Hey. Amelia Moseley here and you're watching BTN. Check out what's coming up.
• We'll tell you all about a slowly unfolding disaster in Yemen.
• The surprising answer to how much a kilo really weighs.
• And Australia hosts the world lifesaving championships.
My Health Record
Reporter: Ruby Cornish
INTRO: You can see all that soon. But first to something that's been talked about a lot lately. It's a plan to make a digital record of yours and every Australian person's health that could be accessed by doctors anywhere. While it was put forward as a really good thing, recently so many people tried to opt-out of it that the website crashed. Let's find out why.
Imagine a library where each book contains every single bit of information about someone in Australia. RUBY: Cuby Cornish, Juby Cornish, Muby Cornish. Ah ha. Ruby Cornish. Favourite bubblegum flavour – grape. True. Number of pets – zero. Unfortunately true. Birth stone - amethyst. Ha, I didn't
even know that. That's pretty much what the Aussie Government is planning to do. Not with a big list of random stuff about you, obviously. That's not really useful to anyone. Your medical records, on the other hand, certainly could be. From February next year, all Aussies will get something called a My Health Record, except the people who don't want one, but we'll get to that. This record will hold all of the information relating to your health in one place. It includes things like your doctor records, prescriptions you've been given for medication, test results, allergies, that sort of thing. Having one place where all your health info can be accessed is obviously pretty useful. It can make it easier for doctors to understand your medical history and decide what treatment suits you best. The My Health Record will be especially helpful for patients with complicated health conditions, people with severe allergies, people who take lots of different prescriptions, people who move around and change doctors a lot, or people that just have trouble remembering their medical details. The idea of having a big central database like this isn't new. The Aussie Government actually tried launching one back in 2012. That program was opt-in, meaning you weren't automatically given a record but if wanted, you could get one. It was a bit of a fail though, because hardly anyone bothered to sign up. So, when the new My Health Record plan was developed, a small but significant change was made. This time around it's opt-out, so unless you fill in a form saying you don't want a record, you'll get one. For some, that's completely fine, but not everyone's convinced this database is a good idea. Many people worry their sometimes very personal medical details could fall into the wrong hands. And it wouldn't be the first time something like that's happened. As recently as this year, one and a half
million Singaporeans and tens of thousands of Canadians had their medical records stolen by hackers. People are also worried that it'll be too easy for authorities like the police or your boss to access your info without your permission. In response, the Government announced some changes. Police will now have to get a court order before they can access your medical records and bosses won't be able to get info on their workers. Still, more than a million Aussies have chosen to opt-out so far and that number's likely to go up before the opt-out period ends at the end of January. REPORTER: But what if you're a kid? Well your record is attached to your parents'. So, if they opt-in, you're in too and if they opt-out, you're out. But when you turn 14 you can decide for yourself whether you want one.
In the meantime, just be glad there's no database for all of that other stuff about you. BEN: Ruby, you used to eat your earwax? And your toenails? That’s gross!
This Week in News
Victorians have voted to keep their Premier, Daniel Andrews, in the top job in the state election
held on the weekend.
It was a huge win too. The Labor Party did way better than anyone expected, and the Liberal Party
lost a lot of seats they'd held for a long time.
Things have got a bit concerning between the border of Mexico and the US. As we told you a few
weeks ago, thousands of people from Central America have travelled to the border.
Recently US agents fired tear gas on hundreds of migrants after some of them tried to get through
the fencing separating the two countries. Authorities have shut down the border in the area where
thousands are waiting to apply for asylum.
Finally, in Egypt archaeologists have discovered another new tomb. The tomb in Luxor, near the Valley of the Kings, contains mummies of a priest and his wife from 13th century BC, some decorative sarcophagi and a thousand statuettes. But some of the finds have aged better than others.
Yemen Famine
Reporter: Amelia Moseley
INTRO: Next. To a country that's being called one of the worst places in the world to be a kid right now. I'm talking about Yemen. It's in the Middle East, just across from Africa, and there's a big civil
war going on there. You might not have heard that much about it, but 11 million kids are affected. Let's find out more.
