Australian comic actor Magda Szubanski, star of 'Babe' and 'Kath and Kim,' reveals cancer diagnosis
MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian comedian and actor Magda Szubanski, best known for roles in the television sitcom 'Kath and Kim' and the movie 'Babe,' announced on Thursday she had been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer.
The 64-year-old Melbourne resident posted on social media that she had started treatment for stage four mantle cell lymphoma , which she described as a 'rare and fast-moving blood cancer.'
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Gizmodo
26 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
Your Smartphone Is a Parasite, According to Evolution
Head lice, fleas and tapeworms have been humanity's companions throughout our evolutionary history. Yet, the greatest parasite of the modern age is no blood-sucking invertebrate. It is sleek, glass-fronted, and addictive by design. Its host? Every human on Earth with a wifi signal. Far from being benign tools, smartphones parasitise our time, our attention and our personal information, all in the interests of technology companies and their advertisers. In a new article in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, we argue smartphones pose unique societal risks, which come into sharp focus when viewed through the lens of parasitism. What, exactly, is a parasite? Evolutionary biologists define a parasite as a species that benefits from a close relationship with another species – its host – while the host bears a cost. The head louse, for example, is entirely dependent on our own species for its survival. They only eat human blood, and if they become dislodged from their host, they survive only briefly unless they are fortunate enough to fall onto another human scalp. In return for our blood, head lice give us nothing but a nasty itch; that's the cost. Smartphones have radically changed our lives. From navigating cities to managing chronic health diseases such as diabetes, these pocket-sized bits of tech make our lives easier. So much so that most of us are rarely without them. Yet, despite their benefits, many of us are hostage to our phones and slaves to the endless scroll, unable to fully disconnect. Phone users are paying the price with a lack of sleep, weaker offline relationships and mood disorders. From mutualism to parasitism Not all close species relationships are parasitic. Many organisms that live on or inside us are beneficial. Consider the bacteria in the digestive tracts of animals. They can only survive and reproduce in the gut of their host species, feeding on nutrients passing through. But they provide benefits to the host, including improved immunity and better digestion. These win-win associations are called mutualisms. The human-smartphone association began as a mutualism. The technology proved useful to humans for staying in touch, navigating via maps, and finding useful information. Philosophers have spoken of this not in terms of mutualism, but rather as phones being an extension of the human mind, like notebooks, maps, and other tools. From these benign origins, however, we argue that the relationship has become parasitic. Such a change is not uncommon in nature; a mutualist can evolve to become a parasite, or vice versa. Smartphones as parasites As smartphones have become nearly indispensable, some of the most popular apps they offer have come to serve the interests of the app-making companies and their advertisers more faithfully than those of their human users. These apps are designed to nudge our behaviour to keep us scrolling, clicking on advertising and simmering in perpetual outrage. The data on our scrolling behaviour is used to further that exploitation. Your phone only cares about your personal fitness goals or desire to spend more quality time with your kids to the extent that it uses this information to tailor itself to better capture your attention. So, it can be useful to think of users and their phones as akin to hosts and their parasites – at least some of the time. While this realisation is interesting in and of itself, the benefit of viewing smartphones through the evolutionary lens of parasitism comes into its own when considering where the relationship might head next – and how we could thwart these high-tech parasites. Where policing comes in On the Great Barrier Reef, bluestreak cleaner wrasse establish 'cleaning stations' where larger fish allow the wrasse to feed on dead skin, loose scales, and invertebrate parasites living in their gills. This relationship is a classic mutualism – the larger fish lose costly parasites and the cleaner wrasse get fed. Sometimes the cleaner wrasse 'cheat' and nip their hosts, tipping the scale from mutualism to parasitism. The fish being cleaned may punish offenders by chasing them away or withholding further visits. In this, the reef fish exhibit something evolutionary biologists see as important to keeping mutualisms in balance: policing. Could we adequately police our exploitation by smartphones and restore a net-beneficial relationship? Evolution shows that two things are key: an ability to detect exploitation when it occurs, and the capacity to respond (typically by withdrawing service to the parasite). A difficult battle In the case of the smartphone, we can't easily detect the exploitation. Tech companies that design the various features and algorithms to keep you picking up your phone aren't advertising this behaviour. But even if you're aware of the exploitative nature of smartphone apps, responding is also more difficult than simply putting the phone down. Many of us have become