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Gratitude amplified: Unlocking the key to happiness and deep connections

In today's fast-paced world, filled with negative news, challenging experiences, and personal losses, finding joy and gratitude can often be a difficult task. As we naturally tend to focus on the negative aspects of life, it becomes essential to pause and cultivate gratitude, which can have a profound impact on our lives and the lives of those around us. What is gratitude? Gratitude involves showing appreciation for the things in life that are important to you, and taking a moment to notice and acknowledge these moments have proven benefits of lifting mood and helping you feel more positive throughout the day. Have you ever stopped to notice that there is something to be grateful for every day if we just take stock? It could be a person who kindly let you merge into traffic, a refreshing breeze on a scorching day, a beautiful rainbow after a heavy downpour, or a thoughtful call or text from a friend. Gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships. We also know that Gratitude begets gratitude, meaning that any kind act is likely to bring kindness back, in spades! Practice Gratitude – Write down 3 things per day <a href="https://theresilienceproject.com.au/">The Resilience Project</a> changed my life by introducing a simple practice: at the end of each day, we take five minutes to write down three things we are grateful for that happened that day. It could be as simple as a walk in the sun, a phone call from a friend, a stroll with your dog, or even a comforting cup of tea. Engaging in this exercise helps you articulate your gratitude and realise the abundance of things to be grateful for in our everyday lives. I personally experienced the transformative power of gratitude during the two years of COVID lockdown in Victoria while working full-time and home schooling my two boys, aged 8 and 10. Our family embraced this practice each night, which not only changed our outlook on life but also sparked positive conversations during dinner. Surprisingly, it was often the simplest things we were all grateful for, like homemade meals or cherished moments of togetherness. I distinctly remember preparing a hot meal and passing it over our neighbour's fence when their family was unwell with COVID. To our surprise, a few weeks later, they reciprocated with a homecooked meal. In those challenging times, a sense of community became such a source of positivity, and we were immensely grateful for the love that went into that dinner. So why not take the time to stop and smell the roses and practice gratitude? Who knows, over time, you may start to notice your stress levels decreasing, your relationships improving, and be blessed with a strengthened sense of community. Melissa Cutajar is <a href="https://www.connectedwomen.net/">Connected Women</a>’s Member Experience and Partnerships Manager. With a deep interest in health and wellness, Melissa is a source of positivity and creativity to the Connected Women team. <a href="http://connectedwomen.net/">Connected Women</a> provides a community for women over 50 to connect with each other and build meaningful friendships. With a rapidly growing communities in Perth, Sydney, Wollongong, and Melbourne, Connected Women provides a safe and welcoming space for women to come together and share experiences. To learn more about the organisation and how you can get involved, visit connectedwomen.net. Image credits: Getty Images

Relationships

How to prevent travel-related deep vein thrombosis

No matter your transportation of choice, sitting motionless for long periods of time puts people at increased risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). DVT refers to blood clots that form deep in your veins, usually in the calf or leg, and results in the sensation of a swollen, painful limb. If you’ve been susceptible to DVT in your past travels, there are a few simple things to do to combat the problem. <ul> <li>Stand up and walk around at least every hour to keep blood flowing</li> <li>Exercise your calf muscles by standing on tip-toes a few times</li> <li>If you can’t walk around, exercise legs by stretching them, flexing feet and curling or pressing toes frequently</li> <li>Drink lots of fluids, especially water, to prevent dehydration</li> <li>Reduce alcohol and coffee consumption, which contributes to dehydration</li> <li>Avoid crossing your legs when seated or at least for long periods of time</li> <li>Wear compression stockings that put on gentle pressure on leg muscles.</li> <li>Don’t wear regular socks that are right or have tight elastic bands at top</li> <li>Skip the aspirin; there’s no evidence that it’s effective as a preventative measure</li> </ul> Image credits: Getty Images

Travel Tips

How to deep clean your kitchen bin

Cleaning the kitchen bin is household chore that can be easily overlooked until a stench begins to creep into your home. To rid your bin of the odour, follow these deep cleaning steps so that you can have a fresh-smelling and clean kitchen bin. 1. Put on your rubber gloves Cleaning a bin requires you to handle an object that has been full of food scraps and questionable liquids, it is best to wear some rubber gloves to protect you from the germs. 2. Empty the bin Begin by emptying your bin and ensuring that there are no lingering food particles in the bottom. Your main objective is to remove any gunk that can be seen. 3. Wash the bin If you have access to an outside area, take your bin outside and hose it down. If you can only clean your bin indoors, then you can do this in the bathtub. Once the bin has been rinsed, pat it down with paper towel. 4. Spray with disinfectant Using a disinfectant cleaner of your preference, generously spray down the inside and outside of your bin. Also include the top and bottom of the bin as you spray. 5. Scrub the bin Use a toilet brush or other long-handled nylon bristle brush to scrub your bin thoroughly. After you have finished scrubbing all over, let the disinfectant cleaner sit for five minutes. 6. Rinse and dry After the five minutes has passed, rinse the can thoroughly. Depending on what you prefer, let the bin dry in the sun or dry it with a towel. Once you have deep cleaned your bin, maintain your hard work by wiping down the inside and outside of the bin with disinfectant spray every time you empty the trash can. Image credits: Getty Images

Home & Garden

"Deep gratitude": Meghan Markle pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth

Meghan Markle has paid tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth, saying she feels "deep gratitude" for the time she got to spend with the monarch. In a tell-all interview with <a href="https://variety.com/2022/digital/features/meghan-markle-grieving-queen-elizabeth-working-harry-1235407176/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Variety</a>, the Duchess of Sussex reflected on the extraordinary events of the past month since the Queen passed, and how it affected her family. She said, "There’s been such an outpouring of love and support.” “I’m really grateful that I was able to be with my husband to support him, especially during that time." <div id="indie-campaign-rHsIzpAmAj7xkA4llYlH-2" data-campaign-name="NCA ENTERTAINMENT newsletter" data-campaign-indie="newsletter-signup" data-jira="TSN-268" data-from="1640955600000" data-to="1677502800000"></div> “What’s so beautiful is to look at the legacy that his grandmother was able to leave on so many fronts. Certainly, in terms of female leadership, she is the most shining example of what that looks like." “I feel deep gratitude to have been able to spend time with her and get to know her. “It’s been a complicated time, but my husband, ever the optimist, said, ‘Now she’s reunited with her husband.’” Meghan was also asked if she had any thoughts about her relationship with the Queen following her death. “I’ve reflected on that first official engagement that I had with her, how special that felt. I feel fortunate,” Meghan said. “And I continue to be proud to have had a nice warmth with the matriarch of the family.” The Duchess was also quizzed about her recent interview with The Cut, which "some found to be snarky". In that interview, Meghan claimed that "just by existing", her and Prince Harry were "upsetting the dynamic" of the royal family. Since then, she said she has had time to reflect on the story. She said, “Part of me is just really trusting, really open — that’s how I move in the world. I have to remember that I don’t ever want to become so jaded that that piece of me goes away. So despite any of those things? Onward. I can survive it.” Image credits: Variety

Family & Pets

Which of these pictures is a deepfake? Your brain knows the answer before you do

Deepfakes – AI-generated videos and pictures of people – are becoming more and more realistic. This makes them the perfect weapon for disinformation and fraud. But while you might consciously be tricked by a deepfake, new evidence suggests that your brain knows better. Fake portraits cause different signals to fire on brain scans, according to a paper <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2022.108079" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a> in Vision Research. While you consciously can’t spot the fake (for those playing at home, the face on the right is the phony), your neurons are more reliable. “Your brain sees the difference between the two images. You just can’t see it yet,” says co-author Associate Professor Thomas Carlson, a researcher at the University of Sydney’s School of Psychology. The researchers asked volunteers to view a series of several hundred photos, some of which were real and some of which were fakes generated by a GAN (a Generative Adversarial Network, a common way of making deepfakes). One group of 200 participants was asked to guess which images were real, and which were fake, by pressing a button. A different group of 22 participants didn’t guess, but underwent electroencephalography (EEG) tests while they were viewing the images. The EEGs showed distinct signals when participants were viewing deepfakes, compared to real images. “The brain is responding different than when it sees a real image,” says Carlson. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p197814-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.62 spai-bg-prepared init" action="/technology/deepfakes-brain-eegs/#wpcf7-f6-p197814-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="init"> <input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page spai-bg-prepared" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" aria-invalid="false" /> </form> </div> </div> “It’s sort of difficult to figure out what exactly it’s picking up on, because all you can really see is that it is different – that’s something we’ll have to do more research to figure out.” The EEG scans weren’t foolproof: they could only spot deepfakes 54% of the time. But that’s significantly better than the participants who were guessing consciously. People only found deepfakes 37% of the time – worse than if they’d just flipped a coin. “The fact that the brain can detect deepfakes means current deepfakes are flawed,” says Carlson. “If we can learn how the brain spots deepfakes, we could use this information to create algorithms to flag potential deepfakes on digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter.” It could also be used to prevent fraud and theft. “EEG-enabled helmets could have been helpful in preventing recent bank heist and corporate fraud cases in Dubai and the UK, where scammers used cloned voice technology to steal tens of millions of dollars,” says Carlson. “In these cases, finance personnel thought they heard the voice of a trusted client or associate and were duped into transferring funds.” But this is by no means a guarantee. The researchers point out in their paper that, even while they were doing the research, GANs got more advanced and generated better fake images than the ones they used in their study. It’s possible that, once the algorithms exist, deepfakers will just figure out ways to circumvent them. “That said, the deepfakes are always being generated by a computer that has an ‘idea’ of what a face is,” says Carlson. “As long as it’s generating these things from this ‘idea’, there might be just the slightest thing that’s wrong. It’s a matter of figuring out what’s wrong with it this time.”  <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=197814&title=Which+of+these+pictures+is+a+deepfake%3F+Your+brain+knows+the+answer+before+you+do" width="1" height="1" />  <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/deepfakes-brain-eegs/" 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/ellen-phiddian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ellen Phiddian</a>. Ellen Phiddian is a science journalist at Cosmos. She has a BSc (Honours) in chemistry and science communication, and an MSc in science communication, both from the Australian National University. Image: Moshel et al. 2022, Vision Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2022.108079 </div>

