Scientists are usually reluctant to state anything as fact preferring instead to prequalify everything with the term "theory" (relativity, big bang, string, quantum entanglement....). However, while some theories prove to validate, others often sit on the lab bench for centuries waiting for that missing link. The one commonality is that they remain theories which means that they can and often are proved wrong. So why is it that climate change is a done deal? Should we really believe that pretty much every scientist worth their weight in petri dishes agrees that climate change is fact? Professor Ian Plimer thinks not.... Full review »

Posted by: Webeditor at 9:56 PM Comment

Tags: business, environment, law, science

This years Reith lectures are given by Harvard Professor and political philosopher Michael Sandel. Sandel's lectures, under the banner of "A New Citizenship" look at the moral issues facing today's global citizen. Sandel discussed the limits of morality in a free market economy, the role of morality and religion in political life, corporate, social responsibility and Aristotles theory of Justice! These thought provoking lectures are available as both transcripts and podcasts from the BBC website. Michael has authored several booking including his "Public Philosophy" which examined the morality behind American politics and his latest book "The Case Against Perfection" looking... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 3:28 PM Comment

Tags: law, religion, science

Today's drive back down the mountain from Wentworth Falls was a little different to normal. On a cold and wet Blue Mountains day it is unusual to see more than just a handful of people about - bedraggled dog walkers making their way back home or sorry looking commuters queuing for the bus. This morning however, was different! Coming around the bend after Lawson I was surprised to see a band of yellow making its way proficiently down the grassy bank that doubles up as a pavement. Getting closer I could see through the mist that these were indeed people... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 1:04 PM Comment

Tags: Australasia, charity, health, science

On April 21 2009 I was the Celebrant for the funeral service at Newtown and Woronora Cemetery, Sutherland for Joan Carey, a peace activist I had known for over three decades. Here are my opening remarks for the funeral service: Full article »

Posted by: Webeditor at 7:05 PM Comment

Tags: conflict, law, peace, science, security

Margaret Holmes has been a peace campaigner for many years and having just celebrated her 100'th birthday has only just started to take things easy. At a time when the internet did not exist and the only way into Europe and America was by boat, Margaret was both widely read and widely travelled. Full review »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 11:35 PM Comment

Tags: Australasia, media, peace, reviews, science, sociology

Religion has made a comeback in world affairs - despite the predictions from some academics a few decades ago that religion was on the way out. Indeed, there is now probably more attention to religious issues in world affairs than for many decades. It was fashionable among some sociologists, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, to predict that religion was going to fade away. They argued that humans were somehow moving to a different era, in which science would solve all the mysteries of life and consumerism would be the main focal point of interest of humankind. Their predictions were... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 11:41 AM Comment

Tags: peace, religion, science, sociology

Science has been of great benefit to humankind. But it can also threaten us. The best example of this risk is the threat of nuclear weapons. Richard Butler, one of the most distinguished diplomats in Australia's history, has just written a book on the nuclear threat: "Fatal Choice: Nuclear Weapons and the Illusion of Missile Defence". Butler has been involved in nuclear disarmament since 1964 and he acknowledges the encouragement given to him by the late Allan McKnight (another distinguished Australian diplomat who, among other things, was the first inspector-general at the International Atomic Energy Agency). Coincidentally, Allan McKnight... Full review »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 2:47 PM Comment

Tags: conflict, law, science, security

Is modern society making you sick? Are you living longer but enjoying it less? Maybe modern technology is not as good as we thought. John Ashton and Ron Laura, two Australian scientists, have written a very good book entitled The Perils of Progress: The Health and Environment Hazards of Modern Technology and What You can do About Them. The chapters deal with such matters as electricity, food, water and environmental technology. The book makes chilling reading. There are also plenty of ideas for action. For example, the authors recommend that people avoid using hand-held mobile telephones, except in an emergency,... Full review »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 6:29 PM Comment

Tags: health, reviews, science, technology

There has been a great deal of controversy recently about a report on the possible future size of the Australian populations. What ever will be the future, Sydney will be the capital city of the South Pacific. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has compiled a report for the Department of Immigration on the options to the year 2050 for Australia's population, technology, resources and environment. I was one of the people interviewed for the project. Some of the report discusses the options for migration. Governments are very hesitant of discussing immigration. For example, the Australian Treasurer,... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 9:57 PM Comment

Tags: Australasia, charity, environment, law, science, sociology

50 years ago this week - on December 4 - a dense fog settled over London. It turned out to be one of the world's worst examples of air pollution. But it is only now that we are learning the full details of it. The current edition of the "New Scientist" magazine has a brilliant article by Fred Pearce on the 1952 killer fog. I have to declare an interest - I was four years old at the time and could easily have ended up as one of the statistics being misreported by the British Government. When the Great London... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 9:44 PM Comment

