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Schapelle Corby’s fate may be the centre of public attention in Australia, but not here in Indonesia where I currently live and work. The hot topic here for the past few days has been whether or not Lady…
It has once again been left to an advocacy group, Animals Australia, to highlight the cruel practices involved in cattle slaughter in Indonesia. Under new rules put in place by the Federal Department of…
Soft porn music videos on television. Girls mini-mags featuring fashion and celebrity gossip at the supermarket checkout. Porn at eye-level in the petrol station. Billboards on the trips in between. As…
“The object of [the Fair Work] Act is to provide a balanced framework for cooperative and productive workplace relations that promotes national economic prosperity and social inclusion for all Australians…
Palaeontology has gone high-tech: no more wax and plaster-cast models. Instead, 3D data from computed tomography (CT) scans is overturning long-held views of how the earliest land animals moved. Research…
The election of Australia’s top corporate regulator Greg Medcraft to the chairmanship of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions has received nowhere near the prominence it deserves. Aside…
There’s a common misconception within the Australian community that asylum seekers arrive by boat. In fact, most asylum seekers arrive here by aeroplane with valid travel documents and reside in the community…
While most people now understand that the enhanced greenhouse effect means a much warmer planet, communicating regional shifts in weather remains a significant challenge. As with most complex science…
Chief Scientist Ian Chubb’s Health of Australian Science report, launched today at the National Press Club, starts on an optimistic note. Australian science is generally in good health: school students…
The Office of the Chief Scientist today releases the Health of Australian Science report and it’s an intriguing read. The report was compiled to help the office and the public understand the current state…
It is time we recognised pornography as part of popular culture. Millions of people watch the content the porn industry produces. And make no mistake, it produces a lot of content. According to prominent…
What do you get when you buy 900 million user experiences, mostly from smart devices? Facebook’s float has been dogged with controversy: on Monday, its shares plummeted 11% and dropped another 8.9% to…
Unless you’ve been boycotting all forms of media in the past five years, you’ll be aware that the National Broadband Network (NBN) is well and truly on its way. For some of us the NBN is already here…
Two recently published books suggest that the public - and school children in particular - are being fed lies about environmental issues such as climate change. The books - “How to Get Expelled from School…
In the face of the largest mobilisation Egypt has ever witnessed, President Hosni Mubarak stepped down on February 12, 2011. Facing an unlikely coalition of disaffected youth, labour workers, Islamists…
Some people may be wondering whether it’s wise to undergo assisted reproduction after recent media headlines about these technologies increasing the risk of birth defects. In fact, millions of babies have…
Stillbirth is a major but under-researched public health problem affecting three million families each year. Following the 2011 Lancet Stillbirth Series, it has been receiving more attention, and a recent…
The G8 leaders’ cautious embrace of “growth and jobs” on the weekend has momentarily buoyed international markets, but significantly, altered a 30-year focus on inflation. For more than three decades…
Qantas has announced it is splitting its loss-making international business from domestic operations, as part of a five year turn-around plan announced last August. The two companies will have separate…
The European Commission (EC) has given Google “a matter of weeks” to address concerns the American search giant has “abused a dominant market position”. The announcement overnight (AEST) follows an 18-month…
At least one Lockerbie conspiracy theory has been laid to rest this week: that the only man convicted of the 1988 aircraft bombing was faking a terminal illness. But the death of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi…
Biologists and psychologists like to tussle with human characteristics: what’s inherent? What’s learnt? What’s genetically coded? What’s malleable? Every so often an “expert” will reignite the nature vs…
One hundred years of rigorous scientific research hasn’t dented the faith of adherents of homeopathy. The complementary therapy is still centred on the notion that water has a therapeutic “memory” and…
While most people now understand that the enhanced greenhouse effect means a much warmer planet, communicating regional shifts in weather remains a significant challenge. As with most complex science…