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From eye exams to blood tests and surgery: how doctors use light to diagnose disease

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-griffith-1539353">Matthew Griffith</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-australia-1180">University of South Australia</a></em></p> <p>You’re not feeling well. You’ve had a pounding headache all week, dizzy spells and have vomited up your past few meals.</p> <p>You visit your GP to get some answers and sit while they shine a light in your eyes, order a blood test and request some medical imaging.</p> <p>Everything your GP just did relies on light. These are just some of the optical technologies that have had an enormous impact in how we diagnose disease.</p> <h2>1. On-the-spot tests</h2> <p>Point-of-care diagnostics allow doctors to test patients on the spot and get answers in minutes, rather than sending samples to a lab for analysis.</p> <p>The “flashlight” your GP uses to view the inside of your eye (known as an <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003881.htm">ophthalmoscope</a>) is a great example. This allows doctors to detect abnormal blood flow in the eye, deformations of the cornea (the outermost clear layer of the eye), or swollen optical discs (a round section at the back of the eye where the nerve link to the brain begins). Swollen discs are a sign of elevated pressure inside your head (or in the worst case, a brain tumour) that could be <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/headache/increased-intracranial-pressure-icp-headache">causing your headaches</a>.</p> <p>The invention of <a href="https://openmedscience.com/lighting-the-way-in-healthcare-the-transformative-role-of-lasers-in-medicine/">lasers and LEDs</a> has enabled many other miniaturised technologies to be provided at the bedside or clinic rather than in the lab.</p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-a-pulse-oximeter-should-i-buy-one-to-monitor-covid-at-home-174457">Pulse oximetry</a> is a famous example, where a clip attached to your finger reports how well your blood is oxygenated. It does this by <a href="https://www.howequipmentworks.com/pulse_oximeter/">measuring</a> the different responses of oxygenated and de-oxygenated blood to different colours of light.</p> <p>Pulse oximetry is used at hospitals (and <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-a-pulse-oximeter-should-i-buy-one-to-monitor-covid-at-home-174457">sometimes at home</a>) to monitor your respiratory and heart health. In hospitals, it is also a valuable tool for detecting <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60107-X/fulltext">heart defects in babies</a>.</p> <h2>2. Looking at molecules</h2> <p>Now, back to that blood test. Analysing a small amount of your blood can diagnose <a href="https://theconversation.com/blood-tests-and-diagnosing-illness-what-can-blood-tell-us-about-whats-happening-in-our-body-80327">many different diseases</a>.</p> <p>A machine called an automated “full blood count analyser” tests for general markers of your health. This machine directs focused beams of light through blood samples held in small glass tubes. It counts the number of blood cells, determines their specific type, and reports the level of haemoglobin (the protein in red blood cells that distributes oxygen around your body). In minutes, this machine can provide a <a href="https://www.nuffieldhealth.com/article/inside-the-pathology-lab-what-happens-to-my-blood">snapshot</a> of your overall health.</p> <p>For more specific disease markers, blood serum is separated from the heavier cells by spinning in a rotating instrument called a centrifuge. The serum is then exposed to special chemical stains and enzyme assays that change colour depending on whether specific molecules, which may be the sign of a disease, are present.</p> <p>These colour changes can’t be detected with the naked eye. However, a light beam from an instrument called a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5476943/#R88">spectrometer</a> can detect tiny amounts of these substances in the blood and determine if the biomarkers for diseases are present, and at what levels.</p> <h2>3. Medical imaging</h2> <p>Let’s re-visit those medical images your GP ordered. The development of fibre-optic technology, made famous for transforming high-speed digital communications (such as the NBN), allows light to get inside the body. The result? High-resolution optical imaging.</p> <p>A common example is an <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153737#risks-and-side-effects">endoscope</a>, where fibres with a tiny camera on the end are inserted into the body’s natural openings (such as your mouth or anus) to examine your gut or respiratory tracts.</p> <p>Surgeons can insert the same technology through tiny cuts to view the inside of the body on a video screen during <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9553337/">laparoscopic surgery</a> (also known as keyhole surgery) to diagnose and treat disease.</p> <h2>How about the future?</h2> <p>Progress in nanotechnology and a better understanding of the interactions of light with our tissues are leading to new light-based tools to help diagnose disease. These include:</p> <ul> <li> <p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/advs.201903441">nanomaterials</a> (materials on an extremely small scale, many thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair). These are being used in next-generation sensors and new diagnostic tests</p> </li> <li> <p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-019-0045-y">wearable optical biosensors</a> the size of your fingernail can be included in devices such as watches, contact lenses or finger wraps. These devices allow non-invasive measurements of sweat, tears and saliva, in real time</p> </li> <li> <p>AI tools to analyse how blood serum scatters infrared light. This has allowed researchers to build a <a href="https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/powerful-diagnostic-approach-uses-light-to-detect-virtually-all-forms-of-cancer/">comprehensive database</a> of scatter patterns to detect <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aisy.202300006">any cancer</a></p> </li> <li> <p>a type of non-invasive imaging called <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554044/">optical coherence tomography</a> for more detailed imaging of the eye, heart and skin</p> </li> <li> <p>fibre optic technology to deliver a tiny microscope into the body on the <a href="https://www.uwa.edu.au/projects/microscope-in-a-needle">tip of a needle</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <p>So the next time you’re at the GP and they perform (or order) some tests, chances are that at least one of those tests depend on light to help diagnose disease.<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/231379/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-griffith-1539353"><em>Matthew Griffith</em></a><em>, Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow and Director, UniSA Microscopy and Microanalysis Facilities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-australia-1180">University of South Australia</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </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/from-eye-exams-to-blood-tests-and-surgery-how-doctors-use-light-to-diagnose-disease-231379">original article</a>.</em></p>

Body

How light can shift your mood and mental health

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jacob-crouse-981668">Jacob Crouse</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emiliana-tonini-1638957">Emiliana Tonini</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ian-hickie-961">Ian Hickie</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></p> <p>It’s spring and you’ve probably noticed a change in when the Sun rises and sets. But have you also noticed a change in your mood?</p> <p>We’ve known for a while that light plays a role in our wellbeing. Many of us tend to feel more positive when <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32925966/">spring returns</a>.</p> <p>But for others, big changes in light, such as at the start of spring, can be tough. And for many, bright light at night can be a problem. Here’s what’s going on.</p> <h2>An ancient rhythm of light and mood</h2> <p>In an <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-light-tells-you-when-to-sleep-focus-and-poo-236780">earlier article</a> in our series, we learned that light shining on the back of the eye sends “<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25451984/">timing signals</a>” to the brain and the master clock of the circadian system. This clock coordinates our daily (circadian) rhythms.</p> <p>“Clock genes” also regulate circadian rhythms. These genes control the timing of when many other genes <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31557726/">turn on and off</a> during the 24-hour, light-dark cycle.</p> <p>But how is this all linked with our mood and mental health?</p> <p>Circadian rhythms can be disrupted. This can happen if there are problems with how the body clock develops or functions, or if someone is routinely exposed to bright light at night.</p> <p>When circadian disruption happens, it increases the risk of certain <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33689801/">mental disorders</a>. These include <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763422000744">bipolar disorder</a> and <a href="https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1741-7015-11-79">atypical depression</a> (a type of depression when someone is extra sleepy and has problems with their energy and metabolism).</p> <h2>Light on the brain</h2> <p>Light may also affect circuits <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35687680/">in the brain</a> that control mood, as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23151476/">animal studies show</a>.</p> <p>There’s evidence this happens in humans. A brain-imaging study showed exposure to bright light in the daytime while inside the scanner <a href="https://www.cell.com/fulltext/S0960-9822(06)01758-1">changed the activity</a> of a brain region involved in mood and alertness.</p> <p>Another brain-imaging study <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22111663/">found</a> a link between daily exposure to sunlight and how the neurotransmitter (or chemical messenger) serotonin binds to receptors in the brain. We see alterations in serotonin binding in several <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33651238/">mental disorders</a>, including depression.</p> <h2>What happens when the seasons change?</h2> <p>Light can also affect mood and mental health as the seasons change. During autumn and winter, symptoms such as low mood and fatigue can develop. But often, once spring and summer come round, these symptoms go away. This is called “seasonality” or, when severe, “<a href="https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2020/1201/p668.html">seasonal affective disorder</a>”.</p> <p>What is less well known is that for other people, the change to spring and summer (when there is <em>more</em> light) can also come with a change in mood and mental health. Some people experience increases in energy and the drive to be active. This is positive for some but can be seriously destabilising for others. This too is an example of seasonality.</p> <p>Most people <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0239033">aren’t very seasonal</a>. But for those who are, seasonality has a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8540777/">genetic component</a>. Relatives of people with seasonal affective disorder are more likely to also experience seasonality.</p> <p>Seasonality is also more common in conditions such as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25063960/">bipolar disorder</a>. For many people with such conditions, the shift into shorter day-lengths during winter can trigger a depressive episode.</p> <p>Counterintuitively, the longer day-lengths in spring and summer can also destabilise people with bipolar disorder into an “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10947388/">activated</a>” state where energy and activity are in overdrive, and symptoms are harder to manage. So, seasonality can be serious.</p> <p>Alexis Hutcheon, who experiences seasonality and helped write this article, told us:</p> <blockquote> <p>[…] the season change is like preparing for battle – I never know what’s coming, and I rarely come out unscathed. I’ve experienced both hypomanic and depressive episodes triggered by the season change, but regardless of whether I’m on the ‘up’ or the ‘down’, the one constant is that I can’t sleep. To manage, I try to stick to a strict routine, tweak medication, maximise my exposure to light, and always stay tuned in to those subtle shifts in mood. It’s a time of heightened awareness and trying to stay one step ahead.</p> </blockquote> <h2>So what’s going on in the brain?</h2> <p>One explanation for what’s going on in the brain when mental health fluctuates with the change in seasons relates to the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine.</p> <p>Serotonin helps regulate mood and is the target of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0706743716659417">many</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38185236/">antidepressants</a>. There is some evidence of seasonal changes in serotonin levels, potentially being lower <a href="https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/139/5/1605/2468755?login=false">in</a> <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(02)11737-5/abstract?cc=y%3D">winter</a>.</p> <p>Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in reward, motivation and movement, and is also a target of some <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0706743716659417">antidepressants</a>. Levels of dopamine may also change with the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-023-02365-x">seasons</a>.</p> <p>But the neuroscience of seasonality is a developing area and more research <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-023-02365-x">is needed</a> to know what’s going on in the brain.</p> <h2>How about bright light at night?</h2> <p>We know exposure to bright light at night (for instance, if someone is up all night) can disturb someone’s circadian rhythms.</p> <p>This type of circadian rhythm disturbance is associated with higher rates of symptoms <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-023-00135-8">including</a> self-harm, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and lower wellbeing. It is also associated with higher rates of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32639562/">mental disorders</a>, such as major depression, bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD).</p> <p>Why is this? Bright light at night confuses and destabilises the body clock. It disrupts the rhythmic regulation of mood, cognition, appetite, metabolism and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38214638/">many</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34419186/">other</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33689801/">mental</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36661342/">processes</a>.</p> <p>But people differ hugely in their <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1901824116">sensitivity to light</a>. While still a hypothesis, people who are most sensitive to light may be the most vulnerable to body clock disturbances caused by bright light at night, which then leads to a higher risk of mental health problems.</p> <h2>Where to from here?</h2> <p>Learning about light will help people better manage their mental health conditions.</p> <p>By encouraging people to better align their lives to the light-dark cycle (to stabilise their body clock) we may also help prevent conditions such as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34419186/">depression</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763422000744">bipolar disorder</a> emerging in the first place.</p> <p>Healthy light behaviours – avoiding light at night and seeking light during the day – are good for everyone. But they might be especially helpful for people <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763422000744">at risk</a> of mental health problems. These include people with a family history of mental health problems or people who are <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38185236/">night owls</a> (late sleepers and late risers), who are more at risk of body clock disturbances.</p> <hr /> <p><em>Alexis Hutcheon has lived experience of a mental health condition and helped write this article.</em></p> <p><em>If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.</em><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/231282/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jacob-crouse-981668"><em>Jacob Crouse</em></a><em>, Research Fellow in Youth Mental Health, Brain and Mind Centre, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emiliana-tonini-1638957">Emiliana Tonini</a>, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Brain and Mind Centre, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ian-hickie-961">Ian Hickie</a>, Co-Director, Health and Policy, Brain and Mind Centre, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></p> <p><em>Image </em><em>credits: Shutterstock</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/how-light-can-shift-your-mood-and-mental-health-231282">original article</a>.</em></p>

