Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
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Well in Deep Summer that does not actually feel like Summer the news flow is pretty slow!
Just a few items worth a browse!
Enjoy 2021
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21 inventions that will change our world
Breakthroughs in medicine and technology, set to roll out this year, bring hope of a healthier, more entertaining future.
By Natasha Robinson and Chris Griffith
December 31, 2020
Medicine
3D printed kidneys
Almost 2000 Australians in any given year are waiting for a kidney transplant, and 12,000 more are on dialysis. Many die waiting for a kidney. But those with end-stage kidney disease may have much better prospects in coming years with expectations that 3D printed kidneys could eventually be used for transplants. Scientists at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute have bio-printed tiny human kidneys using a stem cell paste. The mini-kidneys, just the size of a fingernail, contain thousands of tiny tubes and blood vessels and fully resemble a full-sized human kidney. As the technology comes of age it’s expected that full-sized kidneys will be able to be bio-printed and used in transplants.
Fertility cryopreservation
When children and young people are diagnosed with cancer, their parents are confronted not only with their child’s mortality but also difficult decisions about preserving future fertility.
One choice open to parents is to have part of their child’s ovarian or gonadal tissue removed and frozen for future use. The technique was until recently considered experimental, but ovarian tissue grafting has resulted in the birth of several babies in Australia in recent years. Slices of the tissue are implanted into the abdomen or pelvis, where it regrows and has the capacity to reverse menopause, releasing eggs that can then be fertilised via IVF.
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NSW says QR codes are the most effective system for COVID-19 contact tracing
State government reminds hospitality businesses and hairdressers they need to use the Service NSW QR code system come January 1.
By Chris Duckett | December 30, 2020 -- 01:17 GMT (12:17 AEDT) | Topic: Innovation
The New South Wales Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello has lauded the state's QR code venue check-in system, prior to it becoming mandatory for hospitality businesses and hairdressers when 2021 arrives.
If businesses do not use the Service NSW QR code check-in system, they face AU$5,000 fines, closure of the business for a week, and should the venue further fail to comply, potentially a month's closure.
"The consequences of non-compliance and complacency when it comes to electronic record keeping are serious -- it puts people's health at risk and destroys jobs," Dominello said.
"The feedback we've received from contact tracers is that the Service NSW QR code is the most effective system in assisting NSW Health to protect the community.
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Security lapse gives hackers a free pass
Treasury and Defence are among a number of federal government departments that have failed to fully implement a cybersecurity system designed to protect them from malicious emails.
After a slew of attacks this year by state-based hackers against the government and Australian businesses, only Home Affairs, Services Australia and the Australian Signals Directorate have told the Senate they have fully integrated the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance protocols, which prevent attackers from getting in through emails.
Questions on notice to Senate estimates and checks via domain name networks show Treasury, Defence, Health, Education, Industry, Parliamentary Services and Attorney-General have only partially implemented the cyber protections.
A Department of Home Affairs spokesman said the cyber uplift programs would help departments bolster cyber defences, and that Home Affairs was seeing an uptick in DMARC protocols in commonwealth offices.
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Sleep gadgets add complexity when we really should relax
By Alice Clarke
December 29, 2020 — 8.00am
Ah sleep. The one time of day you can escape all your worldly burdens, close your eyes and vividly dream of spiders, or being best friends with the moon, or something. It's vital, and natural.
But in the same way that tech and shoe companies keep making running — the least complicated sport in the world — more complex and expensive, tech and device companies are finding new ways to quantify and sell you stuff for sleep.
Bose is back on the bandwagon again after the many tech failures of its first attempt to make earbuds that help you sleep. I have to admit that I used my original Sleepbuds a lot on planes until they eventually stopped charging, and I do find that I get to sleep sooner and more soundly when I wear the $380 second-generation buds now that I’m trying to get used to the noise of the city again (lockdown was so quiet).
But even these new Sleepbuds can’t play anything other than the included sounds, my right bud keeps randomly cutting out, they’re uncomfortable if you sleep on your side, and I find that I wake up groggier when I wear them. I still plan on wearing them on planes eventually, but a pair of 50 cent ear plugs might serve most people better.
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30 Dec 2020 8:56 AM AEST
Perth’s quarantine escapee just tip of the iceberg of social media threat to Australia’s COVID-19 response
Australia's COVID-19 response is under threat from unchecked social media companies, as public health authorities have little insight into the scale of the problem, says Reset Australia.
News reports that a woman left quarantine in Perth after being indoctrinated by misinformation on Facebook is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to misinformation online, says Chris Cooper, executive director of Reset Australia.
"Social media has supercharged conspiracy theories and misinformation, pushing people into echo chambers where false information is all they see. Algorithms amplify the most sensationalist or conspiratorial content to keep us engaged and online longer, but that's often not factual or accurate information."
It's not just Australians leaving quarantine, the longterm threat that fewer people will be willing to take up the COVID-19 vaccine because of unchecked misinformation means meaningful action on social media is needed now, said Mr Cooper.
“Every important service provider or industry in our country has an inspection and enforcement method except Facebook and other social media giants. It’s time for social media to grow up and respond to proper public oversight.
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https://www.greataustralianpods.com/2020/12/australian-digital-health-agency-podcast.html
Australian Digital Health Agency Podcast
December 30, 2020
Podcast: Australian Digital Health Agency Podcast
By: Australian Digital Health Agency
Category: Health and Fitness
Sub-Category: Health, Management, Tech News
First Episode: 2020
Description:
Australia’s need for a connected healthcare system is now greater than ever.
One that’s accessible, progressive, and importantly secure.
Website: Australian Digital Health Agency
Connect: Twitter
and Facebook
and YouTube
and LinkedIn
Listen: Google or Apple or Spotify
or RSS
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Telstra backs Melbourne Cofense cyber security centre to defend Asia Pacific
Telstra is backing a new centre to be built in Melbourne aimed at combating a sharp increase in sophisticated cyber attacks — some from foreign powers — across the Asia Pacific region.
The centre will aim to prevent phishing, or malicious emails, infiltrating Australia and the region’s biggest businesses, who are also battling their own war in securing talent to prevent unwarranted cyber intrusions.
Telstra’s venture capital arm, Telstra Ventures, has backed the company behind the centre — US-based Cofense, which is based near the CIA’s headquarters in Virginia.
It is part of Telstra Venture’s $US100m ($131m) bet on more than a dozen cybersecurity start-ups to bolster defences for big business, as attacks from criminals and foreign powers increase in volume and scale.
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Motorola Solutions extends mission critical managed service with Ambulance Victoria
Dean Koh | 30 Dec 2020
Communications and analytics company Motorola Solutions has extended its agreement to provide the Victorian Government with a dedicated emergency data communications managed service for use by Ambulance Victoria, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Known
as the Mobile Data Network (MDN), the network was the first emergency
communications network to be procured under a build, own and operate
public-private services model in Australia. It was first deployed in 2005 and
provides secure, mission-critical data communications for Ambulance Victoria,
primarily to support ambulance dispatch capabilities across the greater
Melbourne metropolitan area
.
The new agreement will see Motorola Solutions maintain the service to its
current mission-critical standards whilst introducing new and emerging
technologies.
Under the extended agreement, Motorola Solutions will work with Ambulance Victoria to integrate a number of its technologies within a single platform. This will ensure the state’s paramedics receive the right information at the right time so they can deliver better care and outcomes for all patients.
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Tensions with telcos and network gaps to challenge NBN Co in 2021
By Supratim Adhikari
January 1, 2021 — 12.00am
The national broadband network has sailed into the new year with a spring in its step, with the federal government declaring the $53 billion network is finally "built and fully operational". But its management should be under no illusion as to how arduous 2021 is likely to be.
Having taken over a decade to hit its target of making 11.86 million premises ready to receive broadband services over the NBN, the management team in charge of the network needs to crack on with connecting the homes that were put in the too hard basket.
That number currently stands at around 35,000 and there's also the issue of helping some 238,000 or so homes get the minimum 25 Mbps (megabits per second) speed that they are paying for but can't receive. Most of these under-served homes are on fibre-to-the-node connections that rely on copper rather than fibre for services.
As with all things NBN, the numbers need to be put in context and the overall number of premises with no or poor services makes up just over 2 per cent of the total footprint of the network. But 2 per cent of 11 million is still a pretty large number, and those missing out on fast internet speeds, especially during a pandemic, won't be shy in making a noise about it.
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To Mars and beyond: Why 2021 could be a huge year for space
By Christian Davenport
December 31, 2020 — 4.34am
We all know that 2020 was a no-good, horrible, fearful, tumultuous year that will be remembered for the coronavirus pandemic and a polarising US election. But for space enthusiasts, it was actually quite a good year, providing bits of promising news amid the bleak headlines of disease, economic hardship and protests.
SpaceX launched astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) twice. NASA launched a rover to Mars and snagged a sample from an asteroid 200 million miles away.
2021 has potential for even more good news. Here's just some of what could happen in the new year.
SpaceX to return to ISS
After two successful flights carrying astronauts to the ISS, SpaceX is set to do it again. Crew-2, its second fully operational mission, is scheduled to launch a quartet of astronauts from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida in the northern spring, followed a few months later by Crew-3.
Not since the space shuttle has NASA had routine flights to the space station from US soil. If all goes well, SpaceX will become the shuttle's successor, filling a major gap in America's spaceflight program in a coming-of-age moment for what was once a spunky start-up.
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Enjoy!
David.
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