The tragedy at Whakaari/White Island highlights the need for consent forms to ensure tourists are fully informed when choosing to visit dangerous locations.
People have to make countless decisions on a daily basis that involve some degree of risk, from boarding a plane to crossing the street. The trouble is most of us don’t weigh risk well.
In response to mudslides that have killed at least 20 people in Southern California, a geologist calls for more resources to study and map landslide hazards so residents can understand the risks.
A disaster fantasy raises questions about tinkering with Earth’s climate. With real-life scientists exploring geoengineering, what conversations should we be having now around these technologies?
The true radiation risk from commercial flying has nothing to do with security scans. A radiation expert explains how much cancer risk the most frequent of flyers take on when they take to the skies.
A comprehensive analysis of Tasmania’s natural disaster risks has identified bushfire as the biggest threat, alongside emerging issues such as disease epidemics and heatwaves.
We need to carefully assess nanomaterials to ensure their safety, but there are questions over whether the existing practice of risk assessment is up to the task.
I once told a journalist that “the very fact that a piece of health research appears in the newspapers indicates that it is nonsense”. That may be too harsh, so I would like to suggest a slightly more…
Kate Mandeville, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
When new health threats emerge, the media is often accused of hyping up the risk to the public. But we tend to believe that health experts provide rational, independent viewpoints on the real risks posed…
Researchers in the United States have developed a new model to predict women’s risk of developing breast, uterine and ovarian cancer, based on individual lifestyle factors. These three cancers make up…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne