Editor's note

Many of our beloved endangered species rely on large, old trees to develop hollows so they have a safe place to live. These skyscrapers of diversity are home to more than 300 species of vertebrates in Australia, but we’ve knocked so many down that, in some places, it’s likely to be another 100 years until we can replace them. In our new comic explainer , David Lindenmayer explains how hollow-bearing trees in Australia form, the many animals they house and why we can’t simply replace them with nesting boxes.

And we don’t often think about wine or beer adding to our daily energy intake. But a pint of beer has nearly the same number of kilojoules as a chocolate bar. Researchers from Deakin University found raising the price of alcohol is the most cost-effective option to reduce our waistlines and prevent obesity. According to their modelling, setting a price of $0.84 per standard drink could cut our drinking by 16% and lead to an average weight loss of 0.7kg per person. This could prevent 190,000 cases of diabetes and 16,000 cancers.

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Wes Mountain

Multimedia Editor

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Wes Mountain/The Conversation

Comic explainer: forest giants house thousands of animals (so why do we keep cutting them down?)

Madeleine De Gabriele, The Conversation; Wes Mountain, The Conversation

It takes a eucalyptus tree more than a hundred years to develop hollows suitable to shelter Aussie animals, and just moments to cut it down.

Australians drink more than nine litres of pure alcohol a year.

What’s the most value for money way to tackle obesity? Increase taxes on alcohol

Jaithri Ananthapavan, Deakin University; Gary Sacks, Deakin University; Vicki Brown, Deakin University

It may not be popular, but an increase in the cost of alcohol would make us drink less and consume fewer kilojoules.

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