Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Jonica Newby
You surfing is making your employer more money
When I plunge into the sea for a surf, a lot of it isn’t even pleasant. First there’s the cold shock – ugh – then the long struggle to get out past wave after wave through the break. Then there’s ‘being dumped’ – the bane of the family beach trip – and yes when surfing I get that horrible can’t-breathe-out-of-control feeling multiple times. I get scared, sometimes terrified. So why even do it? Because when you are in it, this literal immersion in nature, your mind cannot be anywhere else.
mating mysteries abound
How do echidnas make love? Carefully… of course! No truly – that’s a direct quote from the scientist behind the latest discovery about Australia’s favourite spiky mammal’s love life. Dr Christine Cooper and her team have just released the first published recordings of echidnas “talking”. Her research not only proves that echidnas can vocalise, given that the sounds have only been heard in breeding season, it raises the question; is this the echidnas’ secret love language?
More and more Australians are facing climate trauma
Does it seem to you like we’re suffering a lot more “natural” disasters lately? Like climate change is starting to hit a bit too close to home? If so, you’re not imagining it. A new national study has revealed a staggering 80% of Australians have been directly impacted (ourselves or our community) by an extreme weather event just since 2019. Of these, half say it’s harmed our mental health.
The Australian scientists who are responding to the cry: “Kelp needs help”
The “King of Kelp” is how one colleague describes University of Western Australia’s Professor of Marine Botany, Thomas Wernberg. So imagine his reaction when, diving one day into the crystal blue waters off the mid coast of Western Australia, he found his entire seaweed ‘kingdom’ was just … gone. “We were pretty shocked,” he tells me in his gentle Scandinavian accent – Thomas hails originally from Denmark. “We went on a field trip to Kalbarri and we had all the equipment to sample the kelp.
The true story and history of chickens
Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, to make friends with humans of course! Apologies; the cliché was irresistible. But then so, apparently, were chickens — to our ancestors. Two extraordinary new archaeological studies (here and here) have not only overturned much of what we thought we knew about the domestication of our feathered friends, they’ve revealed that far from being eaten, the earliest chickens were revered; perhaps even loved.
On the thorn of a dilemma as reef saviours allocate scarce resources to take on the crown
This is the final installation in a three-part series. Part 1 and Part 2 appeared in last week’s Cosmos Weekly. In far north Queensland, coral researcher Dr Morgan Pratchett saw something gathering last month that sent shivers down his spine. Crown-of-thorns starfish. Big ones. In numbers he’d not seen in years.
behind "best coral cover in 36 years"
What’s really happening on the reef? A special three part series. At first the Great Barrier Reef was collapsing from devastating back-to-back bleachings.
Great Barrier Reef restoration technologies
What’s really happening on the reef? A special three part series. Robot-deployed supercorals are going to rescue the reef! No, wait – it’s giant sea-spray canons that’ll save it! Hang on – didn’t I just see an article in The Guardian about a pioneering coral nursery producing its first babies to help save the reef? Confusion reigns in the daily news cycle, with the Great Barrier Reef apparently being saved all over the place.
How does a snow machine work?
Snow machine – the secret behind the slopes If you’ve ever watched a skiing event in the Winter Olympics, or visited the slopes yourself, the odds are that much of the snow you’ve seen isn’t natural but made by a snow machine. So how? All snow is a type of ice crystal – but manufactured snow is formed quite differently from the natural stuff and so has a different structure.
Dispatches from a time of beauty and loss' by Delia Falconer
Essay Collection Delia Falconer’s new essay collection on climate and culture Signs and Wonders: Dispatches from a time of beauty and loss by Delia Falconer Scribner, $32.99 pb, 290 pp Essay Collection Delia Falconer’s new essay collection on climate and culture Reading Richard Flanagan’s searing allegory The Living Sea of Waking Dreams (2020) and Delia Falconer’s new non-fiction book, Signs and Wonders: Dispatches from a time of beauty and loss, in rapid succession was a surreal, slightly...
Dispatches from a time of beauty and loss' by Delia Falconer
Reading Richard Flanagan’s searing allegory The Living Sea of Waking Dreams (2020) and Delia Falconer’s new non-fiction book, Signs and Wonders: Dispatches from a time of beauty and loss, in rapid succession was a surreal, slightly unmooring experience. Both authors lucidly capture the dreamlike state of disbelief and horrified fury with which we’ve watched the world slide terribly into the 2020s.
Sacred landscapes: snow and the high country
How do the places we love shape our sense of the sacred? Dr Jonica Newby and Professor Jakelin Troy take us into the coldest regions of Australia, deepening our understanding of the spiritual importance of snow. Professor Jakelin Troy is a Ngarigo woman from Australia's alpine regions in NSW and Victoria, the Director of Indigenous Research at the University of Sydney, and a linguist. Ngarigo woman, Professor Jakelin Troy, skiing in Thredbo.
Beyond Climate Grief: A journey of love, snow, fire and an enchanted beer can
If we experience grief from any disaster, Newby gives us positive survival advice: creativity, active hope to save what we love, humour, and pride when we act well often at cost to ourselves. She appeals to the hero inside each of us. Read on >
The end of snow: could a warming climate be putting Australia’s alpine landscapes at risk?
WE WAKE TO A fantasy land. In the pink hues of the early morning, snow gums glisten, frosted in snow; sunlight refracts off crystal-encrusted leaves; and kangaroos puff steamy breaths into the cold air. In the distance, blanketed in white, Australia’s Snowy Mountains beckon. “Move your lazy butt,” shouts Jules, my cabin companion. “We’ll miss it!” Two hours later, we’ve buckled up, clicked on, and made the fourth chair on the chairlift.
So you’ve been to hell?
So you’ve been to hell? … Emotional recovery and what to look out for after living through a monster fire. Adrenaline? Jumping at noises? Hyper busy? A wind phobia? Kids with nightmares? Disaster experts on some of the things to expect if you or your kids went through the monster fires — and how to handle them.
Health experts say fear and worry 'normal' as country responds to bushfire crisis
By medical reporter Sophie Scott and Jonica Newby Posted January 08, 2020 05:57:08 With images of distraught families fleeing bushfires, blackened homes, dead animals and smoke-filled skies, it's hard not to be affected by Australia's bushfire crisis. Health experts say it's a normal reaction to feel fearful, anxious or overwhelmed after a traumatic event.
Why have I lost my sex drive? Dr Jonica Newby can answer.
Why do so many women lose enjoyment of sex as early as their 30s or 40s, and what, if anything, can be done about it? That’s the question I set out to answer as I embarked on an investigation of the science of the FEMALE SEX DRIVE, the results of which I hope you will watch tonight (8pm, Catalyst, ABC 1). The reason I was so passionate to look for answers? Well, it happened to me. And before I go too much further – I have personally found an answer that has worked. And I’m grateful.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Jonica
Contact Jonica, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack