The emergence of Homo sapiens in Eastern Asia has long been a subject of intense research interest, with the scarcity of well-preserved and dated human fossils posing significant challenges.
Professor Michael Petraglia
Tongtianyan cave, located in the Liujiang District of Liuzhou City, Southern China, has been a focal point of this research, housing one of the most significant fossil finds of Homo sapiens. However, the age of the fossils found within has been a matter of debate – until now.
In a new international study in Nature Communications, with contributions by Griffith University, researchers have provided new age estimates and revised provenance information for the Liujiang human fossils, shedding light on the presence of Homo sapiens in the region.
Using advanced dating techniques including U-series dating on human fossils, and radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating on fossil-bearing sediments, the study revealed new ages ranging from approximately 33,000 to 23,000 years ago. Previously, studies had reported ages of up to 227,000 years of age for the skeleton.
“These revised age estimates align with dates from other human fossils in northern China, suggesting a geographically widespread presence of H. sapiens across Eastern Asia after 40,000 years ago,” said Professor Michael Petraglia, study co-author and Director of Griffith’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution.
Tongtianyan cave stratigraphy with chronological age estimates.
Dr Junyi Ge, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and lead author of the study, said: “This finding holds significant implications for understanding human dispersals and adaptations in the region. It challenges previous interpretations and provides insights into the occupation history of China.”
The Liujiang skeletal remains, discovered in 1958, have long been considered among the most significant human fossils from Eastern Asia.
With their excellent preservation, the cranial, dental, and postcranial remains have been the subjects of extensive biological and morphological comparisons across Eurasia.
Dr Qingfeng Shao, of the Nanjing Normal University added: “The findings of this study overturn earlier age estimates and palaeoanthropological interpretations, emphasising the need for robust dating methods and proper provenance documentation in the study of human evolution.”
The study’s comprehensive dating analyses highlights the importance of accurate age estimates in advancing our understanding of modern human origins and dispersals.
Australia’s East Coast will soon see the arrival of thousands of humpback whales on their northward migration to warmer waters.
Dr Olaf Meynecke used suction tags to track humpback whales alongside fellow researchers. Credit: Henley Spiers
But an Australian-based researcher who was privy to an exclusive view of humpback whales off the Baja California Sur waters of La Paz, Mexico, said there are global signs of the upcoming migration season’s highs and lows.
Dr Olaf Meynecke, Lead Researcher and Manager of the Whales and Climate Research Program at Griffith University, was part of a research expedition earlier this year in which he was tracking humpback whales using suction tags collecting data on swim speed, dive profiles, direction, sound and vision in the deep waters off the Gulf of Mexico that plunge down to 3000m depths.
Throughout the expedition, Dr Meynecke witnessed behaviours and encounters he had not yet seen off Australia’s East Coast in such intensity.
“We were amongst highly competitive males aiming for the best position next to a female. About 20 humpback whales were involved in this intensive heat run. The sound of the exhausted whales breathing out and their fast swim speeds felt like trains rushing by our boat,” Dr Meynecke said.
A graceful breach off La Paz, Mexico. Credit: Henley Spiers
“These whales were tagged with suction cup tags to study their complex underwater behaviour. Much to our surprise, we also saw short, deep dives, down to almost 200m depth, followed by fast swim speeds and underwater battles among these individuals.”
During the whale migration in Australia, humpback whales generally don’t have the option to make deep dives as the continental shelf extends widely from the coast.
Studying heat runs and competitive groups allows Dr Meynecke to continue to learn more about the complex dynamics in these groups. There are various positions male humpbacks whales in a group adopt such as primary escort, challengers and observers. Males work together against each other and vary their techniques to deter competitors.
But not all encounters were as joyful and dynamic. During the 10-day expedition, Dr Meynecke and the team encountered a young and sick humpback and another entangled in fishing gear, underlining the “clear signs of increasing impacts on this species”.
