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How are racehorses really treated in the ‘sport of kings’?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/cathrynne-henshall-572585">Cathrynne Henshall</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/charles-sturt-university-849">Charles Sturt University</a> It’s the time of year when shiny horses and colourful clothing fill our screens – the <a href="https://www.racing.com/spring-racing">Spring Racing Carnival</a>, which includes high profile races like The Everest, Melbourne Cup and Cox Plate. It’s also the time of year when questions are asked about the welfare of racehorses that compete in the so-called “<a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/horse/how-we-shaped-horses-how-horses-shaped-us/sport/sport-of-kings#:%7E:text=Thoroughbred%20racing%20began%20around%20300,Asia%2C%20and%20the%20Middle%20East.">sport of kings</a>”. Previously, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/superracing/punters-life/how-many-horses-have-died-in-the-melbourne-cup-the-real-numbers/news-story/5f7e29011a7fbf3da9e0611e902d1ee6">high profile deaths during races</a>, the <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015622">use of whips</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-17/making-a-killing/6127124">what happens to horses after racing</a> have been the focus of community concern. But recently, as we’ve come to know more about what makes a <a href="https://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/advice/welfare-wednesdays/how-to-provide-a-good-life-for-horses-friends-freedom-and-forage">good life for a horse</a>, questions are being raised about the daily lives of racehorses. Industry participants will point to the <a href="https://www.mamamia.com.au/dont-tell-me-the-horse-racing-industry-doesnt-care/">high level care</a> that racehorses receive – comfortable stables, specially formulated diets, the latest vet treatments and added extras such as massages and swimming sessions. But does this care translate into good welfare? <h2>The theory of ‘telos’</h2> Firstly, a quick primer on the difference between care and welfare. Care includes all the things that make sure racehorses get fit, stay fit and stay healthy. This care helps maximise the chance a horse will win races. Welfare is the animal’s subjective or individual experience of its life – <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33066335/">how it feels</a> – and there are a number of ways to assess this. One way is the concept of “telos”, originally developed by Ancient Greek philosopher <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-causality/">Aristotle</a>. Telos is a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10806-012-9422-y">species’ anatomical, physiological, behavioural and cognitive characteristics</a> that have been shaped by millions of years of evolution. Telos helps us to identify what matters to animals – their behavioural, psychological and physiological needs. So to consider if racehorse care actually translates to good welfare, we can assess how closely it provides the animal with the things that matter to them, based on their telos. Equine telos involves living in groups, forming long-lived social relationships, grazing fibrous plants and being on the move for up to 18 hours a day, as well as staying safe by sensing danger and then moving away. It also involves living in variable environments to solve challenges, learn, engage in curiosity and play. Let’s compare that to the daily life of a racehorse. <h2>Movement and feeding</h2> Firstly, the vast majority of racehorses live in stables – sometimes up to 23 hours a day. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17970632/">Multiple studies</a> have found continuous stabling harms horse welfare. Stables significantly restrict opportunities for voluntary movement, and studies show stabled horses spend <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37813129/">the majority of the time inactive</a>. Even though stables house horses communally, most designs limit horses’ opportunities for social interaction. Thirdly, there’s little for a horse to do in a stable other than eat, stand, drink or lie, and they often develop <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34670688/">abnormal behaviours</a> that are associated with stress. These are never seen in free-ranging horses. When racehorses do get to move, they have little say over how far, how fast and for how long they move. The kinds of physical exercise racehorses do are both significantly shorter in duration and at much higher speeds than horses voluntarily choose. It’s those speeds that place them at <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17910268/">risk of suffering a serious injury</a>. What about diet? Although a lot of time and effort is spent ensuring racehorses enjoy high quality diets, they are mostly comprised of concentrated energy sources such as grains, rather the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10135103/">fibre horses evolved to eat</a>. Horses are <a href="https://madbarn.com/slow-feeders-for-horses/#:%7E:text=Horses%20are%20trickle%20feeders%20that,to%2025%20miles%20per%20day.">trickle feeders</a> (grazers), with small stomachs that continuously secrete digestive juices. In the wild, grazing keeps those stomachs full, which prevents the stomach lining from being damaged by digestive acids. In comparison, racehorses often consume their food very quickly – instead of spending up to 75% of their day eating, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780702026348500137">they spend only 33%</a>. This means their stomachs are empty for most of the day, which is why up to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37048517/">65% will get painful gastric ulcers</a>. And having to wait to be fed rather than eating when hungry, as happens in free-ranging horses, <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/3/3/663">can lead to frustration</a>. <h2>Other difficulties</h2> Racehorses <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/does-whipping-hurt-race-horses-20211102-p595br.html">may be whipped</a>, and <a href="https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-3306.1982.tb02389.x">more than 50% </a>will experience some form of musculoskeletal injury during racing, of which between <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/2/270">7-49% are fatal</a>. Social relationships, in the limited form possible in a racing stable, are also frequently disrupted because horse populations are highly transient due to spelling, <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-caviars-death-has-prompted-uncomfortable-questions-about-how-champion-mares-spend-their-retirement-237039">retirement</a> or even just going to the races. So even if two horses are able to form a relationship of sorts, chances are one will be taken away. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=henshall+stress+repeated&size=200">Separation distress is a significant stressor</a> for horses. Then there’s the gear that’s used to control them. Horses, like most animal species, escape and avoid painful stimuli. However, in racing (and many other equestrian activties) it is <a href="https://www.racingnsw.com.au/wp-content/uploads/NSWRules.pdf">mandatory to use</a> “bits” to control horses’ behaviour during riding and handling. Bits work by causing uncomfortable pressure and pain and may lead to mouth injuries. Studies have shown many people don’t understand how <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08927936.2023.2166713#abstract">to minimise the harm they can cause</a>. In addition, people also vary widely in their ability to read and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/12/1124">interpret behavioural responses to stress</a>. So, racehorses may be repeatedly exposed to pain from bits and perform a range of behaviours to try to escape that pain, like bolting, mouth opening or head tossing. To remedy this, additional items of restrictive equipment, such as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34056705/">tongue ties</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/dressing-up-for-melbourne-cup-day-from-a-racehorse-point-of-view-104771">nosebands, lugging bits or bit burs</a> may be used to control the horse. Racehorses frequently show signs of difficulty coping with the stressors of racing life, including “going off their feed”, aggression towards handlers, becoming hard to control when ridden and a range of stress behaviours and health issues, <a href="https://avmajournals.avma.org/downloadpdf/view/journals/javma/260/15/javma.22.08.0358.pdf">such as bleeding from the lungs</a>. <h2>What about welfare?</h2> Racehorse care is often directed towards managing issues that are the direct result of the demands of the racing environment. Fancy stables and aqua sessions are not important to horses, and may even cause harm. What matters to horses are opportunities to make meaningful choices, such as the freedom to move, form friendships and graze for the majority of the day. Current racing industry practices often deny horses the chance to make these choices. There’s no doubt people in racing care deeply about their horses. But to experience good welfare during racing, racehorses need more than just good care.<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/240998/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/cathrynne-henshall-572585">Cathrynne Henshall</a>, Post-doctoral Fellow, School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/charles-sturt-university-849">Charles Sturt University</a> Image credits: Shutterstock 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-are-racehorses-really-treated-in-the-sport-of-kings-240998">original article</a>.

Family & Pets

Trump's insult to Biden after he drops out of presidential race

Joe Biden has officially withdrawn from the presidential race against former president Donald Trump. Biden, who is the oldest US president at 81, has been facing mounting calls to drop out of the election from both his opponents and supporters, amid fears of his failing health, mental clarity and age. On Sunday, the 46th president shared a lengthy statement to share that he would be dropping out of the race, saying it is "in the best interest" for both his Democratic Party and the country to take a step back. “While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Mr Biden wrote in a letter he posted on his X account. “I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision. It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve as your President.” Biden shared a second announcement to social media following his bombshell withdrawal, saying he would be endorsing his Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee to run for President in the November election against Trump. "My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President, and it’s been the best decision I’ve made," he began. "Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this." Mere hours after Biden's announcement, former President Donald Trump reacted to the news on TRUTH social, his own social media platform, exactly as many expected. “Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve — And never was!” Trump said. “All those around him, including his doctor and the media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t. We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly.” In a phone call with CNN minutes after Biden announced his exit from the 2024 race, former Trump described Biden as going “down as the single worst president by far in the history of our country”. Mr Biden will remain President until the end of his term next January. Image credits: Bonnie Cash / Pool via CNP/ Ron Sachs/CNP /Shutterstock Editorial

News

How do I stop my mind racing and get some sleep?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alexander-sweetman-1331085">Alexander Sweetman</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/flinders-university-972">Flinders University</a> Martin turns off the light to fall asleep, but his mind quickly springs into action. Racing thoughts about work deadlines, his overdue car service, and his father’s recent surgery occupy his mind. As he struggles to fall asleep, the hours start to creep by. He becomes frustrated about how he will cope tomorrow. This is a pattern Martin has struggled with for many years. But what’s going on when your mind is racing at night? And how do you make it stop? <h2>It can happen to anyone</h2> In bed, with no other visual or sound cues to occupy the mind, many people start to have racing thoughts that keep them awake. This can happen at the start of the night, or when they awake in the night. The good news is there are effective ways to reduce these racing thoughts, and to help get some sleep. To do this, let’s take a step back and talk about insomnia. <h2>What is insomnia?</h2> If you are like Martin, you’re not alone. Right now, up to six in every ten people have regular <a href="https://www.sleepprimarycareresources.org.au/insomnia/epidemiology">insomnia symptoms</a>. One in ten have had these symptoms for months or years. Insomnia includes trouble falling asleep at the start of the night, waking up during the night, and feelings of daytime fatigue, concentration difficulties, lethargy or poor mood. Just like Martin, many people with insomnia find as soon as they get into bed, they feel alert and wide awake. So what’s going on? The more time we spend in bed doing things other than sleep, the more our brain and body start to learn that bed is a place for these non-sleep activities. These activities don’t just include worrying. They can be using a mobile phone, watching TV, eating, working, arguing, smoking or playing with pets. Gradually, our brains can learn that bed is a place for these other activities instead of rest and sleep. Over time the simple act of getting into bed can become a trigger to feel more alert and awake. This is called “<a href="https://www.med.upenn.edu/cbti/assets/user-content/documents/ppsmmodelsofinsomnia20115theditionproof.pdf">conditioned insomnia</a>”. Here are six ways to spend less time awake in bed with racing thoughts. <h2>1. Re-learn to associate bed with sleep</h2> <a href="https://www.sleepprimarycareresources.org.au/insomnia/bbti/insomnia-stimulus-control-therapy">Stimulus control therapy</a> can <a href="https://www.med.upenn.edu/cbti/assets/user-content/documents/Bootzin%201972.pdf">help</a> re-build the relationship between bed and sleep. Follow these simple steps every night of the week: <ul> <li> only use your bed for sleep and intimacy. All other activities should occur out of bed, preferably in another room </li> <li> only go to bed if you are feeling sleepy (when your eyes are heavy and you could easily fall asleep). If you are not feeling sleepy, delay getting into bed. Use this time to do something relaxing in another room </li> <li> if you are still awake after about 15 minutes in bed, get out of bed and go to another room. Do something else relaxing until you are feeling sleepy again, such as reading a book, listening to the radio, catching up on some chores or doing a crossword puzzle. Avoid anything too stimulating such as work or computer gaming </li> <li> repeat the above two steps until you are asleep within about 15 minutes. This can take several cycles of getting in and out of bed. But during this time, you body’s natural need for sleep will increase, and you will eventually fall asleep within 15 minutes of getting into bed </li> <li> get out of bed at the same time each morning, no matter how much you slept the night before </li> <li> avoid long daytime naps, which can make it harder to fall asleep that night. </li> </ul> Over several nights, this therapy builds the relationship between bed and sleep, and reduces the relationship between bed and feeling alert and having racing thoughts. <h2>2. Distract yourself with fond thoughts</h2> Negative thoughts in bed or worrying about the consequences of losing sleep can make us feel more alert, worried, and make it more difficult to sleep. So try something called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2012.07.004">cognitive re-focusing</a>”. Try to replay a fond memory, movie, or TV show in your mind, to distract yourself from these negative thoughts. Ideally, this will be a memory you can recall very clearly, and one that causes neutral or slightly positive feelings. Memories that are overly positive or negative might cause an increase in alertness and mental activity. <h2>3. Relax into sleep</h2> <a href="https://www.sleepprimarycareresources.org.au/insomnia/bbti/insomnia-relaxation-techniques">Relaxation therapy</a> for insomnia aims to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780123815224000043">reduce alertness</a> and improve sleep. One way is to progressively tense and relax muscle groups throughout your body, known as <a href="https://youtu.be/pyxvL1O2duk">guided progressive muscle relaxation therapy</a>. You could also try breathing exercises, soothing music, visual imagery or other <a href="https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/cognitive-behavioural-therapy-for-insomnia-cbt-i.html">relaxation exercises</a> that feel right for you. Part of relaxing into sleep is avoiding doing work in the late evening or screen-based activities right before bed. Give yourself a “buffer zone”, to allow yourself time to start relaxing before getting into bed. <h2>4. Worry earlier in the day</h2> Schedule some “<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201811/simple-effective-trick-stop-worrying-so-much">worry time</a>” earlier in the day, so these thoughts don’t happen at night. It can also help to write down some of the things that worry you. If you start to worry about things during the night, you can remind yourself you have already written them down, and they are waiting for you to work through during your scheduled “worry time” the next day. <h2>5. Know waking in the night is normal</h2> Knowing that brief awakenings from sleep are completely normal, and not a sign of ill health, may help. Sleep occurs in different “cycles” during the night. Each cycle lasts for about 90 minutes, and includes different stages of light, deep, and dreaming (REM) sleep. Most of our deep sleep occurs in the first half of the night, and most of our light sleep in the second half. Everyone experiences brief awakenings from sleep, but most people don’t remember these the next morning. <h2>6. What if these don’t work?</h2> If these don’t work, the most effective next step is “cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia” or CBT-i. This non-drug therapy targets the underlying causes of insomnia, and leads to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2019.08.002">long-lasting improvements</a> in sleep, mental health and daytime function. You can do a self-guided online program, or access it via your GP or a psychologist. More details, including links to online programs, are available via the <a href="https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/cognitive-behavioural-therapy-for-insomnia-cbt-i.html">Sleep Health Foundation</a>. We are providing free access to online CBT-i through a research study. To find out more, <a href="https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/alexander.sweetman">contact me</a>. <hr /> The Sleep Health Foundation has several <a href="https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/fact-sheets.html">evidence-based resources</a> about sleep health and insomnia.<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/207904/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alexander-sweetman-1331085">Alexander Sweetman</a>, Research Fellow, College of Medicine and Public Health, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/flinders-university-972">Flinders University</a> Image credits: Getty Images 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-do-i-stop-my-mind-racing-and-get-some-sleep-207904">original article</a>.

Mind

Backlash after new docudrama casts Cleopatra as a black woman

When Netflix announced their docu-series on Queen Cleopatra VII, excitement was high among the cast and crew. As the series’ star, Adele James, put it “I don’t know if there are words powerful enough to express what I hope this will mean for young people all over the world who look like me (and who don’t!) who will now get to grow up seeing the greatest leader of all time (of the greatest ancient civilisation, no less!!) being portrayed by a black-mixed woman on one of the biggest streaming services in the world!!!!!” However, it wasn’t long before problems arose, with many voicing their opinion that Netflix was ‘blackwashing’ the show, and Egyptian experts weighing in to the mounting criticism. And now, those same people are taking steps towards making sure the show never gets the chance to hit screens in Egypt. The trailer alone, with over 2 million views on YouTube, does not allow comments in the wake of its backlash. The series, titled African Queens: Queen Cleopatra, marks 27-year-old biracial actress Adele James’ Netflix debut. It is also narrated and executive produced by Jade Pinkett Smith. And while Queen Cleopatra’s race has long been a subject of dispute, as Pinkett Smith confessed to Tudum, the decision to cast James was intended as “a nod to the centuries-long conversation about the ruler’s race. “During the time of her reign, Egypt’s population was multicultural and multiracial. Cleopatra’s race was unlikely to be documented, and the identities of her mother and paternal grandparents weren’t known. Some speculate she was a native Egyptian woman while others say she was Greek.” “I really wanted to represent Black women,” Pinkett Smith added. “We don’t often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me.” The portrayal, however, has been dubbed “completely fake” by some experts. Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, who believes the late queen was Greek and definitively “not black”, has accused streaming giant Netflix of “trying to provoke confusion by spreading false and deceptive facts that the origin of the Egyptian civilization is black”. As he told the Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper, “Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not black.” Mahmoud al-Semary, a lawyer who is of the same opinion, went so far as to file a complaint with Egypt’s public prosecutor, demanding that Netflix be blocked in Egypt for their attempts to “promote the Afrocentric thinking … which includes slogans and writings aimed at distorting and erasing the Egyptian identity.” And he wasn’t the only one to take action, with a petition circling online to “Cancel Netflix’s ‘Queen Cleopatra’”. And while a former petition calling for the same thing was removed by Change.org despite its 85,000 signatures, the second attempt has so far gathered over 4,000. Meanwhile, Egyptologist Sally-Ann Ashton - who acted as a consultant for Netflix during the series’ preparation phase - has noted that the belief Cleopatra should be depicted as entirely European is “strange”. “Cleopatra ruled in Egypt long before the Arab settlement in North Africa,” she explained. “If the maternal side of her family were indigenous women, they would’ve been African, and this should be reflected in contemporary representations of Cleopatra.” And as Adele James put it best - along with some all important advice - to the flood of criticism aimed at her, “if you don’t like the casting don’t watch the show. Or do & engage in (expert) opinion different to yours. Either way, I’M GASSED and will continue to be!” Images: Instagram

Antibiotic resistance: an arms race going on millions of years

In 2012, a team of microbial scientists, curious about the origins of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, decided to take samples from the walls of a deep, ancient underground cave system beneath the modern US state of New Mexico. The maze-like complex of <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0034953" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="URL" data-id="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0034953">Lechuguilla cave</a> stretches for more than 200 kilometres, and much of it is sealed from aboveground by an impermeable rock layer known as the Yates Formation. So, it was the perfect place to hunt for microbes unsullied by the modern world. What they found was both startling and spooky: the microbiome of the cave samples contained bacteria that were resistant to at least 14 different antibiotics currently on the market, even though they had been isolated for more than four million years. Given that antibiotics were first used clinically after Alexander Fleming cultured Penicillium moulds in 1928, antibiotic resistance is generally thought of as a distinctly modern problem – and there’s no doubt our use and abuse of these wonder-molecules have created a huge and growing issue. A <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2821%2902724-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recent study</a> reported in The Lancet suggests more than 1.2 million people died in 2019 as a direct result of antimicrobial resistance. By some estimates, the death toll could reach 10 million per year by 2050 if nothing is done (by contrast, about eight million people die from cancer each year). The <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antibiotic-resistance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World Health Organization</a> identifies resistance as one of the biggest threats to global health. Tony Velkov, an Associate Professor in biochemistry and pharmacology at the University of Melbourne, says not enough attention is being paid to finding answers from nature; more specifically, the organisms that make their own, naturally occurring antibiotics in a dynamic environment. “Lessons from nature, I call them,” Velkov says. The majority of antibiotic medicines used clinically today are derived from natural antibiotics produced by microbes in soil and which attack rival microbes, as part of a miniature war over precious resources. Indeed, Fleming’s discovery of the Penicillium mould’s antibacterial qualities was entirely by accident, says Velkov. “He was growing a bacterium called Staphylococcus aureus, and he decided to go on a long weekend and left the plate on the bench,” he says. “He came back about a week later and he found this mould growing in one corner of the plate, and he found the bacteria that he’d been growing were scared of this mould, and they were all dying or keeping away from it.” Fleming’s famously understated remark upon discovering this strange antibacterial interloper was: “That’s funny”. Velkov is particularly fascinated by the function of antibiotics in nature, as part of epic microbial conflicts taking place at every moment. A big part of his work is looking at a pugnacious little soil microbe called Paenibacillus polymyxa, which is able to kill gram-negative bacteria that enter its territory by producing polymyxins, a particularly aggressive type of antibiotic. “Polymyxin is used in hospitals when you’re really, really sick, because it’s pretty toxic,” he says. For that reason, it’s often a medicine of last resort, which means it hasn’t had as many opportunities as other more common antibiotics, to trigger the evolution of antibiotic resistance traits in pathogens. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p187842-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> </div> </div> Nonetheless, polymyxin-resistance genes <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31122100/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">have been identified</a> in bacteria across Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America and Oceania. If the power of polymyxins is usurped by these resistant pathogens, it could spell disaster for people suffering from drug-resistant bacterial infections. So, Velkov is trying to learn how to create new polymyxins, by mimicking soil-based battles. “I get the bacterium that makes that [polymyxin], and then I challenge it,” Velkov says. “I grow it opposite the bugs it hates, and they fight each other.” If it sounds a bit like a pathogenic boxing match, Velkov says that’s much like what he observes. “They actually have a bit of a battle,” he says. “You’ll see the one that makes the antibiotic starts growing towards the bacteria to push it out of the territory [the petri dish with nutrients on it], and then it secretes the polymyxins to kill it. “But the bug, the human pathogen, often fights back secreting stuff to kill the antibiotic-producing microbes.” How does all this lab-based micro-fighting translate to the real-world problem of resistance? According to Velkov, in medicine, humans mostly focus on producing one type of antibiotic at a time. But in the “wild”, he says, microbes can often produce a whole bunch of subtly different substances in the fight. “In the petri dish, when these guys are fighting each other, they make really different ones,” he says. “Ones we haven’t seen or discovered, they respond in ways we haven’t looked at.” In his research lab, Velkov says he’s discovered a number of new polymyxins, including one that’s in clinical development. So, by staging these kinds of epic battles in miniature in the laboratory, can we stave off antibiotic resistance altogether? According to Velkov, probably not. But we can optimise our participation in the evolutionary arms race. “You’re never going to make it go away,” he says. “This has been going on for millions of years.” But the hope is that by learning from how these microbes behave in nature, we can at least try to keep pace. <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=187842&title=Antibiotic+resistance%3A+an+arms+race+going+on+millions+of+years" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /> <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/medicine/antibiotic-resistance-millions-years/" 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/amalyah-hart" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amalyah Hart</a>. Amalyah Hart is a science journalist based in Melbourne. She has a BA (Hons) in Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Oxford and an MA in Journalism from the University of Melbourne. Image: Getty Images </div>

Body

“He is our guiding light”: Sidney Poitier dies aged 94

Sidney Poitier - the first black actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor - passed away at the age of 94. Clint Watson, the press secretary for the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, confirmed Poitier’s death while speaking to PEOPLE on Friday. Poitier, who broke racial barriers and became one of the most celebrated actors in Hollywood history, died in the Bahamas on Thursday evening. The cause of his death is yet to be revealed. After winning the Oscar for his role in Lilies of the Field in 1963, the actor, director, and activist would go on to inspire future generations of actors. He was acclaimed for his performances in classics such as Patch of Blue, To Sir, With Love, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and rejected roles based on offensive racial stereotypes. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> If you wanted the sky i would write across the sky in letters that would soar a thousand feet high.. To Sir… with Love Sir Sidney Poitier R.I.P. He showed us how to reach for the stars — Whoopi Goldberg (@WhoopiGoldberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhoopiGoldberg/status/1479478453699330054?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2022</a></blockquote> “I felt very much as if I were representing 15, 18 million people with every movie I made,” he <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/pioneering-movie-star-sidney-poitier-dies-bahamas-government/news-story/645b4b29e818ef6955711931e51e0d4a" target="_blank">once wrote</a> about his experience as the only black person on a movie set. Tributes from Barack Obama, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Whoopi Goldberg are among the multitude that have emerged on social media. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Through his groundbreaking roles and singular talent, Sidney Poitier epitomized dignity and grace, revealing the power of movies to bring us closer together. He also opened doors for a generation of actors. Michelle and I send our love to his family and legion of fans. <a href="https://t.co/zkYKFSxfKA">pic.twitter.com/zkYKFSxfKA</a> — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1479512077878366209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2022</a></blockquote> “Though his groundbreaking roles and singular talent, Sidney Poitier epitomised dignity and grace, revealing the power of movies to bring us closer together,” Obama wrote. “An icon, legend, visionary, and true pioneer,” Will Smith wrote in a tribute on Instagram, accompanied by a series of photos of the pair. “Thank you Sidney Poitier for breaking down barriers, creating the path and making it possible for there to be a Will Smith! “Your legacy is eternal. Rest In Power.” <blockquote 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);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CYfEFqMv0NC/?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> <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;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CYfEFqMv0NC/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)</a> </div> </blockquote> Aussie actor Hugh Jackman shared an undated throwback photo of Poitier surrounded by A-list Hollywood stars, including Jackman, Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Streisand, and John Travolta, at an intimate dinner. “It was here, with this amazing group of friends, that Deb and I met the exceptionally kind hearted, smart, cheeky Sidney Poitier. A life well lived. A man well loved,” Jackman wrote. <blockquote 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);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CYeWI-DLYOH/?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> <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;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CYeWI-DLYOH/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Hugh Jackman (@thehughjackman)</a> </div> </blockquote> Publicist Mara Buxbaum <a rel="noopener" href="https://people.com/movies/sidney-poitier-family-issues-statement-on-his-death-he-is-our-guiding-light/" target="_blank">issued a statement to PEOPLE</a> on behalf of Poitier’s family, who described him as “a man of incredible grace”, as well as a “devoted and loving husband and adoring father”. “There are no words to convey the deep sense of loss and sadness we are feeling right now. We are so grateful he was able to spend his last day surrounded by his family and friends,” the statement began. “To us Sidney Poitier was not only a brilliant actor, activist and man of incredible grace and moral fortitude, he was also a devoted and loving husband and adoring father, a man who always put family first. “He is our guiding light who lit up our lives with infinite love and wonder. His smile was healing, his hugs the warmest of refuge, and his laughter was infectious. We could always turn to him for wisdom and solace and his absence feels like a giant hole in our family and our hearts,” the statement continued. “Although he is no longer here with us in this realm, his beautiful soul will continue to guide and inspire us. He will live on in us, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren - in every belly laugh, every curious inquiry, every act of compassion and kindness. His legacy will live on in the world, continuing to inspire not only with his incredible body of work, but even more so with his humanity.” The family added: “We would like to extend our deepest appreciation to every single one of you for the outpouring of love from around the world. So many have been touched by our dad’s extraordinary life, his unwavering sense of decency and respect for his fellow man. His faith in humanity never faltered, so know that for all the love you’ve shown him, he loved you back.” Poitier is survived by his wife Joanna Shimkus and his five daughters: Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, Anika and Sydney. Image: Getty Images

News

A MUST for any racing fan: Immortals of Australian Horse Racing review

Australia has a long history when it comes to horse racing legends, with the likes of Phar Lap and Makybe Diva taking to the tracks over the years and quickly becoming legends. Prolific non-fiction author Alan J. Whiticker has brought the stories of two dozen of these racers to life in his latest book <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Immortals-of-Australian-Horse-Racing/Alan-Whiticker/9781925946963" target="_blank">The Immortals of Australian Horse Racing: the Thoroughbreds</a> (Gelding Street Press $39.99). The Immortals features in-depth statistics about each thoroughbred, with historic photos and artwork scattered throughout depicting the horses in action. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7845861/horse-review2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/c1d0f6663e6141108ec25c94654d7062" /> The Immortals peppers each racer’s profile with historical photos that any history buff is sure to appreciate. Image: Supplied He also takes the chance to bust some common myths about these famous horses, while still acknowledging the roles these tall tales play in Australia’s racing mythos. “[Archer’s] tale has become an important part of the Melbourne Cup mythology and helped make the first dual cups winner immortal,” he writes. Along with Archer, Whiticker’s pickings include the horses almost everyone will recognise - Phar Lap, Black Caviar, Tulloch, Kingston Town, Winx, Manikato, and Makybe Diva - plus a selection of crowd favourites such as Peter Pan, Might and Power, Gunsynd and Sunline. But horses with celebrity status aren’t the only ones to make the cut; Whiticker also includes the lesser-known stories of freakish Vain, ‘super mare’ Wakeful, tragic Dulcify, and underrated Northerly. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7845860/horse-review3.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/2ae98417b1494ab4ac59345586d10baa" /> Many have come to (falsely) believe that Archer travelled from Nowra to Melbourne by hoof, but Whiticker points out that this contributes to his immortality. Image: Supplied Whiticker tracks each horse’s story from their birth and their debut on the track to the pitfalls and moments of victory that made them immortal. Meanwhile, the ‘ranking’ of thoroughbreds also lays out Australia’s racing history from the start of the Melbourne Cup to Winx’s retirement in 2018, and each horse is compared to those that came before and after them. Though less knowledgeable readers may be daunted by the statistics and racing jargon at first glance, Whiticker compensates for this with his engaging and flowing style of prose. All in all, racing fans and history buffs will enjoy the in-depth stories that Whiticker creates, writing as if he were commentating from the sideline. “I trust this book will settle several arguments about the greatest thoroughbreds of all time and no doubt start a few more,” Whiticker writes of his selection. “One thing is for certain: they are all unforgettable in their own right.” Images: Supplied

Books

“Human race is doomed”: Model slammed over pose at her father’s funeral

An Instagram model has been <a rel="noopener" href="https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/instagram-model-slammed-for-disrespectful-pose-at-fathers-funeral-c-4336312" target="_blank">called out</a> online after posting a “disrespectful” image from her father’s funeral. US influencer Jayne Rivera sparked a heated discussion on Reddit after she posted a photo of herself posing beside her father’s casket. “Butterfly fly away,” she captioned the photo in what was meant to be a heartfelt tribute. She went on to describe her dad as her “best friend” and said his life was “well lived”. But, it was the image she shared alongside the tribute that prompted it to go viral. In the snap, the influencer is wearing a black strapless dress, casting her eyes downward, and posing with her leg bent in a “foot prop” pose that has become popular on social media. In a second image, Ms Rivera was captured in a close-up shot with her hands together and standing right in front of her dad’s open casket. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> this Instagram model’s father passed away,,,, and she did a photo shoot with the open casket…. <a href="https://t.co/u1EVNxaajz">pic.twitter.com/u1EVNxaajz</a> — Mac McCann (@MacMcCannTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/MacMcCannTX/status/1453030106528632836?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2021</a></blockquote> Initially, her followers urged her to take it down - but its emergence on Reddit sparked further outcry. “Holy crap, is this so incredibly disrespectful,” one commenter shared. “Hey my dad died, let’s get 5000 likes!” another fumed. “I found her on Instagram and started following her, because one day I’ll have kids of my own, and I need to see where all these parents went wrong,” a third commented. “I can’t have my future kids grow up like this.” Ms Rivera’s Instagram account has since been deleted. <img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7845135/funeral1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/21fbd12e84124d0a95ce8b2bd1cd6cf7" /> Image: Reddit Another commented on the changing attitudes towards funerals in general. “Last funeral I went to everybody just wanted it to be over so we could go to the bar and tell funny stories about the deceased,” they shared. “Human race is doomed there’s no way it will last till 3000, we need a hard reboot,” another wrote.

Beauty & Style

Retired race horses on track to help troubled kids

Image: A Current Affair New charity ‘Rehab 4 Rehab' is saving the lives of children and retired racehorses on the Mornington Peninsula through a ground-breaking equine therapy program. Children struggling with mental health issues get paired up with clinical psychologists, occupational therapists and retired racehorses to accelerate therapy sessions. “We are seeing lots of children with anxiety, depression, self-harming, suicidal kids, lots of autistic kids,” found Alisha Griffiths told A Current Affair. “They are practicing exactly what they would do in the normal four white wall environments but they’re doing it on a farm with retired racehorses.” Ms Griffiths said she had been around horses all her life and now she wants to share them with others. “They also build a rapport with a psychologist a lot quicker, they trust the psychologist because they’re around a retired racehorse,” she said. Clinical psychologist Jo Paterson crossed path with Alisha’s charity when she was looking for somewhere to keep her own horse – and she ended up with a job. “When you’re talking about things that are distressing and through trauma, then you’ve got something there that can help regulate, when they get upset,” Ms Paterson said. There are 46 horses at Ms Griffiths property and most of them are retired racehorses. In order to train them for being a racehorse to a therapy horse, they settle their lives down and “show them a slower pace”. Head horse trainer Alex McDonough said she’s surprised by how well the horses have adjusted. “It’s almost like they know they’re around children,” she said.

Caring

“An absolute disaster”: Prince William calls out billionaires’ space race

Prince William has called out the billionaires currently competing in a space tourism race instead of focusing their efforts on the environmental problems on Earth. The Duke of Cambridge directed thinly-veiled criticism at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson during a BBC interview at Kensington Palace. The three billionaires have been embroiled in a recent race to provide private commercial space travel. “We need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live,” <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-15/prince-william-urges-billionaires-put-planet-before-space-race/100541038" target="_blank">William said</a>. The interview comes after Mr Musk announced his focus on reaching Mars, and after Mr Bezos said that his inaugural space flight was part of building a road to space “so that our kids and their kids can build a future”. “We need to do that to solve the problems here on Earth,” Mr Bezos said. The Amazon founder recently celebrated his second suborbital space flight, which included Star Trek actor William Shatner among its passengers. The British royal family has made a trend of speaking out on environmental issues, with William following in the steps of his father Prince Charles and late grandfather Prince Philip. Prince Charles has been calling for action to stop climate change for decades, often facing ridicule for his stance. The 72-year-old heir to the throne <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/travel/travel-trouble/prince-charles-shocked-that-morrison-not-confirmed-for-glasgow-climate-conference?fbclid=IwAR0yBM3BrGS_5kZp0-E8kfD0lmaoVumFZDUhBcq0LmueyAmeR1gHv8fOk8I" target="_blank">recently described</a> the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow as a “last chance saloon” for combating climate change, sharing how he tries so hard to encourage world leaders to attend and take action. “It’s been a hard road for him. He’s had a really rough ride on that, and I think he’s been proven to being well ahead of the curve,” William said. “But it shouldn’t be that there’s a third generation now coming along having to ramp it up even more.” William also warned that not taking action now could be “robbing from our children’s future”. “For me, it would be an absolute disaster if [my son] George is sat here in 30 years’ time, still saying the same thing, because by then we will be too late. “Now I’ve got children as well and speaking to other parents, it’s a bit of a cliche, but you do start to see the world differently. “I want the things that I’ve enjoyed - the outdoor life, the nature, the environment - I want that to be there for my children, and not just my children but everyone else’s children.” The prince said the key to tackling the issue was to “bring people with us”. “People have got to feel like there’s hope, there’s a chance we can fix this.” He also echoed his father’s message, saying the upcoming COP26 conference had to result in action. “We can’t have more clever speak, clever words but not enough action,” William said. In response to the issue of climate change, William created the Earthshot Prize, with the aim of using new technologies or policies to solve Earth’s biggest environmental problems. Image: @KensingtonRoyal / Twitter

Travel Trouble

How the edge of space became up for interpretation

As the billionaire space race continues between Richard Branson, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, many are asking questions about how far into space they actually went. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic flight on 12 July rocketed up to 86 km off the ground, while Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin flight recently reached just over 107 km. However, these figures have experts wondering if either of them truly left the planet’s atmosphere. Jonti Horner, an astronomer at the University of Southern Queensland, says the age-old questions of where the atmosphere ends and where space begins can be open to interpretation. “It’s one of those questions that’s a bit like saying, ‘When are you old enough to drink?’ or ‘When are you old enough to drive?’ Every country has their own version of an answer.” “Where space starts and the atmosphere ends is a little bit like that, in that the atmosphere doesn’t just suddenly stop,” Horner told <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/exploration/where-is-the-edge-of-space/">Cosmos Magazine</a> in a recent interview. “The higher up you go, the thinner the atmosphere gets, and it keeps getting thinner and thinner and thinner, until eventually you can’t tell that it’s there anymore.” The official final point is approximately 10,000km above the surface, leaving no surprise why some want the line drawn a little closer to the Earth’s surface. The US military, the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA all define the edge of space as 80 km off the ground, towards the upper part of the mesosphere. This definition is very different to The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), an international record-keeping body for aeronautics, who have adopted their own definition in the 1960s. Called the “Kármán line”, it marks the beginning of space at 100 km above Earth’s mean sea level. Despite all these varying measurements, Horner says they are equally as good and as bad as each other. “Now that we are in this era of commercial space tourism, suddenly people want to know where [the boundary] is because they want to know that what they did was really good enough.” Image credit: Shutterstock

Technology

Roger Federer’s worrying news: “Race against time”

Roger Federer admits that he may not play in the Australian Open next year, even hinting that he may have played his last match. The 39-year-old shared an update at an awards night in Switzerland, which shocked tennis fans around the world. The 20-time grand slam champion has not played since suffering from an injury before the semi-finals at Melbourne Park last year. Federer has been recovering in his homeland after undergoing knee surgery for this cold time earlier this year. However, while he hoped for a quick recovery, he revealed that despite the season’s major first major being in February rather than January, it still may not be enough time. "I would have hoped that I would be 100 per cent in October. But I am still not today. It will be tight for the Australian Open," FedeThe Swiss maestro conceded that if the tournament is pushed back three weeks to its likely February 8 start date, it will no doubt help his cause. "It will be complicated for the Australian Open. I don't want to take the next step until I'm ready. These three weeks could help me a bit. "I'm curious to see whether it will start on February 8. "Of course, it would help if I had a bit more time." After being voted the best Swiss athlete in the last 70 years, Federer gave hinted that he may have already played his last match. "I hope there is still something to see from me next year. But if that was it, that would have been an incredible ending for me at these Sports Awards." <div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> The extraordinary statement left tennis fans shaken. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Not sure, how serious he was. But <a href="https://twitter.com/rogerfederer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rogerfederer</a> ends with the words: "I hope there is still something to see from me next year. But if that was it, that would have been an incredible ending for me at these Sports Awards." Personally, I am sure he'll do everything to be <a href="https://twitter.com/Wimbledon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@wimbledon</a> — Simon Graf (@SimonGraf1) <a href="https://twitter.com/SimonGraf1/status/1338244018317250560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2020</a></blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Going to therapy tomorrow for the 1st time and all i'm gonna talk about is the fact that roger federer might retire 😭😭 — dihya (@dihyatnn) <a href="https://twitter.com/dihyatnn/status/1338250939862540290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2020</a></blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Roger Federer is preparing all fans for the farewell from tennis I am completely surprised and sad tonight I cannot imagine the future of tennis without <a href="https://twitter.com/rogerfederer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rogerfederer</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Federer?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Federer</a> <a href="https://t.co/jyuNClqJyX">https://t.co/jyuNClqJyX</a> — Arthur Delaye 🇫🇷🇫🇷⭐️⭐️ (@ArthurDelaye) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArthurDelaye/status/1338250837995479042?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2020</a></blockquote> </div> </div> </div>

News

The world’s most thrilling horse race will leave you breathless

Get ready for Italy’s most famous sporting event. What is it? A one of a kind horserace through the main square of the medieval city of Siena in Tuscany. The race has been held almost continually since the mid 1600s and is a symbol of Sienese pride. It began to commemorate a miraculous apparition of the Virgin Mary in the town, though over the centuries has been used to honour many other saints and prominent figures. The city is divided into 17 contrade (districts) and representatives from 10 of these are chosen to compete. Each has their own emblems and colours, and the city streets are decorated to show their support. The horses are ridden bareback and must complete three laps of the square. The whole event is over in not much more than a minute. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ID0kIaLaGLQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> What is the atmosphere like? The city is abuzz for the four days of the festival, leading up to the race on the final day. Some 40,000 locals come to watch as well as around 20,000 tourists from Italy and around the world. The atmosphere is electric with the warmth and passion of the Italian people spilling out onto the streets. The square is bursting with people on the day of the race, so see if you can secure a spot on a verandah to watch. What other events are there? The whole festival lasts four days, so make sure you arrive early to take some of it in. On the first day you can watch la tratta, the selection of the horses, and a series of trials. On the night before the race, each contrade hosts a huge open air dinner in the main street of their district. Speak to a travel agent or find a friendly local to secure a ticket. Just before the race, there is a two-hour procession with people in historical dress of the 13th and 14th centuries to celebrate the time when the Sienese Republic was the centre of Italy. When is it? Il Palio is held on July 2 and August 16 each year. How much is it? It is free to stand in the central area of the square, around which the race takes place. However it will be extremely crowded and you may struggle to get a spot. Grandstand seating is set up around the edges, though you will need to pay for a ticket for these. Enterprising locals also rent out their verandahs overlooking the square. Have you ever been to Italy?

