Latest news with #EdithCowanUniversity
ABC News
a day ago
- Science
- ABC News
Radiation at Montebello Islands still 4,500 times higher than WA coast after nuclear blasts
Cam McGurk's stories of one of Australia's most heavily irradiated areas come drenched in warm Pilbara sunshine. "I actually spent my honeymoon at the Montebello Islands," Mr McGurk, a longtime member of the Ashburton Anglers fishing club, said. "It was the middle of COVID, so all the travel restrictions were in place … that was the one island holiday where I could take my beautiful wife. The fondness locals like Mr McGurk feel for the islands, about 1,300 kilometres north of Perth, could soon be given fresh pause. According to a landmark study published today, the archipelago's atomic contamination runs astonishingly deep. The Montebello Islands were the site of three British atmospheric nuclear weapons tests between 1952 and 1956. Two of the around 174 spits of sandy earth are still subject to hour-long visitation limits. Since 2019, a team of researchers from Edith Cowan University has sought to measure precisely how much plutonium remains in the islands' marine sediment. Their findings have now revealed levels reaching up to 4,500 times higher than the rest of the WA coast. Scientists spent eight days on the Montebello Islands, diving to gather surface sediment from the ocean floor. Samples were sent to the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, the chief regulator for historic nuclear testing sites. "We're able to essentially create a map with the over 66 locations that we took samples of sediment from," lead researcher and PhD candidate Madison Williams-Hoffman said. Ms Williams-Hoffman said two "mechanisms" were spreading radiation through the islands over the past 70 years. "The first one is the plume trajectories … like the mushroom clouds that you conjure in your mind when you think of nuclear detonations," she said. "Those travelled with the wind direction at the time of the detonations." Second, decades of tides and severe weather dispersed residual plutonium in unexpected ways. "There are two cyclones a year that directly impact that part of WA, and so sediment is being tossed up and around, and things [are] moving," Ms Williams-Hoffman said. She said concentrations in the islands' north were "comparable" to other places touched by nuclear testing, including French Polynesia and the Marshall Islands. Any degree of similarity was remarkable because the Marshall Islands suffered a cumulative nuclear impact 700 times greater than the Montebello Islands. "It makes us question what's different between the two sites," Ms Williams-Hoffman said. The legacy of British nuclear testing in Australia is fraught with displacement and disease. Following three major tests conducted on the Montebello Islands, two more nuclear devices were detonated at Emu Fields and another seven at Maralinga in South Australia. Ray Kaye, former president of the Australian Ex-Services Atomic Survivors Association, said it was crucial the impacts of radiation were recorded. The 85-year-old, who later contracted leukaemia, was awarded a medal by the British government for his involvement in the SA nuclear tests. Mr Kaye reminisced on a 2016 trip with his fellow veterans to the Montebello Islands, marking the 60th anniversary of the blasts. WA Parks and Wildlife marine program coordinator Tim Hunt said managing radiation on the Montebello Islands was an "interesting" part of the job. "When I came into this role almost nine years ago, I never thought I'd have to get my physics hat on and learn about radiation," Mr Hunt said. He noted that exposure to marine sediment was far less concerning to authorities. "I'm not an expert, but people aren't going down and putting their head in the sand at 10 or 16 metres," he said. "Our current understanding is that the measures we have in place are sufficient to mitigate that risk." Visitors to Trimouille and Alpha Islands, where the three tests took place, are advised to restrict their time to no more than one hour per day, and not to disturb the soil or handle any relics. Ms Williams-Hoffman said the results were an important step in understanding the repercussions of radionuclides in Australia. Next, researchers will evaluate the effects of such high radiation on the environment. "It's kind of like walking before you can run," she said. "Now that we have these numbers or values in hand, then we can later do those assessments in terms of … how much radiation a person, or perhaps most important with sediment considering it's under water … the animals, the fish, and the plants are exposed to." For Cam McGurk, his appreciation for the "boating and fishermen's playground" reels back to 1998, when a special permit was needed to travel there. He mused that the legend of atomic testing had likely shielded the islands from over-tourism, but supported further monitoring.
ABC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Voices Rising: Leaders, Learners, and Language Keepers
Australian Poetry Slam Champion Melanie Mununggurr reflects on life after success, sharing how she's resetting her creative cycle while balancing motherhood and cultural expression. The Djapu woman discusses her upcoming poetry album "Glimmer" and her feature in the Sydney Opera House's First Nations showcase, Music on Tubowgule. Celebrating NAIDOC Week's "The Next Generation" theme, we meet Professor Braden Hill, the Nyungar educator making waves both as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Edith Cowan University and TikTok creator. With 50,000 followers, he's using social media to combat racism and misinformation around Indigenous issues, proving that traditional academia and digital platforms can work hand-in-hand. Plus, for Word Up, Stuart Joel Nugget returns to share the Jingili word for "little boy".
