It is often reported that the Great Barrier Reef is half dead, specifically that the corals are bleached, and the water quality is degraded with pesticides and plastics. If I didn’t know better, I might never want to visit a coral reef, lest I be … [Read more...] about Gardens of Old Porites, Without Sharks
Blog
Measuring Old Corals & Coral Reefs (Part 1)
Fundamental to science is measurement. It is a way of objectively assessing something, anything, even the state of a coral reef, even of an individual coral. Historically coral growth rates were measured by coring the really old massive Porites. … [Read more...] about Measuring Old Corals & Coral Reefs (Part 1)
Noosa River Mouth, 1973 & Yesterday
River mouths are ever changing with the seasons and with the tides, and they can also be completely changed through the building of rock walls. I remember Noosa’s river mouth back in 1973 when we lived in the caravan park, which was at the end of … [Read more...] about Noosa River Mouth, 1973 & Yesterday
Replete with Sand
We live at a time when it is fashionable to lament how nature has become overwhelmingly depleted. So when sand is stripped from the local beach there is much public gnashing of teeth and a newspaper headline. But when the same beach is … [Read more...] about Replete with Sand
Half the Corals Dead – But Not in Real Life
The claim that half the corals of the Great Barrier Reef are dead is based on a new method using ‘proxies’ (not a direct measure of coral cover), applied to badly cyclone damaged reefs, just after a major coral bleaching event – from which the corals … [Read more...] about Half the Corals Dead – But Not in Real Life
Penguins, Rowan Dean and Selling Books
Saturday night, I was eating chocolates at Catherine’s (remember my friend who tutors kids in maths), when Rowan phoned. Not any Rowan. The Rowan Dean from Sky Television. He was working late. We had just been talking about him at dinner, because … [Read more...] about Penguins, Rowan Dean and Selling Books
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