Dr Meynecke needs to be quick to deploy the suction tags. Credit: Henley Spiers
“The scarring on whales like this from previous entanglements tells a story about the scale of the issue globally, with many whales having to battle for their survival when trapped in nets and lines.”
“There are a lot of human-driven impacts on global whale populations. One recent study from the Northern Hemisphere confirmed the deadly toll climate change can take; food shortages have led to a decline in Hawaiian humpback whale populations – how much pressure can these populations withstand before we start seeing declines and related cascade impacts on ecosystems?”
Meanwhile, the first humpback whales on the 2024 migration season have been sighted on the east coast of Australia – but, with the recent experience fresh in his mind, what does Dr Meynecke expect to see in the coming months?
“We will see an earlier than average start of the main migration from mid-May onwards and also see again a number of entangled whales in fishing gear move up the coast. Sadly, they are just the tip of the iceberg with many of them remaining unseen and unable to track.”
Following this migration allowed Dr Meynecke to see rarely studied competitive behaviours. Credit: Henley Spiers
For Dr Meynecke, there is much still to study and document regarding humpback whale behaviour and the issues impacting him. Research that will also benefit other whale species by developing new methods.
However, what holds Dr Meynecke and the Whales and Climate Research Program team back from performing consistent and comprehensive studies around the world is significant investment into this important research area.
“For our Whales and Climate Research Program, my aim is to advance our current outcomes to a global initiative that safeguards whales into the future encompassing the Northern Hemisphere.
“We are now a UN Ocean Decade endorsed research group, with our Phase 2 research program seeing an expansion to South America until our funding ceases.
Dr Meynecke gets a suction tag prepared.
“The generous philanthropic funding WCP has received to date has fuelled and empowered our research teams in South Africa and South America to undertake vital studies on humpback whales and climate impacts.
“But for this work and our findings to truly make an impact on whale populations globally, we need to expand to the Northern Hemisphere.
“My vision and dream is to bring this very successful work we have been doing for whales to the global level, creating a whale data portal/tool that is accessible to the public, but most importantly policy makers.
“We need to be ambitious about our work as we are facing never experienced challenges with climate change in regard to whale protection.”
A team of conservation and policy researchers have called for a logging loophole within the proposed Great Koala National Park to be urgently remedied to stem the tide of harmful outcomes impacting the South East Australian koala population.
Dr Tim Cadman is a Research Fellow with the Law Futures Centre and the Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law at Griffith.
Dr Cadman said the plans needed to also consider the integrity of the broader reserve habitat system and be accorded the requisite status of World Heritage.
The Great Koala National Park is set to cover 300,000 hectares of state forest and existing national parks from Grafton to Kempsey in Northern New South Wales.
The Park, to act as a safe haven for east coast koala populations impacted by bushfires, development and logging, was proposed more than a decade ago, with the current New South Wales Labor Government putting the plans into action.
However, a loophole that allowed logging to continue in areas zoned plantation was contradictory to the overall purpose of the park proposal, according to Dr Cadman.
“Creating a park which includes forestry presents a permanent threat to koalas. They live in the best habitat, and could end up being caught in a logging zone,” he said.
“Pressure has mounted on successive governments to take decisive action to protect these iconic creatures from further decline, and yet the current proposal could actually make the situation worse.
“We need an integrated approach that protects koalas at the landscape level. This is essential in the face of expanding human populations and escalating environmental threats posed by climate change.”
Dr Cadman added that the existing natural and planted forests represented a diverse mix of eucalypt and rainforest species, along with a mosaic of forest age-classes and interconnected habitat, which was crucial for the park’s integrity and the koalas’ viability.
“The integrity of the proposed park must be considered, and the best way to ensure that is World Heritage. We can’t have a park full of holes,” he said.
“An assessment that focuses on the habitat the koala lives in will be critical to the integrity and viability of the Great Koala National Park. We have to think like a koala. If they don’t discriminate between a natural forest or a plantation, then neither should we.
