News and other stories about real people, places, and events in Kensington and nearby suburbs.
A wet winter, a soggy spring: what is the negative Indian Ocean Dipole, and why is it so important?
27 Jul 2021
Last week the Bureau of Meteorology declared a negative Indian Ocean Dipole — a natural climate phenomenon set to bring wet weather. Let’s look at what you can expect, and the role of climate change.
When will we reach herd immunity? Here are three reasons that’s a hard question to answer
27 Jul 2021
Once we achieve herd immunity, people who are not vaccinated benefit indirectly from the immunity of those around them. But it’s not easy to say exactly when we’ll reach this threshold for COVID-19.
How Australia’s fickleness on COVID vaccines is perpetuating global vaccine inequity
27 Jul 2021
If Australians won’t take the AstraZeneca vaccine, we must donate it to save lives elsewhere, especially while we queue-jump for more Pfizer doses.
What we know about the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant
26 Jul 2021
The Delta variant is likely to become the most dominant strain globally. What does that mean for current and future variants?
Is it too late for the government to win back Australia’s trust?
26 Jul 2021
A lack of transparency and good policy has created a challenge for trust in political leaders, says a UNSW Sydney constitutional law expert.
The sunlight that powers solar panels also damages them. ‘Gallium doping’ is providing a solution
23 Jul 2021
The process of manufacturing gallium-doped solar panels was under a patent until last year. It’s only now that this method has started to pick up steam.
We’re losing the vaccination race because of bungling, not bad luck
23 Jul 2021
To paraphrase a legendary golfing saying, the harder you work, the luckier you get.
Is Delta defeating us? Here’s why the variant makes contact tracing so much harder
23 Jul 2021
NSW’s successful test and trace strategy controlled the Crossroads Hotel outbreak a year ago without needing a stringent lockdown. But this has not worked as well against Delta.
Why should financial regulators worry about exorbitant house prices?
22 Jul 2021
Regulators need to take action to prevent older Australians from borrowing against their superannuation to upgrade their housing and help rein in unsustainable property prices.
Will the Tokyo Olympics win gold for sustainability?
21 Jul 2021
It aims to be the most sustainable Games in history, but will Tokyo 2020 break the Olympic record?