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The development of drought insurance markets could be key to supporting farmers. Lukas Coch/AAP

Better data would help crack the drought insurance problem

Neal Hughes, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)

While drought insurance schemes have produced mixed results to date, there remains hope for the future.

Super and the pension treat most retirees well, but not renters. Shutterstock

Renters Beware: how the pension and super could leave you behind

If you rent, you are highly likely to live in poverty in retirement. If you own your own home the pension and super will probably be enough for you.

The Eucalyptus obliqua as seen in Merthyr Park, Tasmania. Cowirrie/Flickr, CC BY-SA

Stringybark is tough as boots (and gave us the word ‘Eucalyptus’)

Gregory Moore, The University of Melbourne

One of the great Australian trees – messmate stringybark, Eucalyptus obliqua.

Even without drugs, nets or an understanding of what caused malaria, human bodies were still fighting against the parasite – and winning. from shutterstock.com

How our red blood cells keep evolving to fight malaria

Sant-Rayn Pasricha, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

Today, human populations carry heavy genetic marks from the war with malaria. And it is the red blood cell (erythrocyte) that mostly bears the scars.

Tasdance’s *Junjeiri Ballun – Gurul Gaureima*, part of The Unconformity festival, performed Indigenous history in Queenstown’s Queen River. The Unconformity festival

The Unconformity festival embraces the power and peculiarity of Tasmania’s wild west

Asher Warren, University of Tasmania

The Unconformity takes advantage of its unique location in the mining town of Queenstown to create a provocative, thoughtful arts festival.

Possum Magic again, are you for real kid?! from www.shutterstock.com

There’s a reason your child wants to read the same book over and over again

Jane Herbert, University of Wollongong and Elisabeth Duursma, University of Wollongong

Children need the same information repeated to encode it permanently.

The Tianshan mountains frame Sayram Lake in the Bortala Prefecture in Xinjiang, China. Gilby Jepson

How Eurasia’s Tianshan mountains set a stage that changed the world

Gilby Jepson, University of Adelaide; Alan Collins, University of Adelaide, and Jack Gillespie, University of Adelaide

Setting the scene for ancient Silk Road trading and now China’s Belt and Road initiative, the Tianshan has changed humanity. Geological evidence shows us how this incredible mountain range formed.

As German Chancellor for 13 years, Merkel has been a dominant figure in European politics. AAP/EPA/Clemens Bilan

As she prepares to leave politics, Germany’s Angela Merkel has left her mark at home and abroad

Matt Fitzpatrick, Flinders University

After 18 years as leader of her party, and 13 as German Chancellor, Angela Merkel has announced that this will be her last term. How has she changed Germany and the world?

Anne Summers photographed in 2013 with Julia Gillard. Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Anne Summers’ new memoir and the bitter struggle over memory narratives of feminism

Camilla Nelson, University of Notre Dame Australia

Many harsh things are said in Summers’ book. It’s difficult to decide whether to praise its “breathtaking honesty” – as critics undoubtedly will – or draw back like a witness to some gruesome accident.

Often the value of data science lies in the work of joining the dots. Shutterstock

Five projects that are harnessing big data for good

Arezou Soltani Panah, Swinburne University of Technology and Anthony McCosker, Swinburne University of Technology

Data science can map where street harassment is most prevalent, ensure public bins don’t overflow and identify neighbourhoods with poor fire safety standards in the home.

Biologists are gathering evidence of green algae (pictured here in Kuwait) becoming carbohydrate-rich but less nutritious, due to increased carbon dioxide levels. As science fiction becomes science fact, new forms of storytelling are emerging. Raed Qutena

Friday essay: how speculative fiction gained literary respectability

Rose Michael, RMIT University

As we enter the age of the Anthropocene, there is a growing recognition of different kinds of ‘un-real’ storytelling.

Rubella has been eliminated in Australia, but it still exists in other countries. From shutterstock.com

Australia has eliminated rubella – but that doesn’t mean it can’t come back

Heather Gidding, University of Sydney; Aditi Dey, University of Sydney, and Kristine Macartney, University of Sydney

Thanks to successful vaccination programs, Australia has just been declared free of rubella. Continued vigilance is important to make sure it doesn’t come back.

Seagrass, protector of shipwrecks and buried treasure

Oscar Serrano, Edith Cowan University; Carlos M. Duarte, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; David John Gregory, National Museum of Denmark; Dorte Krause-Jensen, Aarhus University, and Eugenia Apostolaki, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research

The sediments that accumulate beneath seagrass meadows can act as secure vaults for shipwrecks and other precious artefacts, by stopping water and oxygen from damaging the delicate timbers.

The referendum is part of an ongoing reconciliation process following violent protests by indigenous Kanak residents in the 1980s. Shutterstock

Explainer: New Caledonia’s independence referendum, and how it could impact the region

Denise Fisher, Australian National University

Thirty years after deadly protests erupted in Australia’s close neighbour, New Caledonians head to the polls again to vote on whether to remain a part of France.

Voters want their governments – local, state, and federal – to clean up their act and put integrity reforms high on the agenda. AAP/Mick Tsikas

States and territories have improved integrity measures, but Commonwealth lags far behind

Danielle Wood, Grattan Institute; Carmela Chivers, Grattan Institute, and Kate Griffiths, Grattan Institute

Almost all states have improved their accountability in recent years, and are far ahead of the Commonwealth government.

Barangaroo is a development on Sydney Harbour with strong green credentials, but it’s overwhelmingly the well-off who enjoy the benefits. Brendan Esposito/AAP

Making developments green doesn’t help with inequality

Rupert Legg, University of Technology Sydney

Barangaroo is an example of a development with admirable green credentials, but it is also an exclusive precinct that has played a role in displacing the disadvantaged from this part of Sydney.

This week’s fallout from Turnbull’s Indonesian excursion has undermined Morrison on foreign policy – about which he gave his first major address on Thursday – and cast doubt on his personal credibility. Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Grattan on Friday: Now Malcolm Turnbull is the sniper at the window

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

For years Turnbull had to endure the sniping of Abbott, the man he brought down. Now Turnbull is the sniper at the window, though Morrison didn’t cause his fall (unless you buy the conspiracy theory).

Alan Soon of Splice Media is promising a million dollars to give to start-ups to transform media in Asia. Shutterstock

Media Files: What does the future newsroom look like?

Andrea Carson, The University of Melbourne and Andrew Dodd, The University of Melbourne

What does the future newsroom look like? The Conversation, CC BY52.4 MB (download)

We often hear about media companies shedding staff and revenues, but is there hope? We ask the man with a mission to launch 100 media start-ups in three years: what does the future newsroom look like?