reliant on smartphones for everyday tasks. Rather than remembering facts, we offload the task to digital devices – for some people, this can change their cognition and memory. We depend on having a camera for capturing life events or even just recording where we parked the car. This both enhances and limits our memory of events. Governments and companies have only further cemented our dependence on our phones, by moving their service delivery online via mobile apps. Once we pick up the phone to access our bank accounts or access government services, we've lost the battle. How then can users redress the imbalanced relationship with their phones, turning the parasitic relationship back to a mutualistic one? Our analysis suggests individual choice can't reliably get users there. We are individually outgunned by the massive information advantage tech companies hold in the host-parasite arms race. The Australian government's under-age social media ban is an example of the kind of collective action required to limit what these parasites can legally do. To win the battle, we will also need restrictions on app features known to be addictive, and on the collection and sale of our personal data. Rachael L. Brown, Director of the Centre for Philosophy of the Sciences and Associate Professor of Philosophy, Australian National University, and Rob Brooks, Scientia Professor of Evolution, UNSW Sydney This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Associated Press
4 hours ago
- Associated Press
Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman join Australia SailGP team as co-owners
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman become co-owners of the Australia SailGP team on Thursday. The 'Deadpool & Wolverine' stars joined driver and CEO Tom Slingsby in leading the team's rebrand after several successful seasons, winning three championships in its four seasons. The team will be called the BONDS Flying Roos, with the Australian underwear company BONDS as its title partner. 'We're incredibly excited to set sail together in this new adventure,' Reynolds and Jackman said in a joint statement released through SailGP. 'Hugh brings a deep love for and pride in his home country, as well as being an avid fan of sailing. He will also be bringing his overly clingy emotional support human along for the ride. Apologies in advance to Australia. No comment on whether we're writing this in our BONDS. No further questions.' It's the latest sports venture for Reynolds, who along with fellow Hollywood actor Rob McElhenney is a co-owner of Wrexham, one of the world's oldest soccer clubs. Reynolds and McElhenney were also part of an investment group that acquired Colombian club La Equidad earlier this year. The BONDS Flying Roos SailGP Team is expected to make its debut at the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix starting June 7. Slingsby, an Olympic gold medalist, said in a release that Jackman and Reynolds bring 'unmatched star power, a love for storytelling, and a sharp sense of (humor) that fits perfectly with our team.' 'With BONDS joining as our Title Partner and the launch of the BONDS Flying Roos,' Slingsby added, 'we're building something distinctly Australian; a team driven by spirit, resilience, and national pride.' ___ AP sports:
Forbes
6 hours ago
- Forbes
Chappell Roan Ties Her Own Best Record With The Smash That Almost Never Was
After years of struggling in the music industry, Chappell Roan finally scored her breakout hit more than a year ago with "Good Luck, Babe!" The tune served as a standalone smash, as she had already released her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – which didn't feature her first smash, somewhat oddly – and the two took off together. "Good Luck, Babe!" became a massive commercial win all around the world. In the United States, its success was bolstered largely by quick and sustained adoption at pop radio. While "Good Luck, Babe!" may have started her run, Roan's single that almost never was has proved to be an even greater success in many respects. As of this frame, "Pink Pony Club" by Roan has spent 29 weeks on the Pop Airplay chart. The cut is now tied with "Good Luck, Babe!" as the singer-songwriter's longest-running success on Billboard's list of the most popular tunes at top 40 pop stations across the U.S. "Pink Pony Club" and "Good Luck, Babe!" are tied with 29 weeks on the Pop Airplay chart apiece, but that likely won't be the case for very long. When Billboard refreshes its rankings in a few days, "Pink Pony Club" will almost certainly score a thirtieth frame on the list, as it's still performing very well. At the moment, it appears at No. 10, down from No. 8. Since the Pop Airplay roster features 40 spots, it seems unlikely that "Pink Pony Club" will fall away for weeks — if not months — and Roan is almost surely headed for a new longest-running smash. "Pink Pony Club" took a very, very long time to become a pop radio staple. The track was originally released in 2020, before many people knew who Roan was. Even after it was featured on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, it was not initially selected as a favorite by the public, as the masses instead preferred several other tunes from the project. It wasn't until Roan performed the song during the 2025 Grammy Awards that it shot to prominence. Just weeks after the show, "Pink Pony Club" reached No. 1 on the Pop Airplay tally, joining "Good Luck, Babe!" as her only champions. It went on to rule for three weeks, while "Good Luck, Babe!" only held on for a single turn. Now, it's proved to be not just a high-rising smash, but a long-standing one as well.
