Your Primary Health Network
Addressing feral cats' diet may help protect native species in Australia
February 2, 2015 - Because reducing the impacts of feral cats--domestic cats that have returned to the wild--is a priority for conservation efforts across the globe, a research team recently reviewed the animals' diet across Australia and its territorial islands to help consider how they might best be managed.
The investigators recorded 400 vertebrate species that feral cats feed on or kill in Australia, including 16 globally threatened birds, mammals and reptiles. The cats feed mainly on rabbits when they are available, but they switch to other food groups when they are not. Reptiles were eaten most frequently in desert areas, whereas medium-sized mammals, such as possums and bandicoots, were eaten most frequently in the temperate southeast.
"Our most significant finding was a pattern of prey-switching from rabbits to small native mammals," said Tim Doherty, lead author of the Journal of Biogeography study.
"This is important because control programs for rabbits could inadvertently lead to feral cats killing more native mammals instead. This means that land managers should use a multi-species approach for pest animal control."
1. Tim S. Doherty, Robert A. Davis, Eddie J. B. van Etten, Dave Algar, Neil Collier, Chris R. Dickman, Glenn Edwards, Pip Masters, Russell Palmer, Sue Robinson. A continental-scale analysis of feral cat diet in Australia. Journal of Biogeography, 2015; DOI:10.1111/jbi.12469
Myths and Realities of Personalised Medicine: The Genetic Revolution
UNSWelearning - Published on 3 Feb 2015
Learn about the concept of “personalised medicine” and the impact that our enhanced understanding of genetics has had on modern medicine and society.
Enroll into our free MOOC: http://bit.ly/medmoocunsw
Red Dot Award 2015 – Star designers Jimmy Choo and David Andersen will assess fashion category
The registration phase of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2015 ends on 11 February. The annually organised international competition has been awarding products of good design quality for 60 years now. In its anniversary year, “Fashion, Lifestyle and accessories” is one of 31 categories. Red Dot contributes to the growing number of submitted projects from the world of fashion. To be up to the variety of areas like haute couture, shoes, street fashion, and bags, Red Dot invited the most prestigious fashion experts in the history of the award: Jimmy Choo and David Andersen are part of the Red Dot jury 2015.
Datuk’ Professor Jimmy Choo founded his own couture label and opened a shoeshop in London’s East End in 1983. In 1996, he launched his ready-to-wear line and sold his share in the business in 2001. He is a promoter for design education and an ambassador for footwear education at the London College of Fashion as well as a spokesperson for the British Council in their promotion of British Education to foreign students. In 2015, Jimmy Choo will be in the Red Dot jury for the third time and is not only looking forward to new product designs and the jury colleagues but estimates the award as a source of inspiration: „I feel very happy to be here again and see so many people for design. We all have our strong point and at the end we choose the right things. I see a lot of new designs, which also inspire me for my collections.”
A new member of the Red Dot jury is David Andersen. The designer from Denmark creates successful ready-to-wear clothing, shoes, perfume, underwear and home wear. In 2007, he launched his collection “David Andersen” and conquers the world of fashion in giant steps: His brand is expanding in Europe, Asia and the US. The all-rounder regularly presents his designs in couture exhibitions all over the world and is a visiting professor at Scandinavia’s largest design and management college. Along with Jimmy Choo, he will award the best design achievements in the field of fashion with a Red Dot.
4.815 products from 53 nations have been entered into the competition in 2014 alone. One of the designs awarded last year: The women’s felt boots “Moose” by Diversus LT with moose decor and a high shaft made of milled sheep’s wool provide warm feet. The jury has been enthused: “These warming boots are the new interpretation of a well-tried, classic piece of footwear with stylish accents.” Already now, the Red Dot experts can look forward to numerous high quality submissions of this year.
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About the Red Dot Award: Product Design:
Designers and companies are currently invited to submit their products in 31 categories. An international jury of independent design experts will assess each product and project. There is no digital preselection phase; each object is assessed directly in situ. The best achievements will be awarded the sought-after seal of quality, the “Red Dot”. The award-winning designs are traditionally celebrated at the festive Red Dot Gala in the summertime and exhibited in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen.