Tags: Europe, health, science

Computers are now playing a role in monitoring war crimes and helping to apprehend war criminals. No doubt they will eventually be useful in helping to follow up on all the war crimes associated with the Iraq conflict. The current edition of the "New Scientist" magazine has an article on Dr Patrick Ball of the Science and Human Rights Programme of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has spent 12 years designing software that collects information on human rights abuses worldwide. One of his biggest successes was in the Slobodan Milosevic trial. He wrote a report for... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 7:52 PM Comment

Tags: conflict, science, sociology, technology

While we are so concerned about the "war on terrorism" and all the other conflicts underway, there is yet another area to worry about: the threat of space weapons being deployed in the not too distant future. Such weapons are already in the development and testing stages. Dr Colleen Driscoll is the head of the Kurtz Institute of Peacemaking in the United States. The Institute is named to honour the memory a Washington DC-based couple of visionaries with whom I had many dealings in the 1970s and 1980s: Colonel Howard Kurtz and the Rev Harriet Kurtz. They were among the... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 7:40 PM Comment

Tags: America, conflict, science, technology

The world has had about a century in the "petroleum era". There is speculation about the looming end of that era and its replacement with the "hydrogen era". President Bush in this year's State of the Union Address (which has attracted so much attention because of the references to Iraq) may actually have caused the speech to be of even more long-lasting significance from a point of view hardly commented on at the time. The President announced that he was proposing US$1.2 billion for research funding so that America can lead the world in hydrogen powered automobiles. His vision was... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 1:22 PM Comment

Tags: America, Australasia, environment, science

The annual "State of the World" book is the most important annual review of how the world's environment is going. It is published by the Washington DC-based Worldwatch Institute. As usual, there is some bad news and good news. The book is not just an annual statistical survey. Instead, each year's review focuses on some key issues and explores them at depth. One chapter this year is on "watching birds disappear". For example, almost a third of the world's 330 parrot species are threatened with extinction due to habitat loss and collecting pressures. Human-related factors threaten 99 per cent of... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 11:05 PM 2 comments

Tags: environment, health, religion, science

Each of us can make a positive difference to the world with what we do every day. Here is an inspiring little book giving ideas on how this can be done. Tony Ryan, a conference presenter based in Queensland, has written "The Ripple Effect: how you can make a difference to the world every day". Ryan records how a female friend of his noticed a distraught young mother nursing a crying baby at a shopping centre cafeteria. His friend bought her a cup of tea, presented it to the mother, and offered to nurse the baby for a few minutes.... Full review »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 9:37 PM Comment

Tags: reviews, science, sociology

Broadcast Friday 2nd January 2004 on Radio 2GB’s “Brian Wilshire Programme” at 9pm Church bells are one of the distinctive sounds of Christmas and other parts of the year. It is interesting to see how Australians are pioneering the improvement in the sound of bells. The New Scientist magazine has an article by Philip Ball on this subject: “Mingle Bells”. Bells are rarely used in orchestral compositions because they produce a complex sound that jars with other musical instruments. Bells may “jingle” - but they don’t necessarily “mingle” with other instruments. When you listen to a church bell ring, you... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 10:41 PM Comment

Tags: religion, science

What makes a person carry on against all odds? Is "GOOGLE" an Iconoclast? How do you think out of the box when the box is not even invented? Full review »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 7:53 AM Comment

Tags: reviews, science

The world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986 took place in Japan on September 30. Three people are seriously ill and there are concerns about the health of many other people. This is one of Japan's worst disasters of any type since 1945. Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 8:48 PM Comment

Tags: Asia, business, environment, science

RADIO 2GB NEWS COMMENTARY The thalidomide scandal is one of the standard case studies taught in media courses: fearless journalists take on a huge corporation which is behaving badly towards its child victims. But one of the key journalists in that campaign now has doubts about that victory. Thalidomide was discovered by accident in 1954 by a small German company called Chemie Grunenthal and it appeared to be a good sedative. It had none of the drawbacks of barbiturates, then the fashionable drug, and it was impossible to take an overdose. Grunenthal marketed the drug all over the world, including... Full article »

Posted by: Amanda Foxon-Hill at 8:04 PM Comment

Tags: charity, health, science, sociology

Given the high cost of oil, it seems that the world is coming to the end of the era of cheap oil. There is still a lot of oil left in the world but it is going to be more expensive to get it.   This is the world's second oil crisis. We have been through such energy transitions before. Peter Tertzakian has written "A Thousand Barrels a Second: The Coming Oil Break and the Challenges Facing an Energy Dependent World" (Sydney: McGraw-Hill, 2006). The first oil era was based on whaling. The current dispute in Australian Antarctic waters involving... Full article »

Tags: business, economics, science