Research has exposed the risks posed by electromagnetic radiation from Wi-Fi and cell towers to birds, mammals, insects and even plants, writes Reynard Loki.

THERE IS GROWING evidence that our addiction to cell phones could be impacting brain functionality and be the cause of stress, anxiety, insomnia, and a lack of attention and focus.

A 2017 report found that human beings are not the only living things to be affected by societys increasing dependence on wireless technology. Mammals, birds, insects and even plants are likely being harmed by the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emanating from Wi-Fi, cell phone towers, broadcast transmitters and power lines, according to an analysis of 97 peer-reviewed studies conducted by EKLIPSE, a biodiversity and ecosystem project funded by the European Union.

Impact on birds

The researchers said that evidence is accumulating that mammals (e.g. bats and mice) have a magnetic sense that is affected by radio-frequency-modulated electromagnetic fields (RF-EMR). Birds in particular may be highly susceptible. The researchers found that even weak magnetic fields in the radio frequency range can disrupt birds magnetoreception, their ability to use the Earths magnetic fields to orient themselves and find their way home.

Homing pigeons are well-known for their magnetoreception, but this sense has also been detected in other animals like red foxes. There is evidence that even large mammals like deer use the planets magnetic fields to sense direction. A number of invertebrates, including worms, molluscs and fruit flies also use this ability.

One co...

With Australia boasting one of the world's most progressive societies, the upcoming Voice Referendum is a chance to make history, writes Kaijin Solo.

THE STATUE of Alexander the Invincible was sighed upon in 80 BC for not having yet conquered the world.

Then, 1,998 years later, we finally ended the War to End all Wars in 1918.

Or so we thought.

Another 18 years later, this tumorous root belched forth its rancid strident rancour in the striated jugular, bulging eyeballs and pounding fists of Goerings Puppet, as Jessie Owens became the star of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

We, still reeling from the numbness of a depression brought on by the fiscal gluttony of our Roaring Twenties, watched and did nothing as it spread through the body of Europe.

World War 2 started in 1939.

Six years later, the panic-driven scientific laboratory research compact brought on by the lust for the ultimate alternative to ammonia reached critical mass in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Nuclear was the new black.

Three years later, we declared our solemn intention to never do these things again when the newly formed United Nations General Assembly ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and created The Hague.

In 1948  the same year  a distinguished officer of the Red Cross acting as a United Nations peace envoy was...

Despite the limitations and shortcomings of the proposed Voice to Parliament, the 'Yes' campaign remains the favourable outcome, writes John Card.

IT'S NO SECRET that the many various groups and personalities on the activist Left in this country don't all see completely eye-to-eye on the impending Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. While the far-Right gets to be unanimous in its frothing hatred of the Voice and its intent to vote No, most of us progressives have been forced to take a much more nuanced position.    

The push for a Voice to Parliament started back in 2017, when the Uluru Statement from the Heart petitioned the Coalition Government for some sort of Indigenous representation to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution. The Uluru Statement was the culmination of years of meetings between hundreds of Indigenous leaders from all over the country, but despite not asking for more than a seat at the table in Canberra, then-PM Malcolm Turnbull called the Statement's proposed Voice not desirable and flatly rejected the idea.

Turnbull's successor, Scott Morrison, spent his time in office frequently and...

Not everyone is on board with the terms of the AUKUS arrangement, writes Dr Binoy Kampmark.

ANY SECURITY arrangement with too many variables and multiple contingencies, risks stuttering and keeling over. 

Critical delays might be suffered, attributable to a number of factors beyond the parties concerned. Disputes and disagreements may surface. Such an arrangement is AUKUS, where the number of cooks risk spoiling any meal they promise to cook.

The main dish here comprises the nuclear-powered submarines that are meant to make their way to Australian shores, both in terms of purchase and construction. It marks what the U.S., UK and Australia describe as the first pillar of the agreement. Ostensibly, they are intended for the island continents self-defence, declared as wholesomely and even desperately necessary in these dangerous times. 

Factually, they are intended as expensive toys for willing vassals, possibly operated by Australian personnel, at the beck and call of U.S. naval and military forces, monitoring Chinese forces and any mischief they might cause.

While the agreement envisages the creation of specific AUKUS submarines using a British design, supplemented by U.S. technology and Australian logistics, up to three Virginia Class (SSN-774) submarines are intended as an initial transfer. The decision to do so, however, ultimately resides in Congress. 

As delighted and willing as President Joe Biden might well be to part with such hulks, representatives in Washington are not all in accord. 

Signs that not all lawmakers were keen on the arrangement were already being expressed in December 2022. In a letter to Biden authored by Democratic Senator Jack Reed and outgoing Republican Senator...

Despite promises to do better than the previous government in protecting the state's koalas, NSW Labor has turned its back on the endangered species. Sue Arnold reports.

WILL THE New South Wales Labor Government save the koala?

Unfortunately, the answer is highly unlikely. Evidence points to a government no different in terms of koala protection than the previous coalition.    

The most obvious evidence is the absolute failure to declare a moratorium on the proposed Great Koala National Park. In a pre-election promise, Labor Leader Chris Minns declared the establishment of the park was a priority if he won government. An undertaking that gave scientists, environmental organisations and community groups hope after years of battling the Coalition State Government over industrial logging operations in native forest koala hubs. 

A touch of cynicism remained as the promise would be the third one made by the Labor Party.

Minns said:

When you see a situation where koalas have gone from not threatened to vulnerable to endangered to potentially extinct by 2050, weve got to take action.

Labors proposal would protect roughly 20 per cent of the states koala population, thus ensuring the species' survival.

Undeterred by Labors promise, Forestry Corporation (FC) plans show that over the next 12 months, 30,813 hectares of a total of 175,000 hectares of state forests that fall within the boundaries of the park will be logged.   

Environment Minister Penny Sharpe refused to impose a...

A brawl over Australias tax collection policies has erupted between two giants of global economics, reports Alan Austin.

NOBEL PRIZE-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has launched a stinging attack against the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The dispute centres on current Australian anti-tax avoidance legislation.

Joseph Stiglitz is a professor of economics at Columbia University in New York and co-chair of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT). He was chief economist of the World Bank in the late 1990s and, before that, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers serving U.S. President Bill Clinton.

He has been quoted as an authority on fiscal policy many times by this column and features prominently in lists of economists who have affirmed the effectiveness of Australias stimulus response to the global financial crisis.

This column also frequently references the OECD as the body which coordinates economic policy among its 38 wealthy, capitalist member countries. It has a long record of advocacy for poverty alleviation and against tax evasion, and is an invaluable source of global economic data. (So it is somewhat bizarre to report on a clash between two highly venerated authorities.)

At the centre of this brouhaha is Australian legislation, passed last month with the daunting title:

Taxation Laws Amendment (Measur...