“The time to act is now. Protecting koalas requires a concerted effort from government to support First Nation communities and local residents through job creation and sustainable infrastructure development. Culture is as important as nature if we want the park to be a success.
“By establishing a conservation-effective national park and prioritising habitat protection at the same time, we can secure a future where koalas thrive in their natural environment.”
Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood.
ADHD is diagnosed when people experience problems with inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity that negatively impacts them at school or work, in social settings and at home.
Some people call the condition attention-deficit disorder, or ADD. So what’s the difference?
In short, what was previously called ADD is now known as ADHD. So how did we get here?
Let’s start with some history
The first clinical description of children with inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity was in 1902. British paediatrician Professor George Still presented a series of lectures about his observations of 43 children who were defiant, aggressive, undisciplined and extremely emotional or passionate.
Since then, our understanding of the condition evolved and made its way into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known as the DSM. Clinicians use the DSM to diagnose mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions.
The first DSM, published in 1952, did not include a specific related child or adolescent category. But the second edition, published in 1968, included a section on behaviour disorders in young people. It referred to ADHD-type characteristics as “hyperkinetic reaction of childhood or adolescence”. This described the excessive, involuntary movement of children with the disorder.
In the early 1980s, the third DSM added a condition it called “attention deficit disorder”, listing two types: attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH) and attention deficit disorder as the subtype without the hyperactivity.
However, seven years later, a revised DSM (DSM-III-R) replaced ADD (and its two sub-types) with ADHD and three sub-types we have today:
predominantly inattentive
predominantly hyperactive-impulsive
combined.
Why change ADD to ADHD?
ADHD replaced ADD in the DSM-III-R in 1987 for a number of reasons.
First was the controversy and debate over the presence or absence of hyperactivity: the “H” in ADHD. When ADD was initially named, little research had been done to determine the similarities and differences between the two sub-types.
The next issue was around the term “attention-deficit” and whether these deficits were similar or different across both sub-types. Questions also arose about the extent of these differences: if these sub-types were so different, were they actually different conditions?
Meanwhile, a new focus on inattention (an “attention deficit”) recognised that children with inattentive behaviours may not necessarily be disruptive and challenging but are more likely to be forgetful and daydreamers.
Why do some people use the term ADD?
There was a surge of diagnoses in the 1980s. So it’s understandable that some people still hold onto the term ADD.
Some may identify as having ADD because out of habit, because this is what they were originally diagnosed with or because they don’t have hyperactivity/impulsivity traits.
Others who don’t have ADHD may use the term they came across in the 80s or 90s, not knowing the terminology has changed.
How is ADHD currently diagnosed?
The three sub-types of ADHD, outlined in the DSM-5 are:
predominantly inattentive. People with the inattentive sub-type have difficulty sustaining concentration, are easily distracted and forgetful, lose things frequently, and are unable to follow detailed instructions
predominantly hyperactive-impulsive. Those with this sub-type find it hard to be still, need to move constantly in structured situations, frequently interrupt others, talk non-stop and struggle with self control
combined. Those with the combined sub-type experience the characteristics of those who are inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive.
ADHD diagnoses continue to rise among children and adults. And while ADHD was commonly diagnosed in boys, more recently we have seen growing numbers of girls and women seeking diagnoses.
However, some international experts contest the expanded definition of ADHD, driven by clinical practice in the United States. They argue the challenges of unwanted behaviours and educational outcomes for young people with the condition are uniquely shaped by each country’s cultural, political and local factors.
Regardless of the name change to reflect what we know about the condition, ADHD continues to impact educational, social and life situations of many children, adolescents and adults.
Dr Kathy Gibbs has taught across a range of disciplines and held several high-profile teaching positions in schools in NSW and QLD. Dr Gibbs is currently the Program Director of the Bachelor of Education in the School of Education and Professional Studies (EPS) at Griffith University. Kathy is a member of the Board of Directors for ADHD Australia.
