Adventure Ausrama Blog

Though the protected bars on the front of rural vehicles is called a bull bar, it was originally designed to stop damage from hitting a kangaroo. These animals are as common as muck in Australia. Indeed, they are a native pest if ever there was one. Countless kangaroos invade farms all the time eating grass meant for food animals and drinking water pumped out of the ground. It is unusual for a driver to hit a wandering cow. Because they are valuable they are generally safely penned in. On the other hand, kangaroos wander freely. If they can't jump over a fence they will run through it. Several years ago I saw the remains of a kangaroo paw hanging from a fence wire. Obviously, the animal had survived and bounded on his way. Volvo Australia is studying kangaroo behavior on the roadside. They intend to fit a radar sensor to cars that will scan the road ahead. When a kangaroo is detected directly ahead within contact range the brakes will be automatically applied to a...

Rheumatoid arthritis is a widespread complaint. It is usually a malady of the elderly, but the young can succumb to it too. About the only treatment available is replacement of joints with artificial ones and analgesics. A team at the University of Queensland has taken a new approach. They have developed a vaccine. Many diseases are caused by the body attacking its own tissue. Arthritis is one of these. If the immune response is suppressed, inflammation decreases. This is how the new vaccine works. All Westerners have high inflammation levels. This may be a good thing to fight injuries. However, continued long term inflammation does damage to the body. Once switched on and the immediate danger solved it needs to be turned off. The new method involves taking a sample of the patient's immune cells which are then modified in the lab. This is injected back into the patient. The immune system no longer sees the modified peptide as foreign. Other problematic...

Human impact on native flora and fauna is real. There seems to be no way the detrimental affects can be ameliorated. Aboriginals have been in Australia for 40,000 years. apart from the unanswered question about extinction of mega fauna Aboriginals did not alter the external environment at all. Sedentary agriculture is the major contributing factor to habitat damage. Planting mono-crops seriously changes land features. In Western Australia, for example, water points are located at 50 sq km on average. In its pre-European natural state water holes could be found 2.5 sq km apart. This is serious change with species of native birds declining. Unless we set areas aside as pristine, protected sectors only introduced pest species will remain. Even without the pest birds, the proportion of native birds is altered. Some die out while others increase in number. The ecosystem is no longer in balance. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.bl...

What a cop out, medical "professionals" are now saying chronic pain is caused by a mixed-up brain. This cannot be the case when you have an open wound and it really hurts. They are saying we should not feel any pain at all. People with leprosy feel no pain and look what damage they do to themselves. Pain is functional. It stops one using a limb when there is damage to it. Otherwise, it wouldn't heal properly. Most back pain is caused by damage to the spine that cannot be detected with current technology and knowledge. Those "in the know" are now saying the brain rewires itself when there is an injury so that when the damage is repaired pain still continues. If this is the case then it is very selective. Why doesn't this happen when you cut your finger? We know if a limb is lost pain can continue, but saying the brain rewires itself after an injury is far too simplistic. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspo...