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University gives resident cat an honorary doctorate

<p>A university in the US has handed out an honorary doctorate to a surprising recipient: the resident campus cat. </p> <p>For four years, Max the cat has been a respected member of the Vermont State University, putting a smile on students' faces through his friendly demeanour. </p> <p>When Max's owner Ashley was contacted by the school and told their plans to give Max the special honour, she "thought they were crazy", but it brought a big smile to her face.</p> <p>"We live on the main entrance to campus and when my daughter started attending as a junior, she started seeing everyone and how they kind of doted on Max," Ashley told <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/today/vermont-state-university-resident-cat-max-dow-given-honorary-doctorate-in-literature/57d96d7c-ecc5-460f-85ac-ceee24e119b5" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Today Extra</em></a>.</p> <p>"So we started an Instagram page that we keep updated with some of the photos and then I started getting tracked down by people on campus saying, 'Oh Max has been on the Dean's desk and he's been on the desk of the head of graduate studies, and he just kind of makes himself at home.'"</p> <p>Ashely said that Max's calming presence has helped many students who are stressed about their studies, or those who are feeling homesick. </p> <p>"They were just talking about how he was so helpful during finals week because everybody was picking him up and doing selfies with him and he was making everyone calmer," she said.</p> <p>"There's a real sense of community because I heard he was getting attacked by feral cats if he was on campus after 5pm, so I put up some posters and asked the students to give me a call or shoot me a text if they see him out after dark and they started arriving on our doorstep with him saying 'Hey, we brought Max home.'"</p> <p>Max was bestowed the honorary degree of "doctor of litter-ature", although will not be attending the next graduation ceremony. </p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 24px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.333; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><em>Image credits: Today Extra / Vermont State University </em></p>

Family & Pets

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Petition launched for Miss Universe Australia to step down

<p>A petition is calling for Australia’s Miss Universe Moraya Wilson to step down, following reports that her parents owe $45 million to creditors. </p> <p>According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) her parents, Anton and Melinda Wilson, owe $45 million to creditors following multiple company liquidations. </p> <p>They also owe $21 million to the tax office, with Anton Wilson due in court next month for knowingly signing a false declaration and defrauding creditors of a bankrupt, according to <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/calls-for-miss-universe-australia-to-step-down-amid-reports-her-family-owes-up-to-45m-to-creditors/news-story/092c8e7e789b2749d5853f7b6dccf535" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>news.com.au</em></a>.</p> <p>So where does Moraya come into all of this? </p> <p>It is reported that she is the director of 10 companies that ASIC is looking to have struck off the business register, although she has denied any knowledge of, or involvement in the businesses. </p> <p>Moraya said that she had “tendered my resignation from all of the companies”.</p> <p>However, Anton Wilson's bankrupt trustee Nicholas Crouch, claims that Moraya was listed as the sole director of these 10 companies so that the family business can continue to run despite her parent's bankruptcies. </p> <p>In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into ASIC lodged last year, Crouch wrote: “21-year-old daughter is now nominated as the director of the family construction group.</p> <p>“It would appear the family business has not been disrupted by strategic bankruptcies and liquidations.”</p> <p>It is also alleged that one of the companies Moraya is a director of owes $13,204 to the Australian Taxation Office, which means that it was operating and trading as a business. </p> <p>Her father claims that when Moraya was 19, and already successful in her modelling career, she wanted “to carve a career in property development”, so he offered her “general father-daughter advice”. </p> <p>“I just politely, as a father does to his daughter, said ‘I’ll help you get into business’. Pretty simple,” Anton said. </p> <p>Now, a Change.org petition has been launched by a member of the public, calling for her to step down as Australia’s top model.</p> <p>The petition reads: “Miss Universe is an international competition that empowers women and promotes diverse representations of beauty across the globe. This beauty goes beyond appearance and includes character and personality …”</p> <p>However,  Moraya said that she still intends to compete in the international pageant later this month. </p> <p>“I have become aware of a petition,” she said.</p> <p>“I intend to fulfil my duties as Miss Universe Australia to the best of my ability with the full support of The Miss Universe Australia management.”</p> <p>The organiser of the Miss Australia pageant, Troy Barbagallo also said that the controversy was “none of my business," and remains certain of his choice of Moraya as Australia’s top model.</p> <p>“There is (a) wide range of criteria and a large selection committee who found Moraya to be the best person for the job among 24 exceptional women and we stand by that decision,” he said. </p> <p>The model is set to travel El Salvador later this month for the international pageant. </p> <p><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Young royal moving to Australia in just weeks

<p>Denmark's Count Nikolai is busy preparing to relocate to Sydney for his university studies, but not before making a quick stop in France for the summer.</p> <p>The 23-year-old grandson of Queen Margrethe II travelled to France to stay at Château de Cayx, near Cahors in the south of the country.</p> <p>The estate is owned by the Danish royal family as a private residence after it was purchased by the Queen and her late husband Prince Henrik in 1974.</p> <p>He stayed in the picturesque estate with his long-time girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup, before the couple were later joined by Nikolai's younger siblings, Count Felix, 20, Count Henrik, 14, and Countess Athena, 11.</p> <p>The Danish royals often holiday at the chateau and over the years, many have shared photos from their time there including the Queen, Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik and Nikolai's father Prince Joachim and his wife Princess Marie.</p> <p>Count Nikolai stopped in at the estate in France to enjoy the summer before he and his girlfriend prepare for their big move to Australia. </p> <p>Nikola and Benedikte are set to move to Sydney for their university studies, with the couple both being enrolled at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), as reported by a Danish newspaper. </p> <p>The pair will be studying in Australia for one semester, with their classes commencing at the university from August 1st and ending on November 30th.</p> <p>The move was confirmed to the newspaper by press advisor Helle von Wildenrath Løvgreen in May.</p> <p>Von Wildenrath Løvgreen said Count Nikolai and Thoustrup were excited about experiencing Australia and, at the time, were looking for an apartment to rent in Sydney while they study. </p> <p>Count Nikolai is one of Queen Margrethe's four grandchildren who were stripped of their royal titles late last year.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Instagram </em></p>

International Travel

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Prince William’s undercover university ‘disguise’ revealed

