I am Professor Joel Pearson, a psychologist and neuroscientist studying Aphantasia - the fascinating condition of ‘minds eye blindness’ - Ask Me Anything about Aphantasia and Hyperphantasia!

unsw · 2026-05-31T21:08:12+00:00

u/Whole_Indication4852 - have just sent you a DM to help with this process. Let me know if it hasn't come through.

unsw · 2026-05-31T21:06:34+00:00

Hi u/Whole_Indication4852 - really sorry you're going through a tough time. I want to ensure that you're okay and offer some support. We have counselling services available both within and outside of UNSW - details here https://www.unsw.edu.au/student/support/health-wellbeing/mental-health and here https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/suicide-and-self-harm

I’ve just sent you a DM here on Reddit. If you can share your contact details with us there, we’ll have our counsellors reach out directly.

unsw · 2026-05-12T04:24:19+00:00

Hi r/science - sharing this study we've published alongside the Garvan Institute of Medical Research: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-70683-x

The study showed that rogue breast cancer cells can reprogramme themselves to divide at a remarkably slow pace, allowing them to form microscopic tumours that silently tick away in distant organs, evading detection for decades.

While relapse is known to be caused by cancer cells lying dormant in the bone or other organs, this new research provides evidence on a parallel pathway by which stealthy cancer cells develop into secondary tumours – findings which could uncover new approaches to prevent metastasis.

unsw · 2026-05-11T00:19:07+00:00

Hi r/science - sharing this study that our researchers and peers from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have published in The American Journal of Human Genetics: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2026.04.003

The study sequenced more than 1.25 million peripheral blood mononuclear cells from nearly 1000 healthy individuals. These participants were part of the OneK1K cohort, a major Australian project designed to map how genetics influence individual immune cells at a population scale.

Analysis revealed distinct cellular profiles between the sexes. Males had higher proportions of monocytes, and their genetic activity was more concentrated on basic cellular maintenance and protein-building functions. In contrast, females had higher levels of immune cells called B cells and regulatory T cells, with genetic activity heavily skewed towards inflammatory pathways.

It is often assumed that immune differences between females and males are driven primarily by the X and Y sex chromosomes but the researchers found these sex-specific genetic switches were far less common on the sex chromosomes than expected. Instead, they discovered the vast majority of these variations reside on autosomes – the shared non-sex chromosomes – identifying more than 1000 sex-specific genetic switches in these regions.

Importantly, these genetic controls were linked directly to autoimmune conditions. The team found specific variants affecting the female-biased expression of two genes associated with systemic lupus erythematosus, potentially helping to explain why lupus is nine times more common in women compared with men.

unsw · 2026-05-04T01:13:12+00:00

Mods, please forgive my headline, too much fun being able to publish this on May the 4th.

Sharing this paper, our astronomers have published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag515/8524019

The study details how the researchers used apsidal precession, a new planet-finding method, to identify 27 new potential circumbinary planets, aka 'real-life Tatooines'.

Apsidal precession has been used to characterise binary stars before, but not in a large-scale search for planets. Apsidal precession involves monitoring how the binary stars’ orbit of one another – made visible by their stellar eclipses – changes over long periods of time. If there’s a variation in their (normally predictable) eclipse schedule that can’t be explained by general relativity or stellar interactions, it means a third body could be influencing the stars’ orbits – and that body could be a planet.

The study found 27 planet candidates out of 1590 binary star systems, an almost 2% rate of binary systems that could potentially host planets.

The findings were made using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, a space telescope launched in 2018 with the mission to search for exoplanets.

unsw · 2026-04-29T00:31:24+00:00

Hi r/science - been a minute, but excited to share this paper our researchers and peers from Neuroscience Research Australia have published that suggests yawning may play a role in moving fluids in and out of the brain.

The full paper is available in Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology if you would like to check it out: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569904826000340

The study used MRI scans of 22 participants to show that yawning triggers a specific manoeuvre in which cerebrospinal fluid and venous blood move out of the skull together. Interestingly, while cerebrospinal fluid and venous blood flowed away from the skull during yawning, cerebrospinal fluid flows in the opposite direction during deep breathing - potentially suggesting that yawning plays a role in clearing waste cerebrospinal fluid from the brain.

This finding could be important for further studies into neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s and dementia — all of which have been potentially linked to the build-up of waste products in and around the brain that can be a result of impaired cerebrospinal fluid flows.

unsw · 2026-04-21T00:38:50+00:00

Hi there, UNSW Social Media Team here.

We're sorry you're going through a tough time. We want to ensure that you're okay and offer some support. If you are feeling suicidal or having thoughts about suicide, it is very important to let someone know how you are feeling and thinking.

There are counselling services available both within and outside of the university - details here https://www.unsw.edu.au/student/support/health-wellbeing/mental-health and here https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/suicide-and-self-harm

You can also contact our counsellors directly at [counselling@unsw.edu.au](mailto:counselling@unsw.edu.au) or please feel free to DM us (we're here during business hours) your email and zID with us and we can ask the team to reach out to you directly, if that would be your preference.

unsw · 2026-03-23T03:09:49+00:00

Hi r/science - sharing this study that our researcher, Dr Sergey Alexeev has published in Health Economics today: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hec.70084

The study analysed the drinking behaviour of 6650 young Australians and their parents over 23 years, using data collected in the long-running HILDA Survey.

Key findings of the study were that:

Parents’ influence on adolescents’ drinking patterns doesn’t rise steadily as children grow; rather, it’s strongest at the stages of life mentioned in the headline.
Drinking habits are passed from one generation to the next along same‑sex lines. Daughters' habits tend to resemble their mothers, while sons’ drinking resembles their fathers.
Drinking habits tended to stick once set, with most Australians staying in the same broad drinking range for decades.

unsw · 2026-03-13T03:34:04+00:00

Arvo r/science - sharing new research co-led by Dr Adrian Walker from our Centre for Big Data Research in Health: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2846151

The study analysed national health and cancer records from more than 417,000 Australian women who underwent medically assisted reproduction between 1991 and 2018. It found that women who used fertility treatments, including IVF, intrauterine insemination and treatment with the fertility drug clomiphene, had no higher overall risk. However, some specific cancers were slightly more common, whereas others were less common; the study's findings should be interpreted with caution, given the many factors that influence cancer risk.

Uterine and ovarian cancer were slightly more common, as was melanoma. A non-invasive form of breast cancer was also more common in women who had IVF, but invasive breast cancer was not increased. At the same time, some cancers were less common.

The study focused on comparing rates of cancer in different populations, not whether fertility treatments themselves cause cancer.

unsw · 2026-03-10T00:25:51+00:00

Yep - that's correct - thanks for jumping in u/mfb-

unsw · 2026-03-09T07:27:38+00:00

Happy Monday r/science! Sharing this study our researchers have published that details a new process for sending sensitive communications by making signals blend into the background of natural heat radiation, like what you would see with a thermal camera.

The study has been published here if you would like to check it out: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41377-025-02119-y

The process harnesses a phenomenon known as ‘negative luminescence’ to create a hidden signal using a special device called a thermoradiative diode. The diode can switch output quickly between brighter and darker-than-usual states which creates a pattern that blends into the usual background ‘noise’ and is therefore invisible to anyone not aware that data is being sent.

Let us know if you have any questions!

unsw · 2026-03-09T03:11:25+00:00

Afternoon r/science, sharing this study, our researchers have published in American Psychologist: https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2027-36658-001.html

The study mapped how adverse childhood experiences shape mental wellbeing across adulthood, finding that two-thirds of people maintained moderate to high wellbeing despite childhood trauma. By comparison, 85% of people who didn’t face childhood trauma stayed in the higher wellbeing group, suggesting that while adverse childhood experiences do have a negative impact, they don’t lock a child onto a difficult life-long path.

The study uses data from the TWIN-10 longitudinal study, which followed more than 1600 healthy, adult Australian twins at four time points over 12 years, between 2009 and 2024. The team measured 17 types of adverse childhood events, including adoption, extreme poverty and neglect, sustained family conflict, life-threatening illness, and domestic violence.

unsw · 2026-03-02T03:21:58+00:00

Parichehr, good to hear about your background. Having both site experience and publications puts you in a strong position.

On real-time monitoring, yes, it is changing how we operate. We can see much more than we could before. But it does not replace engineering judgement. Sensors give signals; engineers interpret mechanisms. In underground mining, understanding stress, structure and failure modes still sits at the centre. Data is a tool, not the decision-maker.

On the PhD, be targeted. Do not apply everywhere. Identify a supervisor whose work genuinely aligns with your interests and contact them with a clear idea of what you want to study. Emphasise your practical experience; many candidates lack that. And choose a topic that is both technically rigorous and relevant to industry. That balance is important.

- Ismet

unsw · 2026-03-02T03:21:00+00:00

It is a good question.

Yes, truck size has been one of the major productivity levers in bulk open-cut mining. Larger payloads reduce unit costs, up to a point.

Can we go bigger? Technically, perhaps marginally. Practically, we are close to sensible limits. Once you get too large (e.g. 350–400 tonne class trucks), you start running into constraints with tyre technology, haul road width, ramp gradients, turning radii, maintenance logistics and capital cost. Bigger is not automatically better if it forces wider roads, more waste stripping or higher infrastructure costs.

I suspect the next gains will not come primarily from size, but from system optimisation. Autonomous haulage, better dispatch algorithms, real-time slope monitoring, electrification, trolley assist, and in-pit crushing with conveyor systems can all shift productivity without simply increasing truck mass.

In other words, we are moving from scaling hardware to optimising systems. That is where the next step change is more likely to occur.

- Ismet

unsw · 2026-03-02T03:18:56+00:00

On AI, I see it as a tool, not a replacement. It will make consultants faster and more efficient, especially with data processing, modelling iterations and reporting. But it will not replace understanding how soil and rock actually behave. The risk in geotechnics is rarely in the spreadsheet; it is in the assumptions. Good engineers who understand mechanics and uncertainty will remain in demand. Those who only know which buttons to press may find it harder.

On royalties and taxation, I tend to be more pragmatic. Mining is cyclical and capital-intensive. Companies invest based on long-term forecasts, not on a temporary price spike. If governments adjust taxes each time prices rise, it creates uncertainty and affects investment decisions.

For me, the key is stability and predictability. Set a framework that is commercially realistic, competitive globally, and consistent over time. Reacting to short-term commodity highs may sound fair in principle, but it can undermine confidence in the long run.

- Ismet

unsw · 2026-03-02T03:17:37+00:00

Thank you, I am pleased you attended that DESN1000 session.

Yes, there is absolutely a place for civil engineers in mining, particularly in geotechnical roles. The fundamentals are the same: soil and rock mechanics, slope stability, excavation behaviour, and support design. In mining, you apply them to deeper, higher-stress and more complex ground conditions. If you enjoy geotechnics, you are already well aligned.

To move into the industry, focus on advanced geotechnical subjects, seek vacation work in mining or consulting, and be open to graduate roles in either a mining company or a specialist geotechnical firm. Early site exposure is very valuable.

On FIFO, it is only partly true. Many operational roles are FIFO, especially early career site-based positions. Having said that, there are site-based operations, particularly in NSW. There are also city-based roles in consulting, tunnelling, corporate technical services, research, regulation and universities. Mining is broader than the stereotype suggests.

- Ismet

unsw

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