Foundation Essay – A democracy needs conversations that range broadly, find space for many voices, accept new information, explore unexpected ideas, allow people to reach a judgement about the issues that…
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All human cultures and social groups that we know of respond to music and dance. The type of music may vary but the underlying, fundamental principles of making music are the same. Our recognition of…
When BHP chief Marius Kloppers returned Australia’s largest half-yearly profit for 2010, news reports described him as being ‘among the top 20 most powerful people in business worldwide.’ This tag is due…
In any criticism of a social out-group such as Muslims in Australia there is another unstated message being communicated: that those criticisms do not apply to us. To berate Muslims for intolerance, militancy…
Since the introduction of the seatbelt into motor vehicles over 40 years ago, there have been major gains in protection to occupants in automotive crashes. This progress has not been observed in the rear…
What lessons can we learn from the March 11 Japan earthquake and tsunami? Well, hindsight is a wonderful thing. We can, of course, question the wisdom of placing nuclear power plants in coastal locations…
The year began with the news that thousands of birds had fallen out of the sky in Arkansas, and 100,000 drum fish were found dead in a river nearby. Soon the media began reporting more incidents all over…
Psychosurgery’s troubled history of lobotomies and unregulated procedures has left modern psychiatry with strict regulations. But now, legislation designed to protect patients is actually denying those…
Parents, teachers and politicians have for years spoken of the importance of keeping young people in secondary school. Completing that final year has become the benchmark of attainment for students, but…
The global financial crisis reopened furious debate about many issues the finance industry once considered settled. But one area that mostly escaped scrutiny is the way universities educate finance students…
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and complicating nuclear crisis throw into sharp focus concerns about exposure to ionising radiation. What is it, how is it harmful, how much is too much? Inside…
Foundation Essay – Getting certain points across can be difficult. And yet democracies don’t function properly in the absence of broad, public discussion based on well-sourced information. Especially when…
In the last five years, European and US equity markets have been undergoing a rapid evolution as regulatory reforms and technological developments usher in new trading venues that challenge formerly monopolistic…
With the state election in NSW approaching, and the predicted demise of the reign of Labor, there is no more perfect an opportunity to reflect on the way in which law and order issues have come to characterise…
Over the past century most generations have grown a little taller than the last. Believing this growth was a result of improved nutrition and better health care, we have been proud of this greater stature…
Climate change is affecting rates of illness, disease, injury and death in Australia and elsewhere, and the risk it poses will only escalate in future. As Australians argue about carbon pricing and its…
In 2002 when I visited Santa Barbara, I went to a grocery store called Trader Joe’s. It had its own line in milk. Trader Joe’s Vitamin D Milk (Grade A, pasteurized, homogenized) had some ‘nutrition facts…
Two news items in as many months about defiance and disappointment in the ranks of the Catholic clergy in Australia suggest a profound professional crisis is unfolding within the Church. In February, the…
Successive governments in NSW, of both political persuasions, have tried to privatise electricity despite strong and consistent citizen opposition. Citizen opposition is based on the desire to maintain…
We usually don’t like tricky women. Even worse, tricky girls like the alternately cunning and naïve teenager who recently got the better of several AFL players, a player manager, and, arguably, the football…
Foundation Essay – Universities are at permanent risk of getting a bad rap.. They are too remote, too elitist, too unworldly, too expensive (especially in the US). They are ‘irrelevant’ to the needs and…
While the Japanese earthquake aftershocks will stop in a few months time, allowing Japan to recover, the shocks may prove terminal for the green nuclear renaissance. In the week since Japan was rocked…
With the political debate over climate change getting muddier, many people who used to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by buying carbon offsets are no longer doing so. The market for carbon offsets…
While the evidence for climate change continues to strengthen, public acceptance of the science keeps declining. Closing the gap could be a question of better communication. At the commencement of the…
Many public debates come down to facts – issues like “Whose costing of the Opposition’s spending plans was correct?” or “How many people died in Iraq?” Too often the media report a strident opinion from…