Trust Me, I’m An Expert: how Syrian refugees are using exercise to improve mental health
The Conversation40,1 MB(download)
Last year, two researchers flew to Gaziantep in southern Turkey, where about one in four people are Syrian refugees, to explore how exercise might help improve mental health.
Tony Abbott launches Pauline Hanson’s book at Parliament House in Canberra.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Tony Abbott’s supporters are derided as delusional conservatives, but they have immense political impact and are determined to bring down Malcolm Turnbull.
Evidence isn’t always as straightforward as it might first seem.
Mai Lam/The Conversation NY-BD-CC
Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation e Madeleine De Gabriele, The Conversation
Brain-zapping, the curious case of the n-rays and other stories of evidence
The Conversation, CC BY70,4 MB(download)
You've had an x-ray before but have you had an n-ray? Of course not, because they're not real. But people used to think they were. Today, on Trust Me, I'm an Expert, we're bringing you stories on the theme of evidence.
The Loch Ness Monster and other folk tales might not be pure fiction, but actually based on memories of events our ancestors once observed.
Shutterstock
Essays On Air: Monsters in my closet - how a geographer began mining myths
So you think the Loch Ness Monster never existed? Think again. Traditional myths from our ancestors might actually reveal important clues about the geological history of the world.
Economist, author and MP Andrew Leigh spoke to Fiona Fidler about how we should be using randomised trials more to drive decisions and policy in public life.
The personal is now commercial – beauty, fashion and feminism
The Conversation22,2 MB(download)
Sometimes I want to cheer online publications that combine politics, fashion and beauty for the way they are mainstreaming feminism. On closer inspection, though, it has produced some odd results.
Pain lets us know when there is something wrong, but sometimes our brains can trick us.
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Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation; Sasha Petrova, The Conversation; Sophie Heizer, The Conversation e Benjamin Ansell, The Conversation
Trust Me I’m An Expert: The science of pain
The Conversation58,7 MB(download)
Our podcast Trust Me, I'm An Expert, goes beyond the headlines and asks researchers to explain the evidence on issues making news. Today, we're talking pain and what science says about managing it.
In July 2017, new research was published that pushed the opening chapters of Australian history back to 65,000 years ago.
Marcella Cheng/The Conversation
When did Australia’s human history begin?
The Conversation, CC BY16,6 MB(download)
Today's episode of Essays On Air, the audio version of our Friday essay series, seeks to move beyond the view of ancient Australia as a timeless and traditional foundation story.
Fairy tales are extremely moral in their demarcation between good and evil, right and wrong.
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Why grown-ups still need fairy tales
The Conversation, CC BY22,8 MB(download)
We consciously and unconsciously tell fairy tales today, despite advances in logic and science. It’s as if there is something ingrained in us that compels us to see the world through this lens.
From the initial avalanche of mail triggered by Germaine Greer’s book The Female Eunuch grew a collection of 50 years of letters, emails, faxes, telegrams and newsletters.
Marcella Cheng/The Conversation NY-BD-CC
Essays On Air: Reading Germaine Greer’s mail
The Conversation24,4 MB(download)
The Germaine Greer Archive offers a powerful, often amusing, sometimes perplexing glimpse into the lives of people affected by her work, as well as the many faces of Greer herself.
There are ways we can stay cool in a heat wave without blasting air con at peak times.
AAP Image/TRACEY NEARMY
The urban heat island and summertime blackouts
The Conversation25,6 MB(download)
Today, we're asking why some of the most disadvantaged parts of our cities cop the worst of a heatwave and how you -- yes, you! -- can do your bit to reduce the risk of a summer time blackout.
The much heralded ‘death of the book’ has nothing to do with the death of reading or writing. It is about a radical transformation in reading practices.
Marcella Cheng/NY-CC-BD
Essays On Air: Why libraries can and must change
The Conversation, CC BY23,3 MB(download)
The much heralded 'death of the book' has nothing to do with the death of reading or writing. It's about a radical transformation in reading practices, as explained in this episode of Essays On Air.
Ongoing controversy around wild horses in Australia encompasses debate about their impact and their cultural meaning, argues Michael Adams.
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The cultural meanings of wild horses
The Conversation18,6 MB(download)
Today's episode of Essays On Air explores how humans have related to horses over time and across the world, and asks: is it time to rethink how we 'manage' brumbies in the wild?
Our first episode is from Paul Salmond, an expert on the Classics and Ancient History at La Trobe University, reading his essay ‘Journeys to the underworld – Greek myth, film and American anxiety’.
Wes Mountain CC-BY-ND
The Conversation is launching a new podcast, Essays On Air. It's the audio version of our Friday essays, where we bring you the best and most beautiful writing from Australian researchers.
A time of change is upon us. How do you balance risk and reward?
REUTERS/Laurent Dubrule
This month, we're talking risk. Three experts give their perspective on how long you might live, how to deal with loneliness – and how to step outside your comfort zone.
Social researcher Hugh Mackay and The Conversation’s FactCheck Editor Lucinda Beaman.
Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation e Lucinda Beaman, The Conversation
Speaking with: Hugh Mackay on 2017, ‘a really disturbing year’
CC BY-ND81,5 MB(download)
Author and social researcher Hugh Mackay says fragmentation was among the key themes of 2017 – but he has some concrete suggestions on how we can do better in 2018.