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But when academics retire it’s far from clear what this means. Sal/Flickr

Can academics ever really retire?

When your local butcher or grocer retires, it’s perfectly clear what this means. They are no longer there in the shop when you next go in. Someone else has taken over, or the shop has changed to another…
“Digital humanitarian” volunteers are dedicated to working with the “big data” that now explodes on the internet with every disaster. DVIDSHUB/Flickr

Digital samaritans: how digital technology is revolutionising disaster response

In 1998 I wrote Lifesavers and samaritans, then the first report on people’s experiences of using mobile phones in emergency situations. At the time, just 5.1 million Australians had a mobile phone and…
It’s better to build a fence at the top of a cliff than spend a fortune on ambulances and treatment facilities to care for all those who fall. ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock

The rule of rescue

* This is the first in an occasional series of articles on must-read, indispensible papers in public health. Forty-one years ago when I started working in public health, there was a parable someone would…
The tobacco industry warned smokers would use special covers to conceal the large-scale graphic warnings on packs. This hasn’t happened. Lucas Cock/AAP

Cluster bomb of new research explodes tobacco industry lies about plain packs

There is near-universal agreement that Australia’s implementation of tobacco plain packaging in December 2012 has seen the most virulent opposition ever experienced from the global tobacco industry.
In even the best of studies, it will be impossible to separate out ‘nocebo’ effects from direct effects. reynermedia/Flickr

A $2.5m investment in wind farms and health won’t solve anything

The out-going head of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Warwick Anderson confirmed in Senate Estimates recently that calls for research proposals for up to a total of A$2.5 million…
Up to two-thirds of smokers will die from their smoking, on average ten years early. Ryan Dwyer/Flickr

Smoking: new Australian data to die (or live) for

We can now say with confidence that up to two-thirds of smokers will die from their smoking, on average ten years early. Stopping smoking before age 45 appears to eliminate most of this risk.
The NHMRC’s report essentially consolidates the findings of the 23 reviews that preceded it. Chuck Coker/Flickr

Why a dedicated research fund for wind farms and health?

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) today released its long-awaited review of the evidence about whether wind turbines have health effects. The NHRMC released its interim report last…