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Editor's note
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If you’ve been feeling a little morose since the recent bushfires, spare a thought for conservationists. Imagine working for years, perhaps even a lifetime, to bring a dwindling species back from the brink of extinction – traipsing through bush, building nest boxes, pulling out weeds, erecting fences, and diligently recording everything you see. And then a single ferocious bushfire wipes it away in minutes.
That is the situation facing biologists, volunteers, park rangers and others who returned to fire grounds to find their work destroyed. The full picture won’t be clear for months. But federal government figures released on Monday hint at the devastation wrought this summer. More than half of the area occupied by about 115 threatened species has been affected by fire.
As Stephen Garnett and his co-authors write today, the conservation community is grieving. Many scientists are questioning their vocation altogether. But Garnett urges them not to lose hope. After all, had their work not saved some species from annihilation, there would be no losses to mourn. A few precious survivors remain – we must care for them. And perhaps we can learn from this disaster so next time, the losses are fewer.
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Nicole Hasham
Section Editor: Energy + Environment
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Top story
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Glossy black cockatoo populations on Kangaroo Island have been decimated. But a few precious survivors remain.
Flickr
Stephen Garnett, Charles Darwin University; Brendan Wintle, University of Melbourne; John Woinarski, Charles Darwin University; Sarah Legge, Australian National University
The destruction of recent fires is challenging our belief that with enough time, love and money, every threatened species can be saved. But there is plenty we can, and must, now do.
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Many students’ lives have changed as they return to school, even those not directly affected by the fires.
JAMES GOURLEY/AAP
Rachael Jacobs, Western Sydney University; Carol Mutch, University of Auckland
Some students are grieving the loss of their homes or loved ones. Even those not directly affected by fires may be distressed by stories they've heard or images they've seen. How can schools help?
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Prison rates have stopped increasing for the first time in seven years. In fact, they’ve decreased by 1%.
from www.shutterstock.com
Hilde Tubex, University of Western Australia
Crime rates are down, but they were decreasing while imprisonment rates were increasing, so that doesn't really explain lower numbers in our prisons.
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Implosion is the most dramatic way of demolishing a building but it’s also the most wasteful and hazardous.
Luke Schmidt/Shutterstock
Norman Day, Swinburne University of Technology
The problems of demolishing high-rise buildings in busy cities point to the need to prepare for unbuilding at the time of building. We'd then be much better placed to recycle building materials.
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Science + Technology
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Allan McCay, University of Sydney; Christopher Lean, University of Sydney
When DNA databases and behavioural genetics combine, your family's genes could play a role in criminal sentencing
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Ray Norris, Western Sydney University
An upgrade for the Australia Telescope Compact Array will enable major new discoveries about the universe
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Arts + Culture
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Philip C. Almond, The University of Queensland
With President Donald Trump's frequent use of the term "witch hunt" he paints himself as a victim. The women persecuted in one of history's darkest chapters should not be forgotten so easily.
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Bronwyn Carlson, Macquarie University
Jimmy Chi's 1990 musical is given its first major stage revival – and leaves the audience singing along.
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Health + Medicine
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Briony Murphy, Monash University; Joseph Ibrahim, Monash University
Expanding suicide prevention frameworks to include aged care residents, aligning nursing home life with community living, and improving residents' access to mental heath services will be key.
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Jade Sheen, Deakin University; Amanda Dudley, Deakin University
You might need to visit a few therapists to find one you can connect and engage with. If cost or access are issues, you might even like to go online.
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Politics + Society
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Scott Morrison's salvo against the NSW environment minister, one of his party's progressives on climate change, was gratuitous and inept.
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Joe McIntyre, University of South Australia
Assuming machines could take the place of judges belies their role as the third arm of government and makers of law.
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Environment + Energy
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Christopher Turbill, Western Sydney University; Justin Welbergen, Western Sydney University
It's been a deadly summer for Australia's wildlife. But beyond the fires, we need to act now to protect bats -- which make up a quarter of Australian mammal species -- from a silent overseas killer.
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