There's something the kids of Yemen say they want more than anything else, and that's peace. MASHA'EL: Peace means love and respect and living without pain or killing. ALA'A: Peace means we don't hear people talk about war. It means on TV I watch cartoons instead of watching people die. MOHAMMAD: Without peace we can't live. This is Yemen, their home. It's in the Middle East, next to Saudi Arabia and close to Iran. Around 11 million Yemenis - that's nearly half the population - are under 18 and all of them are stuck in the middle of a civil war. It began back in 2015. The people of Yemen had been struggling with poverty for a long time before then, but in that year a group called the Houthis overthrew the country's leader and it grew into an even bigger fight mostly because of Yemen's neighbours. You see, the Houthis practice a type of Islam that's also practiced by a lot of people in Iran. While Saudi Arabia practices a different type. Saudi Arabia's leaders were worried the Houthis were being supported by Iran. So, they sent in soldiers to fight them and the violence has continued ever since. One of the areas most affected is the port city of Hodediah. It's where 90 per cent of Yemen's food, water and medicine comes in and, without that important stuff, Yemenis are now struggling not just with war, but with famine and serious illnesses and many are dying every day. Meritxell has been living in Yemen for the past three years working for UNICEF. REPORTER: So Meritxell, can you tell me what it's like to be a kid in Yemen at the moment? MERITXELL RELANO, UNICEF: It’s very difficult. Children in Yemen are suffering already for
three years of conflict and the children don't have access to what many of the children in Australia have. Two million of them are not going to school, many of them are getting sick because they don't have food at home. So, imagine while you are eating three times a day; many children in Yemen - almost the majority of them - they only eat once a day. Sometimes also they get sick and the health centres also have very limited facilities, so it's very difficult for the children. Meritxell says there are lots of aid groups, including UNICEF, doing their best to help by providing food, clean water and medicine to families. It's also been successful in helping some schools re-open. And it's clear that what Yemeni kids want is really just the same as what Australian kids want. AYAH: I want life to be peaceful. So that we play peacefully, go to the park, buy the toys we love, and go anywhere. JALAL: I want the war to stop and to treat each other as brothers. I want to complete my education and become an engineer. ALA'A: Stop the war so we can enjoy our childhood and achieve our dream.
INTRO: Next up. You might think you know what a kilogram is - it sounds pretty obvious, right? Well this next story might get you thinking a little deeper. You see scientists say the exact weight of a kilo has accidently changed over time and they've made a plan to fix it. Check it out. What is a kilo? Six apples, five blocks of chocolate, or 122,000 feathers? REPORTER: Uh, I'll come back to this. So, all these things weigh a kilo, sure, but what is a kilo? Like actually? Well the answer lies in a vault in. Hang on a second. We're getting ahead of ourselves. First, let's go way back in time to when people first started working on this weighty issue. OLIVIA, SUBTITLED: Hello, I would like 100 grains weight of cod liver drops? AMELIA, SUBTITLED: Sure. In the old days, measuring things was really complicated. People tended to use real objects to measure things by like grains for weight and body parts like arms and feet for length. OLIVIA, SUBTITLED: Oh, and a foot of lace. The problem here is obvious; grains come in different sizes and so do feet. There were hundreds and hundreds of units of measurement and thousands of ideas of what those units actually meant. OLIVIA, SUBTITLED: That is not a foot. It is too short. AMELIA, SUBTITLED: Get out of my shop, you pompous brute. As years went by, people got better at measuring, particularly the French who got so fed up with their shoddy measurements. They had a revolution and brought in the metric system. Okay, the French Revolution was about more than just measurements, but still. Finally, everyone knew what measurement was what including the gram, which was defined as the weight of a cubic centimetre of water. By 1889, the metric system had gone global. AMELIA, SUBTITLED: Everyone say: 'metric system'. Scientists from around the world got together and created the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. They created artefacts out of platinum that everyone agreed to measure by, including this; Le Grand K or the kilogram. It sits in, you guessed it, a vault in France, and it's been used ever since to set scales around the world. But that's not the end of this story. You see, as tough as it is, over time the big K has lost some atoms and while atoms are obviously really, really small, it means a kilo isn't quite what it used to be. And the ministry still in charge of weights and measures does not take this stuff lightly. After all, measurements need to be really specific in fields like science and medicine, so it voted to scrap the old hunk of metal. So say "bye-bye, big K." and hello to this perfectly tuned electromagnet. It'll be set using something called Planck's constant, which involves energy and photons of light and frequency of electromagnetic waves. Basically, it's super complicated. But the important thing is it doesn't change and that means a kilo now won't either. So, while you won't notice any difference at the gym, in the supermarket or at home; you can still imagine scientists, past and present, quietly cheering the next time you're weighing feathers.
Do you have a question about weights or measurements? I'll answer your questions live on Friday during Ask a Reporter. It'll be the last one of the year so don't miss it.
Did You Know?
A kilogram is actually a measure of mass, not weight. The weight of an object changes with gravity its mass does not.
Spinal Injury Recovery
Reporter: Matthew Holbrook
INTRO: Okay next. We'll introduce you to two young guys who both suffered a spinal injury playing rugby union. But after they ended up in the same hospital ward together, they developed an important friendship that continues today.
Conor and Ollie love their rugby. CONOR TWEEDY: I'm 16 and I'm in grade 11. I played a few sports, but yeah, only one really seriously. That was rugby. OLLIE BIERHOFF: I'm in year 12 now. I go to Toowoomba Grammar School. I love rugby. They come from different schools and may never have met, except for two events that would bring them together and change their lives forever. OLLIE BIERHOFF: It was the first training session in the morning, and we were just doing a training drill that we'd done thousands of times before. And I heard a massive crack in my neck and lost all feeling from my neck to my toes. It was just, oh, the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. Yeah, it was terrible. NATHAN BRADLEY: He had significant damage to his C5 and 6. They're referring to Ollie's spine. Each of the bones in it are numbered and organised into sections. Ollie had broken these two bones which also damaged his spinal cord that runs through the middle. That cord is vital for most of our movement. OLLIE BIERHOFF: They told me that there's a very low chance of ever recovering and I just knew to block that out. One week later, a hundred kays away, Conor broke his neck, too, after going down in a match. CONOR TWEEDY: Yeah, I just remember kind of twisting and then I heard like a crack. It wasn't painful, but I felt something just like kind of shoot down my body. Then yeah, I just kind of like went to get up and I just couldn't move. SEAN TWEEDY: At about quarter past five we were in the foyer of the PA Hospital talking to the neurosurgeon about how the operation had gone. He said he's got a C4 5 fracture dislocation. CONOR TWEEDY: I woke up and it was probably like the first time I freaked out really. I didn't have any feeling. I don't think. I think I knew in the back of my mind yeah, I might not walk again. While both boys suffered similar injuries, their recoveries progressed very differently.
BERNIE BIERHOFF: The day after Ollie's injury, he kind of flickered his toes a bit, and the next day he said `I can move my foot a little bit’ and then he wouldn’t stop flapping his foot. Soon, Ollie's up and walking, but Conor's still a long way from that. It was then that the two rugby-mad boys happened to meet. CONOR TWEEDY: Ollie was in the bed next to me in the rehab unit. We became pretty good mates like pretty quickly. OLLIE BIERHOFF: The really good bond we had it was just mates having a chat kind of thing. CONOR TWEEDY: If neither of us got injured we would have versed each other in the last round of GPS rugby.
Before long, Ollie's out of hospital and back home. Connor's progress has been slower, but he's staying positive. COLLEEN BIERHOFF: Ollie had his six-week check-up. We had the opportunity to go and visit Conor. CONOR TWEEDY: Hey, Ollie, good to see you. COLLEEN BIERHOFF: And it was as if they were long lost mates that were reuniting. OLLIE BIERHOFF: You look well mate, long time no see. While they'll never play each other on the rugby field now, they've traded competition for a lifelong bond. And all of Conor's friends and family are watching his very big, small steps, to recovery.
Quiz
How many bones are in your spine when you're born?
22
33
44 The answer is: 33 bones.
Sport
Australia's women's team has won the T20 World Cup smashing England in the final to reclaim
their title as world champions.
They bowled out England for just 105 and had no trouble chasing the target down.
PLAYER: We worked really hard on that culture in the last 12 to 18 months and win, lose or draw
tonight, we're still really proud of where the group's at.
Meanwhile, the men's team had a disappointing loss to India. Australia put up a total of 164 but
India were too good.
This was an unexpected highlight. A cracking catch from security.
And Aussie racing legend Daniel Ricciardo's had his last F1 race for team Red Bull.
It ended on a bit of a disappointing note too. The Aussie finished fourth just missing out on the
podium.
RICCIARDO: As a whole the time here was good, some amazing memories, it's been an long
season. Looking forward to going home and talking to the sheep and the cows at the farm and not
doing a whole lot for the first few days.
Sounds like he'll enjoy his summer holidays as much as you guys will.
Lifesaving Championships 2018
Reporter: Ruby Cornish
INTRO: Finally, today. We're heading down to the beach in South Australia to find out all about the unique sport of lifesaving. It was the world championships so Ruby went along to find out how learning to save a life became an international sport in the first place. Take a look. A packed Aussie beach, and these red and yellow flags. Name a more iconic duo. Go on, I'll wait. Okay we don't have all day. Surf lifesaving is part of Australia's national identity, and so it should be, because after all, we invented it. The world’s first lifesaving club was started up at Bondi back
in 1907. There had been a bunch of drownings at beaches in Sydney and locals decided something had to change. A group of men who were trained to rescue people from the water started volunteering their time, patrolling Sydney's beaches. And that club at Bondi is still going strong today. Before long, more clubs started popping up in NSW and then across the ditch in New Zealand. In the 50s, Great Britain got on board too. Now Australia has hundreds of clubs and there are dozens of countries around the world with similar ones. Surf lifesaving isn't all daring rescues and life-on-the-line emergencies. It's actually evolved into a sport, and competitions happen on the reg. Here in South Australia nearly 4 and a half thousand lifesavers from 44 different countries have come together for the Surf Lifesaving World Championships, competing against each other in mock-rescues and combining skills like swimming, board-riding and sand-running. ZANE BOOTH, USA: It's a dream come true. I've always wanted to come to Australia and to be here at the World Championships is super cool. We're learning a lot. These nippers practicing their moves on the sidelines say that one day they'll be competing too and in the meantime, if you're planning on heading to the beach this Summer, they've got some tips for you. ASTIN: You have to swim between the flags so the surf rescue can so see, and if you get in trouble
like you see a shark, don't do a waving action, do a fist so people don't think you're waving at you. And don't jetty jump. Excellent advice. Now bring on the summer.
Closer
And that brings us to the end of the show. But please tune in next week for our last episode of the whole year. As is tradition, we'll bring you a special recap of all of the biggest stories of 2018. And get studying right now because there will be a super quiz. That's all coming up next week on BTN. See you then.
