A year ago yesterday the Tōhoku-Oki earthquake and resultant tsunami hit the Japanese coastline, triggering the Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster. A year on, many questions are being asked about how bad…
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Welcome to the latest in our In Conversation series, between risk analyst and author Satyajit Das and Kevin Davis, Research Director of the Australian Centre for Financial Studies. Satyajit Das is an internationally-known…
The recent recalls of metal-on-metal hip replacements and PIP breast implants highlight the potential for widely used medical implants and devices to cause serious harm, despite having passed all the required…
There is a high level of bipartisan support for public transport investment in Australian politics. Parties of all colours are willing to promise rail schemes and bus improvements (in marginal electorates…
For the past hundred-odd years, commercial aviation has relied on a human pilot sitting behind the controls of an aircraft. Today, designers and engineers are beginning to ask: “Is it even necessary to…
Rumour has it that Brazilian mining giant Vale is eyeing up the Yilgarn region of West Australia for a new venture. Forget notions of Vale trying to invade the backyard of its prime competitors BHP Billiton…
Last Monday, Syria’s Interior Ministry announced the results of a referendum on a new constitution. Of the 57.4% of eligible voters who went to the polls on 26 February 2012, 89.4% agreed to pass the new…
For Democrats, the Republican presidential primaries remain the gift that keeps on giving. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, once hoped to seal…
This is an open letter of welcome to Brendan O’Connor, the newly appointed Federal Minister for Small Business. Dear Minister O'Connor, We congratulate you on the new appointment and welcome you to the…
Tens of thousands of Australians live and work close to coal-fired power plants. The cocktail of gaseous and particulate pollutants arising from coal power generation is injurious to human health. All…
Research looking at ways of preventing cognitive decline in the elderly at the same time as improving their physical well being is still very new. But a study of exercise combining physical workout with…
When the Obama administration announced its proposed NASA budget in February, astronomers worldwide breathed a sigh of relief. Despite significant cuts in other areas, funding for the James Webb Space…
“Kony2012” is trending worldwide on Twitter. Really, people? Why couldn’t we just stick to making tweets about the Kardashians, Justin Bieber, Angelina Jolie’s leg and sexist hashtags? Snark aside, I knew…
The risk we’ll fall short of essential medicines has increased dramatically over the past decade, largely due to policy shifts in patent regulation and a boom in pharmaceutical innovation that began in…
My central problem with branded clothing is my reluctance to actually be branded. Why on earth would I pay to advertise someone? When a Kiwi can make a motza from auctioning her buttock flesh to a strip…
If no-one argues against the proposition that it was capitalism that created the global warming problem, then no one can argue that it must therefore be capitalism that will solve the problem. But how…
The Federal Government is once again hitting difficulties in communicating its carbon pricing proposal, with polling finding Australians don’t like the word carbon. The government is reconsidering its…
Around 50 Australians graves from World War II in Libya’s Benghazi Commonwealth war cemetery have been desecrated, apparently by Islamist militia. Footage of this violent destruction has spread around…
Some news organisations take the view that their access to a wide audience gives them the capacity to defend themselves against their critics, so they should never need to resort to the defamation laws…
Ever since the death of Steve Jobs, interested onlookers have been watching for the first missteps in Apple’s seemingly faultless journey to becoming the world’s most valued and valuable company. Because…
A drug used to treat heart disease may have the additional effect of reducing subconscious racial bias, a study has found. Researchers who gave people the drug propranolol found that they scored much lower…
Today is the 101st anniversary of International Women’s Day, a day celebrated around the world to mark the legal, political, social and economic achievements of women. The change in corporate governance…
The Liberal National Party chose an unconventional strategy when it decided make former Lord Mayor of Brisbane Campbell Newman its leader. Newman needs to win a seat in the Queensland parliament if he…
Predicting the setting for the banks’ standard variable housing loan interest rate used to be simple. Before the subprime crisis in the US and the subsequent GFC, the variable rate was simply the RBA target…
Seventeen years of our research into childhood obesity is starting to deliver dividends. We now know what kinds of interventions are effective for reducing the number of overweight and obese children in…