My story on the sacking by CSIRO of one of the world’s top climate scientists coincides with some just published science which mades the sea levels discussed here look deeply conservative (In the Washington Post here). It all again underlines how desperately we need this expertise, and the continued collection & analysis of long-haul, boring, … Continue reading
Author Archives: Jo Chandler
Australian Museum Eureka Prizes: Finalist
Thrilled to announce that my documentary for ABC Radio National’s Background Briefing program “Ebola with Wings: the TB crisis on our doorstep” is a finalist for the Australian Museum’s Eureka Prizes in the Science Journalism category. My co-nominees are BB’s executive producer, Wendy Carlisle, and team members Tim Roxburgh and Linda McGinness. You can listen … Continue reading
Great Barrier Grief
‘We were diving in dissolving reef … it was like diving in ectoplasm. It was awful’ – Prof Justin Marshall. In the June edition of The Monthly I have a long piece on the devastating coral bleaching now playing out on the Great Barrier Reef. At the same time as news emerges that the Australian … Continue reading
‘Ebola with Wings’: ABC Radio National Background Briefing
Five years after the alarm was raised on the drug resistant tuberculosis emergency in PNG, the worst fears of experts about its spread are being realised. I go back to Daru, the outbreak front line, for my debut as a radio journalist reporting for the ABC. Find the podcast here. Continue reading
Campaign to clear PNG couple jailed for abortion: The Age & Sydney Morning Herald
A confronting story from Bougainville, PNG, where I have often reported on the crisis of maternal deaths (second highest in the Asia Pacific after Afghanistan). The news angle here the landmark case around the jailing of a couple for the termination of a pregnancy. But the background context is about the tragedy deaths in childbirth, … Continue reading
Journalism / Science / Society
Best Australian Science Writing 2016
I’m thrilled to be the Editor of the next edition of NewSouth’s Best Australian Science Writing 2016 – the annual compendium of ripping reads from the scientific frontier. Find details here – and deadline for submissions is 31 March. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate and cultivate fine science storytelling, so show us your best, scribes. Continue reading
Paris COP21 Climate Summit: Planet Earth Blog
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been engaged as a “guest blogger” by the University of Melbourne to provide some guided commentary on its “Pursuit” communications platform around the Paris talks. Mostly the focus was to delve into the university’s in-house expert resource, but I had a long leash. After the Agreement, the blog … Continue reading
In the footsteps of Wallace: Cosmos
NOW UNLOCKED! Vojtech Novotny is a Czech entomologist who first travelled to Papua New Guinea 20 years ago. He came for the insects. He stayed for the people. Having heard much about him over the years, it was a thrill to visit his laboratory and field sites in Madang. The profile I’ve written is published in … Continue reading
El Nino bites hard in PNG: The Guardian
I’ve been trying for several months to get back to PNG to do some on-the-ground reporting about the climate impacts playing out there – most urgently the whopping El Nino. Sadly I couldn’t get the budget or editorial interest – so this piece for The Guardian is the next best option, reporting long distance, relying … Continue reading
Solar power in Australia: Yale Environment 360
My second piece for Yale Environment 360, a website produced out of Yale University to showcase reporting, analysis, opinion and debate on environmental science. This article presents a snapshot of the state of solar in Australia, rounding up the policy and politics that have put solar units on so many Australian homes (highest proportion of … Continue reading
Notebook & Narrative by Jo Chandler 