Menu Close
The Conversation

Australian National University

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.

Links

Displaying 3001 - 3020 of 3740 articles
Kaetlyn Osmond of Canada had to undergo an unannounced doping test hours before performing. Ivan Sekretarev/AP

A drug-free Olympics could be Sochi’s antidote to a bad image

Vanessa McDermott, Australian National University

Since anti-doping tests were introduced at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics there have only been 20 positive drug tests in Winter Olympic competition. Compared to the Summer Olympics, which has more athletes…
Electricity – just one bright idea to stem from physics. Flickr/JonathanCohen

Physics: a fundamental force for future security

Michelle Simmons, UNSW Sydney

AUSTRALIA 2025: How will science address the challenges of the future? In collaboration with Australia’s chief scientist Ian Chubb, we’re asking how each science discipline will contribute to Australia…
Sound familiar? Tasmanian Liberal leader Will Hodgman says the election is ‘the most important in a generation’, a claim symptomatic of the recycling of political narratives. AAP/David Beniuk

Campaign, rinse, repeat: why voters have heard it all before

Jennifer Rayner, Australian National University

South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria are heading to the polls this year to pick their next state governments. All indications are that these campaigns will have more than a dash of déjà vu about them…
Should companies with large cash reserves buy back shares from investors? It’s not that simple. EPA/Gino Domenico

Explainer: are share buybacks good for investors?

Geoff Warren, Australian National University

Only a few hours after announcing he had purchased nearly US$2.5 billion of Apple shares, investor Carl Icahn was demanding the company buy back US$150 billion of its own shares. Now the company has done…
An explosion in the universe (artist’s impression). www.shutterstock.com

The oldest star discovery tells much about the early universe

Stefan Keller, Australian National University

The discovery of an ancient star formed approximately 13.6-billion years ago just after the Big Bang is telling us much about the early universe. The star – designated SMSS J031300.36-670839.3 – lies within…
It is easy – and inaccurate – to suggest that Aboriginal gambling is just one more problem associated with remote Indigenous communities that needs to be fixed. Martin Young

Aboriginal gambling: a question of addiction or resource redistribution?

Martin Young, Southern Cross University; Bruce Doran, Australian National University, and Francis Markham, Australian National University

“Aboriginal gambling” has become something of a hot-button issue in recent years. A number of academic research articles have documented the “risk factors” for Aboriginal people that increase their likelihood…
Very little is known about the impact of gambling in regional and remote places in Australia, such as Alice Springs. Bruce Doran

A big deal? The far-reaching impacts of a remote casino

Bruce Doran, Australian National University; Francis Markham, Australian National University, and Martin Young, Southern Cross University

Although Australia is often portrayed as a nation of gamblers, we still know relatively little about the extent to which gambling affects our society. One blind spot in our knowledge is the impact of gambling…
The Amazon contains half of the world’s tropical rainforests. CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture/Flickr

Drying Amazon threatens to increase carbon emissions

James Whitmore, The Conversation

Drought in the Amazon increases the release of carbon into the atmosphere, according to research published today in Nature. The Amazon plays a key role in the Earth’s climate system, thanks to the extent…
Australia made a generous contribution to the relief effort in the Philippines, but has significantly reduced humanitarian and emergency response funding for 2013-14. DFAT

Australia’s foreign aid program: a post-surgical stocktake

Robin Davies, Australian National University

The Coalition government’s changes to Australia’s foreign aid budget for 2013-14 were finally confirmed in January by means of a rudimentary spreadsheet. This showed A$650 million in cuts at the level…
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim warns investors not to ignore climate risks. EPA/Chris Kleponis

Fossil fuel campaigners win support from unexpected places

Tom Swann, Australian National University and Richard Denniss, Australian National University

If you haven’t heard about the growing campaign for fossil fuel divestment, and what it means for both your retirement funds and for the global economy, it’s time to pay attention - because now even the…
Australia’s economic position remains uncertain, which may prompt the Reserve Bank to hold interest rates. AAP

Waiting game on economy means RBA should hold

Timo Henckel, Australian National University

Without a clear direction of where the Australian economy is heading, the consensus to keep the cash rate at its current level of 2.5% remains strong. Uncertainties surrounding the domestic and foreign…
Tertiary music education is currently in a state of crisis. AAP Image/Paul Miller

It’s time for tertiary music education to change its tune

Peter Tregear, Australian National University

A broad crisis of confidence has, it seems, beset tertiary music education in Australia. Since returning from Europe in 2006, I have witnessed turmoil of often existential proportions erupt in several…
After federal and state tensions between Labor and Greens, it’s unlikely that we’ll again see a formal alliance between the two parties any time soon. AAP/Alan Porritt

Labor and the Greens: on again, off again, never again?

Shaun Crowe, Australian National University

When sitting down to dinner late last month, Tasmanian voters were given the clearest insight yet into the shape of their island’s Labor-Greens relations. In a remarkably blunt piece of campaigning ahead…
Rather than axing the Australia Network, the government should rethink our soft diplomacy strategy in spreading Australia’s message to countries such as Indonesia. EPA/Adi Weda

Lost in transmission: the Australia Network, soft power and diplomacy

Susan Harris Rimmer, Australian National University and Benjamin Day, Australian National University

According to reports, the Abbott government is considering scrapping the ABC’s Australia Network in the May budget to save money, ending its role in “soft diplomacy” efforts in the Asia-Pacific region…
Heat represents a classic public health issue requiring committed government action to prevent deaths. Flickr/kittykatfish

How can we avoid future ‘epidemics’ of heat deaths?

Liz Hanna, Australian National University

Heatwaves are returning to southern parts of Australia. Temperatures in Hobart reached 38.7C on Monday, Adelaide has another run of 40C-plus days looming, and Melbourne is facing a weekend high of 41C…
Why do tropical areas produce so many species, such as this grey long tailed macaque? Michelle Foong

Out of the tropics: study finds source of mammal diversity

Ella Kelly, The Conversation

Picture a tropical rainforest, with thousands of species per hectare, and it’s quite easy to believe that up to three quarters of all plant and animal species are found in the tropics. But what makes the…
Davos provides a fertile meeting ground for the influential and high profile. AAP

Brian Schmidt: my five days in Davos

Brian Schmidt, Australian National University

As my wife and I arrived in Davos on the train for the World Economic Forum, We had a feeling of déjà vu not unlike arriving at Harvard for graduate school – we sort of didn’t belong and we sort of did…
Moving some sole parents onto the lower Newstart payments has pushed up the numbers. Alan Porritt/AAPIMAGE

Is ‘unsustainable’ welfare growth really being driven by Newstart?

Peter Whiteford, Australian National University

Social services minister Kevin Andrews has targeted the Disability Support Pension and Newstart, the main payment for the unemployed, for reform, branding the current level of welfare as unsustainable…
Some insurers are testing opportunities to expand their involvement in primary care. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Balancing public and private as health insurers move into primary care

Robert Wells, Australian National University

Prompted by the government’s Commission of Audit, health policy analysts have spent the first weeks of the year vigorously debating ways to rein in Australia’s rising health budget and to make the system…

Authors

More Authors