DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: With a backdrop of global financial woes and the European Union’s debt crisis, the Conference of the Parties at Durban convened with lower expectations but high stakes…
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Ongoing industrial action by Victoria’s nurses has focused public attention on acute health-care services, and provided an opportunity to examine the way those services should best be supported, funded…
Almost half of all Australians aged 15-74 years had literacy skills below the level required to participate effectively in our society, according to a 2008 study from the Australian Bureau of Statistics…
Writing almost 140 years ago in his book Naturalist in Nicaragua, the European naturalist Thomas Belt engaged in a lively debate about why certain breeds of dogs in tropical America were hairless. The…
The lead-up to the elections for the State Duma in Russia on December 4 gave no hint of the turmoil that was to follow. In the days after the voting, large numbers of Russians took to the streets in cities…
Australia’s Chief Scientist Ian Chubb has more than once described the Australia of the past as a “mendicant country” regarding science. While this is a controversial, perhaps overly-broad, generalisation…
Transplantation is the best available treatment for many serious health problems including diabetes, kidney failure and heart disease. These conditions affect millions of people worldwide and the cost…
Muslim conversion is growing in Indigenous communities. In the 2001 national census, 641 Indigenous people identified as Muslim. By the 2006 census the number had climbed by more than 60% to 1014 people…
The NHMRC’s new Australian dietary guidelines recommend eating more fruits, vegetables, legumes, beans and wholegrains and eating fewer starchy vegetables, refined cereals, red meat (unless you are a young…
Every five years the Australian Government must report on how our environment and heritage are fairing. The 2011 State of the Environment Report gives Australians the clearest and most comprehensive assessment…
Our Safe as Houses series delves into a topic close to the heart of many Australians - property. This is not a series on where the market might be heading. Instead we aim to explore how we view property…
This year’s bill of speakers at the Woodford Folk Festival features anti-vaccine lobbyist Meryl Dorey, spokesperson for the Northern New South Wales-based Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), and purveyor…
Now that the hoopla associated with the Australian National Broadband Network (NBN) has died down somewhat, I’d like to discuss one of the significant opportunities by drawing a line between the NBN and…
It’s December 15th, 1983. Around 13,000 people, a capacity crowd, are packed into the Sydney Entertainment Centre. This is the last of five Cold Chisel shows there. Fans had queued for blocks, some had…
Christmas is coming, which means consumers are out looking for great deals to fill stockings and feed the family. And for retailers and manufacturers, the temptation to add “spin” to their marketing is…
Much of the commentary surrounding the Prime Minister’s new-look cabinet has focused on the promotion of her loyal lieutenants, Bill Shorten and Mark Arbib, and Nicola Roxon’s elevation to the Attorney-General…
In the coverage surrounding Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s cabinet reshuffle yesterday, the media rushed to decide which ministers had won or lost. But the focus on who trumped whom in the political stakes…
Space exploration is one of the few science-rich human endeavours that captivates both expert and layperson alike. There is a mystery – a romanticism – associated with space research and technology that…
When it comes to diet-related health claims, even the “good” newspapers are usually wrong, making recommendations about which foods people should eat (and avoid) that aren’t based on sufficient evidence…
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…
Welcome to Safe as Houses, a series delving into a topic close to the heart of many Australians - property. This is not a series on where the market might be heading. Instead we aim to explore how we view…
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to veto the new European Union agreement for greater financial stability in the Eurozone reminds us that despite the talk of greater European integration…
After a weekend of speculation, Julia Gillard announced a new cabinet in a dramatic redistribution of ministerial portfolios this afternoon. The number of cabinet members has swelled to 22, with only Kim…
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is widely viewed as a dangerous food toxin that is responsible for adverse reactions to Chinese food and other meals. But is it really the MSG that’s to blame? Glutamate is a…
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: Occasionally international treaties conflict with each other. The last days of the Durban climate talks was one of those times. The United Nations’ Convention on Climate…