A multidisciplinary research team comprising the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery (GRIDD, Griffith University), Mater Research (based at the Translational Research Institute) and The University of Queensland’s (UQ) Frazer Institute, have made a breakthrough discovery in the body’s immune response to the blood cancer Hodgkin Lymphoma.
Led by GRIDD’s Dr Alex Cristino and Mater Research’s Professor Maher Gandhi, the study shows the detection of a novel molecular mechanism contributing to Natural Killer (NK) cell dysfunction in Hodgkin Lymphoma patients.
NK cells are innate immune response cells that play a critical role in identifying and eliminating cancerous or abnormal cells.
Dr Cristino said: “akin to soldiers at the body’s front line of defence, NK cells activation is disrupted by Hodgkin Lymphoma, confusing the essential IRE1α pathway with conflicting signals of ‘attack’ and ‘hold back’ messages simultaneously.”
“Our study identifies a gene network connecting a central cellular stress sensor (IRE1α/XBP1 pathway) to directly affect the regulation of small RNAs involved in the control of the immune checkpoint inhibitor called Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), a key molecule that revolutionised immunotherapy for cancer treatment.”
Professor Maher Gandhi added that cancer cells can evade the immune system by expressing another ligand to the immune checkpoint PD-1, named PD-L1 (or programmed death-ligand 1), which the cancer cells essentially use as a shield.
“PD-L1 on cancer cells interacts with PD-1 on immune cells, essentially tricking them into ignoring the cancerous threat with current immunotherapies relying on antibodies to block this interaction,” he said.
The “kiss of death”, when NK cells are disrupted by the blood cancer cell.
Dr Cristino explained whilst current immunotherapies may be effective in many cases, they can be overly aggressive on the body, prompting severe side effects, and do not address how immune cells produce PD-1 in the first place.
The research team, which included UQ PhD students Karolina Bednarska and Gayathri Thillaiyampalam, identified a specific gene network involving key molecules such as XBP1 and microRNA-34a that regulates PD-1 production, providing a new target for potential novel immunotherapies.
Dr Cristino said: “by gaining insight into the mechanism of production of PD-1, we can investigate novel approaches to interfere with the inhibitory interactions between cancer and immune cells, potentially enhancing the innate immune response to cancers and developing targeted treatments that minimise side effects.”
Professor Gandhi suggested the study is relevant for effective development in cancer immunotherapy, harnessing NK cells and immune checkpoint inhibitors.
“Our research not only sheds light on the underlying causes of NK cell dysfunction in Hodgkin Lymphoma but also opens the door to exploring innovative immunotherapeutic strategies targeting blood cancers,” he said.
The study has been published in Acta Haematologica, an internationally recognised clinically oriented journal documenting hematology research.
Lakes are considered the lifeblood of numerous ecosystems worldwide and are facing a health crisis that could potentially impact the millions of people dependent on their services.
Now a study co-authored by Griffith University has underscored the urgent need for coordinated action to address the issues jeopardising lake ecosystems globally.
“Lakes, in their varied sizes, shapes, and hues, are vital storytellers of geological evolution and environmental significance,” Professor Hamilton said.
“However, the health of these bodies of water is under siege from a plethora of ailments, including thermal, circulatory, respiratory, nutritional, and metabolic challenges, as well as infections and pollution.
“The ramifications of neglecting lake health are profound. Without timely intervention and preventative measures, these issues could escalate into chronic conditions, imperilling essential ecosystem services that millions of people rely upon.”
Australia has around 11,400 lakes with the majority being salty due to high rates of evaporation, alongside other areas such as parts of Africa and Central Asia, which evaporate much more water than they receive.
Of concern among the findings was the widespread phenomenon of lake drying, exacerbated by human stressors and climate change. This is also impacting the availability of water stored in artificial reservoirs and dams.
About 115,000 lakes globally are evaporating at an alarming rate, posing risks to the more than 153 million people who reside nearby.
To avert an ecological catastrophe, the study advocated for a comprehensive approach encompassing improved sewage treatment, climate mitigation, prevention of non-native species introductions and curbing chemical pollution.
