Adventure Ausrama Blog

Health: Australian liberal conservative governments keep privatizing medicine There isn't much doubt that the Liberals (read conservatives) would like a completely privatised health system. They look lustfully toward the US and their inefficient structure - the most expensive health mishmash in the world! There is a logic to this "conservative hiding behind liberal sunglasses" behavior. You see, businesses don't like their taxes being "wasted" on something the private sector can run perfectly well, descrimination notwithstanding. Businesses would like this money back in a tax rebate so they can make higher profits, thankyou. Note how Liberal PM Menzies ended free pharmaceuticals brought in by Labor PM Chiffley. Gough Wittlam initiated Medibank after menzies It was just about the only thing he did that worked. This has now been pushed and poked by a series of Coalition governments to become the now private Medicare. No doubt, this political to...

Genetics: Maya the dog sniffs out koala poo scat waste Dogs like sniffing poo. Now they are being trained to sniff the poo of koalas. This is not unusual. In the United States trained dogs seek out the scat of wolves coyotes, lynx and bears.  Dogs are built for this type of work. Australian scientists want to know the location of koalas, what they are eating and their genetics. DNA can be obtained from the coating of cells. Humans searched a particular site and found no koala waste, but a trained dog pinpointed some. Maya is the only dog working at the Sunshine Coast University to do such work. Crowd funding is being organized to train more dogs. Maya was rescued, so dogs in danger of being put down are going to be used. ◆ Genetics by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventure Australia Funny Animal Photos Funny Weird Things Articles News Reviews ● Vista Computer Solutions Blog                Australian Blog ...

Biology: Atlantic Molly fish of Mexico survive high hydrogen sulfide acid. There is hope for the future of fish as the world is polluted more every day. Some fish can live in extreme toxic, acidic environments. For example, the Atlantic Molly fish of Mexico can survive high levels of hydrogen sulfide acid. They are the only fish in volcanic freshwater springs. Mollies do not filter out the toxin. They turn on certain genes that do the filtering job for them. Of the fish's 35,000 genes 170 are enhanced in the process: these linked genes are all involved in removing hydrogen sulfide. If things get serious and species of fish begin to die out, this group of genes could be "spliced" into the gene structure of endangered fish. They would not be the same fish, but at least some vestige of the evolutionary sequence of dying fish would live on. ◆ Biology by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventure Australia Funny Animal Photos Funny Weird Things Articles News Reviews ● ...

Chemistry: sea slug toxin will kill cancer cells. Sea slugs can be beautiful with their brightly colored coats. However, they carry the most toxic substances known. They display "you can't miss us" patterns because enemies try to avoid them. They eat meat. The closest thing to a vegetable that they consume are sponges. Latrunculin A. is the toxin stored in their bodies. They get this from food. Shrimps die immediately when they are attacked by sea slugs. Apparently, a sea slug will die if Latrunculin A. gets into its bloodstream. Tests show that the main sea slug toxin will kill cancer cells. It could potentially also be used to treat neurodegenerative disease. The problem is of course finding a transport medium and getting it to market. ◆   Chemistry by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventure Australia Funny Animal Photos Funny Weird Things Articles News Reviews ● Vista Computer Solutions Blog             ...

politics funding cuts to CSIRO Malcolm Turnbull loves private business so much so that he is making massive funding cuts to CSIRO. The public/private body is sacking 110 highly skilled employees from the Oceans and Atmosphere division. More sackings are in the pipeline because CSIRO has been forced into this position by first Tony Abbott and now Malolm Turnbull. The soft smile of the PM is only a thin veneer over the right wing belief that the market solves everything. No work being done here! We would be driving on dirt tracks if road funding was not public. The poor would be dying in the streets if medical treatment was private. There would be no trains to the city for daily commuters, as the only private rail tracks transport minerals to the coast. Rural people would have no means of communication if Telstra had not been a public enterprise. The copper wire still used for the Internet was put down over a century ago and is still being used in some places. We always ge...

SOCIOLOGY It was believed that the Romans were the peak civilization of the time and their toileting methods were hygienic. A quick look at the after toilet cleaning mop used by all would suggest otherwise.  It was a stick with a lump of sponge tied to the end. A tale, tale sign during Roman times was the increase in parasites. In the Iron Age they were virtually nonexistent. Fleas and mites were prevalent on all citizens of Rome. Whipworm and roundworm lived comfortably in their bodies. Getting the "runs" was routine. We know this because parasites survive for centuries in human faeces from ancient latrines and soil where the pelvis area was in human remains. Why did the Romans fail. Note, there were no tomatoes around to add natural MSG to meals and make it tastier. The Romans made their own MSG. It was a fermented fish sauce called garum. However, this made humans prone to tapeworm. Not only that, they fermented raw sewerage to enhance food. Worth a menti...

SOCIOLOGY Class in sociology is based in income - low, middle and high income earners, plus wealth. This is in conflict with assumed class by the ordinary person who believes that class is based on status. In England, for example, one's position in society can be inherited. An English earl will remain high class even though he has little income and lets the paying public into his home to pay for its upkeep. Anyway, let's get back to the issue, "at large", which is how income and wealth inequality has changed in Australia. Egalitarianism is an Aussie "thing". There is a strong belief that all Australians are equal, in daily interactions at least. An Australian can have a drink with the CEO of the business where he works. In England this is unthinkable. It simply will not happen because the boss will not allow the lowly employee into his/her circle. In the 1950s income in Australia was relatively level. It was far more equal than in other Weste...