<p>Prince William knows a thing or two about life in the public eye, with most of his major life moments playing out for the entire world to see. </p> <p>But that hasn’t always been the case, with the prince taking matters into his own hands when it came to his education, and opting to fly under the radar during his time at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. </p> <p>And luckily for William, the media agreed, allowing him to conduct his studies with their constant - and prying - eyes on him. </p> <p>But he still had to take a few extra measures to blend in with the rest of the prestigious student body, with one move rising above all of the others: Prince William decided to go by ‘Steve’. </p> <p>According to <em>The Mirror</em>, the prince did still officially enrol under the name William Wales, but when it came to his friends and fellow students, ‘Steve’ was the perfect solution for avoiding any undesired attention. </p> <p>And, as some have pointed out, it’s likely his now-wife Kate used the nickname, too, as “they were close friends at university and lived in the same student accommodation.”</p> <p>However, it had been previously reported by the same publication that Kate had an entirely different pet name for the royal, in which they claimed she used the name ‘Big Willy’ instead. They also noted that the Princess of Wales had occasionally called him ‘Baldy’, too. </p> <p>As a source explained to <em>The Mirror </em>at the time, “the royals are not very good at communicating with one another so this is one way around it. Nicknames are a way of taking the family tension out of things.”</p> <p>William’s university stint wasn’t the first time he had gone by a different name, either, with the prince admitting in a 2007 interview with NBC that he had actually gone by ‘Wombat’ when he was younger - a nickname bestowed upon him by his mother, Princess Diana. </p> <p>“I can’t get rid of it now,” he said. “It began when I was two. I’ve been rightfully told because I can’t remember back that far. But when we went to Australia with our parents, and the wombat, you know, that’s the local animal. So I just basically got called that. Not because I look like a wombat. Or maybe I do.”</p> <p>And the unintended family tradition seems to have carried on through to William’s own children, with Charlotte having two nicknames of her own that have come to light. </p> <p>At the Chelsea Flower Show in 2019, the royals were with their children in Kate’s ‘Back to Nature’ garden when William called out to Charlotte. Although rather than using her real name, he called out for ‘Mignonette’ - a French word meaning “small, sweet, and delicate” or even “cute”. </p> <p>As for Kate, she revealed her nickname for Charlotte - ‘Lottie’ - during a visit to Northern Ireland in 2019, while she was chatting to another proud mother.</p> <p><em>Images: Getty</em></p>

Relationships

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“A lesson learned”: Uni student lands herself in an overdue book nightmare

<p dir="ltr">A university graduate student received the shock of her academic career when an email arrived in her inbox to inform her she owed her school’s library a whopping $11,900 in overdue book fines. </p> <p dir="ltr">Hannah took to TikTok to share her story, posting a snippet of the horror email, and the news that her library account had amassed a debt of “$11,9000 owed for 119 lost books”. The books had been declared lost, though Hannah was quick to note that she was “still using” each of them, and had every intention of returning them once she was finished with her studies. </p> <p dir="ltr">To drive home the fact that the books were not missing, and instead safely in her scholarly possession, Hannah panned around the various piles of tomes stacked around her home, with a caption reading “the books aren’t lost, I’m just hoarding them until I finish my dissertation.” </p> <p dir="ltr">The email itself explained the books were marked as lost in the library’s system if they exceeded 30 days overdue, and that there was a flat rate of $100 per book in such instances. And according to the library, it was up to each patron to renew their books, and that Hannah “received overdue notices on the following dates prompting you to renew your library books before they are declared lost.”</p> <p dir="ltr">As she explained to <em>The Daily Dot</em>, she had checked out her collection three years prior while she’d been preparing for exams, and confirmed that she had received four reminders to either renew or return the books, but she’d put it off each time. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Then I got the automatic email,” she added, “saying all of the books were marked as lost and my account was charged $100 per book.” </p> <p dir="ltr">Hannah’s woe drew a mixed response from her audience, with some surprised that her library had even let her withdraw that many books in the first place, others unable to wrap their heads around the fact she could have let her situation get so bad, and many quick to defend the librarian, who they declared had only been doing her job. </p> <p dir="ltr">“My library only lets me check out 5 books at a time,” one wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">“That’s why keeping library books past their due date is considered stealing,” another said, to which Hannah responded to promise her lesson had been learned. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Only 30 days over due??? Damn give a lil more time,” said one, with Hannah informing them that she’d had the books for years by that point. </p> <p dir="ltr">It wasn’t all bad for the budding scholar though, with Hannah explaining in another comment that “it was hunky dory”, as the library had waived her fees as soon as she’d responded to them, and that she’d been allowed to keep all 119 for an additional year. </p> <p dir="ltr">And, as she told another follower, “I’ve never replied to an email faster.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: TikTok</em></p>

Books

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Jacinda Ardern reveals major career move

<p>Jacinda Arden has revealed an exciting new venture following her departure as New Zealand’s prime minister.</p> <p>Ms Arden, 42, will be heading to Harvard University for a semester, where she plans to engage in "speaking, teaching, and learning”.</p> <p>She has now been appointed to fellowships at the elite US university in leadership and fighting online extremism.</p> <p>“I’m incredibly humbled to be invited to join Harvard University later this year,” she announced on Instagram.</p> <p>Ms Ardern has been named the 2023 Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow and a Hauser Leader in the Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership.</p> <p>She will also be a Knight Tech Governance Leadership Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, based at Harvard law School.</p> <p>She said that Harvard is an important partner as a special envoy to the Christchurch Call, a commitment she started with French President Emmanuel Macron to fight online extremism following the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch in 2019.</p> <p>During that time she also joined the board of Prime William's conservation-minded Earthshot Prize.</p> <p>In 2022, she delivered the annual commencement speech to graduates, which has previously been delivered by world leaders and distinguished figures such as Winston Churchill, Angela Merkel and Oprah Winfrey.</p> <p>The Call is working with 120 governments worldwide to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.</p> <p>“My semester there later this year will also be an opportunity to take up the first tech governance leadership fellowship at the Berkman Klien Center,” she wrote in her post.</p> <p>“Not only will this be a chance to work collaboratively with the center’s research community, but also work on the challenges around the growth of generative AI tools.”</p> <p>According to a Harvard statement, “she will study ways to improve content standards and platform accountability for extremist content online, and examine artificial intelligence governance and algorithmic harms.”</p> <p>The fellowships commence in Spring, which Ms Ardern noted would align with voting times for New Zealander.</p> <p>She said she hopes to share her experiences through future exchanges in New Zealand and abroad.</p> <p>As she continues the significant work she started as the world’s youngest female head of government, she said she will set aside time to learn while she’s enrolled in one of the world’s top-ranked universities.</p> <p>“While I’ll be gone for a semester (helpfully the one that falls during the NZ general election!),” she said.</p> <p>“I’ll be coming back at the end of the fellowships. After all, New Zealand is home!”</p> <p>Ms Ardern shocked the world when <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/it-s-time-jacinda-ardern-announces-shock-resignation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">she announced in January</a> 2023 that she would not be seeking re-election.</p> <p>She stepped into the role of Labour leader seven weeks out from the 2017 general election after Andrew Little stepped down.</p> <p>Before she was elected to the top office she learned she was pregnant with her first child, which sparked debate surrounding her ability to lead the country with a newborn.</p> <p>She made international headlines during her first time when she was the first female leader to bring an infant into the UN General Assembly.</p> <p>While she delivered her speech, her long-term partner Clarke Gayford cradled three-month-old Neve.</p> <p>Ms Ardern and Mr Gayford are yet to announce a date for their wedding.</p> <p>The pair have been engaged since 2019 and were forced to cancel their wedding due to the pandemic.</p> <p>After she stepped down as New Zealand’s prime minister she was <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/chris-hipkins-announced-as-next-prime-minister-of-new-zealand" target="_blank" rel="noopener">replaced by Chris Hipkins</a>.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Getty  </em></p>

News

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Outspoken transgender activist buys Miss Universe pageant for $31 million

<p dir="ltr">A Thai business tycoon, celebrity, and transgender activist has purchased the Miss Universe Organisation for a hefty $31 million, according to an announcement made by her company.</p> <p dir="ltr">Chakrapong ‘Anne’ Chakrajutathib, who has starred in reality shows and spoken out about being a transgender woman, controls JKN Global Group Public Co Ltd, which acquired the rights to the beauty pageant - which is broadcast to 165 countries - from IMG Worldwide LLC, a sports, talent and events marketing company.</p> <p dir="ltr">IMG has held the rights to the Miss Universe pageant since 2015, with former President Donald Trump partially owning it for 19 years until IMG’s purchase.</p> <p dir="ltr">To own the Miss Universe Organisation, JKN said it established a US subsidiary called JKN Metaverse Inc.</p> <p dir="ltr">In a statement, Ms Chakrapong said the purchase was a “strong, strategic addition to our portfolio”, which includes content distribution, beverages, food supplements, beauty and consumer products.</p> <p dir="ltr">JKN said the addition of the Miss Universe Organisation would see them use the name to promote its consumer products.</p> <p dir="ltr">A profile in the <em>Bangkok Post</em> on Ms Chakrapong, who founded the non-profit group Life Inspired for Transsexual Foundation to promote trans rights, said she was harassed for identifying as female while studying at an all-male school.</p> <p dir="ltr">When she saw financial success, Ms Chakrapong spent $1.5 million on sex reassignment surgery and other procedures, according to the outlet.</p> <p dir="ltr">While Thailand has a positive reputation when it comes to the rights and lifestyles of LGBTQ+ communities, a report from the Human Rights Watch found that transgender people in Thailand had limited access to services and are exposed to daily indignities.</p> <p dir="ltr">The report came to this conclusion due to the an absence of procedure for transgender people to legally change their gender, as well as insufficient legal protections and social stigma that trans people experience.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em><span id="docs-internal-guid-4d08e07d-7fff-73ee-8f7e-589981174486"></span></p>

Beauty & Style

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Webb on Webb: How JWST peers back in time at the earliest stages of the Universe

<p>What did the first galaxies and <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/physics/webb-spotted-first-oldest-stars/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stars look like</a>? How have they evolved over time? Does life exist somewhere else out there in the great inky blackness of the universe? How can astronomers possibly hope to see through the vast amounts of gas and dust to uncover nascent stars nestled in their cloudy nurseries?</p> <p>In <em>Cosmos Magazine #96</em>, Swinburne University postdoctoral researcher, Sarah Webb, explains how astronomers are exploring these questions, uncovering the deepest mysteries of the universe and space and time.</p> <p>The appropriately named Webb, walks us through the most powerful time machine we’ve ever built, showing us how the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/james-webb-space-telescopes-golden-mirror/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">golden mirrors</a> of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) allow it to peer through the space dense with gas and dust and look at (but not touch!) the very early days of our universe.</p> <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p217307-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.62 resetting spai-bg-prepared" action="/science/webb-on-webb-back-time-early-universe/#wpcf7-f6-p217307-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="resetting"> <p style="display: none !important;"><span class="wpcf7-form-control-wrap referer-page"><input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/" aria-invalid="false" /></span></p> <p><!-- Chimpmail extension by Renzo Johnson --></form> </div> </div> <p>Be dazzled by beautiful, swirling galaxies and cliffs of dust hiding bright new-born stars as Webb explains the science behind her favourite JWST images, including the Southern Ring Nebula, spiral galaxy NGC 628 and the Cartwheel galaxy.</p> <p>Comparing the Hubble Deep Field with the JWST First Deep Field, we can see just how far technology, engineering and science have come, with JWST seeing further and more clearly than any instrument before it.</p> <p>Australia’s research contribution is highlighted, as Webb discusses some of the incredible science being done by astronomers right here in Australia – work which demonstrates JWST’s unbelievable potential to contribute to an enormous number of fields such as finding the most distant galaxy, early galaxy birth and evolution, dead stars, planets and asteroids, and of course looking for the most promising exoplanetary candidates for signs of life elsewhere in the Universe.</p> <p><!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --></p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=217307&amp;title=Webb+on+Webb%3A+How+JWST+peers+back+in+time+at+the+earliest+stages+of+the+Universe" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><!-- End of tracking content syndication --></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/webb-on-webb-back-time-early-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/clare-kenyon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clare Kenyon</a>. Clare Kenyon is a science journalist for Cosmos. An ex-high school teacher, she is currently wrangling the death throes of her PhD in astrophysics, has a Masters in astronomy and another in education. Clare also has diplomas in music and criminology and a graduate certificate of leadership and learning.</em></p> <p><em>Image: </em><em>NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI</em></p> </div>

Technology

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"I can't stop smiling": Jimmy Barnes overwhelmed by honour

<p dir="ltr">Jimmy Barnes has received an Honorary Doctorate for his distinguished service to the community. </p> <p dir="ltr">The legendary rock singer, who left school at 16 to join Cold Chisel as lead singer, was humbled when he accepted the award from the University of South Australia. </p> <p dir="ltr">The 66-year-old shared heartwarming photos to his Instagram with his family, and included a short snippet of his acceptance speech. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I am both humbled and proud to be receiving an Honorary Doctorate awarded to me by the @universitysa,” his caption read.</p> <p dir="ltr">“What an Honour. The magnitude of this occasion has only just sunk in. You can see I can’t stop smiling.” </p> <p dir="ltr">In his short snippet video, Jimmy thanked the university for the honour and said everyone is capable of achieving their goals. </p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjFbIMZgLC8/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjFbIMZgLC8/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Jimmy Barnes (@jimmybarnesofficial)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“Congratulations to each  and every one of you guys,” he said. </p> <p dir="ltr">“The Honours we receive today recognise what we are capable of achieving when you refuse to let anyone’s limitations stop you. </p> <p dir="ltr">“You continue to strive for that kind of honour in everything that you do in the year’s ahead. </p> <p dir="ltr">“And finally thank you to the University of South Australia for granting me this honour.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Music

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NASA releases highest-resolution images of infrared Universe

<p dir="ltr">New images released by NASA have captured the Universe in a level of detail never before seen and shows a cluster of galaxies as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.</p> <p dir="ltr">The images, taken by the $13 billion James Webb Space Telescope, depict galaxy cluster <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-delivers-deepest-infrared-image-of-universe-yet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SMACS 0723</a> using composite images from its near-infrared camera that were taken at different wavelengths.</p> <p dir="ltr">The galaxy cluster has been photographed previously by the Hubble Space Telescope, though its smaller mirrors and closer orbit to Earth mean its images are less detailed and that it can’t peer back as far in time in comparison to the James Webb telescope, as reported by the <em><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-13/nasa-webb-hubble-telescope-universe-image-comparison/101233396" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC</a></em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">As a result, the structures of distant galaxies are now visible, including clusters of stars and other features, according to a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-delivers-deepest-infrared-image-of-universe-yet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release</a> from NASA.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We are looking back in time to within a billion years after the big bang when viewing the youngest galaxies in this field,” the release reads.</p> <p dir="ltr">In total, four images have been released by NASA, depicting the cosmic cliffs of the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-reveals-cosmic-cliffs-glittering-landscape-of-star-birth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carina Nebula</a> (a star-forming gaseous cavity created from ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds), <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-sheds-light-on-galaxy-evolution-black-holes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stephen’s Quintet</a> (a group of five growing galaxies which appeared in the film <em>It’s a Wonderful Life</em>), the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-captures-dying-star-s-final-performance-in-fine-detail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Southern Ring Nebula</a> (a dying star surrounded by rings of gas and dust), and SMACS 0723.</p> <p dir="ltr">Spectra of the atmosphere surrounding <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-reveals-steamy-atmosphere-of-distant-planet-in-detail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WASP-96 b</a>, a hot gas giant exoplanet, was also released. It shows evidence of water, as well as clouds and haze in the atmosphere of the planet, which orbits a distant Sun-like star.</p> <p dir="ltr">These images and spectra collected from Webb’s other instruments, will be used by scientists to learn more about the masses, ages, histories and compositions of the distant galaxies.</p> <p dir="ltr">Experts from around the world have shared their excitement at the release of the images and what it will mean for future research.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Wow wow wow!!! The Webb telescope continues to absolutely amaze and delight with these first images!” Dr Kim-Vy Tran, an associate professor at UNSW and a professional astronomer, said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Stephan’s Quintet is a fabulous system of close galaxies, you can almost feel the shockwaves as these galaxies collide and tumble in their cosmic dance. Bound together by gravity, these galaxies are important for understanding the future of galaxies like our Milky Way.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Carinae nebula is also just superb. It’s a stellar nursery full of baby stars where we’re seeing incredible levels of detail for the first time.</p> <p dir="ltr">It’s like before we could see just the trees in the forest, but now we can see down to the branches and even the leaves of individual trees. Some of these baby stars are super-charged giants that are radiating huge amounts of energy, imagine a UV index of a gazillion!"</p> <p dir="ltr">Dr Themiya Nanayakkara, an astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology and the Australian point of contact for the James Webb Space Telescope user support, described seeing the images as “quite humbling”.</p> <p dir="ltr">"It is quite humbling to see the sharpest images of our birth clouds in our cosmic neighbourhood,” Dr Nanayakkara said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“As a person who has spent many nights using the largest telescopes on Earth to detect the faintest signatures of the early cosmos, I feel the transformation to JWST will be game-changing. The released spectra show that we don’t just detect one faint line, we can get the full suite of chemical elements in these galaxies.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This, for the first time, gives us unique human DNA-like signatures of the first galaxies in the Universe to build up the origin story of life and everything around us. And to think of that the most exciting times from this telescope are yet to come!"</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-131f1508-7fff-8c0e-70f5-200ccbb07932"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: </em><em>NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI</em></p>

Technology

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Kate Middleton cracks a crossword on the spot

<p dir="ltr">Kate Middleton has shown off her skill as a cruciverbalist - someone who enjoys and is skilled at crossword-solving - in a surprise encounter with a stumped student.</p> <p dir="ltr">The duchess was waved down during a royal visit to the University of Glasgow by 21-year-old Jack Baird, with a newspaper in hand and the hope that she could help him solve a tricky royal-related question, according to the <em><a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/word-perfect-kate-cracks-the-times-crossword-jw3ffhzr3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Times</a></em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">The statistics undergraduate told the <em>Times </em>he was stuck on “seven down”, which asked for two words for the “sovereign's annual allowance”.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-fcd09ad6-7fff-9395-999e-e6eb65ce9cdd"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“I couldn’t get the second word. I gave it to Kate and asked her as I’m sure she would have known,” Baird later told the newspaper.</p> <p dir="ltr">After he handed her the paper, which was May 8’s edition of the <em>Times</em>, Kate told him the answer: ‘Civil List’.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">The Duchess of Cambridge completed a crossword puzzle at the University of Glasgow. Jack Baird was stuck on 7 down:’Forerunner of the Sovereign Grant,the funding provided to support the official duties of The Queen'.Kate knew:Civil List,of course! (tip of the 👑 <a href="https://twitter.com/MattSunRoyal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MattSunRoyal</a> ) <a href="https://t.co/GmwV2wKU20">pic.twitter.com/GmwV2wKU20</a></p> <p>— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) <a href="https://twitter.com/RE_DailyMail/status/1524415326536237056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“She was very excited,” Baird continued. “It didn’t look like she was going to get it for a moment.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“She looked thrilled. I think she thought, ‘I wouldn’t live this down if I get this wrong’.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The student said he was “so chuffed” and would frame the page containing the non-cryptic Jumbo Crossword.</p> <p dir="ltr">He explained that the interaction was totally spontaneous and that he didn’t even know the royal couple would be on campus.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d4c3a217-7fff-b0a5-ba5b-23ed152d46d1"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“I’d been studying in the library for exams and saw a group of people out here and wondered what was going on,” he said.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">So lovely to see so many people at the University today - it was buzzing! <a href="https://t.co/z8bv40LbDN">pic.twitter.com/z8bv40LbDN</a></p> <p>— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) <a href="https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1524448734951657472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">The Duke and Duchess had come to the university to meet with students and professors to discuss mental health support, especially during COVID-19 and exam periods.</p> <p dir="ltr">In fact, they attracted such a large crowd of students that they later took to Twitter to apologise for not meeting them all.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-acf35488-7fff-c8e3-b40a-9011cbaffea5"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“So many students! Sorry if we missed you,” they wrote on their official Kensington Royal Twitter account, shared alongside a clip of them chatting with the crowd.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">So many students! Sorry if we missed you. <a href="https://t.co/dqoupFsWS4">pic.twitter.com/dqoupFsWS4</a></p> <p>— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) <a href="https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1524418612420919298?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">In another post, the couple shared a series of photos of themselves sitting with students and faculty to discuss mental health.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Exam season can be a challenging time for students of all ages,” the <a href="https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1524448437240012800" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweet</a> read.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The support offered by universities, as well as the understanding and empathy of its students, has given us a real insight to the importance &amp; value of talking about mental wellbeing #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-bad11cc5-7fff-e098-7309-1306fa64f662"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Mind