International Travel

Darwin’s Beer Can Regatta is the world’s strangest boat race

Crack the top off one of the most unique festivals in the Northern Territory. What is it? In the early 1970s, Paul Rice-Chapman and Lutz Frankenfeld wanted to clean up the rubbish – which was mainly beer cans – around Darwin’s Mindil Beach. It quickly evolved into the annual Beer Can Regatta, with the first event held in 1974. More than 22,000 people attended the inaugural race – around half of the total population of Darwin at the time. The race has grown every year but the principle remains the same. Homemade boats constructed out of beer cans, plastic bottles and cartons are launched into the ocean in front of a cheering crowd. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qiaHFlZryJ0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> What are the boats like? Use your imagination! The boats range from one metre up to 12 metres in length and take the shape of everything from North Queensland crocodiles to Wimbledon tennis courts, Viking longships and pirate vessels. They can carry just one person or a small group, all of whom are usually equipped with a few full beer cans to sustain them through the race. What activities are there? The boats are judged first thing in the morning, before the main race gets underway. Then there are kayak races, tug of war, iron men and women events, sandcastle building contests and thong throwing competitions. The main event is the Beer Can Boat Race, which happens at 3pm, with crews of four trying to sail their vessels around the course. At 4.30pm the Battle of Mindil gets underway – this is a boat race where anything goes. Crews can arm themselves with water hoses, flour bombs and anything else they can think of as they race other boats to find an object that has been hidden under the water. If one boat finds the object first, other teams can attempt to steal it from them and the winner is the first group to make it back to shore. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> A fierce battle on the shores of Darwin's Mindil Beach, 15 teams took to the sea for 41st "Beer Can Regatta"! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Today9?src=hash">#Today9</a> <a href="http://t.co/3PfYVvmHib">pic.twitter.com/3PfYVvmHib</a> — The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTodayShow/status/620317788968779776">July 12, 2015</a></blockquote> It’s all for a good cause! From the very beginning, the Beer Can Regatta has supported local charities. It has a close relationship with the Darwin Lions Club and over the years has donated money to the Cancer Council Northern Territory, Downs Syndrome NT, the Mindil Beach Surf Lifesaving Club and Helping People Achieve. Over $150,000 has been raised over the past six years. Have you ever experienced the Beer Can Regatta? Hero image credit: Twitter / Phaiwa

International Travel

Volunteering as a dog handler in Alaskan Iditarod race

For Christchurch woman Libby Harrop, Alaska has become her second home. She has just returned from Alaska where she volunteered at this year's Iditarod, "the last great race on Earth". For the last two years, she has travelled to the icy American state to be a dog handler in the world famous sled trail race. "It never crossed my mind that little old me would go to the Iditarod," she said. <img width="497" height="280" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/37672/dog-sled-in-text_497x280.jpg" alt="Dog Sled In Text"/> Christchurch woman Libby Harrop with Norwegian dog sled rider Joar Ulsom, wearing Harrop's Delphi Lavender logo. She first visited Alaska in 2013 and said the highlight of the trip was visiting a dog shelter and learning about the dog sledding huskies. "I realised then I had some hankering to do this," she said. "I've always liked the cold, the north, the Antarctic, exploring, the wild… I thought, 'Let's actually do something about it. Don't just sit and dream, what a waste of time'." Harrop's interest in sled races began when she read about the 1925 serum run to Nome as a child, in which a dog sled relay transporting medication across Alaska saved the town of Nome from an epidemic. "I read about it in the '50s and it peaked my interest, and I've been interested ever since." Researching Iditarod online, she became a sponsor for one of the riders, tracking the 2015 race from New Zealand. The following year Harrop went to Alaska as part of a tour group where she became a dog handler in the Iditarod race for Norwegian riders rider Ralph Johannessen last year and Joar Ulsom this year. Harrop said dog sledding was "like the All Blacks" in Alaska. Held in March each year, thousands gather for Iditarod in which riders and their 16 dogs traverse 1700 kilometres across white Alaska, taking around eight to 12 days to complete. Support crews, including Harrop, flew to the mandatory stops for the riders and their dogs, which were small villages on the trail, some with populations as small as 10. This year, of the 76 racers hitting the snow, Ulsum came fourth, completing the trail in just under eight-and-a-half days. As a dog handler, Harrop's main job was to keep the dogs – including beautiful Siberian huskies and Alaskan malamutes – calm while they lined up to start the race. Harrop said the friendly Alaskan people and their "snow from seashore to seashore" wilderness was "incredible". "It's so different here from in New Zealand. "You have no idea what -45 [degrees Celsius] is like … it is so cold, it's unbelievable, but so invigorating." Each trip was "not a cheap expedition", costing around $25,000 all up, but she said it was worth it. She said mushing in the white wilderness and playing golf on the frozen-over Bering Sea were life-changing experiences. At home in Christchurch, Harrop owns Delphi, a lavender oil product line. She is a regular at the Riccarton Farmer's Market, which is now an official sponsor of her favourite rider and friend Ulsom, who uses a Delphi lavender product as massage oil for his dogs. "I didn't think I realised what I could do and how much I really enjoyed doing this sort of thing. "Honestly, I'm getting on, I can't do it forever, I'll keep doing it 'til I can't do it anymore. "I've already booked the next year," she said. Written by Monique Steele. First appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz</a>.

Retirement Life

Is this the most eccentric event in Australia?

Australians have some <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/travel/domestic-travel/2015/11/weird-australian-events/" target="_blank">pretty odd forms of entertainment</a>. From the Moomba Birdman Rally to the Northern Territory’s Camel Cup, there’s no shortage of eccentric events Down Under. And this one might just take the cake. Each year, hundreds of punters descend upon Brisbane’s Story Bridge Hotel to celebrate Australia Day with some good, old-fashioned cockroach racing. The Cockroach Races have become a permanent fixture as part of the pub’s Aussie Day celebrations and while it might seem as much fun as looking through the pantry of a 21-year-old’s share house in the middle of the night, it’s a tradition that stretches back 36 years. Race fans surround the ring where the cockroaches are held in a plastic container, then released with the first one making it to the outside declared the winner. Check out the video above to see how it works. Have you ever attended the Cockroach Races? Let us know in the comments below.

International Travel

The Queen photobombs man at the races

A 32-year-old artist was shocked to find his selfie being photobombed by the Queen at Newbury Racecourse. Allan Banford was surprised to discover the Queen grinning and looking into the camera in the background of his photo. <img width="500" height="645" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/35772/selfie1_500x645.jpg" alt="Selfie1"/> Allan was enjoying the Spring Trials fixture when the Queen who celebrated her birthday last week, arrived at the paddock. The artist said he was too polite to take a photo of her and was trying to photograph the horses when Queen Elizabeth II popped into the shot. This isn’t the first time Her Majesty has photobombed someone’s selfie. In 2014 at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the Queen photobombed two members of the Australian hockey team. <img width="500" height="358" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/35773/selfie2_500x358.jpg" alt="Selfie2" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/> The Queen’s grandchildren have also follow suit when Prince William popped up behind Olympic cyclist Chris Hoy and Prince William posed behind officials during the women’s swimming freestyle. The latest target, Allan, was at the races as a guest of Dubai Duty Free. “When I saw the picture I couldn't believe I got a picture with the Queen,” he expressed. “I was just taking pictures in the paddock and I was trying to snap one of myself with one of the horses, Pacify, the winner. You can see the jockey in the background.” “After I did that I realised the Queen was in the background, smiling. I turned around and she was still smiling. It was a total accident on my part but you can clearly see that she knows what is happening. When I saw the picture I thought she looked so happy.” “I took so many photos but I never thought I would get a picture with the Queen. We didn't even know she was going to be there.” “The whole day was amazing but that was the highlight.” Allan is an award-winning artist who painted a picture called ‘Challenger’ for the Queen.

