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Robert Attenborough

Honorary Senior Lecturer in Bioanthropology, Australian National University
Papua New Guinea has been the focus of most of my recent research on health, nutrition and demography. This has been both at the level of nationwide and historical reviews, and of local research with Dr Don Gardner amongst the Mianmin of the highlands fringes of Sandaun (West Sepik) Province, where life expectancy is short, and health and child growth are generally poor, but where these also vary with local variation in altitude and ecology.

In a different kind of human biological research project (also ARC-funded), I have recently focused with Prof Simon Easteal and others on the anthropological genetics of Papua New Guinea. In this project we are exploring genetic variation in both the female and male lines for clues as to the long-range histories of Papuan-speaking populations: questions include how the island of New Guinea was originally populated; whether genetic variation correlates with linguistic variation; and whether particular population groups may have expanded with the expansion of language families agricultural practices.

In earlier research I studied population processes, ecology and nutrition in Zangskar valley, Jammu and Kashmir Province, northern India.

Economy

MOEX Russia Index Rises Amid Oil and Gas Gains; Magnit and Severstal Tumble

Russian stocks edged higher on Saturday, driven by strength in the oil, gas, and power sectors. The MOEX Russia Index closed up 0.26%, signaling cautious optimism among investors despite mixed performance across key...

Malaysia’s Q1 GDP Grows 4.4%, U.S. Exports Surge Amid Tariff Concerns

Malaysias economy expanded by 4.4% year-on-year in Q1 2025, according to official advance estimates released Friday. While slower than the 5% growth recorded in Q4 2024, the economy remained resilient amid global...

Wall Street Ends Mixed as Apple, Eli Lilly Rise Amid Trade and Rate Concerns

Wall Street closed mixed on Thursday as investor sentiment improved slightly amid progress in U.S.-Japan trade talks, though caution prevailed ahead of the Good Friday holiday. The SP 500 inched up 0.13% to 5,282.70, while...

Japan’s Inflation Rises as U.S. Tariff Risks Weigh on BOJ Policy

Japans core inflation rose in March, driven by persistent food cost increases, complicating the Bank of Japans (BOJ) path toward further rate hikes amid growing concerns over U.S. trade tariffs. The core consumer price...

Gold Pulls Back from Record Highs After Fed's Hawkish Signals and Profit-Taking

Gold prices dipped on Thursday in Asian trading after briefly hitting another record high, as investors took profits and digested hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Spot gold fell 0.7% to...

Politics

Harvard Slams Trump Administration Over "Intrusive" Demands Amid Funding Freeze

Harvard University has criticized the Trump administration for intensifying what it calls astonishingly intrusive demands, even after revelations that a government letter detailing those demands was sent without proper...

Pentagon Leak Scandal Sparks Backlash from Ousted Advisors

Dan Caldwell, a senior advisor to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, broke his silence after being escorted out of the Pentagon this week over an alleged leak. Alongside officials Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll,...

JD Vance Meets Vatican Officials Amid Tensions Over Trump Policies

U.S. Vice President JD Vance met with top Vatican officials on Saturday in a rare high-level encounter as tensions simmer between the Catholic Church and the Trump administration over immigration and social policy. Vance,...

Supreme Court Halts Trump-Era Deportations of Venezuelan Detainees Amid Legal Battle

The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan migrants detained in Texas, following urgent appeals by the ACLU. The Courts brief early Saturday ruling paused removals until...

Iran-U.S. Nuclear Talks Resume in Rome Amid Rising Tensions

Iran and the United States are set to resume indirect nuclear negotiations in Rome on Saturday, with tensions mounting over Tehrans atomic ambitions and President Donald Trump warning of potential military action if...

Science

Kennedy Sets September Deadline to Uncover Autism Causes Amid Controversy

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a bold plan to identify the cause of autism by September 2025. Speaking at a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, Kennedy declared a global...

AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi Gets US Approval for Bladder Cancer Treatment

AstraZenecas drug Imfinzi (NASDAQ: AZN) has received U.S. approval to treat adult patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, a significant advancement in cancer therapy. The approval allows Imfinzi to be used in...

Sanofi’s New Hemophilia Drug Qfitlia Gains FDA Approval with Breakthrough Bimonthly Dosing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Qfitlia, a groundbreaking hemophilia treatment by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY). Designed for patients aged 12 and older with hemophilia A or B,...

FDA Vaccine Chief Peter Marks Resigns Amid Controversy Over Transparency

Peter Marks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) top vaccine official, has resigned after reportedly being forced out by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to The Wall Street Journal....

Museums have tons of data, and AI could make it more accessible − but standardizing and organizing it across fields won’t be easy

Ice cores in freezers, dinosaurs on display, fish in jars, birds in boxes, human remains and ancient artifacts from long gone civilizations that few people ever see museum collections are filled with all this and more....

Technology

Apple iPhone Sales Drop 9% in China as Xiaomi Surges 40%

Apples iPhone shipments in China dropped 9% year-over-year in Q1 2025, making it the only major smartphone brand to report a decline, according to IDC. The U.S. tech giant shipped 9.8 million iPhones during the quarter,...

Nvidia Faces $5.5B Hit as U.S. Restricts H20 AI Chip Exports to China

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) announced it will incur $5.5 billion in charges after the U.S. government indefinitely restricted exports of its H20 AI chip to China, a critical market for its data center products. The H20 chip,...

Intel Restructures Leadership Under New CEO to Boost AI and Engineering Focus

Intels new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, has initiated a major leadership shakeup aimed at streamlining operations and reviving the chipmakers competitive edge. In a recent internal memo obtained by Reuters, Tan announced a flatter...

TSMC Q1 Profit Surges 60% on Booming AI Chip Demand

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the worlds largest contract chipmaker, reported a 60% year-over-year surge in first-quarter net profit, driven by skyrocketing demand for chips powering artificial intelligence...

Tencent, Douyin Launch Domestic Sales Initiatives Amid U.S.-China Trade Tensions

Chinese tech giants Tencent and Douyin, TikToks sister app in China, have launched new initiatives to support local exporters affected by the intensifying U.S.-China trade war. These efforts aim to help export-reliant...