Australian Scientists Research Articles

What about Us? We Have Careers Too! The Career Experiences of Australian Sport Scientists

The professionalisation of sport has provided career opportunities for athletes, coaches and sport scientists alike. The career development literature for athletes is well established and the empirical career literature for coaches is growing, but little is known about the careers of sport scientists. The purpose of this investigation was to explore and examine the career experiences of Australian sport scientists. In-depth interviews were conducted with six practicing Australian sport scientists at different career stages. Several themes emerged from the data on careers of sport scientists that are unique to sport. Sport scientists identify strongly with their role in sport success and yet they receive little recognition for what they do. All participants experienced career dissonance as they transitioned from practitioner to another career such as academia or sport management. Feelings of loss were identified by participants as their applied work diminished when they moved away from their early career service roles. All six participants believed that in order to advance their career in sport their options were moving overseas, working in academia, or retraining for a career in sports management. It is recommended that sport scientists be provided with better career education and more structured professional development.

Overcoming barriers to knowledge exchange for adaptive resource management; the perspectives of Australian marine scientists

The sustainable science-based management of natural resources requires knowledge exchange between scientists and environmental decision-makers; however, evidence suggests that information flow is inhibited by a range of barriers. To date, our understanding of the range and importance of factors limiting knowledge exchange between scientists and decision-makers is based primarily on the perceptions of decision-makers, while the perceptions of scientists have been largely overlooked. This study addresses this knowledge gap by quantitatively assessing the perceptions of scientists, represented by a sample of 78 Australian marine scientists, regarding (i) the role and importance of engaging with environmental decision-makers on a personal level, (ii) the role and importance of engaging with environmental decision-makers at the institutional level, (iii) current barriers to engaging with environmental decision-makers and (iv) options for overcoming barriers to engaging with environmental decision-makers. Survey results suggest that Australian marine scientists feel that they have an obligation to engage decision-makers in their science, and that engaging with and communicating to environmental decision-makers is important on a personal level. This study also identifies a range of barriers that impede engagement activities, including inadequate measures of science impact that do not account for engagement activities, a lack of organisational support for engagement activities, insufficient time to conduct engagement activities in addition to other responsibilities and a lack of funding to support engagement activities. To overcome these barriers, participants identified the need for institutional innovation by research institutions, research funders and decision-making agencies alike to promote a culture whereby knowledge exchange activities are legitimised as core business for research scientists, and recognised and rewarded appropriately. Although difficulties exist in implementing such institutional innovations, doing so will improve two-way knowledge exchange among scientists and decision-makers and improve the likely success of environmental management.

Welcome message from conference co-convenors.

We are delighted to welcome our international and national presenters, delegates from cancer research groups in Australia and across the world, and our generous sponsors to the fourth Sydney Cancer Conference (SCC2014), hosted by the University of Sydney Cancer Research Network (CRN). The CRN currently has more than 800 members ranging from PhD students to leaders of major research programs across multiple disciplines. The theme of our biennial conference is ‘Bridging Research and Practice’, which recognises the rapid advances being made in basic research and the need for their translation from the bench to the beside and also translation of the evidence generated into clinical practice. We wish to welcome our eminent keynote speakers: Professor Sir David Lane, Chief Scientist, A*STAR and Director p53 Laboratory, Singapore; Professor Eva Grunfeld, Vice-Chair Research, University of Toronto, Canada; Professor Fiona Watt, Director, Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, King's College London, UK; and Professor Dennis Lo, Director, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Australian scientists make a disproportionately high contribution to international health and medical research and this is reflected in the number of national speakers at SCC2014. The conference will open with a public lecture delivered by Professor Ian Frazer (Chief Executive Officer and Director of Research, Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia) and each of the conference's themes is carried forward by distinguished national speakers. Invited posters will be on view during the conference with the main viewing session at our cocktail function on Thursday night. Our workshops on ‘Career hints for postgraduates’ and ‘Talking to commercial partners – when and how?’ further complement our program. Early career researchers and postgraduate students will be in the running for oral and poster awards in recognition of quality research. A panel discussion on Friday afternoon will address the topic ‘Smashing silos, building bridges – is multidisciplinary research delivering on its promise?’ We aim through this forum, with active delegate participation, to debate key translational research questions and thereby help direct our efforts towards greater impact. The panel will be chaired by ABC broadcaster and University of Sydney's Ambassador for Mathematics and Science, Adam Spencer. His humour and scientific insights will make for a fascinating panel discussion. It has been our privilege to convene this conference. Our sincere thanks, to the conference organising committee and in particular Merilyn Heuschkel, Executive Officer, Cancer Research Network, for their dedication and hard work in creating an excellent scientific program. SCC2014 was been supported by a number of sponsors to whom we are very grateful. Please take the time to visit their exhibition stands and read the information in your conference satchels from our supporters. We welcome you to Sydney and hope that this year's conference will challenge and inspire you, and result in new knowledge, collaborations, and friendships.