News

99-year-old and 92-year-old go head-to-head in 60-metre sprint

Most people would be thrilled to make it to their 90s with their mind and body still intact, but two extraordinary nonagenarians have taken it a step further, battling it out in a nail-biting 60-metre track race. Orville Rogers, 99, and Dixon Hemphill, 92, went head-to-head in the sprint race at the USATF Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships in New Mexico, USA. Hemphill maintained a slight lead for the first 55 metres before Rogers, a WWII veteran, narrowly overtook his younger competitor and won by five-hundredths of a second! Compared to the under-10 second personal bests of Olympians running the men’s 100m, the elderly duo’s times of 18 and 18.05 seconds to complete 60 metres is certainly impressive. So, it’s no surprise that footage of the thrilling race, posted to Facebook, quickly went viral. “I took off, and I was a little bit ahead so I thought, ‘This is going well,’” Hemphill told <a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/99-year-old-upsets-92-year-old-in-thrilling-sprint" target="_blank">Runner’s World</a> of his early lead. “I think had I leaned a little bit, I would have won.” However, Hemphill wasn’t too disappointed at his loss. The pair also faced off in the 200m, 400m, 800m an 1600m, with the 92-year-old coming up trumps in these longer events. “I guess he has the speed and I have the distance,” Hemphill chuckled. Video: USA Track & Field/Facebook. Image: USATF. Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/03/great-grandma-dances-into-100th-birthday/">Gorgeous great-grandma grooves into her 100th birthday</a> <a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/03/95-year-old-man-finally-comes-out-as-gay/">95-year-old man finally comes out as gay</a> <a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/02/elderly-woman-gets-arrested-for-bucket-list/">Dutch woman in her 90s ticks “getting arrested” off bucket list</a>

Retirement Life

Birdsville races, the wildest party in the outback

As we bump along the rutted dirt track into the tiny outback town of Birdsville, population 115, Elvis starts trotting beside our vehicle clutching a can of beer and encouraging us to toot. Just behind him, two bearded men in green skirts, riding boots and little else are arm-in-arm, following a crowd of people streaming towards the centre of town. “This is not going to be a beauty contest, I tell you," my friend says as we coast past the Birdsville Pub, its wraparound verandah heaving with swaggering punters in the late afternoon sun, just 10 kilometres from the South Australian border and on the edge of the Simpson Desert. It's the kind of place where the small petrol station doubles as a post office, and where you can count on one hand the number of children enrolled in the public school. But this was not just any weekend. During the first week of September travellers swarm here like blowflies to a freshly barbecued snag, eager to experience the spectacle that is the Melbourne Cup of the outback, the Birdsville Races. "It's like schoolies for the over 50s," says Senior Constable Neale McShane, the town's lone police officer who has presided over this dust-blown patch for the past decade. "You've still got the dust, and the flies and the heat, but everyone's having a really good time. Next week, though, you might see a tumbleweed blowing up the main street." The population explodes to more than 7000 for the two-day racing carnival, held at the claypan racing track on the outskirts of town. This is certainly no Flemington or Randwick racecourse, mind you. Any horse unfortunate enough to be at the back of the pack towards the end of the 2000-metre track might be swallowed by a dust cloud as the leaders thunder down the straight. Fashions on the field are a sight to behold. Soon after entering the gates I encounter one man who has shunned the traditional cork hat in favour of his own invention – a dozen or so ocky straps tied to the brim of his hat. "They wanted 20 bucks for one of those hats. I made this in five minutes," he proudly says. There's a couple dressed as the Queen and Prince Philip; a group of Santas in thongs and sunglasses; and a bunch of New Zealanders who constructed an enormous Akubra out of a Clark Rubber mat. Their costume has the added benefit that, as soon as they all squish under the wide brim and make their way towards the drinks line, the crowd miraculously parts and gives them a clear run to the bar. <img width="496" height="275" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/28168/birdsville-in-text_496x275.jpg" alt="Birdsville -in -text" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/> Image credit: Stuff / Steve Christo Two words crop up repeatedly when I ask racegoers why they made the considerable journey here: "Bucket list". "There's acres and acres of nothing, and then just this ridiculousness in the middle of nowhere," says John, a sunburned punter in his 60s from Newcastle. "I've got no ambition to go overseas, I can't see the bloody point in that. This is everybody just having fun. Considering there's 115 locals, all the rest of us, we're just like flies, blowing in. Everyone's coming here the same reason I am, just to tick it off the bucket list." The punters stay everywhere and anywhere: in tents and swags at the local caravan park; on the banks of the Diamantina River; or in a specially erected city of tents a short stroll from the pub. Some even camp on the airstrip, under the wings of light planes that fly in from all over Australia for the event. Given the sheer number of people in town, you might expect a bit of rough and tumble, but Senior Constable Macshane attributes the lack of bust-ups in part to Fred Brophy and his boxing troupe, who roll into town and set up a huge tent in the centre of town. Brophy and his troupe, said to be the last of its type in the world, travel all over Queensland challenging those in the crowd to step up and try their luck against the boxers. Each night, throngs gather outside the tent to witness the spectacle, some bravely climbing up onto the stage to try to convince Brophy that they're fit enough and sober enough to fight. One older man tries his luck, announcing to Brophy and the crowd that he's from "Goulburn mate, the big potato. I don't need a good boxer." Brophy, eyeing him up and down, says: "No, you've had enough. Get down." There are cheers and jeers from a crowd, before a handful of spectators are chosen as challengers. Inside the tent a short time later, politician Pauline Hanson, who is in town for the races, acts as a ring card girl, sauntering around holding a card high to indicate the start of the first fight. The bell clangs and the crowd goes wild as a woman earlier selected from the crowd bangs her gloves together, hitches up her long dress and starts belting into one of Brophy's female boxers. "Give it to the sheila!" roars a man sitting nearby. The outback already felt foreign. In Brophy's tent we could well be on another planet. David Brooks has seen it all before. The organic cattle farmer was born in Birdsville and has lived here most his life, is half-owner in the pub and is the president of the Birdsville Race Club. His grandparents settled here in the early 1880s. Mr Brooks said the remoteness of Birdsville was exactly what drew people to the town for the races. "Birdsville historically has been a place people come to because of its remoteness, because they think 'It's a challenge to get there, we should try to do it one day'," Mr Brooks said. There's also something special about a good old-fashioned bush racing meet too, he said. "I guess it's the dirt track. The dust flying up. A lot of the people that are here, half the crowd would have been before. They just can't get it out of their system, it's like a drug." Image credit: Stuff / Dominic Lorrimer Written by Megan Levy. First appeared on <a href="http://Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz</a>. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/01/6-award-winning-aussie-tourist-spots-2016/">6 award-winning Aussie tourist spots to visit in 2016</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/09/6-more-great-spots-to-camp-in-australia/">6 more great spots to camp in Australia</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/07/crossing-the-spectacular-simpson-desert/">Crossing the spectacular Simpson Desert</a>

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Birdsville races, the wildest party in the outback