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A few weeks ago, my children came home from school to announce they were raising money for World Vision’s 40-hour famine. Naturally, I applauded them and we hopped on the internet to learn about the tragedy…
Why do females cheat on their partners? A new study of songbirds in the US – published today – suggests cheating females are more successful in the long-run and get more grandchildren. Why? Because the…
Before she died in September 2007 of melanoma attributed to solarium tanning sessions, 26-year-old Clare Oliver waged a public campaign from her hospital bed to raise awareness of the risks of using sunbeds…
Long before Elle Macpherson staked her claim to the title, indeed by the end of the 1890s, Australia had inadvertently exported a model to the northern hemisphere that has become internationally famous…
With 87% of the Australian population living in urban areas, Australia is considered a highly urbanised country. Feeding all these people is becoming more fraught, but city buildings could be part of the…
The time has come to abolish university examinations. Just because something has been around a long time there’s no reason to assume it’s outdated. But in the case of exams that assumption would be right…
Welcome to If I had a blank cheque I’d … a new series in which leading researchers reveal what they could do in their discipline if money were no object. Today we hear from Malcolm Walter, professor of…
Food policy experts hoping for tangible outcomes to address an escalating food crisis among developing countries have been disappointed by the outcomes of last week’s first-ever meeting of G20 agriculture…
Infidelity between sexual partners is ubiquitous – almost as prevalent as the tight and long-lasting social bonds that couples form. But thanks to a recent German study of Australian zebra finches, a cheating…
I am fortunate to have recently returned from a holiday in France. While there I couldn’t help noticing the much lower price of many foods. Croissants and brioches retail for around $1.35 (1 euro) or less…
Sex is often viewed as a totally harmonious interaction between a male and female with the same innate goal – to produce offspring. But it is becoming increasingly clear to biologists that the reproductive…
Every night under cover of darkness an advancing wall of toads heads west. Rather than winding through the bush, the toads march straight down the highway, ignoring the official border signs. Meanwhile…
Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland has said that Australia needs to rethink its natural disaster policies if it wants to reduce disaster costs in the future and avoid becoming the insurer of last…
How does gender affect the way people perceive Julia Gillard’s communication style? Australians’ responses to Julia Gillard seem complex and ambiguous, embodying the contradictions involved in how women…
Australian republicans should watch the Scots. In the Scottish Parliamentary election held on 5 May, the Scottish National Party (SNP) secured an overall majority. Formerly in minority government in Scotland…
Australia possesses an advanced digital economy which remains shackled to a media regulation system that belongs to the past century. Our laws reflect an era when media consumption was dominated by the…
The Royal Wedding has failed to capture the imagination of the commoners. Prince William and his bride can only dream of exciting people the way Oprah Winfrey did on her state visit here last year. It…
So far there have been three Intergenerational Reports by Treasury examining the challenges of an ageing population which have consistently been used to justify new policies to address a potential ageing…
Every year since the early 1990s, thousands of visitors have invaded the Gallipoli battlefield. The rise of this sad, starkly beautiful and melancholy place as a tourist destination is of course related…
In a recent speech presented at the Sydney Institute, Julia Gillard reaffirmed her commitment to welfare reform aimed at full employment. This was justified not by the need for the government to cut its…
Research Director, Australian Microplastic Assessment Project (AUSMAP); Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University