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Australia should have a universal basic income for artists. Here’s what that could look like

<p>While artists struggle to get noticed in the Australian political arena, particularly in the lead up to an election, other nations take their artists more seriously – even seeing them as critical to a successful and vibrant community.</p> <p>When I talked to artists during the pandemic, it became evident they needed <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/24/13561">four conditions</a> in place to be able to practice successfully as artists: a regular income, a place to do their work, capacity to do their work and validation of their work. </p> <p>Without these conditions, productivity and mental health suffer. </p> <p>The Republic of Ireland has recently instituted <a href="https://mymodernmet.com/ireland-basic-income-program/">a new scheme</a> to provide three-year support for up to 2,000 individual artists, piloting a form of universal basic income.</p> <p>Artists will be expected to meet at least two out of three qualifying terms to apply for the scheme: have earned an income from the arts, have an existing body of work and/or be members of a recognised arts body, such as a trade union. </p> <p>Successful artists and creative workers will be given a weekly income of €325 (A$479), and be able to earn additional money without this basic income being affected.</p> <p>The Irish Minister for the Arts Catherine Martin hopes this first model <a href="https://www.thesun.ie/news/8609980/basic-income-support-scheme-artists-ireland-catherine-martin/">can be broadened</a> to include all practising Irish artists in the future. </p> <p>She sees it as a simple and economic method to protect artists from precarious existences while benefiting the community as whole.</p> <h2>International support for artists</h2> <p>The Irish scheme for a universal basic income for artists isn’t the only model.</p> <p>In the US, several states and private foundations have developed schemes to provide direct support to artists as an outcome of the pandemic. </p> <p>In May 2021, the City of New York paid <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dcla/cultural-funding/cityartistcorp.page">3,000 artists</a> no-strings-attached grants of US$5,000 (A$7,080). Additional grants were provided for public art works, exhibitions, workshops and showcase events.</p> <p>In June 2021, the philanthropic Mellon Foundation announced a new program called <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/mellon-foundation-creatives-rebuild-new-york-1976068">Creatives Rebuild New York</a> to provide 2,400 New York artists with a guaranteed monthly income of US$1,000 (A$1,415) for 18 months.</p> <p>The program employed another 300 artists and creative workers on an annual salary of US$65,000 (A$92,000) to work in collaboration with community organisations and local authorities for two years. They will <a href="https://www.creativesrebuildny.org/">also receive</a> other benefits and dedicated time to work on their artistic practice. Both these programs were designed by artists. </p> <p>The city of San Francisco provided US$1,000 per month for 130 local artists for six months from mid-2021. Thanks to philanthropic support from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, the <a href="https://sfist.com/2021/05/24/guaranteed-income-program-for-sf-artists-gets-expanded-thanks-to-3-5m-gift-from-twitter-square-ceo-jack-dorsey/">scheme expanded</a> to support 180 artists for 18 months.</p> <p>The city of St Paul in Minnesota, with a population of just over 300,000, has <a href="https://www.twincities.com/2021/04/05/st-paul-springboard-for-the-arts-launches-program-to-grant-500-a-month-to-frogtown-and-rondo-artists/">initiated a program</a> to give 25 artists a guaranteed unrestricted income of US$500 (A$708) per month for a period of 18 months.</p> <p>Closer to home, the House of the Arts (HOTA) on the Gold Coast recognised the economic dilemma of local artists during the pandemic.</p> <p>In 2021, they <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news/news/artkeeper-program-puts-artists-on-payroll-2515622">employed four artists</a> to work three days a week for six months on their own creative projects at HOTA. They were given a regular salary, a studio to work in, and were invited to participate in the organisational planning of HOTA.</p> <h2>Could we recreate this in Australia?</h2> <p>In Australia, some artists were eligible for schemes like JobKeeper and JobSeeker during 2020 and into early 2021, which could provide a model for how to support artists with a basic income going forward. </p> <p>But in 2020-21 the Australia Council only funded <a href="https://www.transparency.gov.au/annual-reports/australia-council/reporting-year/2020-21">584 individual artists</a>, a drop of nearly 50% <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/australia_council_annual_report_2012-13.pdf">since 2012-13</a>.</p> <p>Ireland’s three-year pilot program for artists will cost the government around €25 million (A$37 million). With a population about a fifth of Australia’s, a similar scheme applied here using the same ratio could provide funding to 10,000 individual artists at a cost of A$185 million over three years. </p> <p>This would be a drop in the ocean for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/budget-2022-frydenberg-has-spent-big-but-on-the-whole-responsibly-180122">Australian federal budget</a>, but it could be a game changer for the community, the arts and artists. </p> <p>A universal basic income provides a regular amount of money that allows the individual to live above the breadline. It can transform an individual’s life while having a <a href="https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/handle/10024/161361">positive impact</a> on the whole of society. </p> <p>Schemes that provide an ongoing income to individual artists – such as royalty schemes, lending rights and long-term leasing of artwork by government bodies and corporations – are all important, but the amounts received from them for the majority of artists are usually quite limited.</p> <p>Just imagine if every Australian arts centre, library, school, university, hospital, local council and government department employed an artist in residence. The artist gets an income while the institution gets an extraordinary input of ideas and imagination that can transform their environment. </p> <p>We need to stop patronising our artists by giving them tiny grants and making them go through endless hoops and form filling to gratefully receive them. </p> <p>Artists are essential to our community. It is time to demonstrate – like Ireland and New York – the success of our artists reflects our healthy and vibrant nation, and pay them accordingly.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-should-have-a-universal-basic-income-for-artists-heres-what-that-could-look-like-182128" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Art

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Netflix and gill: TV for fish

<p>If you are a fish and want to watch TV, this might be the invention for you.</p> <p>Researchers from the University of Queensland have developed an ultraviolet “television” display specially designed for fish. This could help them learn more about how fish and other animals see the world, they suggest in their paper, published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution.</p> <p>“We affectionately call it the ‘UV-TV’, but I doubt that anyone would want one in their home!” says study leader Samuel Powell.</p> <p>Display monitors such as TVs or computer screens have previously been used in animal studies to learn how subjects react to a visual stimulus. But these are suited to human eyes and not all animals see the same wavelengths.</p> <p>“Human TVs generally use three colours – red, green and blue – to create images, but our newly-developed displays have five, including violet and ultraviolet,” says Powell.</p> <p>“Using this display, it’s now possible to show animals simple shapes, or to test their ability to tell colours apart, or their perception of motion by moving dot patterns.”</p> <p>This is a big step forward to learning how fish and other animals react to particular patterns, but you won’t be watching Finding Nemo with your pet goldfish yet – the TV’s not just low res, it comes with a health warning.</p> <p>“You’d have to wear sunglasses and sunscreen while watching it, and the resolution is quite low – 8 by 12 pixels in a 4 by 5 centimetre area – so don’t expect to be watching Netflix in ultraviolet anytime soon,” says Powell.</p> <p>“This very low resolution is enough to show dot patterns to test fish perception in what’s known as an Ishihara test, which would be familiar to anyone who’s been tested for colour blindness.</p> <p>“In this test, humans read a number hidden in a bunch of coloured dots, but as animals can’t read numbers back to us, they’re trained to peck the ‘odd dot’ out of a field of differently coloured dots.”</p> <p>The tiny TV is sufficient to learn how fish react to colour patterns in nature. “There are many colour patterns in nature that are invisible to us because we cannot detect UV,” says fellow researcher Karen Cheney.</p> <p>“Bees use UV patterns on flowers to locate nectar, for example, and fish can recognise individuals using UV facial patterns.”</p> <p>They are using this to study recognition between particular marine life based on scale patterns, to establish who is the boss.</p> <p>“We’ve recently started studying the vision of anemonefish or clownfish – aka, Nemo – which, unlike humans, have UV-sensitive vision.</p> <p>“Our research is already showing that the white stripes on anemonefish also reflect UV, so we think UV colour signals may be used to recognise each other and may be involved in signalling dominance within their social group.</p> <p>“Who knows what other discoveries we can now make about how certain animals behave, interact and think?”</p> <p>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/netflix-and-gill-tv-for-fish/">Cosmos Magazine</a>. </p>

TV

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What your music choice says about your personality

<p dir="ltr">A study has found the link between an individual’s music preferences and distinctive personality traits in music fans around the world. </p><p dir="ltr">The research, conducted by the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/musical-preferences-unite-personalities-worldwide">University of Cambridge</a>, found that those who like Ed Sheeran’s latest album are likely to be extroverted and confident, with their findings consistent across multiple countries. </p><p dir="ltr">Neurotic traits were found in global fans of Nirvana’s grunge hit <em>Smells Like Teen Spirit</em>, while most people will tend to sing Marvin Gaye’s <em>What’s Going On</em>, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's <em>Shallow</em>, regardless of personality. </p><p dir="ltr">The study, which involved more than 350,000 people from over 50 countries, found that conscientious people are unlikely to like the music from Rage Against the Machine, while international borders could not stop people from playing David Bowie’s <em>Space Oddity</em>. </p><p dir="ltr">Leader of the study Dr David Greenberg, who is also a musician, said the research shows an international common ground through music. </p><p dir="ltr">He said, “People may be divided by geography, language and culture, but if an introvert in one part of the world likes the same music as introverts elsewhere, that suggests that music could be a very powerful bridge.”</p><p dir="ltr">Dr Greenberg was surprised by the results of how neuroticism is expressed through a musical outlet, expecting people would prefer a slower, more sad song to express their discomfort. </p><p dir="ltr">However, according to Dr Greenberg, “Actually, on average, they seem to prefer more intense musical styles, which perhaps reflects inner angst and frustration.”</p><p dir="ltr">“That was surprising but people use music in different ways — some might use it for catharsis, others to change their mood.”</p><p dir="ltr">Today, people are using music as a way to signal their personality and so, the study argues, there is potential to use music as a way to bridge gaps between different social groups through the common language of music. </p><p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

Music

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"Make this stop": Ben Fordham lashes out

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Australian radio host Ben Fordham has criticised the University of Otago’s decision to name Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard their sportswoman of the year, the first transgender winner in the award’s 113-year history.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He took aim at the “woke brigade” on his 2GB breakfast program, where he claimed the inclusion of transgender athletes in sporting events is “making life harder for women”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ms Hubbard was honoured at the Blues Awards, which celebrates the sporting achievements of students of the university.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She received the award after becoming the first transgender athlete to compete in an individual event at the Olympic Games, where she competed in the 87+ kg weightlifting event in Tokyo.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They think they’re being inclusive, but they’re making life harder for women,” he </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/make-this-stop-ben-fordham-fires-up-over-transgender-athletes-accolade/news-story/fded9325f945776562c7d2740de55a1d" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">said</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> on Tuesday’s program.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Please, make this stop. When the sportswoman of the year is born a man, political correctness has gone a mile too far.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“If we keep on listening to the woke brigade there won’t be a need for women’s sport.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It comes down to biology, men are usually - not always - stronger than women.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After receiving the award, Ms Hubbard told the </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/other-sport/otago-university-honours-hubbard" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Otago Daily Times</span></a></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that she was “grateful for all of the support and kindness received from the teaching staff and students at Otago University”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It is not possible for athletes to compete at the Olympic level without the encouragement and aroha of friends, family and supporters,” she said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This award belongs to everyone who has been part of my Olympic journey.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Michaela Waite-Harvey, president of the Otago University Students’ Association at the university, said the Blues awards aim to celebrate Otago students who excel in their sport.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We could think of no-one more worthy of sportswoman of the year than Laurel Hubbard who represented Otago and New Zealand incredibly well at this year’s Tokyo Olympics,” she told the </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Otago Daily Times</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ms Hubbard’s qualification for the Games also sparked controversy, with former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner saying it was “not fair” and sports writer Ewan Mackena describing it as a “slap to the face of all women”.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: @benfordham9 / Instagram, Getty Images</span></em></p>

