For more than 50 years, La Trobe University has been transforming people and societies and has earned a global reputation for research that addresses the major issues of our time. With a dual emphasis on excellence and diversity, La Trobe has seven campuses across Victoria and New South Wales. Through innovations in teaching and learning, strong graduate employment outcomes and leading research, La Trobe consistently rates among the world’s best.
I recently wrote about virgin birth in hammerhead sharks where I tried to explain parthenogenesis, a process at the level of the sex cells which allows females to produce offspring without the benefit…
I was listening to Triple J on Tuesday afternoon when comedian David O’Doherty shared what he called a show stopping fact: female hammerhead sharks can produce baby hammerhead sharks without the benefit…
Fifty percent of the world’s tuna is caught in the Western and Central Pacific region. Today, a meeting in Guam will determine if this fishery will become more sustainable or continue to harm endangered…
A recent paper in Nature Geoscience has proposed that when the first simple plants moved onto land, they fundamentally changed the atmosphere by accelerating the weathering of rocks. The time: the late…
More heat than light is being generated by the resurgence of the debate on orthodox evidence-based medicine versus the so-called pseudo-science of alternative therapies. Unfortunately the voices of medical…
Michael “Mick” Malthouse is one of the most important figures in the history of Australian football. A premiership player for Richmond in 1980 he subsequently coached the then Footscray Bulldogs to a number…
Australia is taking a strong stance to protect its health and medicines policies during negotiations for the new regional trade agreement, the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). This negotiating…
Homeopathy is a combination of tradition, art and a science that has been used for centuries. Does it really matter if its effect is placebo if it makes people feel better and regain good health? And why…
The idea that universities should return to their “core business” of teaching and research has become a favourite mantra of vice chancellors. It is reinforced by increasing evaluations imposed by Canberra…
The public slanging match between two heavy-hitters of Australian business, Clive Palmer and Frank Lowy, has highlighted football’s reliance on private ownership. Private ownership is a logical model for…
How would you feel if your local GP or specialist was pocketing money from a drug company to promote its products? If your gut tells you that this falls squarely into the category of Very Bad Ideas then…
Telecommunications company Optus lost its bid to gag AFL boss, Andrew Demetriou from speaking out against its “TV Now” service, which allows customers to watch AFL or NRL broadcasts near live. Demetriou…
Rangers Football Club, the historically Protestant half of Glasgow’s “Old Firm” (the other half being the Catholic Celtic) has entered financial administration to prevent UK tax authorities installing…
Little seems to have changed inside the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). And that’s despite two years of reviews into the shortcomings of its regulatory processes and the release, late last year…
You know the feeling: your heart’s beating faster, your pupils dilate, your palms are sweaty, and you’ve got a belly-full of butterflies. You’re in love and, yes, you’re “all shook up”. The euphoria of…
La Trobe University’s Dr Jan Schapper recently completed a study into signage and writing on women’s toilets in Australia. The research, just published in the international journal, “Gender, Place and…
Belief is a powerful medicine but the term “placebo” has negative connotations. In modern evidence-based medicine, treatments considered worthless are described as no better than placebos. But this description…
Last week Reuters reported a former intern at Harper’s Bazaar is suing the magazine’s publisher, Hearst Corporation, saying her internship violated US labour laws because it was unpaid. The intern, who…
For parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the diagnostic process can be a long and stressful journey. Behavioural signs of ASD can appear around the child’s first birthday when he fails…
News that Gina Rinehart has reportedly attained a 12.8% stake in Fairfax Media (and is seeking just under 15%) is bad for the Australian media environment: it potentially puts yet another billionaire in…