Technology

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial at 40 – a deep meditation on loneliness, and Spielberg’s most exhilarating film

40 years ago this month saw the release of Steven Spielberg’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial</a> – a film about a stranded alien, the boy called Elliott who discovers it and a bond of friendship that remains as magical and heartbreaking as it did back in 1982. We think of Spielberg movies today as thrilling roller-coaster rides, full of sharks, dinosaurs and swashbuckling archaeologists. Yet for me, E.T. remains Spielberg’s most exhilarating work: a deep meditation on loneliness, friendship and growing up in small-town America. Aided by John Williams’s Oscar-winning score and Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore’s touching performances, E.T. feels both of its time and for all time. As Spielberg <a href="https://www.contactmusic.com/pages/et2x21x03x02" target="_blank" rel="noopener">once said</a>: I think that E.T. is for the people we are, the people we have been and the people we want to be again. <h2>A child in need of a friend</h2> After the breathless trio of Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Spielberg wanted to make a more intimate film about his isolated childhood in suburban Arizona <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/steven-spielberg-et-divorce-parents-anniversary-b2063879.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as he came to terms</a> with the divorce of his parents. At the same time, he had commissioned a script about a suburban family terrorised by a group of aliens with one befriending the family’s son. The DNA of both stories would make their way into this film. Like Spielberg, Elliott is a loner. He’s not playing sport, or going out with girls or getting into trouble. He is introverted and thoughtful. And in need of company. One of Spielberg’s great underrated talents is his direction of children. Many of his films feature young children at their centre – think The BFG (2016), A.I. (2001) and War Horse (2011). In E.T., Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore as brother and sister Elliott and Gertie bring credibility and pathos to their roles, fitting seamlessly into the southern Californian ‘burb culture recreated so fondly by the director. Spielberg’s grasp of childlike wonder is everywhere: notice how he shoots from the children’s eye level and shows adults only from the waist down. For the first time in his career, Spielberg rejected storyboards and <a href="https://ascmag.com/articles/spielberg-et-the-extraterrestrial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot scenes chronologically</a>, allowing Thomas and Barrymore time and space to improvise. The domestic and school scenes (hiding E.T. from the mother, tempting it into the house with Reese’s Pieces, freeing frogs destined for dissection) all feel more real because of this. <h2>And what of our alien?</h2> Before E.T., Hollywood saw aliens as hostile critters intent on planetary carnage. The recent extra-terrestrials in Alien (1979) and The Thing (1982) had caused havoc and trauma. E.T. is different: partly modelled on the facial features of Albert Einstein, it is inquisitive, thoughtful, funny. In the delightful Halloween scene, Elliott throws a white sheet over it as a disguise, and E.T. suddenly spots a child dressed up as Yoda, excitedly repeating “Home! Home!”. From this moment, Hollywood realised the marketing potential of “cute aliens”; whether Ewoks, Grogu or Toy Story’s “Little Green Men”. It is small wonder that Variety <a href="https://variety.com/1982/film/reviews/e-t-the-extra-terrestrial-1200425287/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praised</a> E.T. as the “best Disney film Disney never made”. The alien plays another role too: it fills the void of the absent father. Paternal lack and the strains it places on families is a familiar trope in Spielberg’s films, from Jurassic Park (1993) to Catch Me If You Can (2002) to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). All we know is that Elliott’s father is “in Mexico, with Sally”: left behind is a stressed mother and bickering siblings. Some contend that E.T. is a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4239568?seq=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">modern-day fairy tale</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/15/movies/l-film-mailbag-is-et-a-religious-parable-073792.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Christian parable</a>. For others, it is an illustration of “<a href="https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/18452/23096/9783631837801%20%E2%80%93%20Echoes%20of%20Reaganism%20in%20Hollywood%20Blockbuster%20Movies%20from%20the%201980s%20to%20the%202010s.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reaganite entertainment</a>”, upholding the sanctity of the nuclear family but distrustful of bureaucratic interference and governmental surveillance. <h2>Spielberg at his best</h2> E.T. earned US$800 million at the box office. Adjusted for inflation, four decades on, that is still the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films_in_the_United_States_and_Canada#Adjusted_for_ticket-price_inflation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fourth highest grossing</a> movie ever. For some naysayers, its success was further evidence of the special effects-laden, high-concept spectacle film that was beginning to reign in mainstream film culture. But I think E.T. is much more than that: it is a movie with a heart. The special effects are minimal. What counts is the story, and the boy and his friend. Spielberg’s films are to this day <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2011/12/critics-notebook-putting-steven-spielberg-on-trial-50244/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticised</a> as mawkish and overly sentimental, deliberately engineered to cynically manipulate our emotions. Not so in E.T.: the pleasure is genuine and the tears are earned. E.T. became a pop culture phenomenon. The shot of Elliott and E.T. on a bike, flying across the moon, remains an iconic image. “Phone home” has become part of our lexicon. Its message of peaceful coexistence between creatures from different worlds today seems more appropriate than ever. Aliens stranded on earth are a staple of contemporary cinema, from Under the Skin (2013) to The Iron Giant (1999). And Netflix’s current global hit Stranger Things contains a treasure trove of E.T.’s visual references. Spielberg may have made bigger, louder films, and more historically profound ones, but E.T. endures as his best. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/e-t-the-extra-terrestrial-at-40-a-deep-meditation-on-loneliness-and-spielbergs-most-exhilarating-film-183985" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Movies

Preppers is a deep reading of colonial violence – and a hilarious, must-watch Aussie TV comedy