Mind

How light tells you when to sleep, focus and poo

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/frederic-gachon-1379094">Frederic Gachon</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/benjamin-weger-1646210">Benjamin Weger</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a></em></p> <p>Exposure to light is crucial for our physical and mental health, as this and future articles in the series will show.</p> <p>But the <em>timing</em> of that light exposure is also crucial. This tells our body to wake up in the morning, when to poo and the time of day to best focus or be alert. When we’re exposed to light also controls our body temperature, blood pressure and even chemical reactions in our body.</p> <p>But how does our body know when it’s time to do all this? And what’s light got to do with it?</p> <h2>What is the body clock, actually?</h2> <p>One of the key roles of light is to re-set our body clock, also known as the circadian clock. This works like an internal oscillator, similar to an actual clock, ticking away as you read this article.</p> <p>But rather than ticking you can hear, the body clock is a network of genes and proteins that regulate each other. This network sends signals to organs via hormones and the nervous system. These complex loops of interactions and communications have a rhythm of about 24 hours.</p> <p>In fact, we don’t have one clock, we have trillions of body clocks throughout the body. The central clock is in the hypothalamus region of the brain, and each cell in every organ has its own. These clocks work in concert to help us adapt to the daily cycle of light and dark, aligning our body’s functions with the time of day.</p> <p>However, our body clock is not precise and works to a rhythm of <em>about</em> 24 hours (24 hours 30 minutes on average). So every morning, the central clock needs to be reset, signalling the start of a new day. This is why light is so important.</p> <p>The central clock is directly connected to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/07487304231225706">light-sensing cells</a> in our retinas (the back of the eye). This daily re-setting of the body clock with morning light is essential for ensuring our body works well, in sync with our environment.</p> <p>In parallel, <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-it-matter-what-time-of-day-i-eat-and-can-intermittent-fasting-improve-my-health-heres-what-the-science-says-203762">when we eat food</a> also plays a role in re-setting the body clock, but this time the clock in organs other than the brain, such as the liver, kidneys or the gut.</p> <p>So it’s easy to see how our daily routines are closely linked with our body clocks. And in turn, our body clocks shape how our body works at set times of the day.</p> <h2>What time of day?</h2> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/627494/original/file-20241023-14-729bed.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/627494/original/file-20241023-14-729bed.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/627494/original/file-20241023-14-729bed.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/627494/original/file-20241023-14-729bed.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/627494/original/file-20241023-14-729bed.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/627494/original/file-20241023-14-729bed.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/627494/original/file-20241023-14-729bed.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/627494/original/file-20241023-14-729bed.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /></a><figcaption><span class="caption">Matt Garrow/The Conversation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://delos.com/blog/why-natural-light-is-important-for-mental-and-physical-health/">Adapted from Delos</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure> <h2>Let’s take a closer look at sleep</h2> <p>The naturally occurring brain hormone <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30311830/">melatonin</a> is linked to our central clock and makes us feel sleepy at certain times of day. When it’s light, our body stops making melatonin (its production is inhibited) and we are alert. Closer to bedtime, the hormone is made, then secreted, making us feel drowsy.</p> <p>Our sleep is also <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.00944/full">partly controlled</a> by <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-genom-121222-120306">our genes</a>, which are part of our central clock. These genes influence our <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-it-matter-what-time-i-go-to-bed-198146">chronotype</a> – whether we are a “lark” (early riser), “night owl” (late sleeper) or a “dove” (somewhere in between).</p> <p>But exposure to light at night when we are supposed to be sleeping can have harmful effects. Even dim light from light pollution can impair our <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2113290119">heart rate and how we metabolise sugar</a> (glucose), may lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-023-00135-8">psychiatric disorders</a> such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, and increases the overall risk of <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2405924121">premature death</a>.</p> <p>The main reason for these harmful effects is that light “at the wrong time” disturbs the body clock, and these effects are more pronounced for “night owls”.</p> <p>This “misaligned” exposure to light is also connected to the detrimental health effects we often see in people who <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-night-shift-increase-the-risk-of-cancer-diabetes-and-heart-disease-heres-what-we-know-so-far-190652">work night shifts</a>, such as an increased risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease.</p> <h2>How about the gut?</h2> <p>Digestion also follows a circadian rhythm. Muscles in the colon that help move waste <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1572-0241.2004.40453.x">are more active</a> during the day and slow down at night.</p> <p>The most significant increase in colon movement starts at 6.30am. This is one of the reasons why most people feel the urge to poo <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-i-poo-in-the-morning-a-gut-expert-explains-229624">in the early morning</a> rather than at night.</p> <p>The gut’s day-night rhythm is a direct result of the action of the gut’s own clock and the central clock (which synchronises the gut with the rest of the body). It’s also influenced by when we eat.</p> <h2>How about focusing?</h2> <p>Our body clock also helps control our attention and alertness levels by changing how our brain functions at certain times of day. Attention and alertness levels improve in the afternoon and evening but dip during the night and early morning.</p> <p>Those fluctuations <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2012.00050/full">impact performance</a> and can lead to decreased productivity and an <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-40914-x">increased risk</a> of errors and accidents during the less-alert hours.</p> <p>So it’s important to perform certain tasks that <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30923475/">require our attention</a> at certain times of day. That includes driving. In fact, disruption of the circadian clock at the start of daylight savings – when our body hasn’t had a chance to adapt to the clocks changing – <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982219316781?via%3Dihub">increases the risk</a> of a car accident, particularly in the morning.</p> <h2>What else does our body clock control?</h2> <p>Our body clock influences many other aspects of our biology, including:</p> <ul> <li><strong>physical performance</strong> by controlling the activity of our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-023-00805-8">muscles</a></li> <li><strong>blood pressure</strong> by controlling the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-time-of-day-should-i-take-my-medicine-125809">system of hormones</a> involved in regulating our blood volume and blood vessels</li> <li><strong>body temperature</strong> by controlling our metabolism and our level of physical activity</li> <li><strong>how our body handles drugs and toxins</strong> by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17460441.2023.2224554">controlling enzymes</a> involved in how the liver and kidneys eliminate these substances from the body.</li> </ul> <h2>Morning light is important</h2> <p>But what does this all mean for us? Exposure to light, especially in the morning, is crucial for synchronising our circadian clock and bodily functions.</p> <p>As well as setting us up for a good night’s sleep, increased morning light exposure benefits our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032721008612?via%3Dihub">mental health</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/101/9/3539/2806883">reduces the risk of obesity</a>. So boosting our exposure to morning light – for example, by going for a walk, or having breakfast outside – can directly benefit our mental and metabolic health.</p> <p>However, there are other aspects about which we have less control, including <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952524001100">the genes</a> that control our body clock.<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/236780/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/frederic-gachon-1379094">Frederic Gachon</a>, Associate Professor, Physiology of Circadian Rhythms, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/benjamin-weger-1646210">Benjamin Weger</a>, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow Institute for Molecular Bioscience, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</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/how-light-tells-you-when-to-sleep-focus-and-poo-236780">original article</a>.</em></p>

Body

Yes, blue light from your phone can harm your skin. A dermatologist explains

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-freeman-223922">Michael Freeman</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/bond-university-863">Bond University</a></em></p> <p>Social media is full of claims that everyday habits can harm your skin. It’s also full of recommendations or advertisements for products that can protect you.</p> <p>Now social media has blue light from our devices in its sights.</p> <p>So can scrolling on our phones really damage your skin? And will applying creams or lotions help?</p> <p>Here’s what the evidence says and what we should really be focusing on.</p> <h2>Remind me, what actually is blue light?</h2> <p>Blue light is part of the visible light spectrum. Sunlight is the strongest source. But our electronic devices – such as our phones, laptops and TVs – also emit it, albeit at levels <a href="https://melasmaclinic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Melasma-LEDS.pdf">100-1,000 times</a> lower.</p> <p>Seeing as we spend so much time using these devices, there has been some concern about the impact of blue light on our health, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-blue-light-glasses-really-work-can-they-reduce-eye-strain-or-help-me-sleep-213145">on our eyes and sleep</a>.</p> <p>Now, we’re learning more about the impact of blue light on our skin.</p> <h2>How does blue light affect the skin?</h2> <p>The evidence for blue light’s impact on skin is still emerging. But there are some interesting findings.</p> <p><strong>1. Blue light can increase pigmentation</strong></p> <p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/ced/article-abstract/46/5/934/6598472?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false">Studies</a> <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/srt.13401">suggest</a> exposure to blue light can stimulate production of melanin, the natural skin pigment that gives skin its colour.</p> <p>So too much blue light can potentially worsen hyperpigmentation – overproduction of melanin leading to dark spots on the skin – especially in people with darker skin.</p> <p><strong>2. Blue light can give you wrinkles</strong></p> <p>Some research <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6280109/">suggests</a> blue light might damage collagen, a protein essential for skin structure, potentially accelerating the formation of wrinkles.</p> <p>A laboratory <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29399830/">study suggests</a> this can happen if you hold your device one centimetre from your skin for as little as an hour.</p> <p>However, for most people, if you hold your device more than 10cm away from your skin, that would reduce your exposure <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law">100-fold</a>. So this is much less likely to be significant.</p> <p><strong>3. Blue light can disrupt your sleep, affecting your skin</strong></p> <p>If the skin around your eyes looks dull or puffy, it’s easy to blame this directly on blue light. But as we know blue light affects sleep, what you’re probably seeing are some of the visible signs of sleep deprivation.</p> <p>We know blue light is particularly good at <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.01413.2009?rss=1">suppressing</a> production of melatonin. This natural hormone normally signals to our bodies when it’s time for sleep and helps regulate our sleep-wake cycle.</p> <p>By suppressing melatonin, blue light exposure before bed disrupts this natural process, making it harder to fall asleep and potentially reducing the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07420528.2023.2173606">quality of your sleep</a>.</p> <p>The stimulating nature of screen content further disrupts sleep. Social media feeds, news articles, video games, or even work emails can keep our brains active and alert, hindering the transition into a sleep state.</p> <p>Long-term sleep problems can also <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ced/article-abstract/40/1/17/6621145?login=false">worsen</a> existing skin conditions, such as acne, eczema and rosacea.</p> <p>Sleep deprivation can elevate cortisol levels, a stress hormone that breaks down collagen, the protein responsible for skin’s firmness. Lack of sleep can also weaken the skin’s natural barrier, making it more susceptible to environmental damage and dryness.</p> <h2>Can skincare protect me?</h2> <p>The beauty industry has capitalised on concerns about blue light and offers a range of protective products such as mists, serums and lip glosses.</p> <p>From a practical perspective, probably only those with the more troublesome hyperpigmentation known as <a href="https://dermnetnz.org/topics/melasma">melasma</a> need to be concerned about blue light from devices.</p> <p>This condition requires the skin to be well protected from all visible light at all times. The only products that are totally effective are those that block all light, namely mineral-based suncreens or some cosmetics. If you can’t see the skin through them they are going to be effective.</p> <p>But there is a lack of rigorous testing for non-opaque products outside laboratories. This makes it difficult to assess if they work and if it’s worth adding them to your skincare routine.</p> <h2>What can I do to minimise blue light then?</h2> <p>Here are some simple steps you can take to minimise your exposure to blue light, especially at night when it can disrupt your sleep:</p> <ul> <li> <p>use the “night mode” setting on your device or use a blue-light filter app to reduce your exposure to blue light in the evening</p> </li> <li> <p>minimise screen time before bed and create a relaxing bedtime routine to avoid the types of sleep disturbances that can affect the health of your skin</p> </li> <li> <p>hold your phone or device away from your skin to minimise exposure to blue light</p> </li> <li> <p>use sunscreen. Mineral and physical sunscreens containing titanium dioxide and iron oxides offer broad protection, including from blue light.</p> </li> </ul> <h2>In a nutshell</h2> <p>Blue light exposure has been linked with some skin concerns, particularly pigmentation for people with darker skin. However, research is ongoing.</p> <p>While skincare to protect against blue light shows promise, more testing is needed to determine if it works.</p> <p>For now, prioritise good sun protection with a broad-spectrum sunscreen, which not only protects against UV, but also light.<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/233335/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-freeman-223922">Michael Freeman</a>, Associate Professor of Dermatology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/bond-university-863">Bond University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </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/yes-blue-light-from-your-phone-can-harm-your-skin-a-dermatologist-explains-233335">original article</a>.</em></p>

