The University of Queensland is a pace-setter in discovery and translational research, and is committed to teaching excellence and outstanding mentorship that leads to well-rounded graduates who are equipped to live and work effectively in a global environment. UQ is a global top 50 university and Queensland’s biggest.
Why do some small firms survive and prosper, while others don’t? When you put this question to a business consultant, academic or even an experienced business person, their biases show immediately. The…
Only half of all Qld women who chose to give birth by caesarean made an informed decision.
Sean Dreilinger
The proportion of Queensland women giving birth via caesarean section has increased by a staggering 74% in the past 20 years. This wouldn’t be of concern if more babies’ lives were saved as a result but…
It depends on the drug, how it’s been stored and whether the pack has been opened.
saveas new
It’s late in the night. And after a long day at work, you have a splitting headache. You rattle around in the bottom drawer of the bathroom vanity to find a packet of paracetamol tablets you know are hiding…
Australians willingly helped their neighbours when it was needed during the Queensland floods of 2011.
Flickr/RaeAllen
Neighbours are a source of growing aggravation in Australia and we are lodging more official complaints about each other than ever before. Excessive noise or odour, inadequate levels of property maintenance…
Most Australians want to see a transparent, fair political system, but they’re not getting one.
Flickr/Michael Dawes
Whether you’re a cynic or an idealist, most of us believe there should be rules restraining big money in politics. But after a decade of stop-start debate on the issue, a Commonwealth parliamentary report…
Our conduct has damaged relations with Indonesia and has serious implications for the environment.
AAP
Indonesia’s decision to cut live cattle imports from Australia is the clearest example yet of the significant and long-lasting damage that June’s export ban did to relations with our nearest neighbour…
In Iceland, the whale is just another fish.
reutC/flickr
On December 7, three whaling ships set out from Japan and kicked off the 2011 whaling season. For the next few months, Australian eyes will be focused on conflict in the Southern Ocean as the annual ritual…
Meeting requests, endless CC lists … is it time to try something new?
Travelin Librarian
Email has moved from being the internet’s first killer app to being a productivity killer. You can make news by claiming to hate it, ban it or kill it. But the problem with email is not the technology…
What will be the next number in this sequence?
crisinplymouth
MILLENNIUM PRIZE SERIES: The Millennium Prize Problems are seven mathematics problems laid out by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000. They’re not easy—a correct solution to any one results in a US$1,000,000…
If we’re going to talk about how safe CSG is (or isn’t), we need to look at the full picture.
AAP/Origin Energy
The Mineral Resources Rent Tax passed through the House of Representatives last week, but not without negotiations with the Greens and independent MPs. Perhaps the most significant outcome of negotiations…
Byzantine metaphor for the soul and death – historical and philosophical reasons underlie our unwillingness to talk about death.
Ken & Nyetta/Flickr
TALKING ABOUT DEATH AND DYING – What are the cultural and historical and reasons for not talking about death? Today, we have a philosopher’s perspective on the silence that is seeing so many die without…
Where do eggs - and chicken meat - come from? Not where they used to.
Jane Rawson
When my mother was a young girl, she - like most families in the country - kept a few chickens in the back yard. Once a day she went out and gave them household scraps, and they rushed over to greet her…
Strategic friendships: will Australia’s decision to sign up to Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement impact on our relationship with China?
AAP
The task of simultaneously negotiating our traditional security and cultural ties with the US, and our burgeoning economic relationship with China, can justifiably be described as the “great foreign policy…
Indigenous Australians under 18 will not be included in the sample collection components of the Australia Health Survey.
k-girl/Flickr
The Australian Health Survey’s (AHS) exclusion of data from the Indigenous population raises questions about how serious we are about closing the health gap. It’s generally accepted that clinical care…
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said he will resign after losing parliamentary support.
AAP
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi appears set to become the largest political casualty so far of the Eurozone’s continuing inability to resolve its massive sovereign debt problems. Berlusconi, who…
The major social network sites have recently been touting improved privacy settings to allow users to customise post audiences. Google+ Circles, Facebook lists, and now Unthink’s branches are engineering…
Unthink is positioning itself as a force of “emancipation”.
Unthink.com
On October 25, Unthink invited public beta users to put aside their YASNS (Yet Another Social Network Site) fatigue. Since then, it claims to have attracted more than 100,000 registered users. The site…
Prescription weight loss medicines are expensive and don’t produce lasting results.
Flickr/Flashstep
Welcome to part nine of The science behind weight loss, a Conversation series in which we separate the myths about dieting from the realities of exercise and nutrition. Here, Lennert Veerman, Senior Research…
The world’s population is racing ahead compared to growth in the rest of the world.
AAP/Dean Lewins
SEVEN BILLION PEOPLE: As the global population passed the seven billion mark yesterday (give or take a few months – the data aren’t exact), Australia’s resident population will reach about 22.75 million…
First step: address under-investment in agricultural research and development.
AAP
CHOGM: As the leaders of Commonwealth nations meet in Perth, The Conversation is examining the role of the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) Meeting. Daniel Rodriguez from the University…