A sophisticated multi-layered critique of colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy with an all-star Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cast (along with some well-known non-Indigenous personalities playing an assortment of “allies”), Preppers is hilarious. Trying to navigate being the only Indigenous person on an all-white TV morning show, Wake up Australia, and dealing with <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/unmasking-the-racial-contract-debbie-bargallie/book/9781925302653.html">daily microaggressions</a>, Charlie (Nakkiah Lui) finds herself suffering feelings of inadequacy and soothing herself with self-help affirmations. Then, after a series of unfortunate events, she wakes to find herself at a doomsday preppers hold out known as “Eden 2”. The six-part series then unfolds in an isolated camp where power relations shift as everyone prepares for the end of the world. The core cast of seven is led by a group of brilliant Blak actors: Lui is joined by Jack Charles, Meyne Wyatt, Ursula Yovich and Aaron McGrath, with non-Indigenous actors Eryn Jean Norvill and Chum Ehelepola rounding out the preppers. Many other wonderful actors move in and out of the series, including Miranda Tapsell, Luke Carroll and Christine Anu, as it tackles some big issues such as colonial violence, frontier wars, inter-generational trauma and the politics of identity. But it does this all in the great Aussie tradition of <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-84796-8_6">taking the piss</a>: making fun of the things that are absurd, risible, offensive and hurtful. <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nvb1Mx34TiA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <h2>A story of allyship</h2> <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-84796-8_10">Much has been written on the topic of allyship</a> with Indigenous people, particularly the danger that, in seeking “ally” status one is really seeking to position oneself as the “good white person”. If white allies are motivated solely by a desire to be seen as a “good person”, there is a danger they might remain <a href="https://ro.uow.edu.au/lhapapers/2070/">ignorant of or indifferent</a> to larger structures of power. Preppers explores this complexity in a way that will make us all laugh, while also revealing how allyship operates to silence or take from Indigenous people. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430732/original/file-20211108-25-bmjnpb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430732/original/file-20211108-25-bmjnpb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="A white woman dressed like a coloniser, and an Aboriginal woman dressed as an Aussie flag thong." /></a> Is this allyship? ABC TV In one episode, the group is accidentally locked in the bunker. Jayden (Aaron McGrath) calls on Kirby (Eryn Jean Norvill) to be sacrificed before they run out of air. As Jayden describes it, this would be “the ultimate display of white allyship”. Kirby, not very happy to comply, responds by stating she should survive to go on and tell the story. “We don’t need another white person to tell a Black story,” says Jayden. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430731/original/file-20211108-10550-nd7vuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430731/original/file-20211108-10550-nd7vuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="A white woman with a shotgun mike, looked on by three Aboriginal people." /></a> ‘We don’t need another white person to tell a Black story’, Jayden tells Kirby. ABC TV Becoming an ally is no simple or straightforward matter. Instead, it requires constant reflection on your social position, and remaining accountable to those with whom you are “allied” – but you probably won’t be called to self-sacrifice to ensure enough air is left in your doomsday bunker. In true Hollywood end-of-days fashion, the group turns on itself. Kirby declares Charlie (Lui) will be the one to die. Charlie’s reward will be becoming the namesake for a future child of born again Christians Lionel (New Zealand-Sri Lankan actor Chum Ehelepola) and Kelly (Ursula Yovich). Not the first or the second child but one of the later ones, Kelly notes. An annual day of honour will also be bestowed upon Charlie – “a day of mourning and dancing and stuff”. Thankfully, they are saved by the arrival of Charlie’s mum, Marie (Christine Anu). <h2>Tough truths through comedy</h2> Preppers unpacks what we think we know – and what has been taught to us as truth – about colonisation. In one scene, bones are found. The preppers suspect the bones could be those of an Aboriginal person killed during the frontier wars. The truth of these atrocities is questioned by some members of the group. “Don’t they teach you that in school?”, Jayden asks. “We used to make boomerangs out of Popsicle sticks, does that count?”, asks Lionel. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430733/original/file-20211108-10010-1o9yuk7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430733/original/file-20211108-10010-1o9yuk7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Jack Charles" /></a> Through Monty (Jack Charles), Preppers tells the truth about Australia’s history. ABC TV The resident Elder, Monty (Jack Charles), reveals he may have some records of local frontier wars and quips “that is the thing with you white fellas. You deny it but you wrote it down”. Describing <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/this-interactive-map-highlights-150-indigenous-massacres">frontier violence</a> as an apocalypse, Monty shows the group a series of slides of colonial soldiers and settlers killing Aboriginal people, declaring they were “led by a cruel man, a real dog. He shot, burnt, beat, hung local Aboriginal people”. Even though Preppers is a comedy, the show provides a deep reading often left out of recollections of colonial violence. Indigenous people were not just passive victims of the heinous crimes. They were people who fought for their lives and Country. “They ambushed this colonial dog and his men, stole their weapons and turned the guns back on them. The Blackfullas had their revenge”, says Monty. <h2>Blackfulla deadly</h2> From Charlie, whose anxiety manifests into uncontrollable flatulence, to a Black <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/is-you-vs-wild-real-netflix-bear-gryllls.html">Bear Grylls</a>-alpha-male-wannabe (Guy, played by Meyne Wyatt), to a pair of amorous born again Christians practising abstinence, Preppers includes brilliant performances from all in the cast. Preppers embodies the true definition of Blak humour in all its intricacies, and the unique ways Indigenous comedy can address the complexities of everyday life of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in contemporary Australia. The series is, to quote a line in one of the episodes, “like deadly, like Blackfulla deadly, not like gammin [fake or pretend]” - a must watch! Preppers is on ABC from November 10.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170100/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bronwyn-carlson-136214">Bronwyn Carlson</a>, Professor, Indigenous Studies and Director of The Centre for Global Indigenous Futures, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/preppers-is-a-deep-reading-of-colonial-violence-and-a-hilarious-must-watch-aussie-tv-comedy-170100">original article</a>. Image: ABC

New “miracle” Parkinson’s treatment can be done “anywhere in the world”

World-first technology has opened doors for new treatment of Parkinson’s disease, with the new wireless implants being dubbed a “miracle” by patients. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) implants reduce the symptoms of Parkinsons, and have required adjusting from a neurologist every time a patient’s condition changes - until now. The new technology from neuromodulation company Abbott allows specialists to adjust DBS devices remotely over the internet. For 70-year-old Clive Couperthwaite, the first patient to use the new tech as part of a clinical trial last year, the development has put an end to his two-hour commutes for 20-minute adjustments to his implant. “I’m not the patient that lives the furthest away, but it’s a complication to get in [to visit a specialist] … if you live in Longreach or some place out of the city - it’s a major demand, Mr Couperthwaite <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-29/qld-remote-brain-function-parkinsons-treatment-breakthrough/100576716" target="_blank">said</a>. “When you live so far away from your specialist, it’s anxiety-provoking because what if something goes wrong. <img style="width: 0px; height:0px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7845200/_0-17-screenshot.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/b2d4ab738fcf499ea41e2d814c23d5f2" /> Clive Couperthwaite, the first person to use the new remote technology. Image: Abbott / YouTube “You feel like you can live again - you don’t have to keep looking over your shoulder.” The technology has been approved for use in Australia, Europe, and the United States. Professor Peter Silburn, a neurologist from the Queensland Brain Institute, said the development of the new technology has been “the most exciting development” in treatment of the neurological disease since the DBS device itself. The DBS device works as a pacemaker for the brain, sending electrical signals to areas responsible for movement to reduce symptoms. “We take away the cardinal symptoms of Parkinson’s and we’re able to take the drugs right down - if not stop them all together,” Dr Silburn said. <img style="width: 0px; height:0px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7845199/_1-26-screenshot.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/80b1ad454cf64e9bbdeab17e3c6b2dce" /> Two electrodes are implanted in the brain and receive electrical signals from the device, implanted in the chest. Image: Abbott / YouTube Without the new technology, Dr Silburn said the device may need to be adjusted as frequently as every two weeks. Now, the wireless technology allows specialists such as Dr Silburn to connect with patients via an app installed on paired devices - meaning that adjustments can be made from anywhere in the world. “This is going to have a major impact for particularly regional Australians,” Dr Silburn said. “It reduces the burden of care, whether you’re remote in the bush or an hour away in the car - someone has to give up their time to bring you in. “If you’re way out in the middle of Australia and something goes wrong, you need to have a Careflight, that could be completely eliminated.” Mr Couperthwaite said the DBS implant is the source of his autonomy, allowing him to complete tasks from painting to kayaking. “Before I was shaking through my hands, I couldn’t write my name legibly,” he said. Migual Diaz, the chief executive of Parkinson’s Australia, said the new development could lead more people to pursue DBS as a form of treatment, especially if they are geographically isolated. “People [who] may have been put off by the fact that you have to come to Brisbane to have [adjustments] and have opted not to have DBS surgery might now reconsider that,” he said. “Currently, there is no cure for Parkinson’s, so anything that will improve their wellbeing is an absolute benefit and we’ve got to pursue it.” Image: Abbott / YouTube

