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Hail Mary

September 3rd 2008 10:17

As I often complain about the lack of funding for medical research in Australia, it's only fair that I should recognise when money is wisely invested in this area.

Today the St Vincent's Victor Chang Lowy Packer Building in Darlinghurst, Sydney was officially opened by Danish Crown Princess Mary. This $80 million world class medical research institute is a joint initiative of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (named after the distinguished heart surgeon who was gunned down in 1991 after a failed extortion bid), St Vincent's Hospital and the Garvan Institute. This new building will allow the Cardiac Institute to expand from their one-floor occupation of the Garvan Institute, to the new 10-floor building which will enable the addition of 5 new research teams and 55 new research staff.

Princess Mary has been involved with the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute since 2005, after losing her mother to cardiac disease in 1997, and follows the tradition set by the late Princess Diana, who opened the previous Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute's premises in 1996.

A host of special guests turned up to greet the Princess, including the Packer family, Morris Iemma and Cardinal Pell. In PM Iemma's words "Facilities like these are where the future of Australia is being determined, where the high-skilled, high-tech jobs are being created, where our reputation for innovation is deepened every single day and where our quality of life is being rewritten."

So high-fives go to the State and Federal governments for funding this building, as well as to the families of Frank Lowy and Kerry Packer who made major contributions. Actually, Frank Lowy gets two high-fives for also making a major contribution to the current construction of the Lowy Cancer Research Centre at UNSW.

The take-home message is: Massive donations, all tax-deductible, everybody wins!

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Posted By: Heidi - Category: No Category

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Gold that is worth more than its weight

August 31st 2008 09:06

It's been a week since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games finished. What was the focus of a nation (or at least Channel 7) for 24 hours a day for 2 weeks is now but a distant memory, and the rest of us have shifted our attention to other non-Olympic matters (apart from debating whether Stephanie Rice and Eamonn Sullivan will get back together).

I'm a massive Olympic Games fan, and I loved seeing Australia win gold in Beijing. It's great seeing our country near the top of the medal tally alongside the big nations like China, USA and Russia. But, now a week later with it almost forgotten, is it worth it?

In Beijing, each gold medal cost Australia $17 million (with some reports as high as $50 million - Prof Kevin Norton, Uni of South Aus). So those 2 weeks cost us hundreds of millions of dollars.

And following all that, the Australian Olympic team came home with a "worse than expected medal haul". Well, we exceeded our predicted medal tally, but apparently the colour of the medals was wrong. You can spend as much money as you like, but it wouldn't change the fact that Alain Bernard may have had longer fingernails on the day.

Anyway, due to this "relative lack of success" John Coates now wants at least $200 million so that we can try and keep up with the Brits expenditure for London 2012.

No, it's not a good investment. The USA and Australia being the fattest nations in the world and the fact that they are getting fatter is proof of that.

Elite sport should be funded, but possibly not to the extent that it is, and definitely not to be increased. The sums of money that are being discussed are better spent elsewhere. For a suggestion of where, check out one of my previous posts!
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Posted By: Heidi - Category: No Category

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Why Phelps can swim so bloody fast

August 18th 2008 08:22

It's science.

First of all, he struggled with ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder) as a child, and so by chanelling his seemingly never-ending energy into swimming laps in the pool, he was soon able to manage his ADHD without medication

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Posted By: Heidi - Category: No Category

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June 10th 2008 04:54

These days in science so much of the research is conducted through group work and collaborative efforts that new findings, ideas and data are now rarely named after their discoverer. This leaves the scientists themselves with the privilege of coining their own names as they so wish. As is the case with many gene names, this can result in a glimpse into the creative, curious, and sometimes bizarre, imaginations of some researchers.

Human gene names can probably be the most mundane over all. They are often very straight-forward, describing the function or significance of a gene, such as SLC11A1 (soluter carrier family 11 member 1). This means doctors can normally avoid having to explain to patients that they are afflicted with a life-threatening illness caused by a gene named after a cartoon character. However, there still are human genes with names like Pokemon, Sonic Hedgehog, Tigger, and ARSE

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