Workplaces the world over tune their thermostats to 22C, because this supposedly optimises mental performance. But the factors that underpin a productive office are much more complicated.
Australia is losing mammals faster than any other country, as well as plenty more plants and animals besides. Extinction is theft from future generations – it’s time to treat it as such.
David Farmer, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
An adult brain weighs about 1.5kg. It’s mostly water with some fat, protein, sugar and a dash of salt. Sounds like pancakes, I know, but I once tried chicken brains and, well, pancakes are tastier.
Acclaimed dance choreographer Meryl Tankard’s show Two Feet premiered in 1988. Now it returns to the Adelaide Festival, recreated for one of today’s most brilliant dancers.
Sabine Braat, The University of Melbourne and Karen Lamb, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
It’s hard to decide which treatment to choose when trying to quit smoking or lose weight. The term ‘number needed to treat’ could help you decide what is most likely to work.
An analysis of billions of words in the Google Books database shows the way society has valued moral principles such as compassion, respect for authority, community values and fairness over time.
Raw meat dog food products are growing in popularity. But a new study warns of the risks of bacterial contamination not only to your pet but also to yourself or others in your house.
Since the Tampa affair in 2001, successive governments have been anxious to be seen as “hard-line” on asylum seekers, but the cost – to people and the country – has been too high.
Architects, certifiers and engineers who work as consultants to builders are on notice about potential liability for the use of flammable cladding, but governments are also culpable for their actions.
Dan Smale, Marine Biological Association and Thomas Wernberg, The University of Western Australia
Marine heatwaves, like their land counterparts, are growing hotter and longer. Sea species in southeastern Australia, southeast Asia, northwestern Africa, Europe and eastern Canada are most at risk.
Steve Hatfield-Dodds, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
Australia’s farming industry will need to take full account of its obligations to its workers, its customers, society and the environment if it is to prosper in the years to 2030.
Instead of paying lip service to promoting Indigenous Australians’ rights as First Nations, the next federal government should be guided by the Uluru Statement from the Heart to make real progress.
Online therapies for mental health can be as effective as talking therapies. If we want to expand access to mental health care, it’s important we embrace digital approaches.
Margaret Atwood’s classic novel imagined a society where women had almost no power. Hundreds of people gathered in Sydney yesterday to hear Atwood speak about dystopias – fictional and otherwise.
Bill Shorten is committed to an Australian head of state, but it will likely take lost priority to constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians.