White roos A family of rare albio wallaroos has bee foud at Mout Paorama PAGE 2 Power revolutio Commuities are empowerig themselves with gree power PAGE 4 ISSUE 18, 16 SEPTEMBER 2014 Facig the past A team of researchers from UTS has breathed ew life ito a old mummy at the Australia Museum. 5 Foresic sciece experts at UTS recostruct a face from aciet Egypt. Photo by Aa Zhu UTS: NEWS. VIEWS. BREAKTHROUGHS
2 UTS: NEWS. VIEWS. BREAKTHROUGHS SEPTEMBER 2014 Cotets 3 ENVIRONMENT A youg scietist uravels a local mystery 4 5 6 FEATURE Rural commuities are embracig gree power COVER STORY Moder techiques brig aciet Egypt alive OPINION Will big busiess kill the reef? ART Artistic ispiratio explaied 7 RESEARCH The superbug is comig A lighter shade of pale Macropod researchers have stumbled across a rare family of albio wallaroos livig aroud Bathurst, writes Wedy Frew. I the lead up to the icoic Bathurst 1000 motorig race i October, a family of rare albio wallaroos has bee discovered livig aroud the Mout Paorma area i the Cetral Tablelads of NSW. Albiism i wildlife is rare ad the odds of ay albio aimals survivig i the wild are low, says macropod scietist Dr Daiel Ramp, director of the Cetre for Compassioate Coservatio at the Uiversity of Techology, Sydey (UTS). The discovery comes at a iterestig time. Dr Ramp is leadig a UTS kagaroo research program i Bathurst seekig ways to discourage kagaroos from jumpig o to the Mout Paorama motor racig circuit durig the aual October Bathurst 1000. It was Bathurst coucillor Jess Jeigs who origially approached the Bathurst Kagaroo Project to idetify a aimal i a photo he had take o his phoe while ruig i the public reserve. Clearer images were immediately sought, with local wildlife photographer Tim Berge discoverig at least two albio wallaroos, a female ad her joey. These photographs were the forwarded to Dr Ramp for cofirmatio. Berge says he had heard about the albio wallaroos, so whe he was asked if he could get clear photos he was kee to oblige. The wallaroo shape is very distictive ad their yellow tails ormally idicate female wallaroos, says Berge. It was a thrill to fid that the albio wallaroo mother seems to have a older albio daughter ad a youger o-albio female joey. Dr Ramp had spotted a white wallaroo o a iitial visit to the area earlier this year ad was kee to get a clearer look. Just a hadful of wild albio macropods are metioed i the scietific literature ad public press, although zoos breed them as attractios, says Dr Ramp. Give the rarity of albiism gees ad the odds agaist these recessive gees comig together to produce albio offsprig, we kew there had to be a explaatio about the origis of the albio wallaroo ad her albio offsprig. Kowig that the old Joseph Baks Nature Park at the back of the moutai had released all its macropods whe it was shut dow about 20 years ago, we made iquiries about ay albio wallaroos that might have bee there. Sure eough, respected Bathurst aturalist ad former rager for the reserve, Ia McArtey, cofirmed that a male albio wallaroo had bee residet at the park. Without a available female carryig the rare recessive albiism gee, that wallaroo s direct offsprig were ever albios. Several isolated geeratios later there are ow eough of the recessive gees i the Mout Paorama wallaroo populatio to come together to start producig albio wallaroos. Dr Ramp says the possibility of seeig more albio wallaroos i the precict certaily raises the scietific value of the local macropod populatio. It is frequetly thought that albio aimals do ot survive log i the wild as their visio ca be impaired ad they ca be observed more easily by predators. Despite These white wallaroos are believed to be desceded from a male albio from a local reserve. Photo by Tim Berge. livig ear a racetrack these rare wallaroos appear to be doig well ad are healthy. Some residets have kow of the aimals for some time, ad wat to see them protected. The most importat thig is to leave them aloe, drive carefully i the Mout Paorama precict, ad keep dogs leashed whe i kagaroo habitat, says Dr Ramp. These rare aimals could well serve as a importat flagship for the project. Actors keep it real with a dramatic take o uiversity BY MELINDA HAM Gibber Theatre s productio shows high school studets what they ca expect at uiversity. Photo supplied. Maagig Editor: Robert Butto Editor: Wedy Frew Desig ad layout: Tui Prichard Priter: Blue Star Prit NSW Editorial equiries: 02 9514 2732, brik@uts.edu.au Brik is published by the Uiversity of Techology, Sydey through its Marketig ad Commuicatio Uit. The views expressed i Brik are ot ecessarily the views of the uiversity or its editorial team. Brik is published o The Sydey Morig Herald ipad app o the third Tuesday of every moth. SUBSCRIBE TO BRINK You ca subscribe to the prit versio of Brik by emailig your ame ad postal address to brik@uts.edu.au Icreasig access to higher educatio for sectios of the commuity that traditioally miss out o uiversity is a pressig issue for Australia but a ew theatre productio beig staged i high schools could help solve that. By the ed of this year, more tha 8,000 year 7 studets i 70 schools i wester Sydey ad coutry NSW will have see Owards ad Upwards, a iteractive productio from the Gibber Theatre i the UK. The idea is to preset uiversity as somethig ot oly for those from wealthy families, says Domiic Nimo, the lead actor i Owards ad Upwards. We try to look at it from a kid s perspective o matter who you are or where you live, higher educatio is achievable, if you wat to atted it, says Nimo. Gibber Theatre is workig with TAFE ad five uiversities the Uiversity of Techology, Sydey (UTS), Macquarie, Sydey, Wester Sydey ad the Australia Catholic Uiversity to target schools with low erolmets i uiversity ad TAFE. The program is part of a $21.2 millio Commowealth govermet program, Bridges to Higher Educatio. Gibber has adapted its highly successful UK productio to Australia audieces, addig refereces to celebrities such as Delta Goodrem, ad Australia TV shows. The 40-miute live drama is combied with a video projected behid the actors, showig studets what they ca expect at uiversity ope days ad directig them to useful websites. The kids seem to really relate to it, says Nimo. It s fuy, they laugh at differet jokes i Sydey tha they do i the coutry areas ad at boys schools they are a little more cool ad it takes time to warm them up. The poit of the exercise is to provide accurate iformatio ad dispel myths about higher educatio, says UTS Wideig Participatio Co-ordiator Trudy Phelps. I some families it may be a case of the ukow that o oe has trasitioed to higher educatio i that family ad we try to highlight the realities of what it s like, she says. There is a cumulative impact from programs such as Owards ad Upwards, accordig to the 2014 Bridges iterim evaluatio report compiled by KPMG. Of the studets who have participated i the productio, Gibber reported that 87 per cet said they were more likely to stay at school to complete year 12 ad 78 per cet thought they would fit i at uiversity. Ad 84 per cet of teachers said they thought the performace would ecourage studets to egage more with their high school work.
SEPTEMBER 2014 UTS: NEWS. VIEWS. BREAKTHROUGHS 3 ENVIRONMENT Evirometal scietist Steve Leahy retured to his home tow, Uruga, i orther NSW, to solve a toxic mystery. Photo supplied. Passio for the atural world clears the waters A boyhood iterest helps a youg scietist uravel a evirometal mystery, reports Marea Martlew. Atoxic legacy has hug over the picturesque orther NSW coastal hamlet of Uruga for almost 40 years. Although ow obscured by dese vegetatio, the forest of dead melaleuca trees at the edge of a wetlad stads as a sad setiel to a time whe evirometal protectio was i its ifacy. I 1974, the owers of a mieral processig plat opeed i 1969 whe prices for trace metals were high abadoed the site. They left waste tailigs cotaiig atimoy, arseic, mercury ad lead to leach ito the wetlad which cotais edagered ad vulerable faua species ad feeds the Uruga lagoo. As a yougster growig up i Uruga, evirometal scietist Steve Leahy, ow 31, could ot have evisaged how this heavily cotamiated oe-hectare site would shape his career. It yielded metal of a differet sort this year whe he was awarded a Uiversity of Techology, Sydey (UTS) Medal ad a First Class Evirometal Sciece Hoours degree. The site was t that well kow whe I was growig up ad local childre used to swim i the lagoo. It s actually hidde i plai sight, oly 50 metres from a mai road but largely iaccessible. It s oly whe you approach from the lagoo side, as I did whe I was takig samples for my hoours project, that you see just how deuded of vegetatio the area ear the dead trees is, Leahy says. I remember doig a project about the site whe I was at Bellige High School which must have stayed with me. But although most people recogise the evirometal dagers of mercury, lead ad arseic, I do t thik they kew what atimoy was, he says. This is t surprisig. Although widely used i products we take for People might say that atimoy is t such a big deal, why bother? grated, such as flame retardats, brake-pad liigs ad, icreasigly, microelectroics, atimoy is a trace metal with o kow biological fuctio. A rare resource 90 per cet of the world s kow supply is i Chia it is also highly toxic ad potetially carciogeic. For Leahy, a evirometal chemist, expertise gaied at CSIRO Lad ad Water durig his idustry placemet, combied with his formative years i Uruga, resulted i a Hoours project that he hoped would both push the boudaries i trace metal aalysis ad have evirometal relevace. Despite its toxic potetial we kow very little about how atimoy moves through the eviromet ad curret test methods geerally are t sesitive eough to detect the miute backgroud levels foud aturally i ucotamiated waters. If you do t kow what is there, aturally you ca t establish baselie values agaist which to compare future cotamiatio evets, Leahy says. By combiig classical chemical methods with cuttig-edge techology at CSIRO, Leahy was able to develop, for the first time, a uique method to quatify dissolved atimoy at backgroud cocetratios alog the legth of a ucotamiated Australia estuary. It s a importat step towards uderstadig the bigger picture of how a difficult-to-measure, potetially toxic, cotamiat could affect a whole estuary ad will ehace evirometal moitorig by allowig the differetiatio of cotamiat ad atural atimoy sources. I what has tured out to be exquisite timig a week after the youg scietist received his testamur ad prestigious award from UTS, the NSW Crow Lads departmet aouced that a remediatio pla for the cotamiated site i Uruga Cotamiatio from a old mierals processig plat killed vegetatio at the Uruga lagoo. Photos supplied. had bee agreed ad fial approval sought through the NSW Departmet of Plaig. Bellige Shire Coucil s geeral maager Liz Jeremy welcomed the ews ad was reported i the Nambucca Guardia sayig that the remediatio would see the site redered safe evetually it will be redeveloped ad re-opeed for passive recreatio. For Leahy, as a scietist with a passio for protectig the atural eviromet, there is eormous satisfactio i beig able to pull apart a complex problem ad get closer to uderstadig the ukow chemistry of a substace whose evirometal impact should ot be uderestimated. I felt that there really was a eed to develop a precise ad accurate method to detect atimoy i estuarie waters. People might say that atimoy is t such a big deal, why bother? However we kow demad for resources keeps growig. Australia has uder-exploited atimoy reserves i the mid-orth-coast NSW catchmets. For developmet to be sustaiable we eed to protect the eviromet for future geeratios, so ivestigatig ad moitorig trace metal cotamiatio is importat.
4 UTS: NEWS. VIEWS. BREAKTHROUGHS SEPTEMBER 2014 FEATURE The wids of chage Two 800kW turbies ow provide much of the power eeded by the small West Australia tow of Demark. Photo by Simo Neville. Commuity eergy projects are flourishig across Europe but i Australia it is provig a log ad rocky road to eergy idepedece, reports Wedy Frew. Demark is t the suiest place o the cotiet. The Australia cotiet, that is. The tiy towship cligig to Wester Australia s souther coast is raiy for about a third of the year. So, it was t a big surprise whe, i 2003, wid eergy emerged as the most viable form of reewable eergy for the local commuity. The commuity has log bee kow as a gree tow. Craig Chappelle, chairma of directors of Demark Commuity Widfarm Ltd (DCW) says locals wated to build a small, commuity-scale wid farm that would feed electricity ito the regioal grid, improve the quality ad reliability of the district s power ad reduce the commuity s reliace o fossil fuels. We were gettig five or six blackouts per year, says Chappelle, who with others at DCW helped establish a commuity eergy project for the tow. We are the secod-last tow o that [electricity trasmissio] lie ad the ifrastructure is about 60 years old so there are massive power losses as the electricity travels 400km dow the lie to us. Demark ow has two wid turbies ad has permissio to build aother two. There s a certai sychroicity too i the tow s gree eergy choice. Demark s Europea amesake is the birth place of the global wid idustry. Agaist the backdrop of the oil crisis, Demark bega developig commercial wid power i the 1970s. Wid power ow provides just over 30 per cet of the coutry s electricity, much of it comig from commuity eergy projects. I eighbourig Germay, fears of aother Cherobyl prompted hudreds of thousads of people to ivest i citizes wid farms ad other kids of idepedet reewable eergy schemes. Scotlad is aother otable adopter of commuity eergy. Util recetly, it has bee a very differet picture i Australia, says Nicky Iso, a seior research cosultat for the Istitute for Sustaiable Futures at the Uiversity of Techology, Sydey. I 2009, there were just three or four commuity eergy projects o the drawig board, says Iso, a expert i the field of commuity eergy ad eergy policy. Now, there are 10 projects operatig ad over 50 i developmet, ad i Jue about 300 people atteded Australia s first major commuity eergy cogress i Caberra, she says. The cogress brought together people who were iterested i startig commuity eergy projects, drafted a atioal strategy for developig the sector ad created the Coalitio for Commuity Eergy which will deliver the atioal strategy. Idividual projects might be small but they ca be replicated across may commuities ad their ifluece ripples through the commuity ad evetually iflueces policy ad Removig the reewable eergy target will make it tougher for the gree eergy sector. regulatios, says Iso, who has travelled the world visitig commuity eergy projects. I July, the NSW govermet aouced it wated to rival Califoria s gree power status by acceleratig the use of reewable eergy ad easig the way for more wid farms. But the sector s mometum could soo hit a very big speed bump. I the lead up to the 2013 Federal electio, the Coalitio promised to support a reewable eergy target (RET). The target, eshried i law by the former Labor govermet, requires electricity retailers to source a combied 41,000GWh of power from reewable sources by 2020, or what was projected i 2010 to be 20 per cet of Australia s electricity demad. At the time of writig a Coalitio govermet review of the target was uderway, headed by professed climate chage sceptic Dick Warburto. The reewable eergy idustry ad gree groups fear the govermet has already made up its mid to cut the target. Icumbet power compaies claim the target costs jobs ad pushes up power prices. But experiece aroud the world shows reewable eergy ca smooth out the spikes i wholesale electricity prices o very hot ad very cold days because that is whe reewable eergy teds to be available. I other words, reewable eergy ca help keep electricity prices dow. Regardless, cuttig or removig the target will make it tougher for the reewable eergy sector to grow, says Iso. Clearly, curret ucertaity i Federal govermet policy settigs are ot helpig, she says. All the more reaso for the Coalitio for Commuity Eergy to help the sector develop a rage of busiess models for ew alterative eergy projects. Globally we are seeig huge iovatio i the busiess models for reewable eergy. Because of govermet policies i Australia, sellig electricity ito the grid for smaller commuity eergy projects is ot ecoomically viable so these projects eed to sell eergy directly to electricity users, Iso says. I Demark s case, locals decided to form a limited compay rather tha a co-operative structure. The compay issued 1.2 millio shares at $1 each ad it ow has 116 shareholders, most of whom are local residets. DCW will pay its first divided this year, after just 15 moths of operatio, says Chappelle, ad some of the profits will be retured to the commuity for other projects. We calculated that after the first year of operatio we had provided 55 per cet of domestic electricity cosumptio, which was slightly better tha our projectios, he says. I overall terms, we are providig 35 to 40 per cet of commercial, idustrial ad residetial cosumptio for the etire district. It s ot bad for two little 800kW turbies.
SEPTEMBER 2014 UTS: NEWS. VIEWS. BREAKTHROUGHS 5 COVER STORY A foresic examiatio BY WENDY FREW This mummy, acquired by the Australia Museum i 1912, still holds may mysteries. Photo by Stuart Humphreys. It was a perfect March morig the day Meiya Sutiso ad her team of researchers bega examiig the body. Sydey s su was still strog eough to heat up the pavemet o William Street but dow i the bowels of the Australia Museum the atmosphere was very differet. A member of the museum s staff pulled away a sheet to reveal the body, boud i the rags of atiquity, lookig small ad fragile as it lay o a autopsy table. The feet were pulled close together, the shoulders appeared huched ad the head tilted slightly dow. A few feet away lay the sarcophagus that had housed the mummy. The researchers ad museum staff moved carefully aroud the body, speakig quietly. The oly other soud i the room was the hum of a air-coditioer. Ad so bega the work that would cotiue for the ext five moths to uravel the mystery of the museum s mummy. Who lay beeath the badages? How old was the body? How did this perso die ad why were they ecased i a sarcophagus that, at first glace, seemed a ulikely fit with the mummy itself? Acquired i 1912 from Sir Robert Lucas Lucas-Tooth, of Tooth & Co. brewig fame, the mummy has remaied at the Australia Museum ever sice. It was believed to have come from Thebes (moder-day Luxor) but little else was kow about it. The, last December, with the museum s permissio, ABC TV sciece show Catalyst ivited Dr Sutiso to coduct a foresic autopsy ad recostruct the mummy s face based o 3D CT scas of the skull. A seior lecturer ad foresic aatomist at the Uiversity of Techology, Sydey (UTS), Dr Sutiso s work has raged from recostructig the faces of Bali s 2005 suicide bombers for the Idoesia police, to idetifyig crime suspects from CCTV footage. But workig o a aciet Egyptia corpse was somethig very differet, says Dr Sutiso. Ulike other mummies that have bee studied that have all their boes i place, i this case, the pelvis, some of the ribs ad the spie are missig, she says. There is evidece of foul play ad that is what iterests me. With a team of PhD, Hoours ad udergraduate foresic biology studets to help her, Dr Sutiso coducted a exteral examiatio of the mummy ad, usig the CT scas, a foresic aalysis of the skeleto. Her studets paistakigly measured ad photographed the mummy ad its aciet coffi, while the museum orgaised carbo datig of the fragile lie wrappig ad the wood from the lid ad base of the sarcophagus. Egyptia mummies are amog the Australia Museum s most popular attractios, says the museum s Materials Coservatio Maager, Coli Macgregor, ad fidig out more about this specime will exted what is kow about how Egyptias lived ad died, he says. The Aciet Egyptia legacy has had a impact o subsequet civilizatios ad a lot has bee leart about their lives thaks to the very high level of preservatio of these huma remais, says Macgregor. We are really excited that a much more complex story is emergig about this mummy. We are really excited that a much more complex story is emergig about this mummy. It was less glamorous tha our other mummy [a Egyptia woma mummified aroud 664-525 BC] ad perhaps has ot got the attetio it deserves but there is a complex story to tell about it. After several false leads, details of the mummy s idetity bega to emerge earlier this year. The UTS team dubbed their ma for by ow they had verified his geder Muharib, a Arabic ame meaig warrior. Muscle markigs o the skeleto show he was quite wellbuilt, muscular ad stocky, ad about 170cm tall, says Dr Sutiso. It was obvious from his boes that his right arm was very agile ad his left arm showed sigs of repeated, heavy liftig. He rus, he is robust, he is agile, he is everythig you would wat from a solider, she says, referrig to oe of several hypotheses about the ma s occupatio. The boes show sigs of calluses, fractures ad healed fractures. You could say he had bee through the wriger. Aroud the time of death, he appears to have sustaied ijuries to the right side of his cheek ad jaw, his right arm ad the right side of his torso. Other aatomical clues idicate Muharib was aged betwee 25 ad 35 years old, ad was i good health, with o sigs of arthritis or osteoporosis. His features are predomiatly Caucasoid, with some Mogoloid ad Negroid features, a commo mixture for may people who lived i the Nile Delta i aciet times. How did he meet such a utimely death? asks Dr Sutiso. There was peri-mortem (occurrig aroud the time of death) trauma to the boe that was quite obviously from a very sharp implemet, perhaps a sword or a blade, she says. Also uexplaied is how this ma came to be buried i what appears to be a sarcophagus that carbo datig idicates is ceturies older tha the badages i which he is wrapped. The swap could have happeed durig the freetic trade i mummies i the late 19th cetury. A trip dow the Nile by wealthy Americas ad Europeas was t complete without buyig some mummified remais as a souveir. A twi-set of mummy ad sarcophagus was far more valuable tha either o their ow ad traders may ot have hesitated to mix ad match. The Australia Museum is aalysig a layer of black resi o the mummy s badages ad o the coffi i the hope of revealig more of the story ad Macgregor has searched the museum s archives for more clues. A 1910 letter complaiig of rough hadlig by Australia Customs officials of the crate housig the mummy could accout for some damage to the uderside of the sarcophagus. We are hopig we ca build o this project to fid out more about this mysterious specime, he says. For Dr Sutiso ad her studets, workig o the mummy has bee a ivaluable experiece. It has bee like a detective ivestigatio, says Dr Sutiso. It is quite a uique project foresic sciece beig applied to ivestigatig the origis of a geuie mummy. Dr Meiya Sutiso [left] from UTS has recostructed the mummy s face [right] from 3D CT scas. Photos by Aa Zhu ad UTS.
6 UTS: NEWS. VIEWS. BREAKTHROUGHS SEPTEMBER 2014 OPINION Profit ad progress are puttig the Great Barrier Reef at risk Developig a huge coal port o the Queeslad coast will ievitably cause further damage to the world s largest coral reef system, writes David Booth. Last moth the Federal govermet approved what will become Australia s biggest coalmie ad oe of the biggest i the world, coverig 200 square kilometres ad producig about 60 millio toes of coal a year. The Carmichael coalmie i the Galilee Basi of Queeslad, operated by Idia s Adai Group, has bee hailed by the Federal govermet for its ecoomic beefits but its impact exteds well beyod exports ad jobs; it will have a colossal evirometal footprit o the basi ad the Great Barrier Reef. Adai s pla to expad port facilities at Hay ad Abbot poits, ad its desire for the biggest bulk carriers to avigate a multitude of small shoals ad reefs that make up the World Heritage-listed marie habitat put the reef at great risk from coastal clearig, dredge spoil dumpig ad hazardous shippig. Already, up ad dow the Queeslad coast, harbours are beig dredged, spoil is beig dumped i the ocea ad fie sedimet is smotherig corals ad seagrass habitats all i the ame of the state s icreased coal ad gas exports. The coal idustry says the best evirometal impact work shows the effects of the costructio dredgig ad more tha 14 millio toes of subsequet spoil dump a year would be cotaied well away from the reef. However, as is usually the case with such studies, the project brief would ot have examied the log-term effects of the spread of fie sedimet across the reef. But the sciece is clear. Water quality o the Great Barrier Reef ad adjacet coastal waters is already decliig, thaks to the 600,000 toes of spoil eterig the ocea from Queeslad rivers every year, largely due to lad clearig for agriculture. This pales i compariso with the amout of sedimet expected to be dumped ear the reef from dredgig works associated with the port developmet. Suspeded sedimets will devastate marie life o the reefs, killig corals ad seagrass, ad leavig room for algal slime to move i. The Great Barrier