Hotspots and gaps in the world collection of subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneumL.)

SUMMARYSubterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneumL.) is the most important annual pasture legume in the winter-dominant rainfall areas of Southern Australia. Systematic germplasm collections of subterranean clover from its centre of origin have been made since the 1950s, particularly by Australian scientists, in order to broaden the genetic base of the species. The present study reports on a meta-analysis of the distribution of the world collection of subterranean clovers and their relationships to eco-geographic variables of the collection sites in their native habitat. Diversity hotspots (areas rich in number of accessions and containing a high diversity of sub-species) and also gaps (areas with particular traits un- or under-represented in collections) were identified. This was achieved using a stratified data system to evaluate eco-geographical and agro-morphological data which incorporated three tiers of information for the subterranean clover collection: (1) information from each collection site, including ecological data; (2) information on the phenotypic diversity within each collection site; and (3) plant agro-morphological data from each sample grown under controlled conditions. Correlations were found between some eco-geographic conditions and agronomic performance. These included correlations between latitude and flowering time, mean temperature in winter and winter productivity and precipitation in summer and seed dormancy. The present study concluded that subterranean clover versatility is greater than suggested in the past. The results of the current analysis provide a guide for future collecting missions to specific regions towards areas of maximum diversity (hotspots) and unknown diversity (gaps).

The rise and fall of infectious diseases: Australian perspectives, 1914-2014.

Summary Australia has been fortunate in its experience with infectious diseases over the past century. By the 1960s, many communicable diseases were controlled through a combination of high living standards, progressive adoption of vaccines and antimicrobial treatment.Australian medical scientists have made substantial contributions to the understanding of many historically significant communicable diseases and global initiatives for control.New challenges have emerged as previously unrecognised viral infections have emerged, and microbial resistance to antibiotics has developed in many old pathogens.Ongoing evolutionary forces, both environmental and social, change the balance between humans and microbes. The effects of these forces are most sorely felt in poor countries and communities.

Mentors, tormentors, and no mentors: mentoring scientists

Purpose – A psychosocial, developmental perspective was used to examine the mentoring experiences of scientists. Little is known about the timing of when mentors first appear, the quality of these relationships, the specific mentoring support behaviors, or how scientists typically learn to mentor. The paper aims to discuss the above issues. Design/methodology/approach – The author conducted 23, semi-structured interviews with Australian scientists. Questions focussed on mentor-like support scientists received and provided. Interviews were analyzed and themes were coded using Dedoose software. Findings – Scientists who had mentors as undergraduates were more likely to report long-lasting relationships with their mentors and more positive interactions with their protégés. Scientists reported the following career mentoring behaviors: modeling how to do science, sponsorship, collaboration, and practical supervision. Important psychosocial mentoring behaviors were being approachable, building confidence and providing encouragement. Almost half of the scientists never had a mentor. Most (n=14) scientists learned to mentor by emulating their mentors. Findings highlight the prevalence of dysfunctional behaviors, even in supportive relationships. Practical implications – The findings suggest that graduate program managers might consider investing resources to improve mentoring experiences of doctoral students as this is a critical period for their professional development. Further, activities involving collaboration deserve emphasis in mentoring relationships. Originality/value – The study identified a “window” when mentoring support is important for scientists; highlighted specific behaviors that support career development in science; and clarified how some scientists learn to mentor others. Results add to the literature on dysfunctional mentoring relationships.

