Hair removal is a modern obsession. Despite the economic downturn, the beauty industry is booming, and it seems that a big part of looking good is getting rid of unwanted hair. Men as well as women are…
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Welcome to the State of the Future series. This series addresses 15 global challenges posed by the Millennium Project, an international non-profit think-tank collecting responses for 40 nodes worldwide…
WHAT IS AUSTRALIA FOR? Australia is no longer small, remote or isolated. It’s time to ask What Is Australia For?, and to acknowledge the wealth of resources we have beyond mining. Over the next two weeks…
It’s been a remarkably busy year for Australian media policy. There have been three major reports released that address the future of media policy and regulation in the context of convergent media: the…
Over the past 18 months, increasing numbers of southern hairy nosed wombats in the Murraylands region have been found in poor to emaciated condition with damage to their skin and other organs. The skin…
More babies die from undiagnosed congenital heart defects than from any other abnormality. But a simple test which is safe, painless and takes only a couple of minutes could help identify these babies…
Does Sydney need a second airport? In the the recent furore, Foreign Minister Bob Carr, former Prime Minister Paul Keating, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, former Federal Transport Minister Peter Morris, and former…
The High Court has just finished hearing an appeal by Jayant Patel, the Bundaberg surgeon who was convicted in June 2010 on three counts of manslaughter and one count of grievous bodily harm. This follows…
After languishing in an archive box at Melbourne University for more than 20 years, an astonishing piece of Australian political history has recently been dusted off and digitised. The university has unearthed…
Farmers are some of the most innovative Australians - since 1970 they have lost 7.5% of arable land, but they’ve found ways to increase production by 220%. They’re also some of the most conservative, expressed…
The mining industry has been an enthusiastic user of offshore workers through the federal government’s 457 visa program and, more recently, its extension: the enterprise migration agreement (EMA). Gina…
We all know the scene: a child, wrapped in his or her own imaginary world, fights off aliens while flying through space on a rocket fashioned from an empty box. But could such flights of fancy be critical…
A person’s health is strongly influenced by that person’s wealth. In the past, we thought this was because higher incomes meant better access to health care; we thought this was why the rich lived longer…
If Australian governments are serious about raising rates of economic growth, they must reform the tax mix and increase the workforce participation rates of women and older people. Each of these reforms…
Religious leaders and holy texts share deep preoccupations with sex and reproduction. From Islamic purdah to Jewish menstrual purity laws, to Vatican neuroses about everything from contraception to masturbating…
When most people picture the typical school bully, they think of a kid who is likely to have been bullied themselves. A child with low self-esteem who is trying to make themselves feel better by picking…
Influenza or flu is one of those dustbin words used by the media and by health professionals to cover the myriad causes of a respiratory infection. The only way to be sure is with laboratory testing of…
State of the Future 2012, a quick introduction What is the “state of the future”? How successfully are we tackling global challenges threatening our collective future? These questions are asked annually…
WHAT IS AUSTRALIA FOR? Australia is no longer small, remote or isolated. It’s time to ask What Is Australia For?, and to acknowledge the wealth of resources we have beyond mining. Over the next two weeks…
The topic of consanguineous marriage raises both interest and unease in Western societies. For those who are wondering, that big word means “marrying your cousin”. But why would anyone want to marry a…
On 28 May 2012 the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) handed down its long awaited revised blueprint to restore health to the Murray Darling Basin. The plan was the result of a 20-week community engagement…
Just who carries the costs of childcare services has become a visible political issue in the last few weeks, as the federal government confronts its own ideological mess. Concerns over the decreasing affordability…
Around 2.6 million or 10% of Australians are obese. Obesity contributes to other diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obstructive sleep apnoea, infertility, depression and cancer. The strength…
What role have dogs played in human evolution? Woof … now there’s a question. Anthropologist Pat Shipman, in a recent issue of American Scientist, suggests dogs gave our human ancestors an advantage over…
The lines traversing the surface of the globe are legal fictions that determine the fates of nations. Nowhere is this truer than in the South China Sea. China’s infamous U-shaped line claims most of this…