Body

Pilot captures once in a lifetime photo of the Northern Lights

<p>A pilot has captured the breathtaking moment he flew beside the Northern Lights while manning a cargo plane. </p> <p>Christiaan van Heijst, a pilot and photographer, shared the incredible image to Instagram, which shows the "turquoise aerial fire" appear in the form of the aurora borealis. </p> <p>Beneath the sea of twirling green lights, the city lights of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, illuminated the horizon in a contrasting orange glow far away.</p> <p>The extraordinary photo has racked up thousands of likes in just a few days, as Captain van Heijst shared the entertaining story of his flight and the moment he captured the picture in the caption. </p> <p>“Artificial lights on the horizon: a beacon of civilisation and connectedness to the world after many hours of isolation: no communication in my headset except for the bare minimums in regard to procedures, nor any personal interaction from my Icelandic captain, who’s been mute ever since the landing gear went up on the other side of the planet,” he explained in the post.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C41LrzMsgN6/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C41LrzMsgN6/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Christiaan van Heijst (@jpcvanheijst)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>“A character known for his absolute approach to colleagues and deliberate lack of conversational depth during flight."</p> <p>“Hours later, the lights of Reykjavik are abundantly visible and without need, heed or warning, he opens up the intercom and takes his time to start his declaration for a single-person audience: me. Staring out of his window, eyes set on the distant orange glow from his left-hand window, he solemnly proclaims a few seconds later: ‘… the centre of the universe …’, allowing some moments of quiet contemplation and thought on my side, before switching his intercom off again, as if to underline this statement and retreating back in his cone of silence."</p> <p>Mr van Heijst said after the pair touched down four hours later in a cargo-airport in central-Europe, neither shared a single word “besides his solemn proclamation of Iceland’s true worth”.</p> <p>The incredible post has unsurprisingly been met with comments from stunned followers in awe of the natural beauty. </p> <p>“Wow! Incredible shot! Silence is golden indeed,” one person wrote.</p> <p>Mr van Heijst is one of the world’s leading aviation photographers, and has been lucky enough to witness the Northern Lights several times from above, capturing the moment each time to share online.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Instagram </em></p>

International Travel

Do blue-light glasses really work? Can they reduce eye strain or help me sleep?

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/laura-downie-1469379">Laura Downie</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a></em></p> <p>Blue-light glasses are said to <a href="https://www.baxterblue.com.au/collections/blue-light-glasses">reduce eye strain</a> when using <a href="https://www.blockbluelight.com.au/collections/computer-glasses">computers</a>, improve your <a href="https://www.ocushield.com/products/anti-blue-light-glasses">sleep</a> and protect your eye health. You can buy them yourself or your optometrist can prescribe them.</p> <p>But <a href="https://mivision.com.au/2019/03/debate-continues-over-blue-blocking-lenses/">do they work</a>? Or could they do you harm?</p> <p>We <a href="https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD013244.pub2/full">reviewed</a> the evidence. Here’s what we found.</p> <h2>What are they?</h2> <p>Blue-light glasses, blue light-filtering lenses or blue-blocking lenses are different terms used to describe lenses that reduce the amount of short-wavelength visible (blue) light reaching the eyes.</p> <p>Most of these lenses prescribed by an optometrist decrease blue light transmission by <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/opo.12615">10-25%</a>. Standard (clear) lenses do not filter blue light.</p> <p>A wide variety of lens products are available. A filter can be added to prescription or non-prescription lenses. They are widely marketed and are becoming <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/opo.12615">increasingly popular</a>.</p> <p>There’s often an added cost, which depends on the specific product. So, is the extra expense worth it?</p> <h2>Blue light is all around us</h2> <p>Outdoors, sunlight is the main source of blue light. Indoors, light sources – such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the screens of digital devices – emit varying degrees of blue light.</p> <p>The amount of blue light emitted from artificial light sources is much lower than from the Sun. Nevertheless, artificial light sources are all around us, at home and at work, and we can spend a lot of our time inside.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549210/original/file-20230920-16-tsb23b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549210/original/file-20230920-16-tsb23b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549210/original/file-20230920-16-tsb23b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549210/original/file-20230920-16-tsb23b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549210/original/file-20230920-16-tsb23b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549210/original/file-20230920-16-tsb23b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549210/original/file-20230920-16-tsb23b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549210/original/file-20230920-16-tsb23b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Blue light-filtering lenses block some blue light from screens from reaching the eye" /></a><figcaption><span class="caption">Screens emit blue light. The lenses are designed to reduce the amount of blue light that reaches the eye.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/blue-light-blocking-ray-filter-lens-2286229107">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure> <p>Our research team at the University of Melbourne, along with collaborators from Monash University and City, University London, sought to see if the best available evidence supports using blue light-filtering glasses, or if they could do you any harm. So we conducted a <a href="https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD013244.pub2/full">systematic review</a> to bring together and evaluate all the relevant studies.</p> <p>We included all randomised controlled trials (clinical studies designed to test the effects of interventions) that evaluated blue light-filtering lenses in adults. We identified 17 eligible trials from six countries, involving a total of 619 adults.</p> <h2>Do they reduce eye strain?</h2> <p>We found no benefit of using blue light-filtering lenses, over standard (clear) lenses, to reduce eye strain with computer use.</p> <p>This conclusion was based on consistent findings from three studies that evaluated effects on eye strain over time periods ranging from two hours to five days.</p> <h2>Do they help you sleep?</h2> <p>Possible effects on sleep were uncertain. Six studies evaluated whether wearing blue-light filtering lenses before bedtime could improve sleep quality, and the findings were mixed.</p> <p>These studies involved people with a diverse range of medical conditions, including insomnia and bipolar disorder. Healthy adults were not included in the studies. So we do not yet know whether these lenses affect sleep quality in the general population.</p> <h2>Do they boost your eye health?</h2> <p>We did not find any clinical evidence to support using blue-light filtering lenses to protect the macula (the region of the retina that controls high-detailed, central vision).</p> <p>None of the studies evaluated this.</p> <h2>Could they do harm? How about causing headaches?</h2> <p>We could not draw clear conclusions on whether there might be harms from wearing blue light-filtering lenses, compared with standard (non blue-light filtering) lenses.</p> <p>Some studies described how study participants had headaches, lowered mood and discomfort from wearing the glasses. However, people using glasses with standard lenses reported similar effects.</p> <h2>What about other benefits or harms?</h2> <p>There are some important general considerations when interpreting our findings.</p> <p>First, most of the studies were for a relatively short period of time, which limited our ability to consider longer-term effects on vision, sleep quality and eye health.</p> <p>Second, the review evaluated effects in adults. We don’t yet know if the effects are different for children.</p> <p>Finally, we could not draw conclusions about the possible effects of blue light-filtering lenses on many vision and eye health measures, including colour vision, as the studies did not evaluate these.</p> <h2>In a nutshell</h2> <p>Overall, based on relatively limited published clinical data, our review does not support using blue-light filtering lenses to reduce eye strain with digital device use. It is unclear whether these lenses affect vision quality or sleep, and no conclusions can be drawn about any potential effects on the health of the retina.</p> <p>High-quality research is needed to answer these questions, as well as whether the effectiveness and safety of these lenses varies in people of different ages and health status.</p> <p>If you have eye strain, or other eye or vision concerns, discuss this with your optometrist. They can perform a thorough examination of your eye health and vision, and discuss any relevant treatment options.<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/213145/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/laura-downie-1469379"><em>Laura Downie</em></a><em>, Associate Professor in Optometry and Vision Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: 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/do-blue-light-glasses-really-work-can-they-reduce-eye-strain-or-help-me-sleep-213145">original article</a>.</em></p>

Body

How one brave mum is shedding light on postnatal depression through the healing power of music

<p dir="ltr"><em><strong>Warning: This article contains sensitive content which some readers may find distressing.</strong></em></p> <p dir="ltr">It’s no secret that having a baby changes your life in every way. From sleepless nights and feeding routines, to nappy changes and seemingly endless crying, starting a family is, put simply, a life-altering experience. </p> <p dir="ltr">And while the early days of having a newborn can bring love and chaos in equal parts, for some, the days, weeks and months after giving birth can welcome a whole new set of challenges.</p> <p dir="ltr">While most parents are privy to the “baby blues” and a rough day here and there, those struggling with postnatal depression can often be overlooked. </p> <p dir="ltr">Postnatal depression is common, with one in five mums, and one in 10 dads, experiencing postnatal depression symptoms after their baby is born.</p> <p dir="ltr">For Lija (pronounced Le-ah), postnatal depression completely changed her life. </p> <p dir="ltr">Lija, a music teacher from the Central Coast of New South Wales, welcomed her first child, a beautiful daughter named Harper, into the world at the end of 2017. </p> <p dir="ltr">When Lija discovered she was going to become a mum, she was overcome with fear. </p> <p dir="ltr">Lija spoke exclusively with <em>OverSixty</em> about her journey with postnatal depression, and how her feelings of anxiety began as soon as she fell pregnant. </p> <p dir="ltr">“There was this lie in my head that I could not give birth… That I would die. You feel like you can’t make a way through it and you’re predicting all these complications. [Lija’s friends’ traumatic birth experience] confirmed all these feelings and i just thought ‘Maybe you die from this’.”</p> <p dir="ltr">As soon as Lija and her husband began to celebrate the news of their growing family, she quickly began to “spiral” into self-doubt and depressive episodes. </p> <p dir="ltr">“When I found out I was pregnant, it was a spiral. I didn’t think I was good enough, I was crying so much… I didn’t feel like I could tell anyone because I was so gripped in fear.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“It took me about seven months to accept that I was having a kid.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Over the course of her pregnancy, Lija’s mental health continued to plummet with her feelings of fear and self-doubt, which led her down an even darker path. </p> <p dir="ltr">“The worst part was I was suicidal. There were moments where I wanted to end my life because I just felt like my time was up.”</p> <p dir="ltr">These feelings of helplessness led Lija to reach out to a counsellor, who helped manage her mental health symptoms for the rest of her pregnancy and introduced her to hypnobirthing.</p> <p dir="ltr">Her sessions with a hypnobirthing specialist gave Lija the boost she needed to be in tune with her body, and get her through to Harper’s birth with a sense of confidence. </p> <p dir="ltr">“If I’ve grown a baby, I can give birth to a baby. It was all just focus.”</p> <p dir="ltr">When Harper was born, Lija remembers healthcare professionals warning her husband that her mental health could decline, but she was never spoken to directly.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Apparently nurses were talking to my husband after the birth saying ‘She’s going to be prone to postnatal depression, you need to watch her’, but no one told me I was going to be so lonely.” </p> <p dir="ltr">“I was so focused on the birth going well that I hadn’t thought about what happens after, and I didn’t know what postnatal depression was.”</p> <p dir="ltr">When Lija and her husband brought baby Harper home, as they encountered perfectly common issues around sleep and breastfeeding, Lija thought she had failed as a first-time mum.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I felt like I failed as a mum because I couldn't give Harper everything she needed. And that started all these terrible thoughts and I just started to mentally spiral down again. But I didn’t know for about six months that I had postnatal depression.”</p> <p dir="ltr">During the first few months of Harper’s life, Lija began to find simple day-to-day tasks very difficult. </p> <p dir="ltr">“My poor husband… I was a psycho. It began when I said no one was allowed to come over because I was constantly in my pyjamas and I felt ashamed that my house wasn’t clean.” </p> <p dir="ltr">Lija shared that as she began to settle into the reality of being a mum, Harper’s needs always came first. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I was just in such a routine. I needed to have my baby follow a good structure, which meant my mental health took a backseat. So I just kept spiralling and spiralling.”</p> <p dir="ltr">As Lija tried to better herself, she quickly found out that comparing yourself to other new parents is a slippery slope that welcomes thoughts of self-doubt. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I tried to go to a mum’s club and they all seemed so perfect. I feel like they weren’t real. It was like Instagram mums. So to try and look good, I was spending all this money to try and keep up appearances.”</p> <p dir="ltr">As Lija’s mental health continued to suffer, she said it wasn’t until a difficult conversation with her husband that she realised she needed professional help. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I wasn’t being the normal me. There was no joy, there was no laughter, and I felt like I failed as a mother and as a wife. So my husband said ‘I’ve booked you in for a therapy session’, and that was the start of it.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“I wanted to be better for Harper. I wanted to be a good mum for her. So I had to start working on myself.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Now, five years on, Lija is reflecting on her experience with postnatal depression in the best way she knows how: through her music. </p> <p dir="ltr">Lija’s debut single <em>Save Me</em> details her journey of becoming a mum and bettering herself, while painting an honest portrait of the first months of motherhood. </p> <p><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tmHTlybb-rM" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p dir="ltr">After being a musician for most of her life, Lija’s passion took a backseat when she became a mother. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I started to miss my music, because I've done music my whole life. It was so hard to walk past my studio and see the guitar going to waste. I started to miss the other half of me as a musician.”</p> <p dir="ltr">After working on <em>Save Me</em> for several years, Lija believes it is the right time to put her story out there in order to help and inspire other parents struggling with postnatal depression.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s okay to be vulnerable. Be real, because you can help others with your honesty.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s also important to remember that babies aren’t going to remember the best outfits they were in, or if they had the best pram. They're going to remember if they were loved or not.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Lija has long been a champion of music and its healing power, which became a saviour in her darkest times through her postnatal depression journey.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I went back to teaching music three months after having Harper. I worked one day a week and these kids and teenagers that were singing to me were actually healing me with their music and their talent.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“Music is something I have always turned to. It has always spoken to me, and I thought if I write a song about my journey, that could heal me too. I thought ‘It’s time to kick fear in the butt and write about life’.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Musical talent is something that runs in the family, with Harper’s singing talents already at “the next level”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I swear she came out singing! Her ability to hear pitch is insane. In lockdown, she would be singing scales while I was teaching music classes over Zoom. She is just so joyous, and she is like my healing.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Lija’s debut single <em>Save Me</em> is out on now.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Don't go it alone. Please reach out for help.</strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong><em>Lifeline: 13 11 14 or <a href="http://lifeline.org.au/">lifeline.org.au</a></em></strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong><em>Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or <a href="http://beyondblue.org.au/">beyondblue.org.au</a></em></strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong><em>Headspace: 1800 650 890 or <a href="http://headspace.org.au/">headspace.org.au</a></em></strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong><em>PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia): 1300 726 306 or <a href="https://panda.org.au/">panda.org.au</a></em></strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Instagram</em></p>