Daily Mail
11-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
How a plague of 'mutating' super rats are taking over Sydney and becoming resistant to poison: 'Impossible to kill'
Black rats in Australia's biggest cities have developed a genetic mutation that increases their resistance to one of the most widely used poisons. New research led by Edith Cowan University PhD student and environmental toxicologist Alicia Gorbould found the mutation in over half the rats tested in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney between 2021 and 2024. The mutation suggests the rats have developed a resistance to second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, also known as SGARs, but other animals continue to be inadvertently killed by these types of rat poison. SGARs are deadly to secondary predators, such as tawny frogmouths, Australian boobooks and eastern barn owls, that feed on rodents. Black rats are the most common introduced rat in Australia and experts warn their increase in resistance to poison could pose a serious risk to the country's wildlife. Ms Gorbould also expressed fears of a public health crisis as Australians may be using larger quantities of poison in an attempt to rid rats from their home. However, instead of working effectively, this would serve to introduce more poison into the food chain, and into waterways. Animals that consume the poison, which prevents blood clotting, die from internal bleeding. Research carried out by Ms Gorbould and her team found genetic mutation Tyr25Phe, which is associated with resistance to anticoagulant rodenticides, in 53.7 per cent of the rats they tested. The tests were carried out on the tails of 191 rails caught in Australia's fourth most populated cities. Alarmingly, the gene was found in over 80 per cent of black rats tested in Perth, over 45 per cent in Sydney, 39 per cent in Melbourne. Tyr25Phe was found in none of the 10 rats tested in Brisbane. 'If you're using one of the baits that don't work … people will probably try to use more, and more, and more,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'And so it's feeding back into that cycle of increasing the rates of resistance in the population, increasing those non-targeted poisonings, and then we're ending up essentially with a public health issue because we've got these rats that can't be controlled.' Second-generation rodenticides are so potent they are banned in the United States, Canada and the European Union. The poison makes it way up the food chain and kills other animals in a huge risk to Australia's biodiversity. Scientists at Deakin University previously found rat poison was to blame for killing powerful owls. In 2022, in a study looking at the prey of powerful owls, the team dissected 160 possums. They found rat poison in 91 per cent of brushtail possums and 40 per cent of ringtail possums tested. Ms Gorbould urged Australians to consider against using rat poisons and instead look to non-poison alternatives. She suggested snap traps and electrocution traps while pointing out that 'prevention is better than cure'. The scientist advised the best thing people can do is make sure they don't have places for rodents to live by removing waste from their yards.
The Age
10-06-2025
- Health
- The Age
Ratsak is losing its bite: How to get rid of the rats in your ranks
Black rats commonly found in roofs across Australia are developing a genetic mutation that increases their resistance to rat poisons, which continue to kill large numbers of native birds and frogs. New research shows more than half the studied black rats – the most common form of introduced rats in Australia – had a genetic mutation that indicates some resistance to second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, also known as SGARs. Black rats are the most common introduced rat in Australia. In Europe, North America and Britain, brown rats have developed resistance to anticoagulant rodenticides. In one UK study, up to half of the observed brown rat population survived repeated ingestion of rat poison. Experts say the findings are alarming because people might be using larger quantities of poisons to eradicate rats in their homes, thus introducing more poisons into the food chain. SGARs are so potent that they are lethal to secondary predators that feed on rodents, including tawny frogmouths, Australian boobooks and eastern barn owls. Loading Poisons leaching into waterways have also found their way into frogs and toads, while possums and reptiles have also been found to contain SGARs. The poisons work by preventing blood clotting, causing animals to die from internal bleeding. New research led by Edith Cowan University PhD student and environmental toxicologist Alicia Gorbould found a genetic mutation Tyr25Phe – associated with resistance to anticoagulant rodenticides - in the majority of black rats the team studied. Gorbould and her colleagues tested the tails of 191 rats caught between 2021 and 2024 in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
Sydney Morning Herald
10-06-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
Ratsak is losing its bite: how to get rid of rats in your ranks
Black rats commonly found in roofs across Australia are developing a genetic mutation that increases their resistance to rat poisons, which continue to kill large numbers of native birds and frogs. New research shows more than half the studied black rats – the most common form of introduced rats in Australia – had a genetic mutation that indicates some resistance to second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, also known as SGARs. Black rats are the most common introduced rat in Australia. In Europe, North America and Britain, brown rats have developed resistance to anticoagulant rodenticides. In one UK study, up to half of the observed brown rat population survived repeated ingestion of rat poison. Experts say the findings are alarming because people might be using larger quantities of poisons to eradicate rats in their homes, thus introducing more poisons into the food chain. SGARs are so potent that they are lethal to secondary predators that feed on rodents, including tawny frogmouths, Australian boobooks and eastern barn owls. Loading Poisons leaching into waterways have also found their way into frogs and toads, while possums and reptiles have also been found to contain SGARs. The poisons work by preventing blood clotting, causing animals to die from internal bleeding. New research led by Edith Cowan University PhD student and environmental toxicologist Alicia Gorbould found a genetic mutation Tyr25Phe – associated with resistance to anticoagulant rodenticides - in the majority of black rats the team studied. Gorbould and her colleagues tested the tails of 191 rats caught between 2021 and 2024 in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