Technology

"Deep sadness": Hugh Jackman's tragic news

Hugh Jackman has announced his dad, Christopher, died on Father's Day and the Hollywood star has shared a powerful tribute to his father who "taught him everything" after his mother abandoned him as a child. The Australian actor, 56, shared the news on Instagram alongside an image of his father, saying: 'In the early hours of Father's Day (AU), my Dad peacefully passed away. And whilst there is deep sadness, I am filled with such gratitude and love. My Dad was in a word, extraordinary. He devoted his life to his family, his work and his faith. I pray he is now at peace with God.’ <blockquote 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);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CTelQMJrQSe/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13"> <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> <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;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CTelQMJrQSe/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Hugh Jackman (@thehughjackman)</a> </div> </blockquote> Christopher Jackman was a British-born, Cambridge-educated accountant, who was believed to have been around 84 years old. Christopher and his ex-wife - Hugh's mum - Grace, are both British and while Hugh was born in Australia, he is a British citizen, having said: “My parents are English and I have a British passport so I'm a British citizen.” Grace left Oz and returned to her native England in the late '70s, leaving her husband to raise Hugh alone and his siblings alone when Hugh was eight-years-old.. Recalling his difficult childhood previously Hugh has said: ''It was traumatic. 'I thought she was probably going to come back. And then it sort of dragged on and on.” It wasn't until Hugh was '12 or 13' that it dawned on him his mother would never return. In 2012, Hugh broke down on 60 Minutes when discussing his mother leaving his father, himself and his siblings. He said: “My father is my rock. It's where I learned everything about loyalty, dependability, being there day in, day out, no matter what.” “It's always about the family,” he added of the values that his father has instilled in him. “Dad used to pray every night that mum would come back,” he added. Hugh once told an Australian magazine: “The thing I never felt - and I know this might sound strange - I never felt that my mum didn't love me.” The star told has said he felt traumatised and ashamed for years after his mother left but that he’s since come to realise over time that she was struggling with postnatal depression without a proper support system. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.36645962732916px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7843797/hugh-jackman-mum-um.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/e0061752e2164e4893c50b4574d967c1" /> “At the time, it was difficult,” he said. “One of the main things I remember is that horrible feeling that people were talking about you and looking at you because it was odd for the mother to leave. “For many years, I thought it was not going to be forever, so I clung on to that. Up until about the age of 12 or 13, I thought mum and dad would get back together... Realising it wasn't going to happen was probably the toughest time to be honest.” Years later Hugh spoke to his mother about her decision to leave, and realised she had her own battles, which he wouldn't have been able to understand as a child. “I know she was struggling. She was in hospital after I was born suffering from post-natal depression,” he said. “And then you add five kids into the mix and the fact she had emigrated from England and there wasn't a support network for her here, plus the fact that dad was at work all day - and you realise that as parents we make mistakes,” he added. Hugh explained that having children of his own with wife Deborra-Lee Furness - they share son Oscar, 21, and daughter Ava, 16, both adopted - gave him “another level of empathy and understanding” that allowed him to build bridges with his mother. Fortunately, Hugh and his mother reconciled years later, and are now frequently pictured together at the actor's ritzy events and in social media posts. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.46853146853147px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7843798/hugh-jackman-6-um.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/9a19c66ec31a4b2093b1a14d676f0465" /> Frequent heartfelt tributes to his father Hugh frequently shared heartfelt tributes to his father on social media. For Father's Day 2018, the Oscar-nominated star shared a touching post on Instagram alongside a photo of the beaming pair. 'Happy Father's Day to the man who taught me to show respect for others,' he posted. 'For education, for being led by your passions. Who taught me to never stop growing and learning.’ Hugh added: 'To work hard and realize that preparation is the bedrock for success. And above all, to find purpose beyond oneself.' The well-known actor finished the post with a simple: 'I love you Dad!' 25th wedding anniversary of his own The Broadway actor recently celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary to wife Deborra-Lee Furness. In April, Hugh shared photos from their 1996 wedding day alongside a heartfelt tribute. 'Being married to you, Deb, is as natural as breathing. From nearly the moment we met... I knew our destiny was to be together,' he began. 'In our 25 years - our love has only grown deeper. The fun, excitement and adventure more exhilarating; the learning even greater.’ In an interview with NBC's Today show earlier this year, he called his wife the 'most optimistic person' in his life. “Deb is the lightest, most optimistic person I've ever met in my life. Like, if you ever want to play who's the happiest person in the room, Deb wins,” he said. The couple moved from Sydney to New York with their children in 2008, where they own an apartment in the West Village. Image: Instagram

Family & Pets

Body fat deep below the surface is a toxic risk especially for your heart

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s easy to forget one of the largest health challenges we face remains the global obesity epidemic. <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight">World Health Organisation data</a> shows obesity has nearly tripled in less than 50 years, with about <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight">40% of adults worldwide</a> now overweight or obese. High body fat increases the risk of chronic diseases, including heart problems, diabetes and cancer. However, it’s not simply the total amount of body fat that can increase the risk of disease. The type and location of fat is also important. We’ve known for some time that subcutaneous fat — the fat just below the skin — <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0171933513000459">increases inflammation</a> in the body. But in recent years, researchers have realised an even more serious risk is the unseen deep body fat that accumulates around vital organs. Fat around organs can be ‘toxic’ Fat is not all bad — in fact, some fat does a lot of good. It helps protect vulnerable organs and tissues, and provides a convenient energy supply. If you’re out in the cold, it’s essential fuel for body warming through shivering. But excess fat can increase blood pressure and potentially lead to complications such as heart disease and stroke. Many clinicians use <a href="https://theconversation.com/body-mass-and-evolution-why-the-body-mass-index-is-a-limited-measure-of-public-health-79671">body mass index (BMI)</a> to measure a healthy weight range. It’s calculated as body weight divided by the square of height, and it factors in a healthy amount of fat. But BMI can’t provide information about the shape and size of potentially dangerous internal fat deposits, known as “visceral fat”. Over recent years it’s become apparent visceral fat can lead to disease, and good fat can turn into toxic fat when there is too much. Various organs seem to accumulate visceral fat. This can be a problem because it can create and release damaging molecules and hormones into the blood. These are transported in the bloodstream, potentially causing health complications in distant parts of the body. For example, toxic fat can release proteins that blunt the body’s sensitivity to insulin. Blood glucose levels then rise, potentially <a href="https://www.diabetes.co.uk/body/visceral-fat.html">causing diabetes in the long term</a>. Visceral fat can also stimulate uncontrolled cell growth and replication, <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/obesity/obesity-fact-sheet">potentially triggering some forms of cancer</a>. A fatty liver is associated with metabolic diseases, and excess kidney fat interferes with the body’s fluid balance. The heart is especially vulnerable Visceral fat can also directly affect the organ around which it’s wrapped. Our <a href="https://www.onlinejacc.org/content/76/10/1197?download=true">new research</a>, published in September in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found visceral fat around the heart produces biochemical molecules that can make the heart beat erratically. These molecules potentially cause a serious heart condition called <a href="https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/conditions/atrial-fibrillation">atrial fibrillation</a>, by disrupting the heart’s electrical activity. Atrial fibrillation is one of the most common types of heart rhythm disturbance, and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa612/5899003">one in three people</a> over 55 will develop the condition. It occurs when the regular signal to drive each heartbeat originating in the top portion of the heart, the atria, is disrupted. It can cause an irregular and chaotic heartbeat, disrupting the heart’s coordinated pumping action. This can mean not enough fresh blood is circulated to allow regular daily activity. For some people, living with episodes of atrial fibrillation is a daily challenge – coping with bouts of dizziness, the distressing awareness of a “racing heart”, and chest palpitations. Other people may be unaware they have the condition and the first sign could be tragic, such as a stroke due to a blood clot travelling to the brain. This can lead to <a href="https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/conditions/heart-failure">heart failure</a>. An advertisement from the Western Australian health department warning viewers about toxic fat. Only in recent years have researchers discovered the dangers of hidden fat around organs. We worked with clinical cardiologists at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and found fat around the heart secretes molecules which change how nearby cells “talk” to each other, slowing cell-to-cell communication. Because the transfer of electrical signals in the heart muscle are delayed, the heartbeat is potentially destabilised. Although a high BMI increases the risk of atrial fibrillation, it’s the fat burden on the heart, and not BMI itself, that’s most important in electrical and structural disruption. This suggests toxic substances released from the surrounding fat can directly harm the nearby organ, without travelling via the blood. For heart patients, these findings mean the surgical removal of cardiac fat could be an effective treatment to consider. Also, it potentially paves the way for the future development of drugs that can suppress the release of damaging molecules from hidden fat. Nevertheless, these findings underscore the danger of an “obese heart”, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Research is emerging that obesity is a major risk factor for <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/obesity-and-covid-19.html">serious complications while infected with the virus</a>, and the fat load on the heart may be implicated. Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lea-m-d-delbridge-1155735">Lea M D Delbridge</a>, University of Melbourne and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/james-bell-1156890">James Bell</a>, La Trobe University. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/body-fat-deep-below-the-surface-is-a-toxic-risk-especially-for-your-heart-146307">The Conversation</a>.

Retirement Life

Lockdown dangers: Young man dies of blood clot after video game binge

A father has warned parents and young people to stay active during the coronavirus lockdown after his 24-year-old son died from deep vein thrombosis (DVT). In a post on Facebook, Stanley Greening, 56, from Bedfordshire, in the UK told friends about the death of his son Louis O’Neill in early June. “On 3rd June something so awful happened, the worst imaginable thing to happen to such a young man and the worst imaginable thing to happen to a parent,” he wrote. “My son, my dear boy, Louis, has gone. Not from the evil virus but because of it. His young life, barely begun, still trying to find his feet, just torn away.” Louis had been furloughed from his job as a soccer coach at Centre Parcs since mid-March, when the UK COVID-19 lockdown was first imposed. The young man then took to online gaming with friends to pass time, Stanley said. “Caught up in a virtual world he became less active, so easily done. Hours fly by when absorbed by the screen, I’ve done it countless times myself,” Stanley said. Two weeks before his death, Louis complained about a pain in his leg. He called emergency responders, who told him it could be food poisoning. “But no one, and I mean no one, ever in a million years would have predicted a blood clot,” Stanley said. “Who is warning youngsters? Who is warning anyone, of any age? No one!! So I am. My son will live on, I shall continue to spread this warning in his name.” Stanley said conversations with medical professionals revealed that cases of DVT in young people have been rising since the lockdown began. DVT is a blood clot that occurs in a deep vein, most commonly in the leg. Some of the risk factors associated with DVT include obesity, pregnancy, smoking, and certain medications as well as long periods of inactivity. “As more and more of us are working from home it is likely you are not getting out your chair as much as you need. Stand up, walk around, and please, warn your kids,” Stanley said.

Body

More than skin deep: Beauty salons are places of sharing and caring

What happens when people visit beauty and hair salons? Are trips to the salon simply about shaping how one looks on the outside, or can these spaces involve something deeper? Research shows that beyond “beauty”, salons can be spaces for clients to have intimate conversations with salon workers. This means beyond technical hair and beauty skills, working in the industry involves listening to and managing the emotions of clients. In my <a href="https://blogs.deakin.edu.au/gender-and-sexuality-studies-research-network/2019/09/19/hannah-mccann-on-crisis-treatment-and-the-role-of-the-beauty-salon/">research</a> and interviews with salon workers between 2017 and 2019, most described themselves as makeshift counsellors. One sign in a Melbourne shopfront even read “Therapy is expensive, get a haircut instead, we’re great listeners.” Beyond the technical Research conducted in the United States shows salon workers can act as “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28388338">lay health educators</a>”. Workers have close physical contact with clients and potentially access to different and diverse communities, depending on the salon. Some US salon workers have even been engaged to assist public health campaigns, educating the general public about health issues such as melanoma, diabetes, and unintended pregnancy. Salon workers can develop a “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002224299906300405">commercial friendship</a>” with clients as they maintain close physical proximity with the client over a long period. But they are neutral figures in relation to emotional disclosures. This relationship means clients may disclose more details about the troubles in their lives than they would to friends or family. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0038038501035004007">UK research</a> also shows salons are spaces where workers often provide clients with emotional support. It’s appropriate then that initiatives have emerged across the globe to train hairdressers and other salon workers to respond to client disclosures. In Victoria the <a href="https://www.edvos.org.au/">Eastern Domestic Violence Service</a> has been running a program called <a href="https://www.edvos.org.au/hair-3rs/">Hair-3R’s</a> (recognise, respond and refer), to train salon workers to safely manage client disclosures of family violence. In some US states, “cosmetologists” (hairstylists, manicurists and other salon workers) are <a href="http://chicagosaysnomore.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ChicagoSaysNoMore-2016-12-NewLawSalonProfessionals.pdf">legally required</a> to do formal training in domestic violence and sexual assault awareness every two years to renew their salon licenses. What workers signed up for? Expecting salon workers to respond to issues such as family violence is asking a lot. Low wages and sometimes <a href="https://theconversation.com/health-risks-beneath-the-painted-beauty-in-americas-nail-salons-41660">dangerous working conditions</a> persist in the beauty industry. When I interviewed <a href="https://www.edvos.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/EDVOS-HAIR-3Rs-RESEARCH-REPORT-2019.pdf">salon workers trained in the Hair-3R’s program</a>, I found they were relieved to be able to have frank discussions about the nature of their work, and grateful to receive support and guidance in negotiating these issues. Research has shown salon workers are likely to have clients <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26813297">disclose intimate partner violence</a> to them at some point. But workers I spoke with also mentioned a huge array of different issues clients bring up. Marriage breakdown, mental health, suicidal ideation, gender transition and job loss were among the client issues reported by workers. While the majority of conversations a worker has in a day or even over the course of a week may not be so “heavy”, they will likely encounter diverse and sometimes distressing stories, given the huge segment of the community they come into contact with over months and years. Many workers suggested the Hair-3Rs training was the first time they’d spoken about the emotional aspects of their work or had it recognised as something they negotiate daily. Beyond the surface Feminists <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-beauty-myth-9780099595748">writing about beauty</a> have long focused on the gender expectations maintained in these spaces. From this perspective, salons have been seen as reinforcing stereotypes of how women should look and how they should maintain their bodies. A reframing of this perspective notes the beauty industry is highly feminised, dominated by workers who are working class and often migrant women. Salon workers are represented as low-skilled “bimbos” in popular culture and the media. It is therefore no surprise the emotional nature of this line of work has remained largely hidden and both economically and culturally undervalued. As the beauty industry continues to boom – a day spa, nail salon or laser hair removal clinic on almost every Australian street corner and dotted throughout our shopping centres – we might speculate people are accessing these services for reasons beyond maintaining appearances. While some may <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-05/economics-of-beauty-industry/10182320">lay the blame</a> on an increasingly image-soaked world due to the popularity of social media such as Instagram, we might also look to what kind of emotional refuge the salon is providing for a <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/from-9-11-to-christchurch-earthquakes-how-unis-have-supported-students-after-a-crisis">world in crisis</a>. Further research is needed to identify what can be done to support workers in this industry, who may accidentally find themselves acting as untrained social workers or therapists with little community support or recognition. Written by Hannah McCann. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-skin-deep-beauty-salons-are-places-of-sharing-and-caring-127006">The Conversation.</a>

Beauty & Style

What do my dreams mean?

<div> It’s a fact that we spend around a third of our lives sleeping and dreaming. Our dreams range from being exhilarating, terrifying, moving and even life-changing. They offer us insights into our health, relationships, and overall wellbeing. But how do we know when our dreams have a message for us? And what do those messages mean? Falling/drowning There is a myth that if you dream of falling and hit the ground in your dream, you will die. This is not true. Most people dream of falling and actually hit the ground injured or just sore, but keep dreaming. Occasionally we may be sinking in water and in danger of drowning, but we don’t actually drown. The dream of falling feels so physically real that it is the dream most often talked about. If you’ve ever woken up with a sudden jolt or felt one just as you’ve started falling asleep, you’re among seventy per cent of people who experience this sensation. It may have felt like a huge muscle spasm or shock sensation. You know the feeling. You’re drifting off to sleep and all of a sudden you feel as if you’ve plunged into a bottomless pit. Startled by this feeling, you jolt back into consciousness before drifting back to sleep. This involuntary twitching of the muscles is known as a hypnic jerk (a myoclonic jerk that you have when asleep). It happens in the hypnagogic state of consciousness – just when you are falling asleep – and causes you to wake up suddenly. This reflexive jump occurs because when we fall asleep, our muscles relax and lose their sense of function. Our brains send out alarm signals to reactivate our muscles when they sense the loss of strength and activity. Some people may actually fall from their beds during this type of dream. Researchers have also attributed a sudden loss of blood pressure to the falling sensation in our dreams. At a symbolic level, dreams about falling may be a reflection of insecurity, lack of confidence and fear of failure. If you are not feeling supported in real life or don’t have solid grounding, this dream will be triggered. Losing your job, being unable to cope with relationships or work demands, losing money or making a mistake – anything in real life that destabilises you – could prompt these dreams. If you recognise a familiar landscape or place – a balcony or stairwell – that you are falling from in your dream, it may be possible that you’ve unconsciously registered a potential safety problem when you were awake. Carefully investigate the site when you wake up in case this is a precognitive dream of a potential accident. Flying Flying is a positive dream about freedom and escapism. It’s a dream that invigorates and enthrals. A wish-fulfilment and an exhilarating experience that many of us want to recapture in our waking lives. The excitement of flying is associated with something that has recently made you feel free, confident and successful. It happens more often to children, as they are able to access the joyous feeling of freedom without the restrictions that adults have. Often during a flying dream you’ll feel as if you’ve always known how to fly. It is effortless. Another benefit, apart from the soaring sensation, is that you’re unhindered as you fly over mountains, familiar places, through the air. There is nothing that weighs you down and you have the freedom to fly without fear. Many report their flying experiences as ‘fabulous’ and ‘exhilarating’. Often, flying dreams involve lucid dreaming, in which the dreamer is fully aware that they are dreaming and they are able to influence where they fly. If the lucid flying dream goes off smoothly without obstacles or fear, then it will leave you feeling empowered and ecstatic when you wake. This type of dream indicates that you’re feeling good about a situation and that you will overcome barriers that threaten you from reaching your goals. You are certainly ‘on top of your game’ and ‘on top of the world’. There are, however, flying dreams that include some setbacks and obstacles. Understanding what these obstacles represent can help you work out any real-life issues you are struggling to overcome and the things that might be holding you back from achieving your heart’s desire. Flying dreams interpreted Having trouble taking off means someone or something is holding you back, keeping you from moving forward to the next step in your life. It could even be you! If you’re having to avoid obstacles in your flight path, think about what your real-life obstacles are. What’s making you feel that you have limited control over your life? What’s getting in the way of your goals? Afraid of flying too high? It may suggest you fear the changes success can bring; that you will simply get burnt if you fly too high. Remember the story of Icarus who flew too close to the sun? The wax on his wings melted and he fell into the sea and drowned. The message from this myth is not to dare to aim too high or there will be dire consequences. Icarus didn’t listen to his father, Daedalus, who had warned him of the danger. Is it any wonder we sometimes fear success even more than failure? When you are flying upwards, you may be in the process of spiritual growth and striving to achieve a higher level of consciousness. Perhaps you are delving more deeply into your spiritual development. Falling when flying indicates that you are losing confidence in your abilities in your waking life. You initially had that positive feeling of soaring and now you are about to crash or come down to reality or what you are normally used to being. If it’s a lucid dream, you will be able to change it by doing something like throwing out your arms to take control of your flying direction once again. But if you are a passenger in a plane, you are relying on other people and an aircraft (technology) to get you to your future destination. Losing your teeth Do you dream that your teeth begin to fall out when you open your mouth? Or that you discover broken, decayed or missing teeth? There are many possible interpretations about loss of teeth as so many people have this recurring and disturbing dream. At a practical level, this dream reflects anxiety about appearance and how others perceive us. Teeth are a symbol of youth and strength. Bad teeth or lack of teeth are a sure sign of ageing. Are you afraid of being found unattractive? It’s common for menopausal women to have this dream. This important stage of life brings with it feelings of insecurity about ageing, loss of beauty and vitality. The dream can also indicate a general loss of power in real life. Perhaps it’s due to ageing or life circumstances. It’s no coincidence that our most vulnerable are the toothless – babies and older people (with dentures). It is also interesting that the very young and very old are either unable to voice their opinion or their views are not taken seriously. Teeth in a dream are symbols of social expression and verbal communication. Losing teeth suggests difficulty in being able to communicate a personal issue, or be understood. Consider whether you are lacking confidence in a social environment, such as speaking up in conversations or discussions, doing presentations or reports at work, or when meeting new people. Dreaming that your teeth are crumbling or falling out until your gums are toothless and bare evokes a sense of helplessness and a long time of compromise. Are you getting what you want out of life? Losing teeth may also be an omen that the dreamer is losing their life force and is beginning to be ineffective in their current role. Examine your home, work and social roles, and evaluate whether you’ve outgrown them. Perhaps they are now draining your energy and vitality. Is it time to let go of the old and begin something new? A child’s fear of losing their teeth have been soothed by compensation from the tooth fairy and the promise of a new tooth to replace the old. As adults, those basic fears of losing parts of ourselves – other than those that regenerate such as hair and nails – create anxiety as we are aware that losing teeth is permanent and comes with ageing. As mammals, teeth are essential to our survival – to eat – and can therefore be a sign of aggression as part of our natural instinct to survive. Think of the phrase ‘getting your teeth into something’ – are you floundering in life? Are you making wise choices? Losing teeth in a dream may mean the dreamer is starting a new phase of life, or a physical death, depending on the personal association. This book extract is from Dreams (Rockpool Publishing, $27.99) where best-selling author and dream expert Rose Inserra provides a comprehensive guide to understanding our dreams. Rose explains the common dreams and dream archetypes, the meaning behind dream symbols and the reasons why we have recurring dreams and nightmares. A fascinating insight into our subconscious, Dreams helps us understand why we dream and what we need to learn from them. </div> <div>For more information visit <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.rockpoolpublishing.com.au/dream-journal" target="_blank">Rockpool publishing</a> or <a rel="noopener" href="http://www.roseinserra.com/" target="_blank">www.roseinserra.com</a> </div> <div></div>

Beauty & Style

Try this deep-fried salt and pepper octopus

Time to prepare 40 mins | Cooking Time 2 mins | Serves 6 Never cooked octopus at home? Try this easy entrée recipe today! Deep-frying, when done properly, is a great way to cook seafood. It’s fast, cooking most foods in a few minutes, it quickly seals the food’s surface, locking in flavour and moisture and it adds appealing crunch, colour and aroma. Ingredients <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">1kg baby octopus, cleaned and cut into small pieces </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">2 tablespoons fish sauce </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">2 tablespoons lemon juice </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">1 tablespoon crushed coriander seeds </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">2 tablespoons salt flakes, crushed </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">1 tablespoon crushed white peppercorns </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">2 cups tapioca starch </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Vegetable oil, for deep-frying</li> </ul> Directions 1. Place octopus, fish sauce and lemon juice in a bowl and marinate for 30 minutes. Drain and pat dry. 2. Place chilli, coriander, salt, pepper and cornflour in a large freezer bag, add the octopus and shake well to coat. Place octopus in a colander and shake well to remove excess flour. 3. Heat oil in a wok or deep-fryer to 190ºC. Add octopus and cook for 1-2 minutes, until crisp and tender. Tips <ul> <li>Alternative species: Calamari, cuttlefish, squid, green prawns (peeled and deveined). </li> <li>Season: Available year round. </li> <li>To Buy: When purchasing fresh whole Octopus look for intact bright skin, intact head and arms, and a pleasant fresh sea smell. </li> <li>To Store: Make sure Octopus is gutted and cleaned thoroughly. Wrap in plastic wrap or place in an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months below -18ºC.</li> </ul> Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.wyza.com.au/recipes/deep-fried-salt-and-pepper-octopus.aspx">Wyza.com.au.</a>

Food & Wine

12 ways to rein in varicose vein pain

1. Don’t stand when you can sit.Standing still in the one position for long periods of time lets blood pool in your lower legs, putting pressure on blood vessels. Whenever possible, take breaks every 15 minutes or so and sit down with your legs raised. 2. Eat more berries.Blackberries, raspberries and strawberries all contain flavonoids, which have been shown to help strengthen blood vessel walls. This is great for preventing varicose veins and haemorrhoids. Get into the habit of having berries as an after-dinner treat or on the top of your morning cereal. 3. Put your feet up when sitting. Raising your legs prevents blood from pooling in the veins. When you’re sitting down watching TV or if you’re lying down for any length of time, keep your feet elevated slightly higher than your heart to reduce the risk of blood pooling in your lower legs. 4. Move.Get up and get moving – it’s the only sure way you’ll strengthen your calf muscles and keep the blood circulating in your legs. Start going for a regular walk after dinner or before breakfast. If you spend much of the day behind a desk, point and flex your feet to boost circulation. If you’re on your feet, get the blood moving several times an hour by rising on your toes, shifting your weight from one foot to the other, bending your legs and walking on the spot. 5. Avoid tight clothes.Believe it or not, those jeans that look great and show off your curves are a bad idea. Never wear tight clothing that can restrict blood circulation at the top of your legs. 6. Lose weight.If you’re carrying any extra kilos, get serious about getting back to a more healthy weight. You’ll not only look better, but you’ll reduce the stress placed on your legs and circulatory system and improve blood flow. An extensive study conducted in Scotland found that being overweight or obese raised your chances of developing varicose veins by as much as 58%. By eating less and getting more aerobic exercise, you’ll lose weight and also reduce your risk of developing leg vein problems. 7. Wear flats. While high heels won’t cause varicose veins, wearing them makes your calf muscles less effective at pumping blood back towards your heart when you walk. Our legs much prefer walking in flat shoes. They tone calf muscles, helping to move blood through the veins. 8. Wear stockings.While not the most attractive option, wearing compression stockings (available from your pharmacy) is an effective way of easing the pain that comes with varicose veins. Compression stockings work by applying pressure to the lower part of your legs, forcing any build-up of blood back towards the heart – by as much as 20%. When Japanese researchers measured the legs of 20 people with varicose veins, they found that all grades of compression stockings reduced swelling, but medium- and strong-grade stockings worked best. Scientists in Hong Kong recently discovered a design flaw in the stocking: as study volunteers moved around, their stockings sometimes squeezed tighter at the thickest part of the calves than the ankles, which could actually promote blood pooling rather than prevent it. The conclusion was that compression stockings are still worth wearing if you’re on your feet all day, but you should also attempt to exercise your calf muscles to help keep blood moving. 9. Gotu kola.Research has found that this herb, which is native to Madagascar, India and Sri Lanka, can ease the pain, swelling and sensation of heaviness and tingling in the legs. It works by strengthening the collagen lining in the walls of veins, which enhances circulation. The recommended dose is between 30-39mg a day. 10. Horse chestnut. The seed extract from this tree is one remedy for varicose vein discomfort that seems to work. When Harvard Medical School researchers reviewed 16 studies of thousands of people with weak valves in their leg veins, they found that those who took the extract had four times less pain than those who were given a placebo. Half saw a decrease in swelling, and 70% had less itching. They also reported improvement in feelings of fatigue and heaviness in their legs. In lab studies, escin, the active ingredient in horse chestnut seeds, was found to strengthen the walls of small blood vessels. UK researchers say this safe botanical may be as effective as compression stockings. The usual daily dose is 300mg (containing 50-75mg of escin per dose). 10. Stop straining.Working too hard to have a bowel movement increases pressure on veins in the lower legs. Scottish researchers report that this kind of pushing nearly doubles the risk of vein problems in men. To make bowel movements as easy and as comfortable as possible, drink plenty of water during the day and increase your fibre intake. 11. Enjoy a glass of wine.Spanish researchers who analysed the health records of 1778 people found that those who enjoyed a glass of wine every day had a 50% lower risk of varicose veins than those who drank less – or more. Other research suggests that flavonoids and saponins in wine can help keep blood vessels flexible and healthy. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/healthsmart/tips/varicose-vein-pain">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.co.nz/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=articles&utm_campaign=RDSUB&keycode=WRN93V">here’s our best subscription offer.</a> <img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" />

