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Almost half of Antarctic krill offspring would struggle to survive in vast regions of the Southern Oceans increasingly acidic waters by the end of the century if carbon emissions continue unchecked, climate study projections show. If such conditions continued, researchers at the Australian Antarc-
tic Division predict krill populations could be wiped out by 2300. Marine biologist Rob King said krill were the main food source of whales, seals and penguins in the Southern Ocean. But as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increased over the past 250 years, so had the amount of the gas absorbed by the oceans, making them more acidic and less hospitable for aquatic life.
Up to a third of all carbon dioxide that humans produce each year dissolves into the sea, Mr King said. But dramatic population declines could be avoided if emissions were sharply reduced, the study found. The research team led by So Kawaguchi measured the level of CO2 in seawater krill eggs could tolerate. Their experiments in the Antarctic divisions krill aquarium found the
number of eggs hatching started to decline when the level of carbon dioxide reached 1250 microatmospheres. At 1500 microatmospheres, hatch rates were 30 per cent lower than in seawater containing 1000, a level the eggs could accommodate. Almost no embryos hatched at 1750 and 2000 microatmospheres. Levels of CO2 below the surface of the Southern Ocean vary but average
about 500 microatmospheres. The krill hatch rates were then combined with climate models to build a prediction of how populations would fare under four possible atmospheric scenarios, ranging from no carbon emissions mitigation to strong mitigation. Under a medium- to highemissions scenario, where greenhouse gas levels stabilised by 2150,
the models predicted 15 per cent fewer krill offspring would survive to juvenile age. By 2300, almost half of all newborns would not survive in vast regions of the ocean. Under a high emissions scenario, where greenhouse gas levels remain unmitigated, krill populations would be devastated by 2300. Study findings were published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The ACT government has increased its accountability to the public when it assesses new non-government schools following widespread community anger about the way in which two Christian schools were approved with minimal public consultation late last year. Minister for Education Joy Burch has initiated a departmental review of arrangements for approving and registering new private schools after a joint request by the Australian Education Union, the ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations and Save Our Schools. The three education groups have roundly condemned the processes by which Ms Burch signed off year on the Brindabella Christian College establishing a second campus in Charnwood and the Canberra Christian School starting a second campus in the new suburb of Molonglo. The approvals only became public in May. At issue is the low demonstrated demand for the two schools. Ms Burch said she had made a number of changes to practices relating to communication around in-principle approval and registration of non-government schools. Community members may now request an electronic copy of approval and registration applications and decisions relating to these processes will now be published on the Directorate [of Educations] website, Ms Burch said. She wrote to the Australian Education Union about its concerns, saying she was interested in stakeholders views about these changes and the overall approval and registration process and have therefore invited other interested groups to provide feedback. But Save Our Schools and the P&C council were not officially told about the review and have not been invited to submit their concerns. Save Our Schools convener Trevor Cobbold said he welcomed Ms Burchs decision to conduct a review. But we call on her to publicly
announce the review, provide details on how it is to be conducted, invite public submissions and to commit to publishing a report on the review, Mr Cobbold said. Without these provisions, the review looks like it will be a charade. He noted there was nothing about the review on the Directorate of Education website despite Ms Burchs spokesman confirming submissions were required before the end of the month. P&C president Vivienne Pearce said the issue of how nongovernment schools were given approval to set up in the ACT was of huge concern to P&C members and it appeared the changes made so far were cosmetic. Ms Pearce said the council was not aware of the call for submissions and had not been contacted by the ministers office. This whole issue has been handled very badly, she said. She did welcome electronic notification of approval and registration applications and decisions. She said that in regard to a response to the recent Christian school applications, she had been forced to spend hours taking handwritten notes from directorate records in order to make a submission as photocopying applications was not allowed. Its a step forward at least, Ms Pearce said. Ultimately, we believe the approval of new schools is a planning issue which uses public money, and it should not be dealt with differently to other planning issues which are far more open and accountable.
THATS THE WAY: Kaiyah Spannari, 7, leads the race for the ball in a game at the North Ainslie YMCA school holiday program. Children need to develop an enthusiasm for movement, an expert says. Photo: JAY CRONAN
GETTING ACTIVE
By Dante Ceccon
PE classes involving repetitive drills and laps of the school oval could be worse than just boring. According to Canberra researchers, school children who didnt find physical activity fun at school were likely to never enjoy it and lead shorter, less healthy lives. University of Canberra associate professor in sports and exercise Richard Keegan said it was not
important for children to be good at sport as long as they developed an enthusiasm for movement. Much of the responsibility for this rested with school teachers, who were rarely PE specialists and were pushed for time to create vibrant lessons in a crowded curriculum. The problem is some kids are doing PE during school and hate it so much that they never do it again, Dr Keegan said. Dr Keegan said studies had shown children who watched television for more than six hours a day could have a decreased life span by up to five
years, while the cost of physical inactivity to the economy could be more than $10 billion a year. You dont have to get out of breath, but just be able to move and interact is important, he said. If we can make a generation who love moving, it will be very beneficial. Dr Keegan said schools were not entirely to blame for unmotivated students and that more research in the area needed to be done. Whatever we are doing right now isnt working and we should look at everything we can, he said. Wendy Gillett, chief executive of
The Bluearth Foundation, which promotes active lifestyles in school children, said more should be done outside of the classroom. Moving isnt expensive its actually a big expense not to move, Ms Gillett said. Australian National University researcher Professor Dick Telford, who has been conducting the Lifestyle of Our Kids study, said aerobatic fitness levels had a direct correlation with literacy and numeracy results. Its much easier to say well, just go for a run around the block, but
that doesnt instil the love of physical activity. It might be OK now and then but its not the sort of physical education a trained physical education teacher will design, he said. Emma Spannari, whose children are involved in a YMCA school holiday program at North Ainslie school this week, said restrictions in the playground limited how much fun kids could have. Theyre not allowed to do cartwheels, handstands or hang upside down on the monkey bars, she said. Theres just too much they cant do.
Primary school girls are lagging behind boys when it comes to eyehand co-ordination levels, which affects health, according to a Canberra study. Dr Dick Telford, of the ANU Medical School and a former sports scientist at the Australian Institute of
Sport, has led a longitudinal study on the Lifestyle of our Kids, which tested more than 850 Canberra primary school children annually to measure the impact of early physical activity on health. The expansive study, including testing throwing and catching skills, revealed that girls were left behind in eye-hand co-ordination, a finding the researchers have detailed in an article to be published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and
Science in Sport. The study found this has negative health implications, since the researchers found strong evidence that boys and girls with better eye-hand co-ordination possessed better cardiorespiratory fitness. Looking annually at the same group of eight to 10 year olds, they also found that children with better eye-hand co-ordination displayed a more positive body image, especially among girls.
Not even looking at power boys are better than girls all the way through, Dr Telford said. I dont know why that is. You could say, well, its because they give boys more practice before they get to school. The LOOK study will return this year to test the participants as 16-year-olds, which will determine whether the girls have improved. I hope the girls will be catching up once we measure the adolescent kids, because we know that eye-hand co-
ordination is very important for wanting to play sport, Dr Telford said. I tell [parents] all the time, If youve got young children, make sure you teach them to catch and throw, because if they cant, theyre going to be behind the eight ball in the playground at school. Theyre not going to get into teams and theyre possibly going to develop attitudes towards physical activity impacted by them not getting into teams they lose interest.
Australian paedophile Peter Truong, who has admitted buying an infant boy with his partner for $US5000 and allowing him to be sexually abused by a global child molester network, is hoping a US judge will give him a reduced jail sentence.
Truong, 36, formerly of Cairns, is facing a 40-year sentence while he sits in the La Tuna federal prison on the Texas-New Mexico border. Truongs Australian partner, Mark Newton, 42, was jailed last month in an Indianapolis court for 40 years. The horrifying details of how Truong and Newton bought the infant from his mother in Russia,
then sexually abused the boy and handed him around to paedophiles in Australia, the US, France and Germany, have been described as some of the most heinous acts of exploitation seen by law officers in Australia and the US. Truong, who will be sentenced later this year, is claiming to be a child abuse victim.
In objecting to a pre-sentence report compiled by a US probation officer, Truongs lawyer, Angelyn Gates, complained the report failed to detail Truongs history as a victim which could justify a shorter sentence. Mr Truong himself was the victim of child molestation, indoctrinated into the man-boy love group as a
minor teenager, and brainwashed to keep quiet and protect other perpetrators, Ms Gates wrote. Truong has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to sexually exploit a child and possessing child pornography. The boy was rescued by US authorities in Los Angeles and is being cared for in California. AAP
Canberra viewers have voted with their remotes on WIN TVs controversial decision to move presentation of its weeknight local news bulletin from Kingston to Wollongong. And the result? You win some, you lose some. Overnight ratings for the first week of WINs 6.30pm ACT bulletin presented by Wollongong newsreader Kerryn Johnston show the half-hour program averaged 39,600 viewers a night last week. Thats down on the previous week, when the bulletin then anchored in Canberra by Danielle Post averaged 43,574 viewers a night, but up on the programs nightly audience of 37,282 the week before that, and on its 2012 average of 38,297. Johnston and co-anchor Amy Duggan, a former Canberran, began presenting ACT news and sport from WINs Wollongong studio on July 1. WIN chief Andrew Lancaster said the
NEW FACES: Kerryn Johnston, left, and Amy Duggan present WINs Canberra bulletins.
regional network had to improve efficiencies in order to remain viable. The move was attacked by ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher who predicted a strong reaction from the local WIN audience. The Tuggeranong Community Council accused WIN of treating the national
capital like a hick country town and started an online petition calling for the network to reinstate Canberra-based newsreaders. WIN, owned by Bermuda-based billionaire Bruce Gordon, did not want to comment on Monday on its Canberra news ratings.
A spokeswoman said that while the network was happy with the programs audience, a more accurate measure would come after four weeks of ratings data had been compiled. According to Regional TAM data for the week ending July 6, WINs local bulletin ranked 17th overall in Canberra, with WINs relay of Nines Sydney bulletin at 6pm ranking 13th (averaging 42,744 viewers). The weeks mostwatched program was WINs relay of Nines Sydney news on Sunday night (with 64,381 viewers), followed by the House Rules winner announcement on Prime7 (61,045), Sundays edition of The Block Sky High on WIN (58,639) and Saturdays Wallabies versus Lions rugby telecast on Southern Cross Ten (54,643). The 7pm Canberra news bulletin on ABC1 did not rank among Canberras 50 most-watched shows, though current affairs program 7.30 ranked 31st with an average 27,689 viewers.
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