ANU was established, in 1946, to advance the cause of learning and research for the nation. It is consistently ranked among the world’s best universities and many ANU graduates go on to become leaders in government, industry, research and academia.
Chimpanzees are able to understand the objectives of their companions, but will only help them when asked to do so, a study into the cognitive behaviour of the primates has found. Some studies have shown…
One of the more interesting techniques emerging from the United States Republican Nomination Primary Contest has been the strategy being used in television advertising by some candidates, in particular…
A recent cartoon (below) extrapolates the use of the word “sustainable”. It predicts that in 50 years each sentence will on average contain the word at least once. The cartoon is clever, and “sustainable…
“Finish your dinner or there’ll be no dessert for you!” – it’s a cry heard at dinner tables around the world, as mothers battle to convince their sons about the importance of eating properly. Sorry lads…
Australia’s Biodiversity Fund was announced in July 2011 as part of the “Clean Energy Future” package. We welcome the expenditure of almost a billion dollars over the next six years on biodiversity conservation…
On Friday, the Wall Street Journal published a letter from “16 concerned scientists”, telling the world we don’t need to worry so much about climate change. Unsurprisingly, the opinion piece has been picked…
Over the Christmas period, a short Bill was introduced into the US House of Representatives. The Research Works Act aims to make it illegal to require researchers to make their work publicly available…
Brazil has just passed the United Kingdom to become the sixth-largest economy in the world. Only a decade ago such news would have been written off as just another version of the old joke, “Brazil is the…
Everyone is looking at Antarctica right now: attention at last! The 100th anniversary of Douglas Mawson’s landing at Commonwealth Bay in Antarctica arrived and passed without the promised celebration…
Last December’s meeting of the American Geophysical Union featured three of the world’s leading climate scientists: James Hansen (NASA’s chief climate scientist), Elco Rohling (National Oceanography Centre…
In 2011 Minister for Defence Stephen Smith announced a review on the Sustainment of Australia’s Collins Class submarines. The review is led by John Coles, an independent expert from BMT Defence Services…
In a landmark development, Aung San Suu Kyi recently confirmed she would run in by-elections to be held in Burma on April 1, 2012. Until now, Suu Kyi has not been allowed to stand for election. When the…
The stuff of romance novels or a secret tool to give you a boost in the bedroom? We start the year by examining the truth about oysters. Holly gazed around in awe. Rory had brought her to a tiny waterfront…
Here’s a scene that might be familiar: it’s an invitingly sunny day yet, infuriatingly, the kids remain sprawled, skinny and listless, on the couch. They’re peering into tiny Nintendo machines and every…
Two studies, one carried out in the Netherlands by Ron Fouchier and the other in Japan by Yoshihiro Kawaoka, are causing controversy over the creation of a new strain of H5N1 Avian Influenza or “bird flu…
Australia’s forest conflict gets easier to solve as every day passes. In reality, the conflict will solve itself if the government can just resist reviving the environmentally and economically inferior…
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: Amongst the general brouhaha of the Durban Climate Change Conference, progress of sorts on REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, plus measures…
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: One of the main achievements of the Durban climate change conference was establishing the Green Climate Fund. This is expected to channel a fair amount of the US$100 billion…
Last weekend, an overcrowded fishing boat sank off the coast of Indonesia with more than 200 asylum seekers on board. In Australia, the political blame game started soon after with both sides trying to…
Recently, Jenny Corbett, Executive Director of the Australia-Japan Research School at ANU, sat down with Tatsuo Hatta, Professor Emeritus at Osaka University and a former President of the Japanese Economic…