Registration phase until 11 February 2015
Red Dot Gala: 29 June 2015
For further information and to register, go to www.red-dot.org/pd.
2014 Online Exhibition (from Arhcitecture - Urban Design and Public Spaces to Watches etc.): HERE
Photo: We’ve the Zenith - High-Rise Apartment Building
Red Dot
Design- Daewon Plus Construction (Samsup Choi, Sung Jin Chung, Seung Do Lee, Youn Jun Kim), South Korea www.daewonplus.co.kr- Mahn Woo Kwon, South Korea; www.ks.ac.kr
Red Dot
The 300-metre tall “We’ve the Zenith” is the latest landmark of Busan’s Marine City. As the impressively tall residential building, the 80-storey high-rise is the extraordinary outcome of the collaboration between outstanding architects, engineers and landscape designers. The building’s contours are reminiscent of the beautiful waves of the sea at Haeundae and of a fully opened lotus flower, the symbol of prosperity. The Zenith is not only an aesthetic feast for the eyes, but also the most secure skyscraper in the world. With a safe haven on every third floor, residents do not have to worry about their safety in the event of danger.
Statement by the jury: " By meeting the highest expectations in terms of form and execution, “We’ve the Zenith” has become a distinct point of reference in its surroundings."
Scientists discover organism that hasn't evolved in more than 2 billion years
February 3, 2015 - An international team of scientists has discovered the greatest absence of evolution ever reported -- a type of deep-sea microorganism that appears not to have evolved over more than 2 billion years. But the researchers say that the organisms' lack of evolution actually supports Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
The findings are published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The scientists examined sulfur bacteria, microorganisms that are too small to see with the unaided eye, that are 1.8 billion years old and were preserved in rocks from Western Australia's coastal waters. Using cutting-edge technology, they found that the bacteria look the same as bacteria of the same region from 2.3 billion years ago -- and that both sets of ancient bacteria are indistinguishable from modern sulfur bacteria found in mud off of the coast of Chile.
"It seems astounding that life has not evolved for more than 2 billion years -- nearly half the history of Earth," said J. William Schopf, a UCLA professor of earth, planetary and space sciences in the UCLA College who was the study's lead author. "Given that evolution is a fact, this lack of evolution needs to be explained."
Charles Darwin's writings on evolution focused much more on species that had changed over time than on those that hadn't. So how do scientists explain a species living for so long without evolving?
"The rule of biology is not to evolve unless the physical or biological environment changes, which is consistent with Darwin," said Schopf, who also is director of UCLA's Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life. The environment in which these microorganisms live has remained essentially unchanged for 3 billion years, he said.
"These microorganisms are well-adapted to their simple, very stable physical and biological environment," he said. "If they were in an environment that did not change but they nevertheless evolved, that would have shown that our understanding of Darwinian evolution was seriously flawed."
Schopf said the findings therefore provide further scientific proof for Darwin's work. "It fits perfectly with his ideas," he said.
The fossils Schopf analyzed date back to a substantial rise in Earth's oxygen levels known as the Great Oxidation Event, which scientists believe occurred between 2.2 billion and 2.4 billion years ago. The event also produced a dramatic increase in sulfate and nitrate -- the only nutrients the microorganisms would have needed to survive in their seawater mud environment -- which the scientists say enabled the bacteria to thrive and multiply.
Schopf used several techniques to analyze the fossils, including Raman spectroscopy -- which enables scientists to look inside rocks to determine their composition and chemistry -- and confocal laser scanning microscopy -- which renders fossils in 3-D. He pioneered the use of both techniques for analyzing microscopic fossils preserved inside ancient rocks.
J. William Schopf, Anatoliy B. Kudryavtsev, Malcolm R. Walter, Martin J. Van Kranendonk, Kenneth H. Williford, Reinhard Kozdon, John W. Valley, Victor A. Gallardo, Carola Espinoza, David T. Flannery. Sulfur-cycling fossil bacteria from the 1.8-Ga Duck Creek Formation provide promising evidence of evolution's null hypothesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015; 201419241 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1419241112
Above: This is a section of a 1.8 billion-year-old fossil-bearing rock. Credit: UCLA Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life
Gandhi’s teachings a salve for modern ills, granddaughter says
02 February 2015
The teachings of Gandhi are more relevant than ever, with Islamophobia, terrorism and climate change standing in the way of peace, his granddaughter Ela Gandhi says.