Reef is oe of the richest ad most complex atural systems o Earth, beloved of Australias ad a valuable part of our tourism idustry. But it is already i its worst shape sice records bega because Abbot Poit o the Queeslad coast, surrouded by wetlads ad coral reefs, is set to become the world s largest coal port. Photo by Tom Jefferso, Greepeace. of overfishig, agricultural ru-off, the ivasio of the Crow of Thors starfish, risig water temperatures coected The reef is already i its worst shape sice records bega. to climate chage, ad ocea acidificatio. Coal port sedimet dumpig could be the straw that breaks the reef s back. The lack of regard for the eviromet is clear whe you cosider the alteratives. Idustry flatly rejected dumpig dredge spoil o lad rather tha i the sea. Nor would it cosider the much less evirometally destructive (but more expesive) optio of suspedig pipelies o trestles, requirig oly a fractio of the sedimet removal. It is worryig that the Federal govermet is pavig the way for the Queeslad govermet to have the fial say o developmet proposals, despite the state beig a major beeficiary. It is a clear coflict of iterest. Meawhile, the Great Barrier Reef Marie Park Authority will have a reduced advisory role. Eve if we discard the itrisic worth of the Great Barrier Reef ad simply weigh up the ecoomic beefits, the cost of higher miig exports is potetially massive losses i the equally lucrative tourism ad commercial fishig idustries. Expadig Queeslad s shippig ports may seem to make ecoomic sese but the real cost to Australia may be too much to pay. For Australia, rethikig the productivity of materials holds promise for what is a challegig time for traditioal maufacturig. David J. Booth is Professor of Marie Ecology at the Uiversity of Techology, Sydey ad presidet of the Australia Coral Reef Society. ART Creative udercurrets BY MELINDA HAM What does a Chilea mother marchig with a portrait of her missig child who disappeared durig the Piochet years have i commo with Microsoft fouder Steve Jobs holdig up a image of himself o a laptop? They are amog the hudreds of prited ewspaper images that artist ad art lecturer Tom Nicholso has collected durig the past decade. He is fasciated by pictures of people bearig photos of other people, ad has combied 198 of them ito a 90-miute video istallatio. Part of beig a artist is the rage of differet forces that affect your work, Nicholso says. Some of it is a iceberg that always stays submerged beeath the surface. I had collected these photos for years ad the I fially decided to use this subterraea material. This theme of the processes behid art cotiues throughout far ad wide: Narrative ito Idea, a exhibitio at the gallery at the Uiversity of Techology, Sydey (UTS), which showcases the work of Nicholso ad four other Australia artists Barbara Campbell, George Egerto- Warburto, Michael Lidema ad Alex Martiis Roe. I thought it would be iterestig to show desig studets ad other visitors to the gallery the extesive research that these artists go through i the executio of their work, says Jasmi Stephes, the exhibitio s curator. How they thik through the arrative ad storytellig process, askig the questios: who does my work speak to, what is it sayig ad what is the cotext? George Egerto-Warburto, 26, from Wester Australia, has created a diorama that combies a aively paited tropical backgroud, a toy horse ad material from his studio. Stephes says Egerto- Warburto is explorig the idea that while dioramas i museums traditioally depict grad battles, here the artist has juxtaposed his scee with some mudae, everyday objects, such as a power cord, from his studio. Dioramas have falle i ad out of fashio, ad are sometimes regarded as cory, usophisticated or old-fashioed, but the public has always loved them, Stephes says. Egerto-Warburto s diorama is very aive ad very playful; it wo t be the grad ad ispirig oes expected of museums. Ad that s ot lost o him. Meawhile i Coradiaa, femiist artist Barbara Campbell has typed out six times the etire mauscript of Joseph Corad s ovel Heart of Darkess o 20 five-metre legths of Chiese rice paper. She maitais that wome s labour always uderpis a ma s creative geesis. This log scroll of paper hags i frot of a video of Diseylad s A still from Tom Nicholso s high defiitio video Prited pages/bearig images, 1998-2008. Courtesy of the artist ad Milai Gallery, Brisbae. Jugle Book ride, a referece to the 1978 filmig i the Philippies of Fracis Ford Coppola s Apocalypse Now, which dramatised Corad s ovel. Alex Martiis Roe presets a video of wome ivolved i the Mila Wome s Bookstore Collective Circolo della rosa portrayig a iteratioal femiist movemet through the relatioship of two idividuals. Michael Lidema creates a self-effacig self-portrait usig a letter from Sizzler restaurat maagemet commedig him o his dishwashig certificatio, ad a ope letter to the viewer questioig the artist s role i society. far ad wide: Narrative ito Idea is at UTS Gallery Moday to Friday, 12pm to 6pm, Level 4, 702 Harris St, Ultimo, util 10 October.
SEPTEMBER 2014 UTS: NEWS. VIEWS. BREAKTHROUGHS 7 RESEARCH The risk of total atibiotic resistace should be treated as a atural disaster like bush fires or floods. Photo by AAP Image/David Croslig. Facig a post-atibiotic world Atibiotic resistace should be treated as a atural disaster, reports Leigh Dayto. It s official. Humaity is racig towards a post-atibiotic era, a time whe today s life-savig drugs wo t successfully treat commo ifectious diseases or eve ifectios from mior ijuries. Accordig to the World Health Orgaisatio, may bacteria resposible for commo but serious diseases such as peumoia, diarrhoea, goorrhoea ad bloodstream ifectios have developed resistace to atibiotics desiged to wipe them out. Worse, few replacemet treatmets are i the pipelie. The post-atibiotic world looms. Surprisigly, microbiologist Maurizio Labbate was delighted by the alarmig WHO report. It highlights exactly what we ve bee sayig, says the researcher from the Uiversity of Techology, Sydey (UTS). Dr Labbate ad his research parters, Dr Caroly Michael from UTS ad Associate Professor Dale Domiey-Howes from the Uiversity of Sydey, agree with the WHO that a global effort is eeded to tackle atibiotic resistace. Ad the trio has a ulikely approach frame atibiotic resistace as a atural disaster. Dr Labbate says the key advatage to rebradig atibiotic resistace as a atural disaster like floods, fires ad cycloes is that developed coutries such as Australia have effective ad orgaised emergecy riskmaagemet processes for such evets. It makes sese, he argues, to adopt similar mechaisms to prepare for ad hadle the problem of atibiotic resistace. A disaster-orieted strategy would broade ad stregthe atioal ad iteratioal protocols established by health officials ad hospitals for hadlig sudde disease outbreaks because although atibiotic resistace is a slow outbreak, as it icreases, the chaces of a sudde ad disastrous epidemic or pademic rise. This slow outbreak bega durig World War II, soo after a Cambridge Uiversity team led by Australia Howard Florey produced sigificat supplies of peicilli, the first atibiotic. As more atibiotics became widely available, Imagie a world of utreatable bacterial ifectios, icludig epidemics ad pademics. more bacteria developed resistace to them. Bacteria ca become atibioticresistat if they udergo radom mutatios which, by chace, protect them from atibiotics. Alteratively, the highly promiscuous microbes ca acquire drug-bustig powers from resistat bacteria. The these tough-to-treat microbes ivade the world: people, farm aimals, seafood, fruit ad vegetables ot to metio soil, water ad air. The result could be devastatig atibiotics that do t work whe people eed them. Already, so-called superbugs ca be multiply resistat to three or four atibiotics, says Dr Labbate, addig that those causig 5 per cet of Australia ifectios i hospitals are multiply resistat. For example, the WHO report says treatmet failure of the last-resort atibiotic for goorrhoea has bee cofirmed i Australia ad ie other atios. Similarly, people ifected with a methicilliresistat strai of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus are 64 per cet more likely to die tha people with a o-ifectious form, accordig to the WHO. Clearly, it s imperative that existig atibiotics be used carefully, as the more they re used the more resistat bacteria become. Ufortuately, that s ot happeig. We eed to look at this problem with fresh eyes, says Dr Labbate. That s why he ad his colleagues wat to collaborate with social scietists to determie how the public perceives the risk of atibiotic resistace ad what factors shape those perceptios for istace, age, sex, cultural backgroud. They could the work with emergecy maagers to commuicate to the commuity the risk ad appropriate resposes. Modifyig commuity behaviour is probably the easiest ad cheapest way to tackle the atibiotic resistace problem, Dr Labbate says. It s also urget. Imagie a world of utreatable bacterial ifectios, icludig epidemics ad pademics. Time to prevet this dystopia future is ruig short. How short? The US Cetres for Disease Cotrol predicts the era of atibiotics will be over withi a decade or two, says Dr Labbate. A decade or two. The first lie of defece BY LEIGH DAYTON Every year, Australias are give more tha 22 millio prescriptios for atibiotics, represetig oe of the highest rates of use i the world. Although Australia does ot collect atiowide data o atibiotic use, experts estimate about half those prescriptios are uecessary. The reasos this happes are complex, say Maurizio Labbate, a microbiologist at the Uiversity of Techology, Sydey (UTS), Caroly Michael, a UTS micro-ecologist, ad Dale Domiey-Howes, a disaster risk expert at the Uiversity of Sydey. I a paper published i the Australia Joural of Emergecy Maagemet, they suggest may doctors iappropriately prescribe atibiotics to treat viral ifectios, which the potetially life-savig drugs caot cure, because patiets demad prescriptios to treat colds, flu ad other coditios for which this class of drug is ot effective. A Natioal Prescribig survey foud 62 per cet of patiets did ot kow that overusig atibiotics icreased resistace, the researchers write. To reduce iappropriate atibiotic use, Australia hospitals are required to have atibiotic stewardship programs. These usually ivolve a approval system for prescribig atibiotics ad regular ward rouds by ifectious disease specialists. I Jue last year the federally appoited Atimicrobial Resistace Stadig Committee called for a atioal system for gatherig ad reportig o patters of atibiotic use ad resistace.
8 UTS: NEWS. VIEWS. BREAKTHROUGHS SEPTEMBER 2014 U T S Pub lic Evets Caledar SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 16 September 1 October 17 October SCIENCE & THE ARTS Livig Data Lab: Evolvig Coversatios is a collaboratio betwee the UTS School of the Eviromet ad Livig Data that reveals how the arts ca expad scietific uderstadig ad vice versa. This dyamic program of evolvig exhibits has developed from coversatios betwee scietists, artists ad desigers who share data ad research practices. Exhibitio Space, Level 4, UTS Tower Buildig, 15 Broadway, Ultimo. Util 31 December PUBLIC LECTURE I the latest UTSpeaks public lecture, Professor Suzae Be of Sustaiable Eterprise at UTS, will discuss the idea of the circular ecoomy where products are desiged so that they ca be repaired ad upgraded, reused or resold, ad their igrediets reused may times over. This is the future beyod simple recyclig. 6pm driks for 6.30pm start, Uiversity Hall, UTS Sciece Buildig 4, 745 Harris Street, Ultimo. RSVP by 30 September to robert.butto@uts.edu.au 16 October EXHIBITION The processes behid the creatio of art will be explored i the latest exhibitio at UTS Gallery, far ad wide: Narrative ito Idea. It showcases the work of five Australia artists Tom Nicholso, Barbara Campbell, George Egerto-Warburto, Michael Lidema ad Alex Martiis Roe. Here you will see the extesive research that these artists go through i the executio of their work, says Jasmi Stephes, the exhibitio s curator. Moday to Friday, 12pm to 6pm, at UTS Gallery, Level 4, 702 Harris St, Ultimo. Util 10 October IDEAS FESTIVAL The Chage Makers Festival is a celebratio of great work happeig across Australia, a exploratio of the ideas, people, ad techologies drivig chage, ad a ivitatio for everyoe to get ivolved i creatig a better future. It s a ope-access festival ayoe ca hold a evet ad be added to the program. For more iformatio go to chagemakersfestival.org Util 26 October 28 October MOVING IMAGE évasio is a multi-chael movig image ad resposive audio istallatio explorig cotemporary ad historical cultures ad practices of illusioism. A escape artist seems to be breakig free from a straightjacket but the istallatio traps him ad the audiece withi its eight chaels of edlessly ufoldig yet resposive performace. Moday to Friday, 12pm to 6pm, at UTS Gallery, Level 4, 702 Harris St, Ultimo. Util 28 November UTSPEAKS: FREE PUBLIC LECTURES TAP INTO TOMORROW S IDEAS TODAY I our chagig ad complex world, keepig up with the latest ideas, issues ad breakthroughs ca be a challege. UTSpeaks public lectures have egaged ad elighteed Sydey audieces for almost a decade. By becomig a subscriber you ca atted these ad other free UTS evets. UTSpeaks subscribers receive persoal email ivitatios to lectures, Q&A forums, hypotheticals ad idustry evets featurig leadig local ad iteratioal experts. Tap ito tomorrow s ideas today. Register your details at: sedstudio.itd.uts.edu.au or sca the QR code. 18422 THE (R)EVOLUTION OF THE EXECUTIVE MBA UTS CRICOS PROVIDER CODE 00099F uts.ac/utsemba The UTS Executive MBA program redefied the MBA i Australia whe it was lauched over a decade ago. Discover how our Executive MBA has evolved to challege you to meet the busiess opportuities of tomorrow, desiged ad delivered with the busiess leaders of today. UTS BUSINESS SCHOOL