🌞 The Paralympics make history

If you’re looking for something to brighten up your Sunday, may I humbly recommend a podcast?

Amy Poehler’s ‘Good Hangs’ is not niche (it won a Golden Globe earlier this year), but it is just SO heartwarming.

Here’s a comprehensive list of my fave parts of the podcast:
1) Amy manages to have chemistry with people she’s never met before. It’s a genuine skill.
2) Her producers laugh loudly in the background of every episode. It’s so human.
3) The beginning segment where friends of the guest are invited to “speak well” behind the back of that person.

If you’re looking for a first ep, I’d recommend Amy’s interview with Jonathan Groff.

Heaven.

The Milano-Cortina Paralympics kicked off this week, and it’s already brimming with good news. 

First, some Aussie good news: Para snowboarder Amanda Reid has become Australia’s first Indigenous Winter Paralympian. She won gold in Para cycling at the Tokyo 2020 games before switching to winter sports in 2023. Reid, a proud Wemba Wemba and Guring-gai woman, competed in the snowboard cross overnight and will also compete in the banked slalom snowboard event. The 29-year-old said she was “very excited” for her fifth Paralympics overall but her first Winter appearance. 

These games also mark the Winter Paralympic debuts for Haiti, North Macedonia, Portugal, and Montenegro. Both Haiti and North Macedonia make their debuts via Para alpine skiing, while Portugal and Montenegro have athletes competing in Para snowboard.

I love rooting for smaller delegations – it makes the wins that much sweeter. 

Milano-Cortina will also have a record number of 160 female para athletes competing at the Winter Games, beating Beijing 2022’s record. Australia is one of six countries with a record number of women on their teams. 

People celebrate Holi, the Hindu spring festival of colours, in Guwahati, India, on 4 March. Holi is a Hindu spring festival celebrating colours, joy, and renewal, where people throw colored powders, dance, and share sweets together.

Denmark has become the first EU country to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. 

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an incurable disease that attacks the immune system, transmitted through bodily fluids. It can be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, breastfeeding, labor or delivery. Syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection, can also be transmitted through pregnancy if the mother does not receive early or effective treatment. 

To meet elimination status, Denmark needed to have met required targets, such as making sure prenatal testing is available to the majority of the population, and lowering the rate of transmission.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the milestone is a “major public health achievement for Denmark.” 

The nation joins 22 other countries and territories that have either eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, or hepatitis B, or are on their way to elimination. 

Here’s the part we don’t always see:

Australian Made licensees represent around 40,000 local jobs and generate billions in revenue across the economy.

The Made Right Here campaign is all about connecting those dots – showing how everyday Australian Made products can have a real impact close to home.

When you spot the Australian Made logo, you’re backing local makers and home-grown ideas.

British researchers have discovered a new medication that could help children with a rare form of epilepsy. 

Dravet syndrome is a genetic condition that causes frequent and hard-to-treat seizures and long-term neurodevelopmental impairment. Currently, there aren’t any approved medicines that address the condition’s cognitive and behavioural impacts.

In most people with Dravet syndrome, one copy of a specific gene doesn’t produce enough of a specific protein. A new medication called zorevunersen works by increasing the levels of the protein produced by the healthy gene.

In a trial of 75 children, each of whom took  70mg of zorevunersen every four months for 20 months, patients had a 59-91% decrease in seizures compared with the number of seizures they were having before the trial. 

Lead author Professor Helen Cross said it’s “heartbreaking when treatment options are limited. This new treatment could help children with Dravet syndrome lead much healthier and happier lives.” 

The study was led by hospitals across the UK, Scotland and the U.S.

Two Aussie artists, Tina Arena and Ngaiire, have released a reimagined rendition of Sia’s ‘Unstoppable.’ 

The special part? The song was entirely performed by artists and musicians whose lives were saved by blood, plasma, stem cells or platelet donations. 

Ngaiire said the song is “such a celebration of life. I’m here, and I get to do what I love because of donations in the past.” 

Arena added that the song is “proof of what’s possible when people show up for each other.” 

You can read the performers’ stories and listen to the track here.

I started with sport, so I’ll end it that way too: the AFC Women’s Asian Cup has set a new total attendance record (not just one match) of more than 82,000 fans, following Australia’s match against Iran on Thursday. 

The previous tournament record was set in China in 2010, which, coincidentally, Australia won (hopefully seeing a pattern here). 

Chief Operating Officer Sarah Walsh said: “Capacity crowds this early in the tournament demonstrate the strength of women’s football and the opportunity to deliver the biggest and most successful AFC Women’s Asian Cup in history.” 

Something tells me it’s because of the Matildas.