Ms Gandhi, a peace activist and former South African MP who spent nine years under house arrest during the struggle against apartheid, delivered UNSW’s fourth annual Gandhi Oration on Friday to commemorate India’s Martyrs’ Day. The event included a question and answer session involving Ms Gandhi, Patron of the Australia India Institute (UNSW Node) Mr Neville Roach and outgoing Vice-Chancellor Professor Fred Hilmer.
Held on the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination on 30 January 1948, the oration is delivered by a person whose life work exemplifies Gandhian ideals. It follows a community Remembrance Ceremony on the University's Library Lawn, home to the Mahatma Gandhi bust.
Ms Gandhi used the occasion to stress her grandfather’s philosophy of non-violence and simple lifestyle – ideals which she said held the key to solving some of modern society’s biggest problems, including the cycle of extremist violence and environmental destruction.
“Perhaps some important questions are how much respect do we have for life? How much faith do we have in ourselves and in others? What do we teach the next generation?” she said.
“Gandhi-ji constantly said that it is important for us to differentiate between the deed and the doer… What we see today is the opposite – we not only condemn the deed and the doer but we also extend that condemnation to a whole group of people with whom we associate the doer. This is how we give rise to, for instance, Islamophobia, race hatred and other prejudices.”
She lamented that humanity had not heeded the Mahatma’s warnings 82 years ago about overconsumption. If we had, “today we would not be suffering the effects of climate change and worrying about how to conserve our planet”.
“I have often wondered, when we talk of water shortages, for instance, facing the world, yet do nothing about the number of private swimming pools being built all over the world as the middle class expands. Is this sustainable?”
Ms Gandhi offered a candid insight into growing up on South Africa’s Phoenix Settlement, a commune where her grandfather trained political activists in his techniques of satyagraha, or passive resistance.
She said the most important lessons were that people did and could change, that all work and people were to be respected equally and that no one faith had precedence.
“Gandhi-ji’s training was that God didn’t ask to be imprisoned in any one building, whether it’s a temple or a mosque or a church. He didn’t ask to be imprisoned, he’s everywhere. He or she…,” she said.
“Gandhi-ji’s famous quotation was that I want the windows of my house to be open and the winds of all cultures to blow through, but I will not be thrown off my feet by anyone.”
Ms Gandhi said the world was increasingly looking for quick fixes to complex problems, citing the death penalty, and the case of the Bali Nine, as a topical example in Australia.
Her own experience with South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission was that lasting change required patience and faith.
“Whilst there were many people who forgave and were able to shake hands and live together with the perpetrators, and perpetrators who felt really guilty about what they did and changed their own habits, it takes a long time for that to happen,” she said.
“It hasn’t happened across the board. There are those perpetrators who still feel that what they did was correct, and there are those victims who are not prepared to forgive. We have to work at it, that’s where faith comes in: faith in yourself, faith in other people that one day it will happen.”
Asked what her iconic grandfather would have thought about the modern world of weapons, drones and social media, she said he never would have armed himself but “absolutely, if there was a Facebook I think he would be using it very wisely”.
Though sports boycotts had helped to end apartheid she said Gandhi may not have approved of the modern world’s sports mania.
“Gandhi-ji didn’t like competition. Although he had a football team, his games were more about enjoyment and not about competition. Because he felt that, once you begin to compete, then it leads to antagonisms and violence.”
Instead of competition, she urged small acts of compassion and harmony.
“Even in our daily lives we can help to resolve differences peacefully rather than using confrontationist ways to resolve conflict. Simple little acts make an enormous difference in the world.”
The 2015 Gandhi Oration was proudly sponsored by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
Words: Amy Coopes- Picture: Ela Gandhi delivers the 2015 UNSW Gandhi Oration. Photo: Andy Baker