How a study lost its funding: Jean Martin and public knowledge of the refugee experience

In 1975 the Whitlam Labor government invited Professor Jean Martin, then Australia’s leading sociologist of migration, to conduct a five-year study of the settlement experience of the first refugees from Vietnam. She had barely begun the study when the incoming Fraser government terminated its funding. Drawing on internal government documents, this article tells the inside story of that decision. The fate of the project became intertwined with the dismissal of the Whitlam government, but the links were indirect. Archival sources show state actors raising concerns about academic autonomy, the utility of academic research for public policy, and independence of academic publication. The social science of the period saw research as a public good, generating knowledge at once for its own sake and for application in public life. The withdrawal of Martin’s funding marks the end of an era when Australian social scientists could see research collaboration with government as unproblematic.

“It's a risk that requires evaluation and rational appraisal”: emotion and infectious risk in xenotransplantation

Xenotransplantation (XTP) is a potential solution to a variety of human health problems. While immunological disparities between source animals and humans remain significant hurdles to successful XTP, serious concerns have been raised with regard to cross-species viral transfer (zoonosis). This article explores how six male Australian scientists and clinicians working, or with collaborative roles, in the field of XTP construct infectious risk. These negotiations reveal that they primarily focus on known, measured risks, namely that of porcine endogenous retroviruses. This is used to prove zoonotic safety, which marginalizes broader zoonotic concerns. Such assessments heavily rely upon technical, cultural and emotional evaluations to provide an impression of certainty when faced with the potential problematic and uncertain outcomes. The combination of the technical and emotional, or what I call techniemotion, exposes the emotion that is invested in science and integral to science, and operates as part of XTP science.

Remembering Roger F. C. Brown: A Personal Note on the Development of Pyrolysis as a Synthetic and Mechanistic Technique in Organic Chemistry

Remembering Roger F. C. Brown: A Personal Note on the Development of Pyrolysis as a Synthetic and Mechanistic Technique in Organic Chemistry

Frontiers in Sino-Australian Polymer Science and Engineering

Welcome to this Special Edition of the Australian Journal of Chemistry, entitled Frontiers in Sino-Australian Polymer Science and Engineering, which showcases recent progress in Australian and Chinese polymer research. The articles contained in this special issue are drawn from key polymer chemistry and engineering laboratories from both countries, whose leaders met in January 2013 for an intensive week of scientific exchange. Polymers are a part of daily life for all of us, be it in health, food packaging, personal electronics, or one of the many industrial applications that polymers are used in; they surround us everywhere, every day. Polymers are therefore a key component of material science and engineering, and polymer research has been a strength of many research institutions in both countries for a long time. Australia and China can look back with pride on more than three decades of successful polymer science and technology cooperation, which includes discoveries and improvements in areas as diverse as water conservation, mining efficiency, medical research, cleaner energy, food security, and disaster management. The two nations have many complementary research strengths in the field of polymers: while Australian researchers are world leaders in advancing polymer synthesis and characterization (e.g. nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization (NMP) and reversible addition– fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization methods), Chinese polymer chemists excel at developing industrial applications for polymers (e.g. polymer membranes for clean energy technologies, chemical fibre technologies). Both the Australian and the Chinese governments recognise the importance of research in the area of polymer science and engineering, and polymer science has featured on the list of important research areas in both countries for many years. It is currently listed among the six most important research areas by the Chinese government and is represented in the Australian government’s National Research Priority ‘Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries’ with its associated priority goal ‘Advanced Materials’. Thanks to funding provided by the Australia-China Science andResearch Fund, an initiative of the AustralianGovernment’s Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE), I, with Dr Katharina Ladewig (The University of Melbourne) as activity coordinator, had the pleasure of leading a delegation of outstanding Australian polymer scientists on an official visit to key polymer science and research laboratories in China earlier in 2013. The Australian delegation comprised Drs Cyrille Boyer, Xiaojuan Hao, Professors David Lewis, Dan Li, Martina Stenzel, Dr San Thang, Professors Xungai Wang, Andrew Whittaker, and Dr Xiaoqing Zhang. The 1st Australia China Polymer Mission included attendance of the 1st China–Australia Polymer Meeting (CAPM) hosted by Professor Meifang Zhu at Donghua University (20–21 January 2013; Fig. 1) and subsequent visits of the delegation to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing, Donghua University, Fudan University, Nankai University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tianjin University, and Tsinghua University (Fig. 2). The Chinese participants at the 1st CAPM and subsequent hosts at their respective home institutions were Professors Amin Cao, Chao Gao, Junpo He, Zhibo Li, Linqi Shi, Jing Shen, Xinhua Wan, Xu-Ming Xie, Shuguang Yang, Xiaoyan Yuan, Jiong-Xin Zhao, and Jongfeng Zhou. Both the 1st CAPM and the subsequent visits were a great success andwe all look forward to intensified collaborations and scientific discussions in the near future. The key outcomes of the bilateral talks held as part of CAPM were:

A sleep specialist's voice on sleep medicine-personalized medicine and sleep apnea.

Professor Doug McEvoy (Figure 1) has been at the forefront of sleep medicine in Australia for over 25 years—as an academic, government advisor, and chairperson and member of national and international scientific advisory and professional committees. He is Director of the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, one of Australia’s leading clinical and research sleep medicine centers, and is a Practitioner Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council. He is a past President of the Australasian Sleep Association and is a founding Board member of the Sleep Health Foundation. For many years Doug has been a mentor and guide to emerging Australian and New Zealand clinicians and scientists in sleep medicine. In the last ten years alone his department has trained over 20 PhD students and sleep specialists, many of whom are now making significant contributions to the professional development of sleep medicine internationally and successfully forging their own independent research careers. Doug’s major research roles currently are as Principal Investigator of the international Sleep Apnea cardio Vascular Endpoints study and as Theme Leader in “personalized sleep medicine” in the Australian Cooperative Research Centre in Alertness, Safety and Productivity.

Scientists Reflect on Why They Chose to Study Science

A concern commonly raised in literature and in media relates to the declining proportions of students who enter and remain in the ‘science pipeline’, and whether many countries, including Australia and New Zealand, have enough budding scientists to fill research and industry positions in the coming years. In addition, there is concern that insufficient numbers of students continue in science to ensure an informed, scientifically literate citizenry. The aim of the research presented in this paper was to survey current Australian and New Zealand scientists to explore their reasons for choosing to study science. An online survey was conducted via a link to SurveyGizmo. The data presented are from 726 respondents who answered 22 forced-choice items and an open-ended question about the reasons they chose to study science. The quantitative data were analysed using t tests and analyses of variance followed by Duncan’s multiple range tests, and the qualitative data were analysed thematically. The quantitative data showed that the main reasons scientists reported choosing to study science were because they were interested in science and because they were good at science. Secondary school science classes and one particular science teacher also were found to be important factors. Of much less importance were the prestige of science and financial considerations. The qualitative data expanded on these findings and showed that passion for science and/or curiosity about the world were important factors and also highlighted the importance of recreational pursuits, such as camping when a child. In the words of one respondent, ‘People don’t go into science for the money and glory. It’s passion for knowledge and science that always attracted me to the field’.

Australian Researchers Rattled by Export Control Law

A special government panel is reviewing how export regulations for "dual use" technologies will impact Australian scientists.

Current issues in environmental management in Australia: what do people think?

In 2010, the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the International Social Science Council (ISSC) published their Grand Challenges in Global Sustainability Research, seeking to mobilise researchers in a 10-year scientific effort to address what they call the “grand challenges in global sustainability”. In this paper, we ask whether these Grand Challenges are relevant to Australian environmental management. We examine this from two angles, insights from public perception surveys, and our own survey data. Public attitudes surveys indicate public ambiguity on the knowledge base, a finding that implies an immediate need for improved public communication of scientific knowledge. Our on-line survey, attached to a conference, Innovative Solutions for Environmental Challenges, targeted Australian environmental managers and scientists’ views on critical issues. The results mirrored global scientists’ views on the need to find ways for the scientific, social and political communities to work together to develop innovative approaches to solving future environmental concerns. Importantly, we found that the specific responses were context and scale dependent, while highlighting the inherent tensions between maintaining production and consumption, and protection of resources and ecosystem services.

Serotonin and the Australian Connection: The Science and the People

This contribution to "Putting the pieces together: Proceedings from the International Society for Serotonin Research (aka Serotonin Club)" encapsulates a brief history of serotonin beginning with its discovery in 1946 by Maurice Rapport, Arda Green, and Irvine Page. The first 40 years of serotonin research culminated in the inaugural Serotonin Club meeting held on Heron Island, Australia, in 1987. In light of the silver anniversary of the Serotonin Club and its Australian beginnings, it is timely to highlight some of the contributions made to serotonin research by Australian scientists, which I shared with participants at the 2012 meeting of the Serotonin Club, in Montpellier, France as the honoree of the Maurice Rapport Lectureship.

Australian and Spanish scientists are collaborating in the domestication of tedera: young Merino sheep grazing a monoculture of tedera in autumn showed preference for certain accessions but no signs of ill health

We hypothesised (i) that sheep grazing a monoculture of tedera (Bituminaria bituminosa (L.) C.H. Stirton var. albomarginata and var. crassiuscula) would not show signs of photosensitisation or ill health, and (ii) that when given free grazing choice they would show a repeatable preference for certain accessions of tedera related to their chemical composition. We tested this by grazing a group of young merino wethers on a monoculture containing seven accessions of tedera for 21 days. General health was assessed via daily visual checks for skin pinkness on the nose and ears, weekly measures of liveweight, condition score, and blood analysis compared with a group of control sheep fed wheaten hay ad libitum. The Chesson–Manly selection index was used to examine the relative preference of sheep for the seven accessions of tedera over the 21 days. Each accession of tedera was sampled weekly to estimate the dry matter on offer, and these samples were also analysed for crude protein, neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre, in vitro digestibility, water soluble carbohydrates, minerals, and concentrations of the furanocoumarins psoralen and angelicin. None of the sheep showed any signs of ill health, with all blood parameters being within the normal reference range. All sheep gained weight and body condition over the 21 days. The difference in the rate of gain in condition score in favour of the sheep grazing tedera over the 21 days (0.014 v. 0.002 unit/sheep.day) was significant (P < 0.001). Sheep showed repeated preference for accessions T31 and T43 (α >0.143). Nutritive value of all accessions of tedera was high. However, only acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre affected the relative preference of the sheep (P < 0.05) and they were only weakly correlated (r2 = 0.208 and 0.165, respectively). We conclude that there are accessions of tedera that are preferred by sheep that could be used to fill the autumn feed gap experienced in the south of Western Australia without any risk to the health of the sheep.

Towards upgraded capability in offshore seismic studies with the new National Australian Pool of Ocean Bottom Seismographs

In 2013, Australia, for the first time in its history, will obtain a national pool of ocean-bottom seismographs (OBSs) suitable for multi-scale experiments at sea and for onshore-offshore combined observations. Twenty broadband OBS instruments will be purchased for short- and long-term deployment (up to 12 months) to a maximum depth of 6 km. The instruments will be made available to Australian researchers through ANSIR, with only the costs of mobilisation and deployment to be met. It is anticipated that the OBS facility will greatly enhance the research capabilities of Australian scientists in the area of Earth imaging, offshore exploration, and natural hazard assessment. OBS experiments in Australia have been limited so far, with the only data set collected by Geoscience Australia in 1995–96 on a number of coincident reflection/refraction seismic transects across the northwestern Australian Margin. The main findings from that experiment will be reviewed in the context of recent OBS data processing and acquisition advances. The scope of the experiments with the new national Australian pool of OBSs will be presented, as well as practicalities and logistics of the OBS experiments.

Around the World

In science news around the world this week, the first of the Giant Magellan Telescope's seven mirrors has been cast, Australian scientists are once again being awarded grants, the United Kingdom is fighting a fungal disease that threatens its ash woodlands, European researchers are petitioning their heads of state in an effort to prevent budget cuts, and a new report says the U.S. Department of Defense should consider hiring foreign-born scientists.

“Liberating” social knowledges for water management, and more broadly environmental management, through “place-change planning”

In response to the big policy problem of increasing failures of traditional, largely technical, policy approaches to constructively address transformational or radical socio-environmental problems from major facility siting, landscape modification, and/or new environmental management at the local level, this paper introduces “place-change planning”. This concept is applied to recent calls by Australian water scientists and policy-makers “to liberate the knowledge, skills and individual leadership and collaboration of all stakeholders to reflect a more decentralised, disaggregated and localised water world”. Local community stakeholders appear the most neglected stakeholder currently in such water management, despite increasing international recognition of their importance for constructive change in transitional sustainability contexts. As such, place-change policy design focuses on the importance of collaborative participatory approaches for better understanding of the underlying rationalities, and, by association, of better liberating the social knowledges, of place-based local communities for better policy input to realise new visions of sustainable water management, and beyond.

The Collectors of Lost Souls: Turning Kuru Scientists into Whitemen (review)

Reviewed by: The Collectors of Lost Souls: Turning Kuru Scientists into Whitemen Holly Wardlow Warwick Anderson. The Collectors of Lost Souls: Turning Kuru Scientists into Whitemen. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. 318 pp. Ill. $26.95 (978-0-8018-9040-6). In its depiction of how kuru, a fatal neurological disorder found among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea, was investigated and eventually understood, The Collectors of Lost Souls is both a gripping and academically rigorous read. Although it is a chronicle of the kuru investigation and an analysis of colonial medical science, the chapters describing the competing explanatory paradigms read a bit like a whodunit (the slow virus or the prion?). The book is organized chronologically, with each chapter taking the reader a bit farther along the tortuous path of biomedical revelation. Kuru’s initial observers in the early 1950s interpreted the symptoms (uncontrollable shaking, partial paralysis) as hysteria. Later, medical investigators examined the gamut of possibilities from toxins in the environment, to nutritional deficiencies, to infectious agents, to genetic heritability. All of this research required the cooperation of the Fore people and especially their consent for the collection of tissue samples, namely brain matter. The acquisition of brains became increasingly important in 1959 when William J. Hadlow, a veterinary pathologist, observed that kuru-afflicted brains resembled the brains of sheep that had succumbed to scrapie, another fatal neurological disease. This observation led to the inoculation of kuru victims’ brain tissue into chimpanzees, and by 1967 these experiments demonstrated the infectious nature of kuru, even if the agent and the mechanism by which it was [End Page 143] spread was a mystery. Later experiments showed that the mysterious infectious agent was impervious to nucleic acid destruction but highly vulnerable to enzymes that disrupted protein structure, which supported the theory that kuru was caused by a pathogenic protein (prion) and not a virus. Not surprisingly, over time the Fore became resentful about the never-ending requests for the brains of their dead kin, especially since no cure ever appeared even after decades of research. Anderson’s account is notable for its depiction of conflict. First, there was nationalist conflict, with Australian scientists and colonial officers trying to control or obstruct the research of the maverick American interloper, Carleton Gajdusek, who managed, through charisma, doggedness, and bullying to acquire a monopoly over the kuru brain economy. Then, of course, there were the scientific conflicts, with each new paradigm initially seen as impossible before eventually being accepted as truth. And finally, there was the conflict over whether cannibalism among the Fore was the mechanism through which prions were transmitted. Although Anderson devotes less attention to this issue, what emerges is that Gajdusek and other researchers were convinced as early as 1970 that cannibalism played a causal role and yet to some extent resisted this line of inquiry because of their fears that the Fore, and Papua New Guineans more generally, would be yet further depicted as primitive savages. This strange paradox—Gajdusek’s own fetishistic acquisitiveness for Fore brains combined with his equally possessive desire to protect the Fore from less sympathetic outsiders—haunts the text, for it suggests that it is precisely this kind of relational dynamic that animated the colonial scientific encounter. There are, of course, some critiques to be made. As an anthropologist who does research in Papua New Guinea, I couldn’t help wondering what the book would have been like if it had been cowritten with an anthropologist who might have more thoroughly taken into account Fore beliefs and practices concerning sorcery and gender. Anderson repeatedly asserts that the Fore held fast to the belief that sorcery was the cause of kuru; however, he never discusses what happened to the presumably many people accused of kuru sorcery or why sorcery beliefs remained so robust. Similarly, Papua New Guinea societies are known for the complexity of their gender beliefs and practices and the fact that most kuru victims were women would have been interpreted through and, in return, shaped Fore notions of gender. These concerns might seem to fall outside the purview of Anderson’s investigation, and yet because he draws so much (and yet quite...