Professor Hamilton stressed the necessity of applying strategies akin to human healthcare to lake management.
“Early identification, regular screening, and remediation efforts are crucial to preserving the health of our lakes,” he said.
“Lakes need to be recognised as living systems that can suffer from a large variety of health issues which are similar in many ways to human health issues.
“Despite increasing preventative and treatment efforts in many countries, evidence for substantial improvement in the overall global lake health status remains elusive. Thus, there is a high risk that more and more lake health issues will become chronic and difficult to treat.”
Rising costs of living and airfares point to long-haul travel being affordable for fewer people. It also might re-shape the way we think about tourism.
Australians need to brace for a reality check. When it comes to international travel, we’ve had it too good for too long.
After years of cheap flights to all corners of the globe, market reality has hit and we’re in for a bone-shaking landing.
That will mean a fundamental shift for the visitor economy. And the good news is, Australia stands to cash in.
Global pilot shortages have resulted in substantial pay increases, further inflating expenses. Additionally, logistical disruptions from the pandemic have hindered aircraft manufacturing, reducing supply. Airlines are also willing to cash-in after significant losses during the pandemic years.
Consequently, we’re witnessing an inflationary trend, with flying becoming increasingly costly amid reduced aircraft availability.
Airlines are prioritising newer and more sustainable aircraft models, exacerbating supply-demand imbalances. These interconnected factors contribute to the escalating costs of air travel.
It appears that flying is transitioning into a luxury experience, particularly for long-haul journeys.
Australia could strategically position itself in response. Rather than pursuing continuous growth in international visitor numbers, the focus may shift towards attracting longer-staying, higher-spending tourists who are willing to travel beyond the usual and iconic destinations. This strategy can maximise economic benefits.
“The era of “fast tourism”, characterised by rushed itineraries and superficial encounters, is losing its appeal. There’s a growing movement towards “slow travel”, where travellers seek genuine connections and immersive experiences.”
Tourism often evokes a glamorous image of cultural exchange and exploration. However, this vision can only materialise through authentic experiences that allow for meaningful engagement.
The era of “fast tourism”, characterised by rushed itineraries and superficial encounters, is losing its appeal. There’s a growing movement towards “slow travel”, where travellers seek genuine connections and immersive experiences.
In essence, our approach shifts from relentless growth to sustainability. By embracing a mindset of responsible tourism, we can create a more enriching and mutually beneficial travel experience for all.
There are policy interventions that can help push that cultural shift along. Pulling levers like a cap on international flights out of main state capital cities, unless airlines fly via regional hubs like Cairns, Darwin and Broome could open up opportunities for regional tourism and development.
Broome Airport, for instance, only sees Jetstar flights to Singapore twice a week, despite being the second-largest airport in Western Australia. If more business was funnelled through Broome, it would create the market to properly expand the airport’s services — introducing customs and immigration services — and would give Broome the chance to serve as a gateway to the region, fostering growth in its tourism and economy.
The most direct way to push this influence is through Qantas, Australia’s national carrier, over which the government holds regulatory power. Government bailouts during the pandemic underscored the role it can play in supporting airlines and demonstrating a gap that can be filled with a more nuanced approach to aviation policy.
An embrace of a locally minded travel culture also addresses another challenge facing the aviation industry — the climate crisis.
The pandemic already nudged along a cultural shift towards cutting down unnecessary air travel as businesses became comfortable using platforms like Zoom, instead of flying in for face-to-face meetings. As companies become more conscious of their carbon footprint, tying sustainability goals into their responsibilities, business travel seems like an easy sector to curb.
As far as tourism goes, Asian tourism especially holds immense potential for Australia and its economy. By targeting more “slow travellers” — visitors who will spend more time in various locations, seeking deeper engagement with their travel destinations — Australia can maximise the economic and social benefits derived from tourism.
This approach projects as a more sustainable way to do tourism, built around encouraging longer stays and more spending for people who have flown to visit a far away destination. For Australian tourism powerbrokers, it means changing the mindset from constant growth to making the most of limited resources and focusing on a regenerative tourism model.
