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"Gold! Gold for Australia! Gold!"
Norman May's electrifying poolside race call at the 1980 Moscow Olympics echoed loudly last week, fuelling the warm glow of national pride deep inside me. But it had nothing to do with sport. Nothing to do with the goings-on in Paris, either.
No, it was a conversation with a pair of scientists which had me thinking we really can be the clever country, as well as the athletic one.
Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer didn't have gold medals draped around their necks. They didn't get to stand on a podium in a moment of triumph with the eyes of the world on them. And there was no rousing commentary like May's. But their achievements will change the lives of many long after the records set at the Paris Olympics fade from memory.
The moment of recognition came on January 25, when they were announced as joint Australians of the Year. Their work in immunotherapy treatment for advanced melanoma has made curable what was once regarded as a death sentence. Thanks to the treatment devised by the pair, Stage IV melanoma can now be cured in 50 per cent of cases. But it doesn't end there.
![Australians of the Year, Professor Georgina Long AO and Professor Richard Scolyer. . Picture by Sylvia Liber Australians of the Year, Professor Georgina Long AO and Professor Richard Scolyer. . Picture by Sylvia Liber](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/RXMuw2JbrrS7ELSxSY9rkR/f5502c55-5100-4752-b228-d85705c44545.jpg/r0_307_6000_3694_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Using the same principles of employing drugs to boost the body's immune system, Richard's aggressive brain cancer has been in abeyance for 14 months. He offered himself up as the first human to try a different treatment for glioblastoma. A scientific paper detailing the treatment's early signs of success is out for peer review. Who knows? There's a fair chance another form of cancer thought incurable might ultimately be defeated thanks to the pioneering work of two passionate and determined Australians.
Georgina and Richard have been extremely busy since January. Not only have they been pushing the message about the dangers of too much sun exposure, they've also been fuelling a passion for science at the many schools they visit.
They might not have received the same rapturous applause our athletes will get during the Olympics but the Australian of the Year honour has provided a great platform to push their main message - that prevention is much better than cure.
When I had the privilege of speaking with them between engagements, I couldn't help but think we have things out of balance in Australia with our obsession with sport. Yes, the achievements of our athletes should be celebrated and there's no denying the theatre of sport is a lot more accessible and immediate than the drama which takes place in research labs. When a scientific breakthrough does happen, there's no Norman May shouting it from the rafters.
Speaking to our Australians of the Year, coming away much more inspired than I ever am by a new long jump record, I wanted to scream.
"Gold! Gold for Australia! Gold!"
Because that's exactly what these two scientists have achieved. They should be household names.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Does Australia celebrate its scientific achievements as much as we should? Is too much emphasis placed on sport? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Thousands of festival attendees have been invited to join a class action against the state of NSW over "unlawful" strip searches at music events between 2016 and 2022. NSW Police officers have been accused of "invasively" conducting strip searches at festivals that allegedly constituted assault, battery and false imprisonment over the six-year period.
- Agricultural groups have broadly welcomed a Federal Court finding that common weedkiller Roundup cannot be proven to cause cancer, saying it reinforces its safety for use in food production. Justice Michael Lee on Thursday ruled there was not enough evidence to say glyphosate - the active ingredient in Roundup - was capable of causing non-Hodgkin lymphoma in humans.
- The Great Barrier Reef has officially avoided a spot on the UNESCO World Heritage list of sites in danger, even as it continues to be ravaged by climate change. During the 2023-24 summer, the largest planetary living structure experienced its fifth mass bleaching event in eight years, which affected 74 per cent of the reef.
THEY SAID IT: "We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology." - Carl Sagan
YOU SAID IT: Writing from Iceland, which taps into geothermal energy, Garry wonders why Australia is so slow to harness its abundant natural energy resources.
Lee writes: "We should invest more in solar. So many rooftops to hold those panels. I recently read that an agreement had been signed to allow our solar energy to be sold to Asia. We need to ensure there is enough to keep the lights in here before we send it overseas. This is what happened with our gas as well. We learnt nothing."
"Australia is a slow learner," writes Arthur. "We are heavily dependent on imports of almost everything which is manufactured with a huge component of Chinese-made goods. We are putting all our eggs into one basket with wind and solar as an energy source instead of letting nuclear compete in the marketplace. We totally ignore geothermal despite there being some suitable areas, especially in South Australia. We are also ignoring alternatives to solar panels for solar-generated electricity."
Alan from Ulladulla writes: "It's all very well to invest in renewable energy, but unlike Iceland with its constant source of geothermal power, our options are subject to the vagaries of the weather. But taking the lead from Iceland, we need to be looking for a regular and consistent source of renewable energy and, to that end, being an island nation (and a massive coastline at that) I would like to see more research being put into tidal power. We get two tides every day, 365 days a year. Why aren't we doing more at looking into how the energy of that ebb and flow can be harnessed?"
"Garry included two important details," writes Murray. "One, Iceland only has about 400,000 people living there, and two, it has massive geothermal energy reserves. On the other hand Australia is a huge country, with 26 million and rapidly increasing, thanks to the ponzi scheme that is the Australian economy. It's chalk and cheese. We have seen massive investment in windmills and solar panels, and have only seen a huge rise in energy prices and the threat of shortages hanging over us. Geothermal power in Iceland gives them endless baseload electricity. We must have the same in Australia. If we can't burn gas, we need nuclear. The end."
Ken writes: "Mr Smug here with his standalone solar-power system and several years of satisfaction off the grid - and enjoying what I call mindful consumption. It's been a cloudy winter so I've been using the gas stove rather than the induction plate. Meanwhile, the valley where I live is all farmland and there's no sign of a solar or wind farm, no carbon-capture tree plantations, little uptake of 'regenerative agriculture'. The Hunter region is slow to swing into gear to ease out of coal and I feel Australian society is a bit 'she'll be right mate', any frugality driven more by the cost-of-living crisis than by any sort of global climate concern. I urge anyone with a penny in their pocket to get solar panels on their roof and one smart living space in their home that is well insulated and cheap to heat or cool through the mean months: an investment with a real sense of benefit, locally and globally."
"Australia should definitely go for more renewables," writes Sue. "Geothermal is a possibility in Australia as well, although the project in the Cooper Basin in South Australia closed being considered not financially viable. Perhaps with new technology, or compared to increased prices, the lack of financial viability might be reassessed. Sites considered suitable for possible geothermal at the time included areas in or near Perth and Sydney. There was a report, some years back, about mini hydro electric generation, identifying thousands of sites around Australia which could be used to cheaply generate electricity. The cheapest form of energy available might be provided by utilising the hot air generated by politicians who yabber on endlessly about the topic while doing very little - if only we could harness it."