Jarrod Brown

EducationDaily •

Article: Astronaut program helps uni student shoot for the stars

One lucky uni student is following her dreams into orbit as she edges closer to becoming one of Australia’s elite scientist astronauts. 


Celene Meraz Benavente, a third-year physiotherapy student at Federation University Australia, has already got her bags packed ahead of her trip to Ottawa, Canada next month where she will live out a week in the life of an astronaut in training. 


But unlike her friends on home soil, this space-bound scientist won’t be sitting her tests in the classroom. I...
EducationDaily •

Article: Australia’s tradie crisis deepens. Are university targets to blame?

There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight for Australia’s trade skills crisis as the federal government ramps up efforts to push more school leavers into university programs. 


The Albanese government’s ambitious plans for higher education, outlined in the Australian Universities Accord Final Report earlier this year, aim to significantly increase tertiary education rates across Australia. 


By 2050, the government expects 80 per cent of the workforce to hold a tertiary qualification, up fro...
Build-it •

Article: Tunnelling tradies exposed to 200 times the safe amount of silica in metro construction

The Australian Workers Union (AWU) has raised serious concerns about hazardous silica dust exposure during the construction of Sydney’s Metro train service. 


The union alleges that workers cutting tunnels for the massive infrastructure project are facing unsafe levels of cancer-causing dust, labelling the situation a “silica tsunami.”


The AWU claims to have obtained confidential documents through freedom of information requests, which reportedly show alarming levels of silica dust at Metro...
Build-it •

Article: “It is not a thing of the past”: Cancer survivor warns asbestos danger lives on in Aussie homes

Four years ago, 67-year-old Simon Christley started noticing what he described as strange symptoms.


The Wollongong man said he couldn’t lay on one side of the bed without losing his breath, and while on the bike at the gym, he noticed his heart rate spiking to 220 bpm.


“At first, I thought there was something wrong with the bike,” he said


But after enduring a battery of tests from doctors, Christley was sadly diagnosed with mesothelioma – a respiratory disease caused by asbestos exposur...
Build-it •

Press Release: Snap-on’s pink tool partnership raises over $200k for breast cancer

Snap-on’s latest pink partnership has raised over $200k for the fight against breast cancer, and netted tradies a few pretty pairs of tools for the workshop. 


As part of the national breast cancer awareness campaign in October, Snap-on Tools joined hands with the McGrath Foundation on a mission to raise a quarter of a million dollars for the country’s continued fight against one of the nation’s most commonly diagnosed diseases, breast cancer. 


But this campaign came with a surprising trad...
EducationDaily •

Article: “It’s so important that these children see this”: Autistic race car driver helps neurodiverse students break down barriers

Autistic motorsport driver Ben Taylor stepped out from behind the wheel last week to open sixteen neurodivergent students up to a world of opportunity outside of the classroom. 


Last Tuesday, students from Riverview Inclusion Program joined Ben in the pits of Sydney Motorsport Park to learn a bit more about the world of racing and what it was like for a neurodivergent person to break down social barriers both on and off the track. 


Since being clinically diagnosed with ASD two years ago, t...
EducationDaily •

Article: Aussie law students vs ChatGPT. Can AI outperform human lawyers?

Despite bold claims that generative models could ace law exams, new research has revealed the technology still struggles to compete in the classroom. 


When ChatGPT was first unveiled to the world back in late 2023, educators and students alike were rattled by big claims from parent company OpenAI that the generative tech could ace notoriously tough law exams at the press of a simple prompt. 


And these boasts weren’t pulled out of thin air. Supposedly the generative AI went head-to-head aga...