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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.

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This Green and Golden Bell Frog is one of the few species to be successfully protected using offsets. Flickr/eyeweed

Can we offset biodiversity losses?

Megan C Evans, Australian National University and Martine Maron, The University of Queensland

Clive Palmer’s China First Coal Project is entering the last stages of review for its proposed coal mine in Queensland’s Bimblebox Nature Refuge. As part of the Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement…
Julia Gillard meets with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa at the 2011 CHOGM meeting: should Australia boycott the 2013 meeting in Sri Lanka over human rights concerns? AAP/Daniel Munoz

Sri Lanka and human rights: Australia’s CHOGM dilemma

James Jupp, Australian National University

Given its long association with the Commonwealth, it is no surprise that Sri Lanka is hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) in November this year. These biannual meetings are normally…
The Pakatan Rakyat coalition leader Anwar Ibrahim will need to form ties within Malaysia’s diverse and biased electorate system to defeat the ruling coalition in Sunday’s election. EPA/Shamshahrin Shamsudin

A tale of two coalitions: Malaysia heads to the polls

Gerhard Hoffstaedter, The University of Queensland and Gregore Pio Lopez, Australian National University

Malaysia’s general elections on Sunday (GE13) will be a battle of the coalitions, pitting the world’s most successful ruling coalition – the 13 party Barisan Nasional (BN/National Front) - against the…
Although tightly linked to each other, airlines and the aircraft manufacturing industry don’t generally seem to be heading in the same direction. Flickr/FreeFoto

One flies planes, the other makes money: the two sides of aviation

Hamza Bendemra, Australian National University

A few months ago I was invited to a small gathering organised by executives from a large international airline (one you most certainly have heard of). About a dozen of us were there and the mix was varied…
Young people have less and less electoral clout as our population ages. AAP/Marianna Massey

How Australia’s ageing population threatens our democracy

Luke Kemp, Australian National University

An ageing population is a threat to not just the Australian economy, but also our political system. In The Republic, Plato wrote: “it is for the elder man to rule and for the younger to submit”. This concept…
ANZAC Day once was a day to commemorate the sacrifices made by Australian soliders in war - but is it now being hijacked by companies with a profit motive? Australian War Memorial

Should we be consuming more than just patriotism on national days?

Andrew Hughes, Australian National University

Australian brands are increasingly looking to exploit national holidays like ANZAC Day. Given soft retail conditions, such efforts are understandable. But is it welcome? Sure, there is no law against associating…
There’s no need to temper our efforts to address the obesity epidemic just yet. Image from shutterstock.com

Monday’s medical myth: overweight people live longer

Emily Banks, Sax Institute; Grace Joshy, Australian National University, and Rosemary Korda, Australian National University

We’ve long known that too much excess weight increases your likelihood of dying prematurely. Or does it? A large review of the evidence published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA…
Media freedom in Myanmar has dramatically and rapidly improved, but is still not fully secured with repressive laws still in place. EPA/LYNN AAP

Starting the presses on Myanmar’s reform agenda

Trevor Wilson, Australian National University

A vital aspect of the historic reforms currently underway in Myanmar is the growing - and for some people unexpected - liberalisation of the media. The latest step in these changes was the appearance on…
But that’s exactly what investors are doing, says a new report. Takver/Flickr

‘Unburnable’ fossil fuels set to leave investors stranded

James Whitmore, The Conversation

Investors are continuing to pour money into fossil fuel reserves that could end up being worthless due to efforts to combat climate change, a new report has found. The Climate Tracker report found that…
The way it ends… from the mining tax to super reform and now the Gonski plan, Labor has surrendered to sectional interests. AAP/Alan Porritt

Labor’s super tax backdown hints at the party’s hollow core

John Passant, Australian National University

This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. TS Eliot, The Hollow Men The Labor government’s attack on universities to fund…
If funding for Aboriginal artists and organisations is cut, performers like The Black Arm Band will not receive adequate support. IFACCA

Indigenous cultural policy: Creative Australia or creative accounting?

Jon Altman, Australian National University

Like many others, I was pleasantly surprised by the government’s announcement last month of A$54 million in funding for Indigenous languages as part of the national cultural policy – Creative Australia…
Breast cancer activists outside the Supreme Court of the United States of America. American Civil Liberties Union

Who owns our genes? Myriad Genetics’ monopoly challenged

Matthew Rimmer, Australian National University

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States held oral hearings in a landmark case on patent law and cancer. The question before the court was whether human genes are patentable. The American Civil…
Dugongs rely on seagrass for food - damage to grass beds is a bigger threat to the species than Indigenous hunting. sandwichgirl/Flickr

Banning Indigenous hunting won’t help dugongs

Jon Altman, Australian National University and Seán Kerins, Australian National University

In the 1990s some international animal rights and environment organisations instigated a concerted campaign to stop the hunting of pilot whales by Faroese people living in the northeast Atlantic. The thousand-year-old…
Genetically engineered mice were fitted with wireless LED devices which emitted light, triggering the release of dopamine. Image from shutterstock.com

Wireless device lights up pleasure centre in brains of mice

Fron Jackson-Webb, The Conversation and Odile Gotts, The Conversation

Scientists have found a way to control the reward centre of the brain, using a miniature wireless device that emits light and causes the brain to release dopamine, the chemical associated with pleasure…
Sending secure information? You could do a lot worse than employing the RSA algorithm. Seq

The RSA algorithm (or how to send private love letters)

Adrian Dudek, Australian National University

A couple of days ago on The Conversation, I set myself up with a task: to defend the usefulness of so-called “useless” maths. Today, that defence continues, with a look at the RSA algorithm. I finished…
China’s people and politicians are keenly interested in reducing emissions: what can we learn from each other? EPA/Wu Hong

China can learn from Australia when it puts a price on carbon

Frank Jotzo, Australian National University

China’s political commitment and ambition on climate change allow it to take global leadership. Australia is well placed to provide guidance on suitable policy approaches, sharing its experiences with…
As all mathematicians know, the rift between useful and useless can change with time. Manu gomi

Your number’s up – a case for the usefulness of useless maths

Adrian Dudek, Australian National University

I once made the mistake of asking a mathematician why he devoted his whole life to maths. “Because it’s fun!” he replied wildly, his flabby cheeks beaming with childlike excitement. “Ah, of course,” I…
An infographic accompanying the report showed how different parts of Australia would be affected by global warming-induced extreme weather events. Climate Commission

Extreme weather threatens crops, cities: official report

Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation

Extreme weather caused by global warming poses a growing risk to Australia’s crop lands, cities and iconic sites like Kakadu National Park, according to a new report that calls for global emissions to…
The debate around the Keystone XL pipeline represents concern over the environmental effects of non-conventional fossil fuels. Flickr/shannonpatrick

US non-conventional fossil fuel: environmental risks

Barry Naughten, Australian National University

In the US, extraction of non-conventional fossil fuels is booming. Investment in extra-heavy and heavy oils, oil shales and sands, tight oil and gas, shale gas and coal seam gas is taking off as companies…

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