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No-One Likes a Blackout, But Keeping the Lights On is About to Get Expensive
A new official report shows blackouts in eastern Australia’s grid this summer are unlikely. While that’s welcome news, it casts doubt on the wisdom of a recent government decision to tighten electricity reliability standards – a decision that will cost consumers. The report from the Australian Energy Market Operator, published this morning, is known as…
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Children Might Play a Bigger Role in COVID Transmission Than First Thought
Over the weekend, the World Health Organisation made an announcement you might have missed. It recommended children aged 12 years and older should wear masks, and that masks should be considered for those aged 6-11 years. The German Society for Virology went further, recommending masks be worn by all children attending school. This seems at…
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How Jumbo Squids Survive Freezing Cold, Oxygen-Deprived Waters
Humans are a picky species. We are happiest in a near-constant environment and experience severe and often fatal injuries if our core temperature falls below 25 C or if oxygen content of the air drops below 10 per cent. Many other species, however, live in almost constant change. Consider the red devil squid. Also known…
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Many More Health Workers Than We Ever Thought are Catching COVID-19 on the Job
Yesterday, the Victorian government released much-anticipated figures showing the proportion of the state’s health-care workers who caught COVID-19 at work. Victoria’s chief medical officer Andrew Wilson said yesterday that 70-80 per cent of health workers testing positive to COVID-19 were infected at work. That’s compared with 22 per cent in the first wave. That figure, which…