Music

Jimmy Barnes’ light-hearted surgery update

<p dir="ltr">Jimmy Barnes is back on his feet after a gruelling surgery. </p> <p dir="ltr">The iconic singer has shared an update with his followers on Instagram, as he grinned and stood in his hospital room with the help of a walker. </p> <p dir="ltr">As Barnes smiled ear to ear while standing straight, he added the song Walk This Way by RUN DMC, showing he is in good spirits as he continues his recovery. </p> <p dir="ltr">This is the second update fans have been given in the last 24 hours about Barnes' health after the Aussie rocker's daughter Elly-May Barnes <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/health/caring/jimmy-barnes-daughter-issues-sweet-health-update" target="_blank" rel="noopener">informed</a> that her dad was "out of surgery and awake".</p> <p dir="ltr">In an adorable Instagram post on her father’s account, Elly-may shared an update with a photo of her dad smiling as well as an X-ray of his hip post-surgery.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CmGYzIIrYYT/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CmGYzIIrYYT/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Jimmy Barnes (@jimmybarnesofficial)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“Hey everyone it’s @ellymaybarnes, my dadda is out of surgery and awake,” she wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The doctors are very happy. Thanks for all the well wishes”</p> <p dir="ltr">Barnes, 66, was due to perform multiple shows around Australia in 2023 but was forced to cancel the gigs to have surgery on his back and hip to relieve chronic pain.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’ve been jumping off PAs and stomping around stages for nearly 50 years, but it’s finally caught up with me,” Barnes said in a statement in November. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I’ve had niggling back and hip issues for years, but things suddenly got a lot worse over the last few weeks and I’m now in constant and severe pain.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“As everybody knows, it’s against my religion to blow out gigs but the doctors tell me I need an operation as soon as possible and it will really limit my movement for a few months.</p> <p dir="ltr">“As much as it kills me to inconvenience everyone, I have to get this fixed so I can jump around onstage for another 50 years.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Instagram </em></p>

Caring

Southampton to Shanghai by train – one climate change researcher’s quest to avoid flying

<p>Academics travel a lot. Whether for fieldwork or conferences, we’re often <a href="https://theconversation.com/university-sector-must-tackle-air-travel-emissions-118929">encouraged</a> to do it. Often internationally, invariably by aeroplane. But while globetrotting might make us feel important, a recent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652619311862">study</a> suggests there’s no connection between academic air-miles and career advancement.</p> <p>With the obvious realities of the climate crisis, and with air travel being the <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-wake-up-to-the-devastating-impact-flying-has-on-the-environment-70953">single quickest</a> way an average person can contribute to climate change, some academics are trying to stay on the ground whenever possible. Within a broader <a href="https://www.flightfree.co.uk/">campaign</a> to encourage people to go “flight-free”, there’s a community of <a href="https://academicflyingblog.wordpress.com/">academics</a> challenging the reliance on flying that’s typically sat uneasily at the heart of their careers.</p> <p>I’m a member of that community. I pledged not to fly in 2019 and 2020, and then won a fellowship to study Chinese attitudes to sustainability which required me to go to China for fieldwork. Suddenly, the consequences of my pledge became very real.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285327/original/file-20190723-110154-1grcjbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285327/original/file-20190723-110154-1grcjbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285327/original/file-20190723-110154-1grcjbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285327/original/file-20190723-110154-1grcjbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285327/original/file-20190723-110154-1grcjbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285327/original/file-20190723-110154-1grcjbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285327/original/file-20190723-110154-1grcjbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not only do planes release a lot of CO₂ during flight, the white ‘contrails’ they leave behind warm the atmosphere further.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/passenger-airplanes-on-air-busy-traffic-1089042554?src=lgi_phsJCpzeLwXItWfMbw-1-17&studio=1">FotoHelin/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Life on the rails</strong></p> <p>When I told my managers that I intended to get to China by train, I was met with a mixture of responses. Some thought I was mad, some admired my principles, some thought I was an awkward bugger. Maybe they were all right. In any case, what I was doing had certainly created more work for myself.</p> <p>I began trying to convince senior staff to release funds from my research budget to arrange visas, and thinking through the nitty-gritty of a trip across Europe, Russia and a big chunk of China itself. The cost of the trains was over £2,000, dwarfing the £700 I could pay for a London to Beijing return flight. Time-wise, the train trip took just under two weeks each way. But in terms of carbon emissions my trip was a steal, contributing <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2019">just 10%</a> of the emissions of the equivalent flights.</p> <p>The cost, complexity and discomfort of such a long solo trip did occasionally make me wonder if it wouldn’t just be easier to fly (answer: it would). But I was determined to honour my pledge and show other academics – by my own extreme example – that it is possible to do international work without flights.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285316/original/file-20190723-110175-szuvp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285316/original/file-20190723-110175-szuvp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285316/original/file-20190723-110175-szuvp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285316/original/file-20190723-110175-szuvp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285316/original/file-20190723-110175-szuvp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285316/original/file-20190723-110175-szuvp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285316/original/file-20190723-110175-szuvp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The author meets a train guard in Siberia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roger Tyers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure> <p>Considering it involved 21 train connections, my journey went surprisingly smoothly. I took a series of “short” trips from Southampton, changing in London, Brussels, Cologne, Berlin and then onto my first sleeper train from Warsaw to Kiev (avoiding Belarus which would have required another visa).</p> <p>My first experience on the Kiev-bound, Soviet-style sleeper train was something of a shock. Unsure of the etiquette when sharing a tiny cabin with two or three others with limited English, I soon learned that body language, Google translate and sharing food breaks the ice. Luckily, my no-flying trip was a recurring source of conversation, fascination and bafflement for many of my fellow travellers.</p> <p>After one night in Kiev, I took another overnight train to Moscow. Russia was something of a test – on my return journey I travelled 2,600 miles between Irkutsk and Moscow, spending 90 hours on a single train. Had this not been a work trip, I would have gladly stopped more often. Making friends with fellow passengers – mainly Russians on work trips or family visits, or European and Chinese tourists doing the bucket list Trans-Siberian route – certainly helped pass the time. The Siberian scenery – millions of trees on a seemingly endless loop – became somewhat repetitive, but the monotony afforded me time to read, write, plan and contemplate.</p> <p>The most spectacular journey was the Trans-Mongolian section, passing the edge of Lake Baikal, the world’s largest lake rimmed with snow-capped mountains, over the green steppes of northern Mongolia, across the Gobi desert, and finally through the mountainous valleys encircling Beijing. It’s hard not to be awed and inspired that these train lines exist in such remote parts of our planet.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285302/original/file-20190723-110154-qqgn2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1003%2C1003&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285302/original/file-20190723-110154-qqgn2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1003%2C1003&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285302/original/file-20190723-110154-qqgn2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285302/original/file-20190723-110154-qqgn2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285302/original/file-20190723-110154-qqgn2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285302/original/file-20190723-110154-qqgn2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285302/original/file-20190723-110154-qqgn2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285302/original/file-20190723-110154-qqgn2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /></a><figcaption><span class="caption">The track stretches for miles across the Mongolian plains.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roger Tyers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Calling at Beijing</strong></p> <p>China now has more high-speed railways than the rest of the world combined, and they do it in style. Beijing to Shanghai, a trip covering 1,300km, takes less than four and a half hours, with a solid internet connection throughout and the most legroom I enjoyed on any of my trips. The downer is that China’s electrified trains will, <a href="https://theconversation.com/china-wrestles-with-insecure-gas-supplies-but-stays-strong-on-longer-term-plan-for-renewables-117445">like most of their electricity</a>, be powered by coal. But on the upside, these trains are likely to take passengers off domestic flights – a lesson for Europe and the US.</p> <p>I enjoyed using them to visit my other field sites in Hangzhou and Ningbo before finally retracing my steps back, over 6,000 miles to the UK, clutching a load of new data, a heap of memories, and a sore back. The focus group data I collected in China, with members of their urban middle classes, has enforced my view that both ‘bottom-up’ social and cultural pressure, as well as “top-down” infrastructure and fiscal policy will be required in any country facing up the complex challenges of climate change.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285360/original/file-20190723-110162-1jhj505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285360/original/file-20190723-110162-1jhj505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285360/original/file-20190723-110162-1jhj505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285360/original/file-20190723-110162-1jhj505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285360/original/file-20190723-110162-1jhj505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285360/original/file-20190723-110162-1jhj505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285360/original/file-20190723-110162-1jhj505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The author at the end of his outward journey in Tiananmen Square.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roger Tyers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure> <p>I admit that my story is somewhat privileged – not everyone can take the train to China for work, and I doubt I’ll make a habit of it. Much depends on geography too. The UK is relatively well connected by surface transport options like rail, but many still fly - the UK has the <a href="https://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2018-10-24-02.aspx">third largest</a> air passenger market, behind only the US and China.</p> <p>The bigger policy goal is to make train tickets less expensive relative to flights. In the meantime, academics can play a leadership role, both individually and <a href="https://theconversation.com/researchers-set-an-example-fly-less-111046">institutionally</a>. Universities could consider publishing records of staff flights, building low-carbon travel modes into grant proposals by default, and making videoconferencing facilities fantastic.</p> <p>Recent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652619311862">research</a> has shown, unsurprisingly, that climate researchers are taken more seriously if they practise what they preach. If we can lead by example in reducing our own flying carbon footprints while still conducting great research, then others – students, policymakers and other professionals – are far more likely to take notice.</p> <p><em>Writen by Roger Tyers. Republished with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/southampton-to-shanghai-by-train-one-climate-change-researchers-quest-to-avoid-flying-120015" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

International Travel

Caught in the act: supermassive black hole 8.5 billion light years away enjoys violent stellar snack

<p>A supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy some 8.5 billion years way has ripped apart a nearby star, producing some of the most luminous jets ever seen.</p> <p>When stars and other objects stray too close to a <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/how-big-is-a-black-hole-watch-how-it-eats/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">supermassive black hole</a> they are destroyed by the black hole’s immense gravity.</p> <p>These occurrences, known as <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/a-star-is-torn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tidal-disruption events (TDEs)</a>, result in a <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/the-sleeping-giant-black-hole-that-awoke-to-destroy-a-star/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">circling disk of material</a> that is slowly pulled into the black hole and very occasionally, as in the case of supermassive black hole AT2022cmc, ejecting bright beams of material travelling close to the speed of light.</p> <p>Luminous jets are produced in an estimated 1% of cases and are known as a type of astronomical occurrence known as a transient, because they are short-lived.</p> <p>Bright flashes from the jets were spotted in data from the <a href="https://www.ztf.caltech.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF)</a> in <a href="https://astronomerstelegram.org/?read=15232" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">February this year</a> using a special new technique which can comb through the equivalent of a million pages of information every night.</p> <p>Due to the rapid results produced by the novel data analysis method, a research team in the US was able to swiftly follow up on the transient event with multiwavelength observations of the system from different observatory facilities.</p> <p>The jets were visible across many wavelengths, from X-rays to radio, and follow-up observations enabled the European Southern Observatory’s <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/australia/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Very Large Telescope</a> to place AT2022cmc at a whopping distance of 8.5 billion light years away, while optical and infrared observation from NASA’s <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hubble telescope</a> were able to precisely pinpoint AT2022cmc’s location.</p> <p>“The last time scientists discovered one of these jets was well over a decade ago,” said Michael Coughlin, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and co-lead on the paper <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05465-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published in <em>Nature</em></a>. “From the data we have, we can estimate that relativistic jets are launched in only 1% of these destructive events, making AT2022cmc an extremely rare occurrence.”</p> <p>Exactly why this behaviour is so rare remains an enigma, however, the research team believe that AT2022cmc’s rapid spin powers the jets, adding to the current understanding of the physics of these behemoth dead stars at the centres of galaxies.</p> <p>This detection – and the method used to discover it – are valuable as a future models for astronomers as they scour the skies for more events. “Scientists can use AT2022cmc as a model for what to look for and find more disruptive events from distant black holes,” says lead author Igor Andreoni, from the Department of Astronomy at UMD and NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre.</p> <p>This includes using ground-based optical surveys, as opposed to gamma-ray observatories in space – how previous jets were primarily discovered.</p> <p>“Our new search technique helps us to quickly identify rare cosmic events in the ZTF survey data,” says Andreoni.</p> <p>“And since ZTF and upcoming larger surveys such as <a href="https://www.lsst.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vera Rubin’s Large Synoptic Survey Telescope</a> scan the sky so frequently, we can now expect to uncover a wealth of rare, or previously undiscovered cosmic events and study them in detail. More than ever, big data mining is an important tool to advance our knowledge of the universe”.</p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=226753&title=Caught+in+the+act%3A+supermassive+black+hole+8.5+billion+light+years+away+enjoys+violent+stellar+snack" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/supermassive-black-hole-stellar-snack/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on Cosmos Magazine and was written by Clare Kenyon. </em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

Technology

Obese yet malnourished toddler mummy sheds light on life in 17th century aristocratic Austria

<p>In a creepy discovery published, a collaboration of German scientists have performed a ‘virtual autopsy’ on a mummified toddler’s body, found in a 17th century Austrian crypt.</p> <p>Buried in a wooden coffin that was slightly too small and deformed the skull, the young child’s body appeared to be both obese and malnourished. Researchers say the findings might provide a rare insight into historical Austrian aristocratic society.</p> <p>By using CT scanning, scientists were able to perform a ‘virtual autopsy’ on the mummy which was naturally mummified in the conditions of the crypt. Well-preserved soft tissue showed the child was a boy, overweight for his age, and radiocarbon dating suggests a date of death between 1550 and 1635 CE.</p> <p>By examining the formation and length of the body’s bones, plus evidence of tooth eruption, the researchers were able to estimate that the child was about one year old when he died. The bones also showed that despite being well-fed, the boy was malnourished, with his malformed ribs displaying signs of rachitic rosary. This condition presents in a pattern of prominent bony knobs at points where the rib joins cartilage and results from diseases associated with specific vitamin deficiencies such as rickets (vitamin D) and scurvy (vitamin C).</p> <p>Vitamin D is found in foods like salmon, tuna, mackerel and beef liver and egg yolks, but we typically only get around 10% of our required Vitamin D from our diets – the rest is made by our bodies when exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) from the sun.</p> <p>“The combination of obesity along with a severe vitamin-deficiency can only be explained by a generally ‘good’ nutritional status along with an almost complete lack of sunlight exposure,” said Dr Andreas Nerlich of the Academic Clinic Munich-Bogenhausen and lead researcher.</p> <p>The child appears to have died from pneumonia, judging by the evidence of inflammation in the lungs. Rickets is known to make children more vulnerable to pneumonia, suggesting that, sadly, not only was the child malnourished, but that this condition may have also led to his untimely demise.</p> <p>“We have to reconsider the living conditions of high aristocratic infants of previous populations,” said Nerlich.</p> <p>Relatively little is known about aristocratic childhood in the late Renaissance period, so these mummified remains give key insights into life in Europe of a period generally known for its fervent creativity and intellectual development.</p> <p>“This is only one case,” said Nerlich, “but as we know that the early infant death rates generally were very high at that time, our observations may have considerable impact in the over-all life reconstruction of infants even in higher social classes.”</p> <p>To understand more about this period, researchers scoured historical records of the crypt and the family to whom the crypt belonged. Curiously, the child was buried in a simple, unmarked, wooden coffin, although he was dressed in an expensive silk hooded coat. The unmarked coffin appeared to have been slightly too small for the body such that the skull became deformed and was the only infant buried amongst the identifiable adult metal coffins in the crypt.</p> <p>Historical records of renovations on the crypt confirmed the radiocarbon dating, indicating the child was likely buried sometime after 1600 CE.</p> <p>The crypt belonged to the Counts of Starhemberg and traditionally was kept exclusively for the burial of heirs to their titles, and their wives, making the body likely to be that of the first-born (and only) son, Reichard Wilhelm, of Count Starhemberg.</p> <p>“We have no data on the fate of other infants of the family,” Nerlich said, regarding the unique burial. “According to our data, the infant was most probably [the count’s] first-born son after erection of the family crypt, so special care may have been applied.”</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/toddler-mummy-17thcentury-austria/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Clare Kenyon. </strong></p> <p><em>Image: </em><em>Andreas et al. (2022)</em></p>

Travel Trouble

Manipulating light can induce psychedelic experiences – and scientists aren’t quite sure why

<p>For millennia, people have used mind-altering techniques to achieve different states of consciousness, envision spiritual figures, connect with nature, or simply for the fun of it. Psychedelic substances, in particular, have a long and controversial <a href="https://theconversation.com/psychedelic-drugs-can-be-almost-as-life-altering-as-near-death-experiences-189325">history</a>. But for just as long, people have been having these experiences without drugs too, using <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/1/101">rhythmic techniques such as rocking, chanting or drumming</a>.</p> <p>Perhaps the most powerful technique of this kind is flickering light, called “ganzflicker”. Ganzflicker effects can be achieved by turning a light on and off, or by alternating colours in a rapid, rhythmic pattern (like a strobe). This can create an instant psychedelic experience. </p> <p>Ganzflicker elicits striking visual phenomena. People can see geometric shapes and illusory colours but sometimes also complex objects, such as animals and faces – all without any chemical stimulants. Sometimes ganzflicker can even lead to altered states of consciousness (such as losing a sense of time or space) and emotions (ranging from fear to euphoria).</p> <p>Although its effects are little known today, ganzflicker has influenced and inspired many people through the ages, including the two of us. We are an art historian and brain scientist working together on an interactive showcase of ganzflicker techniques used in science and art. Our collaboration has culminated in the museum exhibition <a href="https://reshannereeder.com/ganzflicker-exhibit">“Ganzflicker: art, science, and psychedelic experience”</a>, which is part of the 2022 <a href="https://www.beinghumanfestival.org/">Being Human festival</a>.</p> <p>Ganzflicker’s effects were first documented in 1819 by the physiologist <a href="https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/235945">Jan E. Purkinje</a>. Purkinje discovered that illusory patterns could appear if he faced the sun and waved his hand in front of his closed eyelids.</p> <p>Near the end of the 19th century, an English toymaker and amateur scientist, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/051200c0">Charles Benham</a>, produced the first commercially available flicker device: a top with a monochrome pattern that, when spun, produced illusory colours that swirled around the disc. </p> <p>Modified versions of Benham’s “artificial spectrum top” were used in experiments well into the 20th century. William Grey Walter, a pioneering neurophysiologist and cybernetician, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-70911-1_17">pushed flicker effects further</a> by using electric strobe lights, synchronised with the brain’s rhythms.</p> <p>Fascinated by the mind-altering potential of Walter’s machinery, the artist Brion Gysin, in collaboration with writer William S. Burroughs and mathematician Ian Sommerville, invented the <a href="http://mindcontrol-research.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/14_2_dream-machine-plans.pdf">Dreamachine</a> (1962).</p> <h2>The swinging 60s of drug-free psychedelics</h2> <p>A Dreamachine consists of an upright cylinder with patterns cut into it and a lightbulb suspended at its centre. When spun on a turntable at 78rpm, the flickering patterns (viewed through closed eyelids) can cause trance-like hallucinations.</p> <p>Gysin thought of the Dreamachine as a new kind of artwork – “the first art object to be seen with the eyes closed” – and a form of entertainment, which he believed could replace the television. Others saw the Dreamachine’s potential to be a source of spiritual inspiration.</p> <p>Burroughs thought it could be <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/brion-gysin-the-pioneering-artist-who-invented-the-dreamachine/">used to</a> “storm the citadels of enlightenment”. The poet Alan Ginsberg said: “It sets up optical fields as religious and mandalic as hallucinogenic drugs – it’s like being able to have jewelled biblical designs and landscapes without taking chemicals.”</p> <p>Flicker experiments in art did not stop with the Dreamachine. Others included Tony Conrad’s groundbreaking structuralist film <a href="https://fourthree.boilerroom.tv/film/flicker-tony-conrad">The Flicker</a> (1966), which was the first artwork to include the warning “may induce epileptic seizures or produce mild symptoms of shock treatment in certain persons”. </p> <p>The conceptual artist James Turrell’s <a href="https://jamesturrell.com/work/bindu-shards/">Bindu Shards</a> (2010) was an enclosed globe that bombards the observer with strobe light. And, more recently, Collective Act created its own <a href="https://dreamachine.world/">Dreamachine</a> (2022) , a public planetarium-style artwork inspired by Gysin’s which toured the UK.</p> <h2>The science of ganzflicker</h2> <p>Two hundred years after Jan Purkinje documented the physiological properties of ganzflicker, scientists still do not have a definitive explanation for how it works. </p> <p>A recent theory proposes that visual phenomena may be the result of interactions between external flicker and the brain’s natural rhythmic electrical pulses, with more intense images manifesting <a href="https://theconversation.com/pseudo-hallucinations-why-some-people-see-more-vivid-mental-images-than-others-test-yourself-here-163025">when the frequencies of flicker and the brain are closest</a>.</p> <p>It is also likely that a strong visual flicker influences brain states. Meaningful visions, altered conscious states and heightened emotions may be the result of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18591-6">imaginative suggestion</a>, which is amplified by the trance-inducing properties of <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/1/101">rhythmic stimulation</a>.</p> <p>What is perhaps most powerful about ganzflicker is its universality. Engineers, mathematicians, artists, historians and scientists have all been united by this modest, drug-free means of eliciting dramatic changes in consciousness. The new wave of popularity on this topic will undoubtedly lead to illuminating discoveries in the coming years.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/manipulating-light-can-induce-psychedelic-experiences-and-scientists-arent-quite-sure-why-192885" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Art

