Established in 1850, the University of Sydney was Australia’s first tertiary education institution. It is committed to maximising the potential of its students, teachers and researchers for the benefit of Australia and the wider world.
The fanfare around Health Minister Nicola Roxon’s announcement yesterday that the government would fund 13 new medicines on the PBS is a reminder of the power and influence involved in the selection and…
Some 3.8 billion years ago a star in the constellation of Draco wandered a little too close to a nearby black hole. The star was violently torn apart by the black hole’s tidal forces, creating two massive…
We welcome the move by the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) of the Stockholm Convention to eliminate the insecticide endosulfan from the global market, although some exemptions have…
It’s normal to feel down in the dumps from time to time, so drawing a line between low moods and mental illness is understandably fraught. But are health professionals treating normal sadness as a clinical…
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” These words, the Biblical creation of the universe, are quite…
Those debating Australia’s future, and its immigration policy would do well to consider a lesson from the past. Anybody can establish a successful state, the real difficulty is maintaining its success…
Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s visit to Canberra earlier this week didn’t prove particularly effective in swaying the government on its freshly drafted mineral resources rent tax (MRRT) legislation. But the…
It’s easy for the tourists thrilled by the beauty of the Pacific Islands to miss the flourishing squatter settlements just away from their resorts and buzzing nightlife. Many of the friendly islanders…
The rapid development of genetic science and technology holds hope for greatly improved health outcomes, with better diagnostics, treatments and cures, as well as the beginning of pharmacogenomics and…
Let’s get serious, Senator Faulkner, the problem is the process of candidate selection. John Faulkner’s excellent speech last night describes a process of ALP decline that has been underway for most of…
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is currently in Australia yet Prime Minister Julia Gillard has refused to confirm whether she will meet him or not. Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Greens…
Despite high vaccination rates, Australia and other developed countries periodically have small outbreaks of measles, as seen in the recent scares in Victoria and New South Wales. Until about 40 years…
Predicting the future is a mug’s game. When I reflect back on what we thought we knew at the start of my research career in the mid-1990s, I sound like a wizened octogenarian, recalling a simpler time…
The news that NBN Co has found a way to move forward from the crucial cost-of-construction issue must have surely lifted the Gillard Government’s spirits. NBN Co, the government-owned corporation in charge…
Welcome to “In Conversation”, the first in a series of discussions between leading academics and major public figures in Australian life. Today Politics Professor John Keane is in conversation with Senator…
Speak to any teacher who has worked in a school with a high level of social disadvantage and you’ll find plenty of concern about the links between educational failure and long-term social exclusion. Teachers…
Last week, scientists set a new distance record, seeing a burst of gamma-rays from a star that exploded when the universe was only 520 million years old. The light from this distant source has been travelling…
There are several myths regarding what constitutes “porn addiction”. Some argue that, like alcohol problems, porn addiction is a disease. Once trapped, the consumer of porn will hit rock bottom with no…
Today the Gillard Government released an independent assessment of Australia’s management of vaccine adverse events. Commissioned by the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing, Catherine King, the…
In questioning the fundamental nature of the universe, cosmology regularly grabs the public’s attention. But in an era in which we are observing deeper and more widely than ever before, our knowledge of…