The Australian renewable energy race: which states are winning or losing?

Provides the latest research on which Australian States and Territories are winning the race to renewables - and which are not. 4 key findings 1. Australia\u27s States and Territories have an important leadership role to play in tackling climate change and growing Australia\u27s renewable energy industry. 2. South Australia is striding forward leading the Australian States on renewable energy. 3. Victoria and NSW have moved from leaders to laggards in Australia\u27s renewable energy race. 4. Australia has substantial opportunities for renewable energy. A lack of clear federal policy has led to a drop in renewable energy investment. Introduction This year, much of the focus on Australia’s climate change and renewable energy policy has been directed at the federal level – given the review of the national Renewable Energy Target (RE T), repeal of the Carbon Pricing Mechanism, and release of a new Energy Green Paper. However, while national action is vital, the roles and opportunities for Australian states and territories to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and expanding renewable energy should not be underestimated. Internationally, the energy sector accounts for the largest proportion greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main drivers of climate change. Tackling climate change requires large scale changes in the electricity sector and a tripling of low-carbon energy by 2050. Australia’s electricity is largely generated from coal. Our fleet is ageing and inefficient, which means that most of Australia’s coal stations are much more emissions intensive than other countries, including the USA and China. Within the decade, around half of Australia’s coal fuelled generation fleet will be over 40 years old. Australia will need to plan and install new electricity generation to replace ageing generators. The Climate Council’s recent report Australia’s Electricity Sector: Ageing, Inefficient and Unprepared found that rapid deployment of renewable power, like wind and solar, is one of the most effective ways to reduce electricity sector emissions. This report provides a snapshot of current targets and policies on emissions and renewable energy in each of Australia’s states and territories, and also measures their performance in terms of emissions, renewable energy capacity and generation. Previous state targets have been removed after federal nationwide carbon pricing and energy efficiency measures were legislated. With these federal measures now abolished, industry, commerce and households in most states are left with no measures to reduce emissions or improve energy efficiency to lower costs. The efficacy of the Emissions Reduction Fund is yet to be established. Furthermore, uncertainty in the RE T has caused investment in renewable energy to drop by as much as 70 percent over the past year. Yet, South Australia and the ACT have set ambitious targets to cut emissions and increase renewable energy uptake. Positive policy settings in South Australia and the ACT will help these regions benefit from the global transition to cleaner energy, leaving the other states and territory lagging behind. Experience from overseas also illustrates how it is possible for state-based actions to stimulate highly effective policy measures

Climate Changers

Climate Changers follows Tim Flannery’s search for leadership on climate change. Where are the leaders who will drive change? How might they succeed where others have failed? Tim poses these questions as he meets global leaders from the corridors of power and frontlines of climate change

Wearable technology in the sports medicine clinic to guide the return-to-play and performance protocols of athletes following a COVID-19 diagnosis

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has enabled the adoption of digital health platforms for self-monitoring and diagnosis. Notably, the pandemic has had profound effects on athletes and their ability to train and compete. Sporting organizations worldwide have reported a significant increase in injuries manifesting from changes in training regimens and match schedules resulting from extended quarantines. While current literature focuses on the use of wearable technology to monitor athlete workloads to guide training, there is a lack of literature suggesting how such technology can mediate the return to sport processes of athletes infected with COVID-19. This paper bridges this gap by providing recommendations to guide team physicians and athletic trainers on the utility of wearable technology for improving the well-being of athletes who may be asymptomatic, symptomatic, or tested negative but have had to quarantine due to a close exposure. We start by describing the physiologic changes that occur in athletes infected with COVID-19 with extended deconditioning from a musculoskeletal, psychological, cardiopulmonary, and thermoregulatory standpoint and review the evidence on how these athletes may safely return to play. We highlight opportunities for wearable technology to aid in the return-to-play process by offering a list of key parameters pertinent to the athlete affected by COVID-19. This paper provides the athletic community with a greater understanding of how wearable technology can be implemented in the rehabilitation process of these athletes and spurs opportunities for further innovations in wearables, digital health, and sports medicine to reduce injury burden in athletes of all ages. © The Author(s) 2023

A new species of Rattus (Rodentia: Muridae) from Manus Island, Papua New Guinea

We describe a new species of Rattus, from 3 modern specimens collected on Manus Island in the Admiralty Group, Papua New Guinea, between 2002 and 2012. Subfossil specimens of early to late Holocene age from the Pamwak archaeological site on Manus Island are referred to the new species on morphological criteria; these confirm the species as a long-term resident of Manus Island. The new species is distinguished by its combination of large size; short tail; dorsal pelage that is coarse, spiny, and dark, with prominent black guard hairs; and sharply contrasting cream ventral pelage. Based on its overall body form, the species is almost certainly terrestrial. The dentition combines robust incisors with relatively small molars and the cranium displays a distinctive mélange of characters—including an elongate and anteriorly expanded rostrum and a mesopterygoid fossa that is narrow anteriorly and broadens to the rear. Sequence data from the mitochondrial control region and 3 nuclear genes place the new species as a highly divergent member of the Australo–Papuan Rattus radiation, with no identified close relative among sampled taxa. Morphological comparisons are made between the new species and other pertinent species of Rattus from the region, including R. sanila, a species known only from Late Pleistocene fossil to Late Holocene subfossil remains from an archaeological site on New Ireland. The conservation status of the new species is discussed in the light of a recent survey that failed to locate surviving populations in 2 areas of natural forest on Manus Island. Further survey work is urgently needed to identify any surviving populations and to assess the role of potential threats to the species

A maximum likelihood method for fitting colour-magnitude diagrams

We present a maximum likelihood method for fitting two-dimensional model distributions to stellar data in colour-magnitude space. This allows one to include (for example) binary stars in an isochronal population. The method also allows one to derive formal uncertainties for fitted parameters, and assess the likelihood that a good fit has been found. We use the method to derive an age of 38.5 +3.5/-6.5 Myrs and a true distance modulus of 7.79 +0.11/-0.05 mags from the V vs V-I diagram of NGC2547 (the uncertainties are 67 percent confidence limits, and the parameters are insensitive to the assumed binary fraction). These values are consistent with those previously determined from low-mass isochronal fitting, and are the first measurements to have statistically meaningful uncertainties. The age is also consistent with the lithium depletion age of NGC2547, and the HIPPARCOS distance to the cluster is consistent with our value. The method appears to be quite general and could be applied to any N-dimensional dataset, with uncertainties in each dimension. However, it is particularly useful when the data are sparse, in the sense that both the typical uncertainties for a datapoint and the size of structure in the function being fitted are small compared with the typical distance between datapoints. In this case binning the data will lose resolution, whilst the method presented here preserves it. Software implementing the methods described in this paper is available from http://www.astro.ex.ac.uk/people/timn/tau-squared/.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figure

Concert recording 2017-04-23b

[Track 1]. Slowing down. I. Rotations in an emergency [Track 2]. II. Under the city [Track 3]. III. Forfeit [Track 4]. IV. Something comfortable to fall into / Jeremiah Flannery