News

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Music really is a universal language

<div> <div class="copy"> <p>Tin Pan Alley, the Brill Building, Motown – all names synonymous with the creation of often formulaic yet highly successful styles of popular music that swept out of the United States and spread around the globe.</p> <p>Without being aware of it, these mid-twentieth-century hit-makers underpinned the finding of a new study: there are universal elements in music that connect with people everywhere.</p> <p><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.042">In a paper published in the journal </a><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.042">Current Biology</a>, researchers from Harvard University in the US and New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington say songs with a similar purpose – love songs, lullabies or dance music – tend to sound similar, no matter which culture they come from.</p> <p>The findings are consistent with the existence of universal links between form and function in vocal music, the researchers say.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p> <p>“Despite the staggering diversity of music influenced by countless cultures and readily available to the modern listener, our shared human nature may underlie basic musical structures that transcend cultural differences,” says the report’s lead author, psychologist Samuel Mehr, from Harvard.</p> <p>“We show that our shared psychology produces fundamental patterns in song that transcend our profound cultural differences,” adds co-author Manvir Singh, also from Harvard.</p> <p>“This suggests that our emotional and behavioural responses to aesthetic stimuli are remarkably similar across widely diverging populations.”</p> <p>The researchers say they have found evidence of recurrent, perceptible features of three domains of vocal music across 86 human societies.</p> <p>These inform the striking consistency of <span style="font-family: inherit;">understanding across listeners from around the globe – “listeners,” the add, “who presumably know little or nothing about the music of indigenous peoples”.</span></p> <p>Among non-human animals, there are links between form and function in vocalisation.</p> <p>For instance, when a lion roars or an eagle screeches, it sounds hostile to naive human listeners.</p> <p>But it wasn’t clear whether the same concept held in human song.</p> <p>Many people believe that music is mostly shaped by culture, leading them to question the relation between form and function, Singh says, explaining, “We wanted to find out if that was the case.”</p> <p>In their first experiment, the researchers asked 750 internet users in 60 countries to listen to 14-second excerpts of songs.</p> <p>The songs were selected from 86 predominantly small-scale societies, such as the Fulani people in Africa and the Blackfoot Indians from North America.</p> <p>They also spanned a wide array of geographic areas designed to reflect a broad sampling of human cultures.</p> <p>After listening to each excerpt, participants answered six questions indicating their perceptions of the function of each song on a six-point scale.</p> <p>The questions evaluated the degree to which listeners believed that each song was used.</p> <p>The possible uses offered were: dancing, soothing a baby, healing an illness, expressing love for another person, mourning the dead, and telling a story.</p> <p>In fact, none of the songs were used in mourning or to tell a story.</p> <p>The options were included to discourage listeners from assuming that only four song types were actually present.</p> <p>Participants listened to more than 26,000 excerpts and provided more than 150,000 ratings.</p> <p>Despite listeners’ unfamiliarity with the societies represented, the random sampling of each excerpt, short duration, and the enormous diversity of the music, the ratings demonstrated accurate and cross-culturally reliable inferences about song functions on the basis of their forms alone.</p> <p>In a follow-up experiment designed to explore possible ways in which people made those determinations about song function, the researchers asked 1000 internet users in the US and India to rate the excerpts for three “contextual” features: number of singers, gender of singer(s), and number of instruments.</p> <p>They also rated them for seven subjective musical features: melodic complexity, rhythmic complexity, tempo, steady beat, arousal, valence (or “goodness”), and pleasantness.</p> <p>Analysis found some relationships between various features and song function, but not enough to explain the way people were able to so reliably detect a song’s function.</p> <p>Mehr and Singh say that one of the most intriguing findings relates to the relationship between lullabies and dance songs.</p> <p>“Not only were users best at identifying songs used for those functions, but their musical features seem to oppose each other in many ways,” Mehr says.</p> <p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dance songs were generally faster, rhythmically and melodically complex, and perceived by participants as “happier” and “more exciting”. Lullabies, on the other hand, were slower, rhythmically and melodically simple, and perceived as “sadder” and “less exciting”.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p> <p>The researchers say they are now conducting these tests with listeners who live in isolated, small-scale societies and have never heard music other than that of their own cultures.</p> <p>They are also further analysing the music of many cultures to try to understand how their particular features relate to function and whether those features themselves might be universal.</p> <p>The study asks: Why do songs that share social functions have convergent forms?</p> <p>If dance songs are supposed to indicate unity, their context and musical features should amplify that signal.</p> <p>The research supports this idea: “Dance songs tend to have more singers, more instruments, more complex melodies, and more complex rhythms than other forms of music,” the authors write.</p> <p>Meanwhile, they add, if lullabies are supposed to signal parental attention to infants, their acoustic features should amplify that signal.</p> <p>Indeed, lullabies “tend to be rhythmically and melodically simpler, slower, sung by one female person, and with low arousal relative to other <span style="font-family: inherit;">forms of music.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The researchers say their study raises two key questions about the basic facts of </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">music. </span></p> <p>They note that despite the geographic spread of the experiment participants, all could read and write English, and all had access to a wide range of music through the Internet.</p> <p>This raises the question of whether the same assumptions about form and function will be found among people who are familiar only with music from a single culture.</p> <p>The authors suggest exploring this idea would result in “a stronger test of universality”.</p> <p>Second, they believe a stronger demonstration of universals in music would require “in-depth analyses of a cross-culturally representative sample of music from small-scale societies, informed by expert listeners, music information retrieval, and modern approaches from data <span style="font-family: inherit;">science”.</span></p> <p>Nevertheless, they conclude, the present work demonstrates that cross-cultural regularities in human behaviour results in music that fits into recurrent, recognisable forms while maintaining a profound and beautiful variability across cultures.</p> <div><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></div> <div></div> <div><em>This article was first published for <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/culture/music-really-is-a-universal-language/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> by Jeff Glorfeld.</em></div> </div> </div>

