The April 20 Edition

I first heard about a new artificial heart just over a year ago, when I was hosting a panel discussion on developments in cardiac disease treatment for the St Vincent’s Curran Foundation, which raises funds for St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney. Professor Chris Hayward was on the panel, and he talked about the new device and its potential to transform how cardiologists like him respond when this most fundamental of organs fails. He spoke, too, about how it had been designed by an Australian. The next morning I rushed into the office and told senior writer Amanda Hooton about it. What a great story, we both thought. Then we hit a roadblock: nobody would want to talk publicly about the new heart until it was ready to be implanted into a human. And nobody could say when that would be. What they could say was that it would happen first in the US. And that when it happened, it would be huge international news. The solution was for Amanda to start the story anyway, dropping in and out of it over many months as she found more and more people willing to talk about it. Today, finally, her piece appears. Has Timms’ device gone into a human yet? Not when this magazine went to print. But by the time you are reading this? Who knows. Editor, Katrina Strickland

13 stories

For subscribers

The artificial heart set to transform medicine – and the Aussie who invented it

Biomedical engineer Daniel Timms lost his father to heart disease, but their kitchen-top tests helped him hone a radical idea.

April 20, 2024
by Amanda Hooton

Jake Cassar’s message is one of co-operation in the face of calamity. “We’re trying to rebuild the knowledge of our ancestors,” he says.

For subscribers

‘You’re not such a crazy conspiracy theorist any more’: Preppers go mainstream

In a world hyper-alert to impending catastrophe, the doomsday survivalist business is booming.

April 18, 2024
by Antony Loewenstein

For subscribers

‘I’d really love to meet you one day’: A sperm donor’s message to his progeny

Gone are the days when the identity of donors was a tightly guarded secret – and this biological dad couldn’t be happier.

April 19, 2024
by Gary Nunn

Myfanwy Jones (left): “We challenge each other but in a way that feels loving and safe.”

Two of Us

‘She had dreadlocks and a ghostly white face’: Meeting a childhood bestie again

In the 1970s, their writer dads brought them together. Now they’ve forged a friendship their kids also share.

April 18, 2024
by Susan Horsburgh

“It’s all right to think of yourself as an emperor, but also try to think about yourself as the slave cleaning
the baths.”

Dicey Topics

For subscribers

‘Try to think about yourself as the slave’: Advice from historian Mary Beard

The British professor discusses the deaths that impacted her the most, making it in a male field and the Summer of Love.

April 19, 2024
by Benjamin Law

Modern Guru

For subscribers

My workmate buys skim milk for the office. Can I ask for full cream?

Our Modern Guru suggests a spot of DIY is in order.

April 19, 2024
by Danny Katz

For subscribers

‘Dirty wellness’: a trend for the perfection-fatigued

Plus: get ready for the weekend with these fresh diversions.

April 20, 2024
by Lauren Ironmonger, Karl Quinn, Frances Mocnik, Nicole Abadee, Melissa Fyfe and Damien Woolnough

The sounds of silence

For reasons of pride or vanity (Kathleen was never sure which), Kenneth refused to concede his worsening deafness. She, conversely, was a realist, and she’d accepted her aural impairment with an equanimity that meant she alone wore a hearing aid. This ensured she could hear Kenneth perfectly well when he yelled “What?” for the umpteenth time each day, answered questions no one had asked and bullishly refuted arguments no one had made. It also meant that when all this got too much for her, she could turn off her hearing aid and retreat into a quieter, less objectionable world. Words by Paul Connolly. Illustration by Jim Pavlidis.