Osama bin Laden, the leader of global militant network al-Qaeda, has been killed in Pakistan by a small team of U.S. operatives, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday. Experts comment on the significance…
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The drastic social and demographic changes of the past few decades have radically changed traditional gender roles within the family structure in Australia. In the process, they have also changed the way…
The dancing and jubilation in the streets of Washington and New York over the death of Osama bin Laden conveys two important realities about the hunt for this terrorist figurehead: firstly that his demise…
With global warming, carbon trading and record-high petrol prices in the news, not to mention the ever-looming spectre of peak oil, we need to find an environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable…
It’s inescapable that when it rains a lot, floods occur. These events are largely beyond our control. We have to live with them, rather than live in the hope that we can eliminate them. And by using buy…
We have all heard the popular advice that we should drink at least eight glasses of water a day, so it may be a surprise that this is more myth than fact. Of course our bodies need water, otherwise we…
On Sunday, China banned smoking in public places such as restaurants, bars and other indoor spaces. But a lack of public understanding about the dangers of smoking in the nation of 300 million smokers…
Economists and physicists may seem like unlikely bedfellows, but then opposites often attract. Their union has recently produced a peculiar baby, a field of research known as “econophysics”. Physicists…
The lives of millions of people in the Arab-speaking world are changing. Often for the first time, women and men have jumped, danced, kissed strangers and sung in the streets. There is talk of dignity…
The Great Barrier Reef is worth billions to Australia’s economy and is one of the world’s most significant natural features. We have a responsibility to protect it, and our other reefs, from the warming…
Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz’s suggestion last month that the US dollar could be easily phased out as the de facto universal currency has some merit, but ultimately overlooks the political…
Lindsay Tanner, a former minister for finance in the Labor Government, today (Monday 2 May) publishes “Sideshow” in which he attacks the media for dumbing down political discussion of democracy. I spoke…
When art and science come together, the relationship tends to be uneven, and too often art becomes the unintended junior partner. As researchers working at the interface between art and science, we have…
Scientists have identified a link between a particular gene and depression, marking a potential breakthrough in ways to treat the condition in future. In a study of 15,000 people, researchers from Germany’s…
The Royal Wedding has failed to capture the imagination of the commoners. Prince William and his bride can only dream of exciting people the way Oprah Winfrey did on her state visit here last year. It…
US President Barack Obama has released the long form of his birth certificate in order to quash questions of his legitimacy as President. Business and media identity Donald Trump had been key in questioning…
It’s a cruel catch-22. Vastly improved antiviral drugs have the potential to significantly improve the lives of people with HIV. But before this can happen, they need to take a test. Trouble is, the test…
The ongoing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has caused some to question the impact of various power generation sources on our environment and lifestyles. So is there any such thing as “free…
As a Dean at Monash University, I love the Melbourne model of undergraduate education. It is one of the best things to ever happen to Monash University! The University of Melbourne, Monash’s closest competitor…
When it comes to climate change policy, what does the public really want? Politicians, pundits and more than a few academics have claimed they know what’s best for Australia. There have been a handful…
The most important factor determining whether consumers avoid purchasing a product containing palm oil is not how they feel about orangutans, the environment, or anything else for that matter. It’s whether…
It’s been a long time since a princess wore a heavenward reaching conical hat with a gauzy veil streaming from on high. Yet how we conceive of princesses today owes more to our collective cultural fantasies…
Getting research money, especially the no-strings-attached kind that government agencies give out, is difficult. Researchers spend months on each proposal with only a small chance of getting funded. Winning…
According to a recent report in the Canberra Times, Thomas Barry Moore, a former air force serviceman, has been in a persistent vegetative in a Chinese hospital for 118 days. He suffered a stroke on December…
The idea of Hamas and Fatah burying the hatchet and uniting in their struggle for Palestinian self-determination will generate many reactions amongst their people, their neighbours and those concerned…