Diwali festivals light up the world

<p dir="ltr">Celebrations of Diwali, or the Festival of Lights, has seen homes across India and elsewhere in the world light up with colour as many gathered to celebrate it for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.</p> <p dir="ltr">For Hindus and Jains, Diwali symbolises the victory of light over darkness and commemorates the return of Lord Ram to the Ayodhya kingdom after 14 years of exile.</p> <p dir="ltr">It’s a time of gift-giving and celebrating with friends and family at mandirs (Hindu temples) or at home, with spaces decorated with oil lamps, candles, fireworks and intricate rangoli designs in doorways.</p> <p dir="ltr">While the festivities are due to end on Wednesday, the celebration reached its peak on Monday, the darkest day of the year.</p> <p dir="ltr">On Sunday night, more than 1.5 million lamps were lit and kept burning for 45 minutes at Ram ki Paidi in the city of Ayodhya, beating last year’s World Guinness Record of 900,000 lamps staying lit.</p> <p dir="ltr">Ahead of Sunday’s event, the city was decked out in fairy lights and a laser and fireworks show illuminated the lanes and riverbanks.</p> <p dir="ltr">The festivities weren’t just restricted to Ayodhya either, with celebrations occurring around the world.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Sikh community celebrated a different festival called Bandi Chhor Divas, or the Day of Liberation, which marked the day that the religion’s sixth teacher, Guru Hargobind, led 52 princes out of prison to Amritsar, a city in the north-western Indian state of Punjab.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-5a9c086f-7fff-3f66-a77e-8ff307af47cb"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">The two-day festival serves as a reminder of the importance of freedom and civil rights, with the second day coinciding with Diwali.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Getty Images</em></p>

International Travel

AI-based traffic control gets the green light

<p>At the end of my Melbourne street there’s a new system being installed for traffic management. I hadn’t even noticed the extra cameras, vehicle and pedestrian sensors, LiDAR and radar on the intersection, but these tools are all part of a larger system, with researchers hoping that a 2.5km section of Nicholson Street, in Carlton, will eventually be run by an artificial intelligence (AI).</p> <p>This might sound a little nerve-wracking to the average commuter, but these “smart corridors” are popping up around the world – systems that promise to provide us with less traffic and better safety. </p> <p>“Many cities around the world have dedicated corridors or smart motorways that are equipped with sensors, CCTV cameras and AI for predicting the traffic flow, speed, or occupancy at a specific moment in time,” says Dr Adriana-Simona Mihaita, an AI infrastructure researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, who was not involved in the research.</p> <p>“Accurate predictions will provide transport operators with the means to make informed decisions and apply new control plans, or adjust the current ones according to ongoing traffic or eventual disruptions.”</p> <p>Even without AI, <a href="https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/traffic-and-road-use/traffic-management/traffic-signals/how-traffic-signals-work" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">our current traffic light systems are complex technology</a>. Detectors under the road surface clock the presence of vehicles and determine whether the lights change, and how long the green lasts for. The “push button” changes the green walk display, and some detectors even determine how fast or slow the pedestrians are moving. This is all controlled – in Australia at least – by a system called SCATS, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Coordinated_Adaptive_Traffic_System" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System</a>.</p> <p>This is an “intelligent transport system”, but it’s not machine learning or AI. Think of it as a calculator, but the values being input are cars and pedestrians, not numbers. And SCATS does have its flaws. To start with, it’s unable to see cars coming – only registering them once they’ve arrived on the detector. And the system is also not particularly good at including other modes of transport such as trams, cyclists and pedestrians.</p> <p>This is where Nicholson Street – home to plenty of cyclists and the 96 and 86 trams – will come in handy.</p> <p>“With SCATS there are loop detectors that tell us how many cars are in the queue from all directions, but we don’t really see the number of cyclists, or pedestrians, and we don’t take their delays into account,” explains one of the researchers on this Nicholson Street project, University of Melbourne transport engineer Dr Neema Nassir.</p> <p>“As long as we build our environment around cars, and prioritise their right of way over other modes of transport, we are promoting people using that mode of transport.”</p> <p>Using 180-degree high-definition cameras, as well as a range of detectors (including the normal SCATS detectors), Nassir and the team of researchers are currently testing the AI system using this real-world data in a computer simulation.</p> <p>When the AI eventually starts testing and directing traffic in the real world, it will be done using “edge computing”. This means that the AI-based traffic optimisation will happen at the intersection or “node” rather than at a central system. With the sensors taking and analysing the data almost instantly, the lights might change if there are more pedestrians waiting, or a tram might get right of way if it’s running behind schedule.</p> <p>Nassir hopes the intersections will be safer, trams will run more evenly, and there will be less stopping for cars on the road.</p> <p>However, there might also be some hiccups on the way.</p> <p>Safety is the top priority for the system, with efficiency coming in second. This means that the AI will be more likely to cause traffic jams than accidents.</p> <p>“If everything goes wrong with the algorithm and with the computations, it’s more likely that we may end up with a gridlock as opposed to safety concerns,” Nassir says. “We’re talking about an intersection that is designed to be robust enough that it can operate even when the traffic lights are off.”</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"> <p>The AI will be more likely to cause traffic jams than accidents.</p> </blockquote> <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p197191-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> </div> </div> <p>Having humans in this scenario, who are able to stop if required, is actually helpful. Unlike an autonomous car, which needs to function in an almost <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVkLI9pPd24&t=166s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unlimited number of circumstances</a> without a human behind the wheel, traffic systems are comparatively simple. And, if something was to go wrong, humans are able to make a judgement and stop or swerve if required. Plus, because SCATS is already automated, it means that that the commuters coming through Nicholson Street might not even notice the change. </p> <p>But that presents another dilemma – is it okay to record all this extra information and send it through an AI to make decisions?</p> <p>“The most important type of sensors are high-definition cameras,” says Nassir. “These are mounted high on poles and have 180 degrees of coverage, up to 50 metres down each approach. These are coupled with image-processing software that can help us detect and register and classify different types of passengers.</p> <p>“We also work with the data from key cards on public transport . There are tight regulations and rules regarding this personal data. It is always anonymised and protected.”</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"> <p>Because SCATS is already automated, the commuters might not even notice the change.</p> </blockquote> <p>Nassir says the cameras are not capable of being used for facial recognition. In a world where facial recognition is happening every time you <a href="https://mashable.com/article/police-try-to-unlock-handcuffed-man-iphone-face-id" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">open your phone</a> and <a href="https://www.choice.com.au/consumers-and-data/data-collection-and-use/how-your-data-is-used/articles/kmart-bunnings-and-the-good-guys-using-facial-recognition-technology-in-store" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in stores like Bunnings and Kmart</a>, traffic lights are probably not the place we need to be too concerned about our privacy being invaded.</p> <p>“Several phone applications that are currently in use today are already collecting private mobility data, together with personal preferences and route choice patterns, which represent a deeper concern for daily transport choices,” says Mihaita.</p> <p>“Similarly, public parking areas in large shopping malls have automatic plate recognition capability and store daily information on all vehicles entering/exiting the malls, which could be seen as personal information shared with the consent given while entering the parking area.”</p> <p>But ethical issues don’t just stop at these records. According to Professor Toby Walsh, an AI researcher from the University of New South Wales, there’s a number of ethical questions we should be aware of as these systems become integrated into our daily lives.</p> <p>For example, if our traffic systems know who we are, it might not just be a case of prioritising cars over other forms of transport, but instead the rich over the poor, or the paying verses the non-paying.</p> <p>“At stake are fundamental issues of fairness and justice,” Walsh explains. “You might start having to trade off my journey time against your journey time. Who gets priority?</p> <p>“Then there’s an environmental ethical issue: are we encouraging people to make more individual car journeys by improving traffic flow? Should we actually be trying to discourage people from getting in cars, and encouraging them to Zoom for work or get public transport?”</p> <p>Although the Nicholson Street AI project is trying to balance the priorities of trams, pedestrians, cyclists and cars, <a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au/newsroom/news/2022/march/worlds-smartest-traffic-management-system-launches-in-melbourne" target="_blank" rel="noopener">easing urban congestion</a> is also an important part of the project, and as Walsh says, “Traffic is like an ideal gas that expands to fill the roads available.”</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"> <p>“You might start having to trade off my journey time against your journey time. Who gets priority?”</p> <p><cite>Professor Toby Walsh, UNSW</cite></p></blockquote> <p>Despite these questions, Walsh argues that even if AI isn’t perfect, humans are worse. He has been involved in the research for another AI intersection – a particularly busy roundabout in the south-west of Sydney.</p> <p>“A thousand people are going to die in Australia in the next year, caused by traffic accidents. Almost all of those accidents are caused by human stupidity. Almost all of those accidents wouldn’t happen if we ceded our human control and all of our misjudgements – all of our texting and drinking and driving – to machines,” he says.</p> <p>“There’s always going to be unintended consequences – random shit happens, and the death rates are never going to be zero. But it would be a small fraction of what it is today.”</p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=197191&title=AI-based+traffic+control+gets+the+green+light" width="1" height="1" /></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/ai-based-traffic-control/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/jacinta-bowler" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jacinta Bowler</a>. Jacinta Bowler is a freelance science journalist who has written about far-flung exoplanets, terrifying superbugs and everything in between. They have written articles for ABC, SBS, ScienceAlert and Pedestrian, and are a regular contributor for kids magazines Double Helix and KIT.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

Technology

Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building lights up for good cause

<p dir="ltr">With the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc with retailers across the world, one of Sydney’s iconic shopping hubs has joined forces with the city’s creative industry to support the revival of retail with the launch of a new artistic installation.</p> <p dir="ltr">The <a href="https://www.qvb.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queen Victoria Building</a> (QVB) will be welcoming the new installation, Time to Illuminate, from now until the end of June, along with history tours with EWOL designer Angela Lowe-Liddell - the mastermind behind the installation - on Thursday and Saturday afternoons.</p> <p dir="ltr">Time to Illuminate stands 17.6 metres high and is made of various upcycled materials, including over 4,500 Swarovski crystals taken from the iconic QVB Christmas tree/</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-79d35ac6-7fff-eaef-7c9c-0d627667f470"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Lowe-Liddell took inspiration for the giant, hanging sculpture from the QVB’s stained glass window.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/05/qvb2.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Supplied</em></p> <p dir="ltr">“There is an overwhelming sense of excitement that can be felt across (the) Sydney CBD as businesses including the QVB join forces to contribute to the post-pandemic recovery,” said Vicinity Centres Head of Marketing, Brand and Experience, Corrine Barchanowicz.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-7398fa32-7fff-0fad-c88a-b2bcf2fad16d"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Supplied</em></p>

