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The Delta variant is showing no sign of slowing, with record case numbers in NSW at the weekend and lockdowns extended or in place due to rising cases in the ACT, Victoria and New Zealand.
Delta has changed what we thought we knew about the coronavirus. It infects more people, and people infect others sooner, compared with the original Wuhan strain. No wonder it’s a nightmare for contact tracers.
So what now for the virus? Will it keep mutating until it can evade all our vaccines? Will it become more deadly?
Hamish McCallum, who studies emerging viruses, explains what evolutionary theory predicts will happens next. In the short term, the virus will mutate to infect more people, sooner and will continue to evade vaccines. But don’t forget, the virus wants us to survive so it can too.
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Anna Evangeli
Deputy Editor: Health+Medicine
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Shutterstock
Hamish McCallum, Griffith University
Evolution explains why the Delta variant spreads faster than the original Wuhan strain. It explains what we might see with future variants. And it suggests how we might step up public health measures.
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AMES Australia/Wikimedia Commons
Rachel Stevens, Australian Catholic University
Since the 1970s, Australian immigration policy has changed dramatically, meaning Afghan refugees face far greater hurdles than those who fled Saigon after the Vietnam War.
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Thyssenkrupp
Alison Reeve, Grattan Institute
A new report says sometimes the best decision to reduce emissions is to invest in new technology before it’s fully proven. Government will have to share the risks.
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Daniel Mariuz/AAP
Frank Jotzo, Australian National University; David Lindenmayer, Australian National University
Adopting more environmentally conscious farm models would safeguard our agricultural exports, cut emissions and help protect nature.
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Unsplash/Cristina Anne Costello
Matthew Sharpe, Deakin University
Stoic philosopher Epictetus tells us not to worry about things we can’t control, prepare for the unexpected and slow down on the judginess. This is great lockdown advice over 2,000 years later.
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Anna Scott
Emily Howells, Southern Cross University; David Abrego, Southern Cross University
Corals in the Persian Gulf are tough - they can withstand temperatures that would kill corals elsewhere. And there’s good news: it’s easy to cross-breed their heat-tolerance genes into other corals.
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Education
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Paul Harpur, The University of Queensland; Peter D. Blanck, Syracuse University
Many universities overseas have already made vaccination a condition of being allowed on campus. There are precedents for this policy, which is based on strong public health and economic grounds.
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Politics + Society
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Tim Lindsey, The University of Melbourne
Soeharto’s rise to become the billionaire autocrat of the world’s fourth largest country would have seemed very unlikely in his childhood.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Michelle Grattan discusses the political week that was with Professor Paddy Nixon.
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Environment + Energy
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Graeme Gillespie, The University of Melbourne; Conrad Hoskin, James Cook University; Hayley Geyle, Charles Darwin University; Jaana Dielenberg, Charles Darwin University; Nicola Mitchell, The University of Western Australia; Stephen Garnett, Charles Darwin University
We’ve identified three frog species very likely to already be extinct. Another four species on our list are still surviving, but not likely to make it to 2040 without help.
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Arts + Culture
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D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye, Queensland University of Technology
TikTok is partnering with blockchain company Audius over Spotify or Apple for music distribution. Here’s why this could be important for independent artists.
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Business + Economy
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Theodore E. (Ted) Zorn, Massey University
How we read messages is as important as what we write when it comes to happy workplace relations – especially in lockdowns or when working from home.
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Science + Technology
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Stephen Poropat, Swinburne University of Technology
A detailed study of ornithopod jawbones from a single site reveals a high dinosaur diversity in Victoria during the late Early Cretaceous.
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Crystal Abidin, Curtin University; Meg Jing Zeng, University of Zurich
Viral memes and catchphrases can turn personal experiences into a political expression of shared awareness.
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Health + Medicine
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Catherine Bennett, Deakin University
The federal government has announced the Pfizer vaccine will be available to all Australians from August 30. Though there may well be long waits.
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