Tourism is often heralded with the glamorous view that it creates a better world because it fosters a better understanding of each other’s cultures and ways of living. This can only be achieved if it’s done authentically — if travellers take the time to engage with a destination.
Fast tourism — the “drop in, drop out” model of passing through many locations rapidly — is losing its appeal. Australia can benefit.
The silver lining of the cost-of-living crunch and airfare rise is that it presents a fantastic opportunity to open up the rest of the country, which is full of destinations many in Australia and the region haven’t explored.
By promoting slower travel and encouraging visitors to venture beyond the typical tourist hotspots, Australia can showcase its diversity, beauty and rich cultural heritage to the world.
Gui Lohmann is a Professor in Air Transport and Tourism Management at Griffith University and the leader of the research cluster “The Future of Aviation” at the Griffith Institute for Tourism.
Cave diving is a recreation and emergency services skill that is not for the fainthearted, and without proper training the pastime can be potentially deadly.
While cave diving in Australia has experienced lows, there is much to celebrate and inspire new and experienced divers.
Prof Julien Louys at Tank cave examining a modern kangaroo fossil.
Professor Julien Louys, Deputy Director of Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, is no stranger to the cave systems surrounding the Mount Gambier region in South Australia, having previously mounted several research trips to recover and study fossils collected from various cave sites from some of Australia’s most mysterious animals – extinct marsupial megafauna.
In 2022, Professor Louys was awarded $260,820 for his Australian Research Council Linkage project titled ‘Deep time extinctions and environments in Australian underwater caves’, which has helped him retrieve and study the deposits and environmental settings of fossils including the Diprotodon (popularly but incorrectly likened to a giant wombat), Thylacoleo (marsupial lion) and the Sthenurinae (short faced kangaroo).
Accompanied by members of the Cave Diving Association of Australia (CDAA) and his team of researchers, Associate Professor Louys will perform dives at Englebrechts, Gouldens and Tank caves to explore whether those cave systems contain fossils, from what species, and what they can tell us about why they may have become extinct.
“That’s one of the key things that we’re trying to address with this project is to really place these megafauna in a particular landscape, to reconstruct in its finer detail as possible what the environments would have been like and how that may have changed through time and how that compares to the environments today,” he said.
“Palaeontology is more than just studying dinosaur bones. Where the fossils come from, their context, age, and relationship to other fossils is critical information we use to understand past environments and how climate change impacted ecosystems in the past.
“That’s one of the most long-ranging debates in Australian palaeontology, and global palaeontology: what happened to these megafauna?
“They all became extinct towards the end of the Pleistocene and one of the key debates is whether it was humans that caused their extinctions or whether it was environmental change that caused their extinctions.
PhD candidate Meg Walker at Englebrechts cave.
“There’s been a lot of conjecture or a lot of hypotheses that humans may have caused the extinctions because climate changes weren’t severe enough or weren’t impactful enough.
The dive and research team at Gouldens sinkhole, from top Damian Bishop, Steve Trewavas, Julien Louys and Joseph Monks.
“But one of the gaps in our knowledge of that time, and of these species, is what sort of environments they actually lived in and what sort of ecologies these megafauna species had.”
He and the CDAA would like to see further protections on cave sites in the region, not only to protect the sites’ fossil deposits and future research, but also to stem some of the increase in amateur cave divers who pose risks to the sites and themselves without adequate training.
“Some of these sites are at risk of being lost forever,” Professor Louys said.
“They provide not only a window into Australia’s past, but their fossils can help educate and inspire Australians about our environments and are instrumental in understanding how past climate and environmental change affected ecosystems, fauna, and flora.
“The laws and legislation concerning fossil protection in Australia are not very clear, not consistent across states and territories and rarely if ever enforced.
“If these are lost or destroyed, they’re gone for good, and whatever we might be able to learn about Australia and our future wasted.”