Domestic Travel

A new light festival is heading to Sydney Zoo

<p dir="ltr">Sydney’s newest zoo is welcoming a festival of lights that promises to rival the annual Vivid festival with dazzling exhibitions and a chance to get up close to some iconic critters.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7e369fc9-7fff-34bd-6b21-7ab03378e625"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">GLOW will be taking over the Western Sydney zoo in Bungarribee nightly between Friday, May 13 and Sunday, June 5.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CdIVzWDqMPo/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CdIVzWDqMPo/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Sydney Zoo 🦁 (@thesydneyzoo)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">The star of the show will be the GLOW Light Walk, which takes visitors on a full tour of the zoo complete with giant glowing animal lanterns and sculptures, and past the festival’s other attractions, including a12-metre tunnel of fairy lights, and a giant glowing Ferris wheel.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-999ef17b-7fff-5aa2-77cb-1020dec7dfb5"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Fans of creepy crawlies can also enjoy the Reptile & Nocturnal house - the biggest in the country - and come face-to-face with snakes and glowing UV scorpions.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/05/glow-1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>GLOW’s extensive list of attractions include real-life UV scorpions (left) and towering interactive installations such as Trumpet Flowers (right). Images: Sydney Zoo</em></p> <p dir="ltr">The neon festival will also include the Glow Zone, featuring an ice rink, golf course, and Octopoda, a giant statue with eight tentacle-drums that light up, as well as plenty of food and drink.</p> <p dir="ltr">GLOW has also been designed to be as accessible and inclusive as possible with no hills of steps to grapple with.</p> <p dir="ltr">Tickets start at $25 online - which you can book <a href="https://sydneyzoo.com/glow" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> - or $30 at the gate, while babies under two enter for free.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-09f693ab-7fff-720f-8380-e9042b4dbaac"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Sydney Zoo</em></p>

Domestic Travel

How an unsolved murder could shed light on an infamous art heist

<p dir="ltr">In the early hours of March 18th 1990, 13 artworks by renowned artists such as Vermeer and Rembrandt were stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. </p> <p dir="ltr">Collectively valued at $500 million, the artworks were never recovered as investigators failed to pin down one key suspect after the theft. </p> <p dir="ltr">But now, over 30 years on, an unsolved murder of a man in 1991 has given police a new angle on what happened to the art. </p> <p dir="ltr">Jimmy Marks was shot twice on February 20th, the year after the heist, outside his apartment in Massachusetts: 25 minutes northeast of Boston. </p> <p dir="ltr">Jimmy’s murder remains unsolved, and there has not been an arrest made in connection with the high-profile case. </p> <p dir="ltr">Marks was a convicted bank robber and an associate of Robert Guarente, who has long been a person of interest in the case, and who died in 2004. Guarente had been with Marks earlier in the day of his death and is suspected of having been the one to pull the trigger on Marks.</p> <p dir="ltr">“[Marks] had connections to subjects suspected of being involved in the Gardner museum heist,” deputy police chief Mark O’Toole of the city of Lynn, Massachusetts, <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/02/27/metro/investigators-suspect-link-between-gardner-museum-heist-an-execution-style-murder-lynn/">told</a> the Boston Globe. “We don’t know what, if any, role he had. But very likely it was related [to his death].”</p> <p dir="ltr">Investigators believe that Guarente was once in possession of two of the stolen works, which he then handed over to another accomplice named Robert Gentile, who died in 2001.</p> <p dir="ltr">A recent tip to investigators said that prior to his death, Marks “was bragging that he was not only in possession of some of the stolen Gardner artwork, he bragged that he had hidden it,” according to Boston 25. Police recently searched the Lynn apartment where Marks once lived, but did not recover anything.</p> <p dir="ltr">Gardner Museum Security Chief Anthony Amore said that the new evidence “needs to be investigated more thoroughly”, as investigators continue their efforts to recover the paintings. </p> <p dir="ltr">Shortly after Marks’ death, investigators first were able to place Guarente and Gentile in the same place. Amore told Boston 25, “The fact that these people converge here around the time of the Marks homicide certainly makes a person hunting for the Gardner paintings sit up and pay attention.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

Art

COVID chaos has shed light on many issues in the Australian childcare sector. Here are 4 of them

<p>Thousands of families are without childcare as <a href="https://www.acecqa.gov.au/resources/national-registers/service-temp-closure-info">hundreds of services</a> have had to close due to a surge in COVID cases, while many more are running at reduced capacity. Many parents dread another <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-covid-control-to-chaos-what-now-for-australia-two-pathways-lie-before-us-174325">chaotic year</a> that may have them jugging <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2022/01/06/executive-functioning-is-much-harder-for-children-from-chaotic-households/">childcare and work</a> at home.</p> <p>The government <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-has-again-rescued-the-childcare-sector-from-collapse-but-short-term-fixes-still-leave-it-at-risk-166568">rescued the childcare sector</a> several times over the past two years – making services eligible for a portion of their pre-pandemic payments as families pulled their children out. But these measures were only temporary.</p> <p>The childcare system was already busting at the seams before COVID. I led an <a href="https://uneprofessions.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_38j3CdPsHnM8l81">international survey</a> in 2021, during the pandemic, in which early childhood educators’ gave ideas on how their government could support their work. In Australia, 51 educators participated.</p> <p>Here are four preexisting the issues that have <a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/early-childhood-directors-are-carrying-an-exhausting-load-during-covid-19-even-beyond-major-outbreaks-research/">increased during the pandemic</a>.</p> <h2>1. Staff shortages</h2> <p>Currently, many childcare services are closed and others are operating at reduced capacity because staff are either sick with COVID or close contacts that need to isolate. But staffing problems plagued the sector well before the pandemic, with <a href="https://theconversation.com/early-childhood-educators-are-leaving-in-droves-here-are-3-ways-to-keep-them-and-attract-more-153187">more than a 30% staff turnover</a>.</p> <p>The agency responsible for early childhood education and care, the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), released its <a href="https://www.acecqa.gov.au/national-workforce-strategy">National Workforce Strategy</a> in 2021. It revealed 25% of educators have been at their service for less than a year. This high turnover harms relationships with children who need continuity.</p> <p>In a 2021 <a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/73-of-early-educators-plan-to-leave-the-sector-within-three-years/">survey of almost 4,000 Australian educators</a>, 73% said they planned to leave their job within three years. The <a href="https://bigsteps.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Exhausted-undervalued-and-leaving.pdf">reasons</a> included low pay, overwork and being undervalued.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440392/original/file-20220112-23-1qok3m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440392/original/file-20220112-23-1qok3m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Child pouring out sand." /></a> <span class="caption">73% of early childhood educators plan to leave the profession.</span> <span class="attribution"><a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/z02yFSgVRbA" class="source">Markus Spiske/Unsplash</a></span></p> <p>Women make up <a href="https://www.acecqa.gov.au/national-workforce-strategy">91% the early childhood education and care workforce</a>. Pay is low in traditionally female occupations, and many educators leave simply because they <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022185618800351">cannot afford to stay</a>.</p> <p>ACECQA has fast tracked <a href="https://www.acecqa.gov.au/qualifications/requirements/children-preschool-age-or-under/recognition-as-an-equivalent-early-childhood-teacher">quick conversions</a> for primary and secondary school teachers into early childhood education, despite large and important differences in teaching philosophies.</p> <p>But there is unlikely to be a stampede to become one of Australia’s <a href="https://au.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/lowest-paid-jobs-in-australia">13th lowest paid workers</a>, just above a housekeeper. The national average salary for a childcare worker is A$29.63 per hour, but many earn as little as <a href="https://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Childcare_Worker/Hourly_Rate">A$23.50</a>. This is in comparison to an average school teacher who earns <a href="https://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Primary_School_Teacher/Salary">A$33.65</a> per hour.</p> <p>One educator in our study called for</p> <blockquote> <p>recognition of the equal value of early childhood educators with primary school teachers, especially for university-trained teachers, who experience a huge pay gap.</p> </blockquote> <p>Casualisation in the sector is another issue leading to high turnover. As part of government COVID rescue packages, permanent staff could receive JobKeeper payments, but casual staff at childcare services were not eligible. Many <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/08/05/hypervigilance-is-wearing-ecec-educators-down-as-the-pandemic-continues/">casual staff left</a> the sector.</p> <p>Government oversight is needed but there is always confusion about which government is responsible. Then there are also differences between community based and private services.</p> <h2>2. Nobody is responsible for the sector</h2> <p>Australia has one of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/quality-childcare-has-become-a-necessity-for-australian-families-and-for-society-its-time-the-government-paid-up-131748">highest levels</a> of privatisation in early childhood education in the world. This makes it harder for governments to control casualisation. However, the government sets the award wages.</p> <p>In a recent speech to the National Press Club, New South Wales Premier, Dominic Perrottet, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-08/perrottet-bid-to-take-over-childcare-from-commonwealth/100681344">said</a> he wanted states and territories to be able to take over responsibility for childcare from the federal government. This was part of his plan for “reform for a postpandemic world” which he said should be “state led, not Commonwealth led”.</p> <p>The federal government funds childcare, through subsidies, but providers are largely private and set their own fees. The state and territory governments fund community preschools.</p> <p>The federal government is responsible for the sector’s standards, frameworks and curricula, but the state and territory governments regulate them. This messy web makes it more difficult to reform the sector and manage costs for families.</p> <p>One level of government taking responsibility for childcare and preschool services will go some way to fixing the problems.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FIef0mCk7Ao?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <span class="caption">NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet wants the states to take over responsibility for childcare.</span></p> <h2>3. Too much paperwork</h2> <p>In <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/07/26/acecqa-shares-findings-from-national-workforce-strategy-as-recruiting-challenges-persist/">ACECQA’s survey</a>, educators blamed <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2043610615597154">administrative overload</a> as one of the <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/07/26/acecqa-shares-findings-from-national-workforce-strategy-as-recruiting-challenges-persist/">three main reasons</a> they wanted to leave the profession.</p> <p>The increasing paperwork came as governments created <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi86rWw4Jv1AhUTS2wGHSpPD7MQFnoECCYQAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aasw.asn.au%2Fdocument%2Fitem%2F936&usg=AOvVaw0tkTyvOjf6LvcG5WzaJeYG">managerial systems</a> disguised as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680939.2017.1352032">quality assurance</a>, to try to regulate the sector.</p> <p>Now, educators must <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680939.2014.924561">collect big data</a> every day, including <a href="https://bigsteps.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Exhausted-undervalued-and-leaving.pdf">mountains of checklists</a> for regulation and to document children’s learning. This extra workload <a href="https://educationhq.com/news/managerialism-has-taken-over-in-early-childhood-education-109737/">reduces time</a> spent on quality interactions. It also makes <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/10/25/bound-for-burnout-early-childhood-educators-are-swimming-against-a-gendered-micromanaged-tide/">educators feel micromanaged</a>, affecting their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2020.1836583">identity and confidence</a>.</p> <p>Echoing the <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/childcare/report/childcare-overview.pdf">Productivity Commission’s findings</a> in 2014, educators in our study said governments must “reduce paperwork”, which they described as “ridiculous”, “complex”, “indecipherable”, “frustrating” and “random”. As one educator said: “we need some paperwork, but we also need to be there for the children”.</p> <p>Over 60% felt frustrated three or more times a week. Nearly 40% of educators said the paperwork required for accreditation compliance (assessment and rating) <a href="https://educationhq.com/news/managerialism-has-taken-over-in-early-childhood-education-109737/">decreased the time</a> they spent with children.</p> <h2>4. High burnout, low morale</h2> <p>Despite being an essential worker, <a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/early-childhood-directors-are-carrying-an-exhausting-load-during-covid-19-even-beyond-major-outbreaks-research/">educators are undervalued</a>, struggling for <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/18369391211050165">recognition</a>. Their strengths <a href="https://www.iejee.com/index.php/IEJEE/article/view/1447/532">are not mentioned</a> in <a href="https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf">curriculum</a> documents.</p> <p>Overwork is the <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/07/26/acecqa-shares-findings-from-national-workforce-strategy-as-recruiting-challenges-persist/">second reason</a> educators want to leave. Our study showed that during the accreditation period, when they need to fill out regulation requirement documents, 50% of staff reported working unpaid hours. <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/09/14/accreditation-effects-on-early-childhood-educator-morale/">Staff morale</a> also suffers during accreditation.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440556/original/file-20220112-21-1sgijcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440556/original/file-20220112-21-1sgijcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Childcare worker talking to kids." /></a> <span class="caption">Despite doing essential work, childcare workers are burnt out and suffer from low morale.</span> <span class="attribution"><a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/preschool-teacher-talking-group-children-sitting-1214667421" class="source">Shutterstock</a></span></p> <p>During the pandemic, educators reported an <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/18369391211040940">increased burden</a> with extra time needed for cleaning, health requirements, communicating with parents, rearranging work plans and spaces, caring for staff, and constant <a href="https://thesector.com.au/2021/08/05/hypervigilance-is-wearing-ecec-educators-down-as-the-pandemic-continues/">hypervigilance</a>.</p> <p>One said, “I would prefer to work somewhere for the same or similar wage with less stress and take-home work”.</p> <p>Burnout is the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13158-020-00264-6">third reason</a> educators want to leave. “The demand on educators is too high. The pressure is intense”, one told us.</p> <p>The National Workforce Strategy recommends directors give educators links to well-being services and strategies. While this is well-meaning, it is simplistic given the level of crisis.</p> <p>For example, we found 70% of educators felt overtired and 60% felt overwhelmed three or more times in the last week.</p> <p>Recognition of childcare as an <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/18369391211040940">essential service</a> – with assured funding provision and a more streamlined level of government regulation – is key to reforming the sector’s status, and educators’ pay.</p> <p>The sector is in crisis, so we need to stop talking about ideas to change it and take action towards <a href="https://thrivebyfive.org.au/">total reform</a>.<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/174404/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/marg-rogers-867368">Marg Rogers</a>, Senior Lecturer, Early Childhood Education, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-new-england-919">University of New England</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/covid-chaos-has-shed-light-on-many-issues-in-the-australian-childcare-sector-here-are-4-of-them-174404">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: Pixabay</em></p>

Family & Pets

Can new lighting save the Mona Lisa?

