remarkably, Boretti does not even report margins-of-error in his articles, despite this being standard practice for scientists.
Cocooned kids become fragile adults
Macken | By protecting kids from disappointment, the self-esteem movement deprives them of the ability to handle it later on.
Sea height increases underwhelming
Talk of rising sea levels has haunted Australian planners and sea side residents for decades. Thus far it has been much ado about nothing much at all.
Rethink urged on research
A youth-led group, Left Right Think Tank, wants to shake up the way university research is funded, giving business more power to push for commercially relevant projects.
Q&A: It’s a hell of a debate
Dean | Here are the highlights of the Q&A debate this week featuring George Pell and Richard Dawkins. Some conversations defy satire.
