Australia's cane toad problem
A In the north of Australia there are many sugar cane plantations, which early in the 20th century were being damaged by a particular pest. This was a species of beetle whose larvae, the infant form of the beetle, live underground in the soil in the sugar cane fields. The sugar cane plants were weakened or died because their roots were eaten by the larvae. This had serious economic consequences for sugar cane farmers. Modern pesticides were not developed until the 1940s, so farmers had to use what was available at the time. Chemicals like arsenic and copper were used, but these were not only expensive but also stayed in the environment and were poisonous to people, plants and animals. It was generally acknowledged by government, farmers and scientists that cheaper and safer methods of pest control had to be found.
B A promising replacement for copper and arsenic was the use of biological control. Farmers already used some forms of biological pest control in the form of predatory and parasitic wasps and flies, insect-eating birds, and plants from different regions or countries to control pests. Common practice was to release these introduced agents into new environments, the expectation being that they would destroy resident pests. Some species of toad already had successful records as agents of biological control in gardens. For example, in 19th-century France toads were sold to gardeners at markets in Paris to eat insect pests in their gardens. In the early 20th century French sugar cane farmers first took giant toads from South America to control pests in their Caribbean sugar cane plantations. Although there is no evidence that these toads did help to control pests, sugar cane scientists then carried some of these toads from Jamaica and Barbados to Puerto Rico and from there to Hawaii.
C The idea of biological control of pests was not new to Australia. For example, in 1926 there had been a highly successful prevention of the increase of the exotic prickly-pear cactus by the introduction of a moth from Argentina. This success added strength to the argument that biological control was the answer to the sugar cane industry's pest problems. Accordingly, in the early 1930s a decision was taken to introduce the giant South American toads, which in Australia are now commonly called cane toads, into Australian sugar cane plantations.
D In 1935, an Australian entomologist brought 101 cane toads from Hawaii and released them in sugar cane plantations in the north of Australia. However, over the following years it became clear that the cane toads were a failure. There was a fatal flaw in the plan to use them as a form of biological control. This was that earthbound cane toads were expected to eat the mostly flying adult beetles in order to eliminate the soil-dwelling beetle larvae that ate the roots of the cane sugar plants. This, of course, cane toads could not do.
E Prior to their introduction in Australia, there had been very few opponents and only one made his views public. He was a retired former Chief Entomologist from the state government of New South Wales named Walter Froggatt. He forecast that cane toads might become as great a pest in Australia as rabbits. However, Froggatt's peers rebuked him and eminent scientists branded his views 'decidedly pessimistic'. It is estimated that today as many as a hundred million cane toads form a toxic infestation which is slowly spreading throughout the land.
F Cane toads are large, heavily built amphibians. Average-sized adults are 10-15 cm long and weigh more than a kilo. They have large swellings on each shoulder from which they squirt poison when they are threatened. This venom contains 14 different chemicals, but they do not appear to be harmful to humans as no-one has died in Australia from cane toad poison. Until recently there was no understanding of the toxicity of cane toad poison, but it is now clear that freshwater crocodiles, goannas (large lizards) and dingoes (wild dogs) have died after eating cane toads. Cane toads compete with native Australian fauna for food, and eat the eggs and young of ground-nesting birds. As their numbers increase, they are taking over more and more of the land where native Australian fauna live.
G The lesson that can be learned from the introduction of cane toads is important. It is wrong to think that such an awful biological event could not be repeated. In this instance, the catalyst was the overwhelming consensus of support for introducing cane toads to Australia. The error was that there was little or no testing of these biological agents before they were introduced to see what unplanned effects they might have on the environment.
New Technology in New Zealand's Health Service
A At some time in their lives, nearly all New Zealanders will have to attend an after-hours clinic following an emergency or accident. On entering the consulting room, the patient is faced with a barrage of questions. The first ones relate to the current episode, and are followed by more general enquiries. Do you have any allergies? Are you on any medications? And so on. But imagine a different scenario. The patient walks into the consulting room and there on the healthcare professional's computer screen is his or her medical record in its entirety: allergies, medications, test results and everything else. To some, it's amazing that this isn't happening already. After all, individuals can track their bank accounts, phone records and countless other transactions online, so why can't they track their health? Ian McCrae, Orion Health's CEO, says that it's understandable if health often falls behind other sectors in its adoption of information technology (IT). It might be, he argues, because of concerns about patient privacy, but also because health care is just so complicated.
B The irony is, New Zealand started out being ahead of the game. The backbone of any health IT system is having a unique identifier for each patient, and New Zealand's national health index (NHI) number system was introduced in 1993, before most other countries in the world. Innovation then slowed for some years, but in 2011 the earthquake in Canterbury, which affected thousands of people, was a catalyst for health IT in that region of the country. Suddenly, many people couldn't be seen by their usual doctor and many health records were inaccessible. An existing plan for an electronic shared record was fast-tracked, and within six months a basic system, HealthOne, was up and running. By 2013, clinicians in the hospital emergency department were able to see all relevant medical information about patients. Dr. Nigel Millar, Chief Medical Officer for the Canterbury region, says within days doctors were telling him the information had already revolutionised the way they worked.
C This idea, known as a 'patient portal', is now in operation in other parts of the country, including the capital Wellington. With a mobile app patients can remain connected to their patient portal on their mobile device, allowing for added flexibility. However, there's a lot of complacency in medicine, according to Dr. Richard Medlicott. He says that innovative IT systems have the potential to radically change health care delivery, because they will free doctors from routine administrative tasks and instead allow them to focus on diagnosis and patient care, which is where their skills are really needed. But he admits there is some way to go in the adoption of shared care records, and also in changing the mindset of some doctors who are resistant to change. A good example of technology in use comes from Australia, where the National Home Doctor Service has brought back a service that was becoming infrequent: the home visit. The after hours service uses an app to arrange an on-call doctor who will visit patients at home to provide on-the-spot healthcare.
D A key part of the health IT picture is maintaining a dialogue and exchange of ideas between healthcare professionals, according to Kate Reid, a director at Orion Health. Reid says this is critical, but it's not easy because there are so many different agencies that are sometimes in competition. Another issue, Reid says, is that there are many information systems that are being trialled today. However, these trials are not big enough to determine if they could ever work at a national level. One area where cooperation in health IT really could deliver benefits is in disease prevention and early intervention, says Reid. 'We've got innovations and technology that could be reaching at-risk people right now.' she argues, but the infrastructure is not in place to allow funding to be shifted from treatment to prevention. Scott Arrol, CEO of New Zealand Health IT, says that advances are coming, they're just not arriving as fast as everybody would like.
E While IT is extremely important to a functioning health system, there are other areas where New Zealand technologies are improving health care. Dr. Hong Sheng Chiong, for example, has adapted a smartphone camera for medical use. The examination kit combines a phone adapter and app, allowing users to examine the eye with minimal training. Another innovation is the Clever MedKit, an intelligent first aid kit. It separates different items like band-aids and ice packs and orders replacements when necessary, making it particularly helpful in today's busy offices. In a separate field, the use of pre-made ceramic fittings which can be placed over a broken tooth in a single sitting reduces the cost of treatment. Dr. Adam Doudney came up with the idea before it was developed by researchers at the technology company Rhondium. Another idea is the Silhouette system, which offers a way to easily monitor wounds. It allows practitioners to detect small differences in wound size by collecting accurate images and data. Finally, the Auckland Bioengineering Institute is helping those wishing to keep fit or rehabilitate from injury. When placed on the body their special sensor moves with the wearer and measures the amount of movement, before the data is transmitted to the user's mobile or tablet. It'll be fascinating to see how these and other technologies transform medicine over the years to come.
Marine mammals exhibit their ingenuity
1 In the deep, clear channels of Australia’s Shark Bay, bottlenose dolphins have discovered tools, raising questions about the origins of intelligent behavior, the nature of learning, and the birth of technology. There, dolphins in one extended family routinely use sponges* to protect their noses as they forage for fish hidden in the abrasive seafloor sand, according to Georgetown University scientists. As far as the researchers can tell, a single dolphin may have invented the technique relatively recently and taught it to her offspring. The simple innovation dramatically changed their behavior, hunting habits, and social life, the researchers found. Those that adopted it became loners who spent much more time hunting than others and dive more deeply in search of prey. The sponging dolphins teach the technique to all their young, but only the females seem to grasp the idea. ‘It is indisputably tool use,’ says primate anthropologist Craig Stanford at the University of Southern California, an authority on animal cognition and behavior. For those seeking a glimpse of our own beginnings, the dolphins of Shark Bay offer a hint of the inventive impulse that occurred when our earliest ancestors first shaped destiny by fashioning implements with their hands.
2 Tool use of any sort among wild animals is rare, difficult to document reliably, and controversial. The line between instinct, ingenuity, and intelligence is easily blurred by wishful thinking, experts caution. Field observations often give rise to scholarly disputes. Even so, 10 primate species of monkeys and apes, along with 30 species of birds, are thought to use sticks, rocks, or leaves as tools.
3 In the first in-depth analysis of this natural dolphin behavior, marine biologist and psychologist Dr. Janet Mann at Georgetown University and her colleagues found that the dolphins of Shark Bay use their makeshift hunting masks more often than any other species uses tools, except human beings. The curious hunting habit was first observed by a local fisherman who reported to marine biologists that he had seen a dolphin with an odd growth on its nose. Monitoring its movements through the bay’s unusually clear waters, researchers soon discovered that the dolphin was actually balancing a conical basket sponge on its nose.
4 At first, it was not evident what the dolphin was doing with a sponge. Observing from a small boat, Dr. Mann and her colleagues eventually identified 41 dolphins who regularly used sponges to hunt, cataloging 1,295 dives in which they surfaced with sponges on their snouts. Researchers were startled to realize that the dolphins of Shark Bay employed one living creature as a tool to help hunt another. Not any basket sponge would do, the researchers soon learned. The dolphins might search for 10 minutes to locate one with the right conical shape to cap their nose, tear it free of its mooring, and then carry it to a preferred hunting ground along channels between eight meters and 13 meters deep. ‘You can see that they are scattering the sand gently as they go along,’ says Dr. Mann. ‘When they startle a fish out of the sand, they immediately drop the sponge and go after it.’
5 ‘They return to retrieve the sponge and pick up the hunt again, repeating the pattern. They really use these sponges as a foraging tool,’ says dolphin biologist Maddalena Bearzi, president of the Ocean Conservation Society of Los Angeles. ‘They discovered it could create an advantage in their foraging technique, and they pass it from generation to generation.’ However, among the hundreds of dolphins living in this bay, only a few dozen use sponges to keep from scraping their noses, and that offered researchers an opportunity to compare creatures that use tools to others of the same species that do not.
6 Although these dolphins all appear to be related, researchers at the University of New South Wales suggest that nurture, not nature, is the reason these dolphins use tools, ruling out genetic explanations for the behavior. Instead, they are convinced that the use of sponges is passed from one generation to the next through imitation. Among bottlenose dolphins, mothers nurse their young for up to eight years, ample time for calves to absorb their mother’s hunting tricks by observation. ‘This is an example of culture among these animals,’ says Dr. Bearzi. ‘This is part of the reason it is so important.’
7 So far, almost all of the dolphin spongers have proved to be female. ‘The sex difference is really striking,’ Dr. Mann says. ‘I don’t know of another species where it is so dramatic.’ Of the sponging offspring, only the daughters could be seen still sponging once they reached maturity. The sons tried it but almost always abandoned it. Male dolphins rarely play a role in child-rearing and tend to fish in packs. For Dr. Mann, the discovery that dolphins, too, are tool users adds an unexpected dimension to the history of innovation, shedding new light on animal intelligence. Clever mimics and fast learners, dolphins have unusually large brains — four times the size of a chimpanzee’s and second only to humans in relative size. ‘It speaks to this whole issue of creativity and learning and brain size,’ she says. ‘The number one question that drives me and others is: Why do dolphins have such big brains? What are they doing down there in the water that requires them to be so smart?’
* sponges: simple sea creatures with porous bodies