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New study warns how high Sydney COVID numbers could rise

<p>New research from Sydney University has found the daily COVID numbers for Greater Sydney will continue to rise, peaking between 1500 and 6000 cases by October under the current settings.</p> <p>The study found the daily numbers could spike up to 40,000 if the current restrictions are lifted.</p> <p>The complex modelling was led by Professor Mikhail Prokopenko, Director of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Complex Systems, who used data available until August 25.</p> <p>The total number of Australians infected in the month following reopening may exceed half a million, even with continued testing, tracing, isolation, quarantine and international travel restrictions.</p> <p><strong>Consistent adherence to social distancing is important</strong></p> <p>Professor Prokopenko said: “Our extended projections suggest that Delta cases will initially peak in early October and will begin to drop off as more of the population is vaccinated. However, consistent adherence to social distancing is important to prevent a sharp peak in cases.”</p> <p>“Although it is encouraging that more people are being vaccinated, we can expect to see a rapid increase in cases when we exit the lockdown. In fact, our modelling suggests the worst is yet to come if the restrictions are removed too soon and too abruptly,” he added.</p> <p>Professor Prokopenko said pandemic growth is expected to slow from mid-December, when 75 percent of the population is projected to be vaccinated and natural immunity will be developed by three to five percent of the entire population by the end of the year.</p> <p>Explaining further, Professor Prokopenko said: “The clear take away is this – with increasing vaccinations there is a path out of the current outbreak, but as a society we can either choose to land softly or come to a dramatic crash landing.,”</p> <p>“This will depend on the community continuing its high vaccine uptake, people maintaining social distancing over the coming months, and our healthcare system preparing and bolstering itself to meet the surge of hospitalisations which will come after the lockdown.</p> <p>“Although the current situation is frustrating, the lockdown end is now in sight, and we must not lose our focus until it is safe to do so. As Mahatma Gandhi famously asserted, `to lose patience is to lose the battle’ – this is a warning we must now all heed,” he added.</p> <p><strong>Some restrictions to stay after vaccination target reached</strong></p> <p>NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has pledged to keep some restrictions in place even after the 80 percent vaccination threshold is reached.</p> <p>Dr Kerry Chant said earlier this week that mask wearing might remain “for years.”</p> <p>It comes as NSW has reached new COVID-19 records with over 1000 cases recorded on Thursday.</p> <p><strong>Easing of some restrictions if you’re vaccinated</strong></p> <p>Despite the spike in infections, Berejiklian has announced a range of eased restrictions for those who are vaccinated surrounding outdoor gatherings which will come into effect on September 13.</p> <p>She added people need to get ready for when we reach the 70 percent vaccinated target and more restrictions will ease, but “…the condition of you participating in what will be reopening is on you being vaccinated. Because when you start opening at 70 per cent, there are certain activities only vaccinated people can do.”</p> <p>Those who live outside of the LGAs of concern will be allowed to have outdoor gatherings of up to five people, including children, so long as all adults are fully vaccinated. The gathering must occur within their LGA or within 5km from home.</p> <p>For those who live in the LGAs of concern, households with all adults vaccinated will be able to gather outdoors for recreation, including picnics, within the existing rules. This means for one hour only, outside curfew hours and within 5km of home. This is in addition to the one hour allowed for exercise.</p> <p><em>Photo: Getty Images</em></p> <p> </p>

Caring

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Students’ removal of Queen’s photo causes ire

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Students in the UK have caused a stir after voting to remove a photograph of the Queen from their university common room.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Postgraduate students at Magdalen College, Oxford, voted to take down the print, with minutes from the meeting noting that “for some students depictions of the monarch and the British monarchy represent recent colonial history.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The move drew criticism from UK Education secretary Gavin Williamson, who tweeted: “Oxford university students removing a picture of the Queen is simply absurd. She is the head of state and a symbol of what is best about the UK. During her long reign she has worked tirelessly to promote British values of tolerance, inclusivity and respect around the world.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In a swift response, Dinah Rose, the president of Magdalen College, defended the decision and wrote: “Here are some facts about Magdalen College and HM the Queen. The Middle Common Room is an organisation of graduate students. They don’t represent the College. A few years ago, in 2013 they bought a print of the Queen to decorate their common room.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They recently voted to take it down. Both of these decisions are their own to take, not the College’s. Magdalen strongly supports free speech and political debate and the MCR’s right to autonomy.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She added: “Being a student is about more than studying. It’s about exploring and debating ideas. It’s sometimes about provoking the older generation. Looks like that isn’t so hard to do these days.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rose also said the print would be safely stored in the event the students vote to put the print up once more.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Matthew Katzman, Magdalen’s MCR president, told the </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Daily Telegraph</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">: “It has been taken down. It was decided to leave the common room neutral. That was what this was about. The college will have plenty of depictions of various things but the common room is meant to be a space for all to feel welcome.” </span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Magdalen College, Theroyalfamily / Instagram</span></em></p>

Art

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University students jailed after finding KFC loophole

<p>A group of Chinese university students have been sentenced to up to two and a half years in jail after they found a loophole to receive AUD $40,000 worth of KFC.</p> <p>The university students from east China’s Jiangsu Province scammed KFC through their mobile apps,<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1223171.shtml" target="_blank">the<span> </span><em>Global Times</em><span> </span>reports.</a></p> <p>The group obtained free KFC meals and made profits by reselling it.</p> <p>In total, the fast food giant had economic losses equating to 200,000 yuan ($40,000).</p> <p>One student discovered that through his WeChat account, he could get meals and coupons without fronting up the money.</p> <p>The young person would sell coupons as well as meals to make a profit.</p> <p>He would also order meals for himself.</p> <p>In the time period between April and October 2018, his dealings led for the company to lose over 58,000 yuan ($11,000).</p> <p>The other students that were part of the elaborate scam had losses that ranged from 8,900 yuan ($1700) to 47,000 yuan ($9400) each.</p> <p>The court ruled the main instigator, whose last name is Xu, would be given a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence, along with a 6000 yuan ($1200) fine.</p> <p>They were charged for “crimes of fraud and imparting criminal methods”.</p> <p>The other four scammers were sentenced from 15 months to two years in jail.</p> <p>They were also fined between 1000 yuan ($200) and 4000 yuan ($800).</p>

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