In an evolving journey towards understanding and supporting those living with Parkinson’s disease, a new report offers fresh insights into the burden it places on those affected.
The study by Professor George Mellick for Parkinson’s Australia aimed to shed light on the complexities surrounding its prevalence, as well as the need for better understanding and support.
The second most common neurological condition in the world, Parkinson’s remains one of the least understood, with up to 150,000 Australians having it, and more than a million impacted.
While up to 50 Australians are diagnosed with Parkinson’s every day, Professor Mellick said it’s far from simple to determine the full extent and prevalence of it across the population.
“There have been very few studies looking at prevalence and incidence of the condition,” he said.
Professor George Mellick
“Statistics are usually reported per 100,000 people, but with a condition like Parkinson’s those figures can really depend on the age and makeup of that 100,000 people, so we’ve been working on gathering more accurate figures on the number of people living with Parkinson’s in different regions, which has never been done in Australia.”
While age is the greatest risk factor and Parkinson’s is commonly viewed as an older person’s condition, around 10 per cent of those living with the ailment are of working age, and some even in their thirties or forties.
“A lot of people don’t even know they’ve got it,” Professor Mellick said.
“They know something’s wrong, but it takes them five years to find out they’ve got Parkinson’s because no one is considering it as an option.
“In fact, studies have shown up to 25 per cent of people with Parkinson’s don’t even know they’ve got it.
“Symptoms come on gradually – often over several years, and given there is no test for Parkinson’s and it needs to be diagnosed by a physician who is very familiar with it, it can be very difficult to diagnose.”
While Parkinson’s is most commonly associated with an involuntary movement or shaking of limbs, around 30 per cent of sufferers will not experience this symptom at all.
Other impacts on the body can include feelings of rigidity or ongoing muscle stiffness, slowness of movement, difficulty with fine motor skills, quieter speech and even a loss of smell.
Additionally, non-motor-symptoms can include anxiety and depression, constipation and even acting out dreams.
“Usually when you sleep or dream your motor skills shut down, but Parkinson’s can sometimes stop this from happening, which can be quite impactful on partners particularly.
“Ultimately, we’re an ageing population which means we’ll be seeing more of this condition, so the more we can learn about it, the better we can prepare for that.
“We can’t cure it yet, but we can treat it quite well.
“We want to work with individuals as early as possible to ensure their journey with Parkinson’s is the best and most productive it can be, and avoid the need for them to enter into nursing homes as much as possible.”
A new partnership between Blackmore Family Foundation and Griffith University has mobilised the Blackmore Leadership Summit series and a worldwide search for the Blackmore Chair in Business Leadership.
Professor Caitlin Byrne and Professor Robert Bianchi with Blackmore Family Foundation members and Griffith Business School Student Leaders.
The role will oversee The Blackmore Leadership Summit series, an annual flagship and destination event that will bring together a cohort of up to 50 business founders, executives, and leaders to amalgamate experiences and provide structured and expert learning.
The partnership represents a shared commitment towards innovative, authentic, people-centred leadership.
Pro Vice Chancellor (Business) Professor Caitlin Byrne said the chair would play a critical role in harnessing new knowledge and thinking about innovative business leadership in Australia and the Asia Pacific.
“Leadership is hard and in today’s complex and contested world the demand for effective leaders has never been greater,” Professor Byrne said.
“I’m truly proud that Griffith Business School, together with the Blackmore Family Foundation, is elevating business education and research in ways that will transform leadership practice in Australia and the Asia-Pacific for the better.
“We’re grateful to Marcus Blackmore for reminding us about the importance of investing in people for the long term, and we look forward to working with the Blackmore Family Foundation board to bring our shared ambitions for better business leadership to life.”
Griffith celebrated with the Blackmore Family Foundation at an event hosted by Vice Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans on the Gold Coast campus last week, with members of the Blackmore Family Foundation including Marcus Blackmore and Caroline Furlong.
See details about the Chair of Business Leadership position here.
