On a recent long-haul flight, with very limited movie options, I watched the Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp movie The Tourist (two thumbs firmly down). A particular scene on a train to Venice did catch…
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FOOD SECURITY - With a global population tipped to exceed 9.2 billion by 2050, the security of the world’s food supplies is more fraught now than ever. But can we do more to protect the food we have? While…
Interested in art? Think it may be a good investment for your super? Think again - or at least be very very careful. More than 10 months since Jeremy Cooper’s independent superannuation review recommended…
We know a lot about what the universe looks like and how it works. But what we’ve been able to figure out about the cosmos is dwarfed by all the things we don’t know. How do galaxies, stars and planets…
It seems every company now considers corporate social responsibility a vital part of their proposition for customers. But even with scandals involving multinationals like Enron, Tyco and Siemens, we could…
As the US was brought to the brink of a government shutdown this weekend, one of the sticking points was Republican insistence that President Obama curtail the activities of the Environmental Protection…
We are living in extraordinary times. People are using social media to campaign for freedom from their governments, but their ideas are built on a much more powerful medium: literature. Protests have swept…
A prolonged period of hotter-than-average temperatures in the crater lake of New Zealand’s Mt Ruapehu has seen the country’s media questioning whether another eruption is on the cards. Mt Ruapehu (Māori…
When it comes to branding and advertising, much of what we are exposed to creates only marginal difference. But even small differences can tip the balance toward a particular choice, and plain packaging…
The Australian dollar has been striking new post-float highs against the US dollar in recent weeks, and according to a number of prominent market economists could reach US$1.10 before the end of this year…
Government modelling has given us a rough idea what a carbon tax could cost households, but will the burden be borne fairly? Whether we have a carbon tax or climate change, poor households will likely…
For the public, the jury is still out on nanotechnology – the media simultaneously extols its promise and warns of the potential calamity facing humanity. But what is it? How does it work? Is it dangerous…
No parent decides to make their child obese. Yet one in five children will be overweight or obese by the time they reach primary school. We now know that excessive weight gain actually begins much earlier…
FOOD SECURITY - Agriculture is one of the few industries in the world in which emissions must rise. The carbon footprint of farming will become larger over the next 40 years as we feed a rapidly growing…
One of the most widely held myths about the Australian labour movement is that decline of union membership was set in motion by economic and industrial relations reform initiated by the Hawke-Keating Labor…
Mad or bad, face of evil, addictions and tiger blood. How well does the media report mental illness when these are descriptions and catchphrases taken from stories this year? The answer is, it depends…
What do you make of Treasurer Wayne Swan’s decision to officially block the merger of the ASX and the Singapore Exchange? This is the wrong decision. Australia has an aspiration to be a regional financial…
War has been declared, and those who recognise the fundamental role science plays in everyday life need to decide where they stand. Building on the budgetary and rhetorical slights of recent months, rumours…
Here’s the problem. Going on a carbon diet is hard in the way that going on a calorie diet is not. For the most part, there is good information about the calorie content of food and I can regulate it myself…
The cartoonist Ivan Rowley is captivated by a “New TV Idol” - a radio commentator and “CRITIC”. It’s Andrew Bolt, surely, broadcasting from the “The Temple of Enlightening Discussion”? No, it’s another…
Fairfax papers reported this morning that one of the world’s biggest carbon offset firms, located in Sydney, has been “shifting paper certificates instead of saving forests”. Shift2neutral has sold carbon…
Most people are not aware of fragile X syndrome but they may well be affected by it or know someone who is. Commonly under-diagnosed or misdiagnosed the condition is often mistaken for Attention Deficit…
Julia Gillard controversially claimed in her recent Whitlam oration that “the Greens will never embrace Labor’s delight at sharing the values of everyday Australians, in our cities, suburbs, towns and…
FOOD SECURITY - Here’s how things stand. More than 500 million farmers produce crops and livestock that can feed nearly 7 billion people, and yet 1 billion still go hungry. It’s estimated that the world’s…
Innovation is not a topic that attracts much serious political debate in Australia. It improves living standards and the economy, but we’re missing out because of the government’s short-sighted approach…