Retirement Life

Beauty is skin-deep: Why our complexion is so important to us

We’re all attracted to a beautiful face. We like to look at them, we feel drawn to them and we aspire to have one. Many researchers and others have investigated what we humans identify as “beautiful”: symmetry, large evenly spaced eyes, white teeth, a well-proportioned nose and of course, a flawless complexion. The skin is of utmost importance when people judge someone as beautiful. When choosing a mate, men rank female beauty more highly than women rate male appearance. <a href="http://beauty-review.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/The-effects-of-skin-colour-distribution-and-topography-cues-on-the-perception-of-female-facial-age-and-health.pdf">Female beauty</a> is thought to signal youth, fertility and health. Beauty can also signal <a href="https://wiwi.uni-paderborn.de/fileadmin/dep1ls6/Research/Beauty_and_the_Labor_Market_Hamermesh_Biddle.pdf">high status</a>. People with “plain looks” earn about 10% less than people who are average-looking, who in turn earn around 5% less than people who are good-looking. Skin as a marker of health and beauty Even the best facial structure can be unbalanced by skin that is flawed. There are many skin conditions that are perfectly natural, yet because of our beliefs around skin and health, these can cause the sufferers extreme self-consciousness. Examples include: <a href="https://www.dermnetnz.org/topics/melasma/">chloasma</a>, the facial pigmentation that often occurs during pregnancy; <a href="https://www.dermnetnz.org/topics/telangiectasia/">starburst telangiectasias</a>, the broken capillaries that appear on the lower thighs and calves of many women as they age; and <a href="https://www.dermnetnz.org/topics/dermatosis-papulosa-nigra/">dermatosis papulosa nigra</a>, the brown marks that accumulate on the upper cheeks and temples, especially in people of Asian or African descent. Teenagers with <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4hp8n68p">acne</a> are more likely to withdraw socially. It may impair school performance and result in severe <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1440-1754.2006.00979.x">depression and even suicide</a>. There are hundreds of <a href="http://www.dermnet.com/">skin diseases</a> that can change facial appearance, including rashes such as rosacea and skin cancers. Surgery for skin cancer can <a href="https://www.google.com.au/search?q=skin+cancer+disfigurement&rlz=1C1OKWM_enAU783AU786&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjb7sicn_zZAhVHV7wKHcImAeoQ_AUICigB&biw=2560&bih=1334">leave noticeable marks and scars</a> that make the survivor self-conscious. Industries built on our self-consciousness Perhaps alongside the greying of the hair, skin is the most visible sign of ageing. As we age the skin changes. These changes are most pronounced in the areas exposed daily to the sun, such as the face, neck and the backs of our hands. There the skin thins, loses volume and elasticity and becomes dull. Dark rings develop under the eyes. Wrinkles appear. The skin sags and blemishes and scars accumulate. People spend a lot of money in attempts to regain their youthful appearance. The global cosmetics industry is worth about <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150727005524/en/Research-Markets-Global-Cosmetics-Market-2015-2020-Market">US$500 billion</a>. Sales of skin and sun care products, make-up and colour cosmetics generate over 36% of the worldwide cosmetic market. We use foundation makeup to conceal freckles and blemishes, moisturisers and fillers to hide dryness, concealers to disguise broken capillaries and pimples. And increasingly people are using botox to remove wrinkles, fillers to replace volume, and laser to remove flaws from the top layer of skin. We should all use sunscreen to protect the skin from sun damage and prescription medications to cure the skin of diseases when necessary. In 2018, we find ourselves living longer, working later and remarrying more. We’re having to trade on our beauty much later in life. In a better world, beauty would be irrelevant. Unfortunately, in our world it’s one of our most valuable assets. The best we can do is to protect our skin from sunburn, seek advice from a dermatologist when we notice any skin problems, and accept we weren’t born with the skin of Beyonce. Written by Rodney Sinclair. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/beauty-is-skin-deep-why-our-complexion-is-so-important-to-us-91415">The Conversation</a>.

Beauty & Style

The ultimate guide to deep cleaning your bathroom

There’s nothing quite like a sparkling, pristine bathroom, after all, it is where you get clean. But how exactly do you give it a professional clean? Running a squeegee down the sides of the shower does a great deal of good, but every now and then a proper deep clean is in order. Here are 15 steps to getting it spick and span. 1. Open the windows Before you pick up a sponge, open all the windows to let the fresh air circulate. 2. Clear everything That’s right, everything – from towels, bath mats, shower curtains and liners, to freestanding furnishings, shower caddies and anything on the countertops and shelving. Now you only have clear surfaces to work with. 3. Put on a wash Toss your shower curtains and liners into the washing machine using regular detergent and a warm and gentle setting, along with your towel and bath mat, which act like scrubbers and prevent the plastic from crinkling. Add ½ cup of chlorine bleach and ¼ cup of detergent to help clear dirt, soap scum and mildew stains. 4. Allow things to soak Start the deep clean process by pouring a cup of bicarb soda down the toilet bowl. Got rings around the tub? Try placing paper towels soaked with white vinegar on any stains and any hard water or mineral deposits around faucets and drains. Leave for at least 15 minutes before going in for the scrub. A piece of dental floss can help you get into those hard-to-reach crevices. 5. Get scrubbing Stains, be gone! How you clean your bathtub depends on what it’s made from. For porcelain, you can get away with abrasive powders such as Ajax and scouring pads and pumice stones. If enamel, try bleach-free commercial cleaners. And if acrylic, use white vinegar, soft sponges and other gentle solutions. 6. Don’t forget the shower head Your shower head can harbour infectious bacteria known as mycobacterium avium, a nasty bug linked to lung disease. To clean, pour a generous amount of white vinegar into a plastic bag and secure over your shower head using a rubber band. Leave it to soak overnight and then remove the bag and rinse in the morning. 7. Don’t forget your toilet brush Take your toilet brush, place over the toilet bowl and pour bleach over the bristles. Allow it to stand for a few minutes before rinsing it with a cup of cold water. And don’t forget to rinse the canister out with hot, soapy water, too – pouring the dirty water down the toilet and not the sink. 8. Remove the exhaust fan cover One of the most neglected areas of the bathroom are exhaust fans, despite them being a hot spot for airborne particles. Flip the switch and remove the cover, then soak in warm water and detergent. Wipe the blades and get into the crannies with a stiff paintbrush. Leave to completely dry before reattaching it. And another tip! Always run the fan during and for 30 minutes after your shower to reduce mould and mildew. 9. Sweep the floors Dry sweep the bathroom floors to clear dirt, dust, hair and other bits and pieces you’d rather not swish around as you clean. Make sure you clean from top to bottom so any debris that falls will be wiped away. 10. Wet wash the floors Use a wet cloth, if your bathroom is small, or a mop if big. Work from the far corner toward the door. Leave to dry before you enter again to place everything back. 11. Steam clean the walls and ceilings Spray walls and ceilings with all-purpose cleaner, then blast hot water in the shower and close the door, allowing the steam to build. Leave to steam clean for 20 minutes before wiping down all the surfaces with a clean, dry microfibre cloth. And don’t forget to wipe the towel bar with an all-purpose cleaner – it tends to harbour a lot of bacteria. 12. Get a shiny, fog-free mirror To clean your mirror (and any glass surface, for that matter), use coffee filters soaked in window cleaner or white vinegar. They’re cheap – and won’t leave any streaks or lint. To keep it fog free, rub a dry bar of soap onto the surface and buff it with a clean microfibre cloth until you can no longer see any marks. 13. Wipe the windows – reaching every corner A steam cleaner works wonders on the rubber sills and tracks of your windows. A couple of blasts with the steam, followed by a wipe down with a paper towel, will work wonders. If you don’t have a steam cleaner, try applying a paste made from bicarb soda and white vinegar, leaving it an hour, and then scrubbing it using a toothbrush. 14. Toss out any unnecessary products Worried to see what lurks under your sink? Time to give it a good clean out! Consolidate products, toss out what you don’t need and put items back on a shelf liner. 15. Keep it up Daily once-overs – wiping down the condensation from your shower and mopping the floors, for example, will take the pain out of your next clean, trust us! Written by Kathleen Lee-Joe. Republished with permission of <a href="http://www.domain.com.au" target="_blank">Domain.com.au</a>.

Home & Garden

Sludge, snags and surreal animals: a voyage to the abyss of the deep blue

Tim O’Hara is a senior curator of Marine Invertebrates at the Museum of Victoria. Over the past five weeks I led a “<a href="https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/abyss-landing-%20page" target="_blank">voyage of discovery</a>”. That sounds rather pretentious in the 21st century, but it’s still true. My team, aboard the CSIRO managed research vessel, the <a href="http://www.csiro.au/RV-Investigator-virtual-tour/rv_investigator.html" target="_blank">Investigator</a>, has mapped and sampled an area of the planet that has never been surveyed before. Bizarrely, our ship was only 100km off Australia’s east coast, in the middle of a busy shipping lane. But our focus was not on the sea surface, or on the migrating whales or skimming albatross. We were surveying The Abyss – the very bottom of the ocean some 4,000m below the waves. To put that into perspective, the <a href="http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/place_naming/placename_search/extract?id=KWwGjzsETR" target="_blank">tallest mountain</a> on the Australian mainland is only 2,228m. Scuba divers are lucky to reach depths of 40m, while nuclear submarines dive to about 500m. We were aiming to put our cameras and sleds much, much deeper. Only since 2014, when the RV Investigator was commissioned, has Australia had the capacity to survey the deepest depths. The months before the trip were frantic, with so much to organise: permits, freight, equipment, flights, medicals, legal agreements, safety procedures, visas, finance approvals, communication ideas, sampling strategies – all the tendrils of modern life (the thought “why am I doing this?” surfaced more than once). But remarkably, on May 15, we had 27 scientists from 14 institutions and seven countries, 11 technical specialists, and 22 crew converging on Launceston, and we were off. Rough seas Life at sea takes some adjustment. You work 12-hour shifts every day, from 2 o’clock to 2 o’clock, so it’s like suffering from jetlag. The ship was very stable, but even so the motion causes seasickness for the first few days. You sway down corridors, you have one-handed showers, and you feel as though you will be tipped out of bed. Many people go off coffee. The ship is “dry”, so there’s no well-earned beer at the end of a hard day. You wait days for bad weather to clear and then suddenly you are shovelling tonnes of mud through sieves in the middle of the night as you process samples dredged from the deep. <img width="500" height="333" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/41245/discovering-the-deep-blue-in-text-1_500x333.jpg" alt="Discovering The Deep Blue In Text 1"/> Shifting through the mud of the abyss on the back deck. Image credit: Jerome Mallefet. Surveying the abyss turns out to be far from easy. On our very first deployment off the eastern Tasmanian coast, our net was shredded on a rock at 2,500m, the positional beacon was lost, tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of gear gone. It was no one’s fault; the offending rock was too small to pick up on our <a href="http://mnf.csiro.au/Vessel/Investigator-2014/Equipment/Marine-acoustics-seafloor-mapping-and-fisheries-acoustics.aspx" target="_blank">multibeam sonar</a>. Only day 1 and a new plan was required. Talented people fixed what they could, and we moved on. I was truly surprised by the ruggedness of the seafloor. From the existing maps, I was expecting a gentle slope and muddy abyssal plain. Instead, our sonar revealed canyons, ridges, cliffs and massive rock slides – amazing, but a bit of a hindrance to my naive sampling plan. But soon the marine animals began to emerge from our videos and samples, which made it all worthwhile. Life started to buzz on the ship. Secrets of the deep Like many people, scientists spend most of their working lives in front of a computer screen. It is really great to get out and actually experience the real thing, to see animals we have only read about in old books. The tripod fish, the <a href="https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/faceless-fish-looks-happier-and-heartier-it-did-1887" target="_blank">faceless fish</a>, the shortarse feeler fish (yes, really), red spiny crabs, worms and sea stars of all shapes and sizes, as well as animals that <a href="https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/beam-us-j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me" target="_blank">emit light</a> to ward off predators. The level of public interest has been phenomenal. You may already have seen <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-30/researchers-drag-faceless-fish-up-from-the-abyss/8572634" target="_blank">some of the coverage</a>, which ranged from the <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/06/15/533063615/explorers-probing-%20deep-sea-%20abyss-off-australias-coast-find-living-wonders" target="_blank">fascinated</a> to the amused – for some reason our discovery of <a href="http://mashable.com/2017/06/18/peanut-worm-looks-phallic/#GAkg8P.vh8qC" target="_blank">priapulid worms</a> was a big hit on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPgVtWDljcU" target="_blank">US late-night television</a>. In many ways all the publicity mirrored our first reactions to animals on the ship. “What is this thing?” “How amazing!” The important scientific insights will come later. It will take a year or so to process all the data and accurately identify the samples. Describing all the new species will take even longer. All of the material has been carefully preserved and will be stored in museums and CSIRO collections around Australia for centuries. <img width="500" height="375" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/41243/discovering-the-deep-blue-in-text-2_500x375.jpg" alt="Discovering The Deep Blue In Text 2 (1)"/> Scientists identifying microscopic animals onboard. Image credit: Asher Flatt. On a voyage of discovery, video footage is not sufficient, because we don’t know the animals. The modern biologist uses high-resolution microscopes and DNA evidence to describe the new species and understand their place in the ecosystem, and that requires actual samples. So why bother studying the deep sea? First, it is important to understand that humanity is already having an impact down there. The oceans are changing. There wasn’t a day at sea when we didn’t bring up some rubbish from the seafloor – cans, bottles, plastic, rope, fishing line. There is also old debris from steamships, such as unburned coal and bits of <a href="http://www.ehow.com/info_12152358_causes-clinkers-coal-fired-boilers.html" target="_blank">clinker</a>, which looks like melted rock, formed in the boilers. Elsewhere in the oceans there are plans to mine precious metals from the deep sea. Second, Australia is the custodian of a vast amount of abyss. Our marine <a href="http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/national-location-information/dimensions/oceans-and-seas#heading-1" target="_blank">exclusive economic zone (EEZ)</a> is larger than the Australian landmass. The Commonwealth recently established a <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/marine/marine-reserves" target="_blank">network of marine reserves</a> around Australia. Just like National Parks on land, these have been established to protect biodiversity in the long term. Australia’s <a href="https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/" target="_blank">Marine Biodiversity Hub</a>, which provided funds for this voyage, as been established by the Commonwealth Government to conduct research in the EEZ. Our voyage mapped some of the marine reserves for the first time. Unlike parks on land, the reserves are not easy to visit. It was our aim to bring the animals of the Australian Abyss into public view. We discovered that life in the deep sea is diverse and fascinating. Would I do it again? Sure I would. After a beer. Written by Tim O’Hara. First appeared on <a href="http://www.theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.<img width="1" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/79924/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation"/>

Cruising

Does crossing your legs cause varicose veins?

It’s the catchcry of mothers around the world – “Stop crossing your legs, you’ll get varicose veins!” But is there any truth to the rumour? <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/08/13/does-crossing-your-legs-cause-varicose-veins_a_23076331/" target="_blank">HuffPost Australia</a> spoke to Dr Mark Malouf, president of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Phlebology to find out. “The short answer is no, it does not,” he revealed. “However, sitting for long periods of time, with legs crossed or not, if you already have varicose veins can worsen the situation because the blood sitting around in those varicose veins can pool and slow down, and may develop a clot (called ‘thrombosis’).” So we can all breathe a sigh of relief there, but why is it that some people are so much more prone to them than others? “Men and women both suffer from varicose veins, but much more so in women,” says Dr Malouf. “Many patients suffer symptoms from their varicose veins while others do not. “The main reason people develop varicose veins is hereditary – mum or dad has them in 70 per cent of cases that I see. That goes for the large bulging grape-like varicose veins as well as the unsightly blue and red ‘spider veins’ that many women and some men find very distressing.” So you can blame your parents for your unsightly veins, then! Thankfully, Dr Malouf explains, varicose veins and spider veins can be treated and even prevented. Here are a few preventative measures you can take today. <ol> <li>Change your lifestyle – If you’re overweight or lead a sedentary lifestyle, your veins could be paying the price. To avoid vein issues, get moving, try not to sit or stand in the same place for too long and ensure you’re wearing supportive shoes.</li> <li>Take supplements – Your doctor may recommend oral Ventonics or Vento-active drugs which work to strengthen the walls of your veins, slowing deterioration of varicose veins.</li> <li>Get supported – Support stockings, socks and pantyhose reduce the backward blood flow to diseased varicose veins, slowing the process of enlargement and relieving symptoms such as swelling.</li> </ol> If you’re concerned about your varicose or spider veins, book a visit with your doctor – there are a number of treatments available, both surgical and non-invasive.

Body

Deep sleep could be key to how well you age

You may have noticed when you hit your mid-30s the ability to sleep like a log starts to fade. Turns out the consequences could be much more serious than just yawning the next day. "Sleep changes with ageing, but it doesn't just change with ageing; it can also start to explain ageing itself," says the co-author of a new review looking at the link between sleep and the body's downward spiral. The reviewers found ageing adults may be losing their ability to have deep, restorative sleep, and older people are likely paying for lost sleep both mentally and physically. Co-author Matthew Walker, who leads the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory at the University of California, said: "Every one of the major diseases that are killing us in first-world nations - from diabetes to obesity to Alzheimer's disease to cancer - all of those things now have strong causal links to a lack of sleep." As the brain aged, neurons and circuits in the areas that regulated sleep slowly degraded, resulting in a decreased amount of non-REM sleep. Non-REM deep sleep played a key role in maintaining memory and cognition. Walker said the big debate was whether older people needed less sleep or couldn't get the sleep they needed. "The evidence seems to favour one side - older adults do not have a reduced sleep need, but instead, an impaired ability to generate sleep." The problem had "long flown under the radar". Older people rarely reported feeling sleepy or sleep-deprived but that might be because they're used to it. Women seemed to experience far less deterioration in non-REM deep sleep than men. Walker said sleep decline was one of the most dramatic physiological changes in ageing, yet it was rarely talked about. "More attention needs to be paid to the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disturbance if we are going to extend healthspan, and not just lifespan." The review was published in the journal, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627317300880" target="_blank">Neuron</a>. First appeared on <a href="http://Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz</a>.

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