Eureka! We've Found a Use for the Appendix!

At this year's Australia Museum Eureka Prizes, a ninth-grader stole the show with her myth-busting video explain just exactly why we have an appendix. Her diagnosis of the misunderstood organ's crucial role in gut health saw Paige Bebee from Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School in Victoria awarded the University of Sydney Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize – Secondary category for her video, The Secret of the Appendix.

Cancer Drugs Will Become Terminal for Health Systems

Narcyz Ghinea, University of Sydney; Ian Kerridge, University of Sydney, and Wendy Lipworth, University of Sydney

A Guide to a Second Medical Opinion

Michael Vagg, Barwon Health

Meningococcal B Vaccine Rejected From PBS

The vaccine, which is currently recommended for infants at six weeks old plus two boosters, and 12 months old, and again at 15-19 years can cost up to $500 for a full dose including boosters. The government’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee has again rejected subsidising the vaccine on the PBS despite leaders in the field calling for the vaccine for the disease to be accessble to Australian families at a low price.

Why People with HIV Volunteer for "Cure" Research

Jennifer Power, La Trobe University

Epigenetics: Phenomenon or Quackery?

Jeffrey Craig, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

Australians Are Undergoing Unnecessary Surgery

For decades, clinicians and researchers have been concerned about patients getting treatments, including operations, that don’t work. As well as failing to treat the original health problem, ineffective care exposes patients to complications and side-effects and waste precious health-care resources.

Controlling Infection Through Correct Hand Hygiene

How We Can Increase Australia's Organ Donation Rate

Aric Bendorf, University of Sydney; Ainsley Newson, University of Sydney, and Ian Kerridge, University of Sydney

Fear-Based Health Information Makes New Mothers Anxious

Heather Rowe, Monash University and Jane Fisher, Monash University

We’re Overdosing on Medicine

It’s Time to Embrace Life’s Uncertainty The more we learn about the problem of too much medicine and what’s driving it, the harder it seems to imagine effective solutions. Winding back unnecessary tests and treatments will require a raft of reforms across medical research, education and regulation.

Workplace Skills: Coaching Your Peers

We have asked leadership and coaching consultant Stacey Ashley to provide some practical workplace skills in the area of people management. In this article Stacey takes us through the art of coaching our peers, whether in a formal or informal coaching or mentoring relationship.

Clinical Trials of FODMAP Diet Question Effectiveness

The low-FODMAP diet was developed in Australia by Monash University for those suffering from medically-diagnosed Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Functional Gastro-Intestinal Disorder (FGID). While it is increasingly being prescribed by dieticians and GPs as lifestyle treatment for these conditions, a review of the available data has been published in Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (dtb) showing very little evidence that the diet’s recommendation of avoiding dietary carbohydrate does actually control symptoms.

Is Depression a Mental or Physical Illness?

Ute Vollmer-Conna, UNSW Australia and Gordon Parker, UNSW Australia

Hacking for Better Health