<div class="copy"> <p>Next time you’re in a museum or art gallery, observe each painting a little more closely. You may notice cracks on the surface of the canvas, especially if the painting is very old.</p> <p>The damage you see is caused by radiant energy striking the painting’s surface – and light (visible radiation) causes irreversible damage to artwork.</p> <p>However, all is not lost. <a rel="noopener" href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15502724.2018.1533852" target="_blank">Our new research</a> shows that optimised smart lighting systems can reduce damage to paintings while preserving their colour appearance.</p> <h2>The dilemma</h2> <p>Damage to artwork by infrared, ultraviolet and visible radiation is <a rel="noopener" href="http://www.cie.co.at/publications/control-damage-museum-objects-optical-radiation" target="_blank">well documented</a>. When a photon (an elementary light particle) is absorbed by a pigment in paint, the pigment molecule elevates to a higher energy state. In this excited state, the molecule’s chemical composition changes. This is called a photochemical action.</p> <p>Viewed from the human perspective, the photochemical action manifests itself as cracks, discolouration, or surface hardening.</p> Not surprisingly, daylight, which includes infrared and ultraviolet radiation, is highly damaging to paintings. In museums, it is common practice to use incandescent, and more recently, light emitting diodes (LEDs), to reduce damage. <p>However, a group of researchers <a rel="noopener" href="http://www.vangogh.ua.ac.be/" target="_blank">showed</a> that light can cause colour degradation regardless of the lighting technology. Bright yellow colours in Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers are turning dark brown due to absorption of blue and green light from LEDs. Research on the conservation of artwork makes it look like this is a losing battle.</p> <p>Of course, you will be right in thinking that the best conservation method would be the complete absence of light. But we need light for visibility and to appreciate the beauty of a painting.</p> <p>This leaves us with a dilemma of two conflicting parameters: visibility and damage.</p> <h2>Light optimisation</h2> <p>Lighting technology in itself may not be enough to tackle this dilemma. However, the way we use technology can make a difference.</p> <p>Our approach to address this problem is based on three key facts: </p> <ol> <li>light triggers photochemical actions only when it is absorbed by a pigment</li> <li>the reflectance factor of a pigment (its effectiveness in reflecting light) determines the amount of light absorption</li> <li>light output (composition of the light spectrum, and the intensity of the light) of lighting devices, such as LEDs, can be fine-tuned.</li> </ol> <p>It is possible to measure the reflectance factor of a painting and optimise lighting to reduce absorption. Previous research <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-23-11-A456" target="_blank">shows</a> that optimising light to lessen absorption can reduce energy consumption significantly, and with <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-25-11-12839" target="_blank">no loss</a> in visual experience. Objects look equally natural and attractive under optimised light sources compared to regular white light sources.{%recommended 8046%}</p> <p>In this new study, we optimised LEDs for five paintings to reduce light absorption. Using a <a rel="noopener" href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/996017" target="_blank">genetic algorithm</a> (an artificial intelligence technique), we reduced light absorption between 19% and 47%. Besides the benefits for the painting, this method almost halved the energy consumed by lighting.</p> <p>In addition to increased sustainability and art conservation, the colour quality of the paintings was another parameter in our optimisation process. Colour appearance and brightness of paintings were held constant not to lower the appreciation of the artwork.</p> <p>This is possible due to a quirk in our visual system. Photoreceptor cone cells, the cells in our retinas which enable human colour vision, are not equally sensitive to the whole visible spectrum.</p> <p>Different combinations of wavelength and intensity can result in identical signals in our brain. <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1331666/?page=1" target="_blank">This understanding</a> gives us the flexibility of using different light sources to facilitate identical colour appearances.</p> <p>This smart lighting system requires scanning of the artwork to obtain colour information. Then, a <a rel="noopener" href="https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2281482" target="_blank">precise projection system</a> emits optimised lighting to the painting.</p> <p>This method offers a solution to extend the lifetime of works of art, such as the world-famous Mona Lisa, without leaving them in the dark.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> </div> <div id="contributors"> <p><em>This article was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/can-new-lighting-save-the-mona-lisa/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by The Conversation. </em></p> </div>

Art

Sydney to Newcastle fast rail makes sense. Making trains locally does not

<p>Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/our-policies/sydney-to-hunter-fast-rail">this week announced</a> a commitment to funding high-speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle.</p> <p>At speeds of more than 250km/h, this would cut the 150-minute journey from Sydney to Newcastle to just 45 minutes. Commuting between the two cities would be a lot more feasible.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439624/original/file-20220106-21-19utua0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439624/original/file-20220106-21-19utua0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <span class="caption">Proposed route for high-speed Melbourne to Brisbane rail.</span> <span class="attribution"><a href="https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/map/corridor-preservation-east-coast-high-speed-rail" class="source">Infrastructure Australia</a></span></p> <p>The Sydney-Newcastle link would be a first step in a grand plan to link the Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane corridor by high-speed rail.</p> <p>Albanese also wants the trains to be built at home, <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/our-policies/sydney-to-hunter-fast-rail">saying</a> “we will look build as much of our fast and high-speed rail future in Australia as is possible”.</p> <p>Of course, this idea has been around for a long time. Nobody has ever got the numbers to stack up before.</p> <p>Federal infrastructure minister Paul Fletcher made the obvious but reasonable point that such a rail link would be very expensive.</p> <p>“It is $200 to $300 billion on any credible estimate,” he <a href="https://newcastleweekly.com.au/coalition-pulls-brakes-on-labors-fast-rail-plans/">said in response</a> to Labor’s announcement. “It has to be paid for, and that means higher taxes”.</p> <p>Or does it?</p> <h2>Social cost-benefit analysis</h2> <p>Traditional cost-benefit analysis is how governments tend to make decisions about big infrastructure projects like this. Figure out the costs (such as $300 billion) and then figure out the benefits. Adjust for timing differences and when money is spent and received, and then compare.</p> <p>This generates an “internal rate of return” (IRR) on the money invested. It’s what private companies do all the time. One then compares that IRR to some reference or “hurdle” rate. For a private company that might be 12% or so. For governments it is typically lower.</p> <p>An obvious question this raises is: what are the benefits?</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439623/original/file-20220106-27-vyofyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439623/original/file-20220106-27-vyofyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <span class="caption">An artist’s impression by Phil Belbin of the proposed VFT (Very Fast Train) in the 1980s.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Comeng</span></span></p> <p>If all one is willing to count are things such as ticket fares, the numbers will almost never stack up. But that’s far too narrow a way to think about the financial benefits.</p> <p>A Sydney-Newcastle high-speed rail link would cut down on travel times, help ease congestion in Sydney, ease housing affordability pressures in Sydney, improve property values along the corridor and in Newcastle, provide better access to education and jobs, and more.</p> <p>The point is one has to think about the social value from government investments, not just the narrow commercial value. Alex Rosenberg, Rosalind Dixon and I provided a framework for this kind of “social return accounting” in a <a href="http://research.economics.unsw.edu.au/richardholden/assets/social-return-accounting.pdf">report</a> published in 2018.</p> <h2>Newcastle might make sense, Brisbane might not</h2> <p>I haven’t done the social cost-benefit analysis for this rail link, but the social return being greater than the cost is quite plausible.</p> <p>The other thing to remember is that the return a government should require has fallen materially in recent years. The Australian government can borrow for 10 years at just 1.78%, as opposed to <a href="http://www.worldgovernmentbonds.com/bond-historical-data/australia/10-years/">well over 5%</a> before the financial crisis of 2008.</p> <p>I’m less sure about the Brisbane to Melbourne idea. The cost would be dramatically higher for obvious reasons, as well as the fact that the topography en route to Brisbane is especially challenging.</p> <p>Nobody is going to commute from Sydney to Brisbane by rail, and the air routes between the three capitals are well serviced.</p> <h2>Transport policy is not industry policy</h2> <p>The decision about building a Sydney-Newcastle rail link is, and should be kept, completely separate from where the trains are made. Transport policy shouldn’t be hijacked for industry policy.</p> <p>To be fair, Newcastle has a long and proud history of <a href="https://www.ugllimited.com/en/our-sectors/transport">manufacturing rolling stock</a>, at what was the Goninan factory at Broadmeadow – much of it for export.</p> <p>But ask yourself how sustainable that industry looks in Australia, absent massive government support. Can it stand on its own?</p> <p>It’s also true there have been some recent high-profile procurement disasters buying overseas trains.</p> <p>Sydney’s light-rail project has run massively late and over budget, with Spanish company Acciona getting an extra A$600 million due to the project being more difficult than expected.</p> <p>Then <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/transport-minister-expects-spanish-manufacturer-to-pay-for-cracked-trams-20211110-p597tq.html">cracks were found</a> in all 12 trams for the city’s inner-west line, putting them out of service for 18 months.</p> <p>These are terrible bungles due to the government agreeing to poorly written contracts with sophisticated counterparties. When contracts don’t specify contingencies there is the possibility of what economists call the “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1530-9134.2009.00236.x">hold-up problem</a>”.</p> <p>But these problems could have occurred with a local maker too.</p> <h2>The Tinbergen Rule</h2> <p>An enduring lesson from economics is the Tinbergen Rule – named after <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1969/tinbergen/facts/">Jan Tinbergen</a>, winner of the first Nobel prize for economics.</p> <p>This rule says for each policy challenge one requires an independent policy instrument. This can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-evergrande-may-survive-but-for-its-executives-expect-a-fate-worse-than-debt-168930">widely applied</a>. But here the lesson is particularly clear.</p> <p>Addressing housing affordability is a good idea, and a Sydney-Newcastle link could help with that. But if Labor want a jobs policy it should develop one.</p> <p>The more TAFE places Labor has already announced is a reasonable start.</p> <p>Reviving 1970s-style industry policy – something that has almost never worked – is not a good move. Governments are lousy at picking winners. The public invariably ends up paying more for less, and the jobs are typically transient.</p> <p>But aside from this conflation of policy goals, Albanese deserves credit for being bold about the future of high-speed rail in Australia.</p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-holden-118107">Richard Holden</a>, Professor of Economics, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-1414">UNSW</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/vital-signs-sydney-to-newcastle-fast-rail-makes-sense-making-trains-locally-does-not-174341">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

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Can new lighting save the Mona Lisa?

Sydney to Newcastle fast rail makes sense. Making trains locally does not