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University of Sydney

Established in 1850, the University of Sydney was Australia’s first tertiary education institution. It is committed to maximising the potential of its students, teachers and researchers for the benefit of Australia and the wider world.

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Bangladesh garment workers supplying export markets get paid 25% of the pay of workers producing goods only for their own country. Abir Abdullah/EPA

Mapping global social footprints joins the dots from rich to poor

Joy Murray, University of Sydney and Ali Alsamawi, University of Sydney

The Conversation is running a series, Class in Australia, to identify, illuminate and debate its many manifestations. Here, Joy Murray and Ali Alsamawi examine how social footprints can add to our understanding…
Modern science is no longer a solo effort. Flickr/ only_point_five

The challenge of the modern scientist is to avoid career suicide

Geraint Lewis, University of Sydney and Chris Power, The University of Western Australia

Close your eyes and picture a scientist. What do you see? Perhaps an Albert Einstein, staring intently at a blackboard covered in incomprehensible equations, or of Alexander Fleming, hunched over the laboratory…
runciman.

Democracy in Times of Crisis

John Keane, University of Sydney

With talk of democracy in crisis plentiful, especially in Europe, a smart assessment of how well democracies have fared during past crises is badly needed. This is what David Runciman’s The Confidence…
A truck carries anti-government protesters to ministry offices in a bid to shut them down. A similar protest at Government House last week resulted in several deaths. EPA/Rungroj Yongrit

Neros fiddle while Thailand’s slow burn threatens to flare

Gavan Butler, University of Sydney

I walk from my apartment of a morning along a small street, on which local police supposedly provide protection but are not to be seen. The street enters a main road leading to the largest rally site in…
A nod to the failed opening of the fifth ring in the opening ceremony featured in the closing ceremony … but the underlying cultural aspects are fascinating. ifindkarma/Flickr (cropped)

Sochi’s closing ceremony: the art, the circus and the spectacle

Helen Grace, University of Sydney

Tasked with winding down the over-exuberance of the build-up, Olympics closing ceremonies always have an anti-climactic tone. Terrorists from the Caucasus failed to disrupt the Sochi event, and the most…
Proximity to wind farms may cause annoyance but not ill health. Image from shutterstock.com

Study finds no evidence wind turbines make you sick – again

Simon Chapman, University of Sydney

There is no reliable or consistent evidence that proximity to wind farms or wind farm noise directly causes health effects. That’s the finding of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC…
Unsimulated sex often breaks the natural flow of fiction, disrupting our enjoyment. Magnolia Pictures/ Christian Geisnaes

Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac and the oddity of real sex on screen

Aleks Wansbrough, University of Sydney

According to the American actor Shia LaBeouf, instead of having an audition for Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, he was asked to email a photograph of his penis. While Labeouf supposedly leapt at the opportunity…
Sochi’s bear mascot sheds a tear as the most expensive Winter Olympic Games come to a close. marcus_and_sue/Flickr (cropped)

The curtain drops on Sochi – and Fisht stadium is protest-free

Catriona Elder, University of Sydney

The Closing Ceremony for the 2014 Sochi Olympics went off without a hitch last night. Again the theatrical extravaganza was mesmerising and some of the dazzle matched the earlier ceremony, but the finale…
A dingo in the wild. Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre

Want dingoes to leave people alone? Cut the junk food

Thomas Newsome, University of Sydney; Chris Dickman, University of Sydney; Guy Ballard, University of New England; Mathew Crowther, University of Sydney, and Peter Fleming, University of New England

Dingoes are back in the news, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott raising concerns on ABC radio last week about dingoes in drought-hit areas of Queensland and New South Wales: I’d learnt some years ago on…
Everyone has a dream home, but for many it remains a dream. www.shutterstock.com

Living on The Block and other housing fantasies

Nicole Gurran, University of Sydney and Peter Phibbs, University of Sydney

It’s ironic that fantasy home shows are the latest genre in reality TV, at a time when affordable housing is the real fantasy for many. The format is strangely addictive – photogenic twenty somethings…
Out, then in, then out again: Greens Senator Scott Ludlam was returned in a recount, but says the court made the ‘right call’ because voters were disenfranchised when votes went missing. AAP/Alan Porritt

Missing votes mean it’s back to the polls for Western Australia

Anne Twomey, University of Sydney

Although the Court of Disputed Returns has not yet formally declared that Western Australia’s half-Senate election was void, Justice Hayne’s judgment has made it clear that this is the necessary, or as…
Assistant Minister for Health Fiona Nash’s chief of staff has had to resign because of conflicts of interest. Alan Porritt/AAP

Should the food industry resign from the health department too?

Christopher Mayes, University of Sydney

Furore over links between Assistant Minister for Health Fiona Nash’s office and industry continues today with revelations that her former chief of staff is connected to the alcohol, as well as the food…
Education minister Christopher Pyne’s national curriculum review has the potential to erase the realities and lives of LGBT people and the discrimination they face from our classrooms. AAP/Stefan Postles

Australian schools must promote LGBT-inclusive education

Jen Scott Curwood, University of Sydney and Jacqueline Ullman, Western Sydney University

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Kevin Donnelly, one of the men tasked with reviewing Australia’s national curriculum, had argued in a 2004 book that “many parents” think the “sexual practices…
In 2008, Chinese baby formula and milk products were tainted with melamine, killing six babies and hospitalising many more. EPA/Wu Hong

SPC Ardmona’s bailout is crucial given China’s food safety record

Christopher G. Baker, University of Sydney

SPC Ardmona’s $22 million lifeline from the Victorian government seems to have saved Australia’s largest food packaging company. Yet the firm’s recent tribulations are a reminder of why I regularly choose…
Galaxies of every shape and size. NASA/ESA/S. Beckwith(STScI) and The HUDF Team

The measure of the universe through Doppler lensing

Krzysztof Bolejko, University of Sydney

There are so many galaxies in the universe that if you point a telescope in any direction in the night’s sky you are bound to see some. Just look at the image (above) of the sky as provided by the Hubble…
Bariatric surgery is the last-line option for weight loss. Chris J/FLickr

Explainer: the risks and benefits of bariatric surgery

Tania Markovic, University of Sydney

You don’t need an expert to tell you obesity has become a major health problem worldwide. The World Health Organisation estimates 35% of the world’s adults are overweight and 11% obese, double the rate…
The oldest star is out there somewhere. But which one is it? www.shutterstock.com

The oldest star in the universe? Maybe, maybe not!

Geraint Lewis, University of Sydney

There is a myth that goldfish have a three-second memory, and I sometimes wonder if the same is true about the part of the human mind that deals with science in the news. This week, the international media…
A better grounding in mathematics is needed for a career in science. Shutterstock

A lack of maths just doesn’t add up for a career in science

Trevor Hambley, University of Sydney

Our future in science, technology and engineering relies on a foundation and understanding of mathematics. And while it is pleasing to see a growth in interest in our advanced mathematics course at the…
Health consumers don’t necessarily use the internet to bypass their GP, they use it as an additional source of information. Flickr/Chelsea Louise

Don’t panic! Healthy consumers look online for medical advice

Sophie Lewis, University of Sydney; Karen Willis, University of Sydney, and Marika Franklin, University of Sydney

We’ve all heard the warnings against googling your symptoms in search of a diagnosis: you’ll uncover a range of daunting illnesses and launch into panic-mode over something like a measly cold. There is…
The link between manufacturing cars and developing technology has been fundamental in Australia. AAP

Losing the car industry means we risk our technology

Phillip Toner, University of Sydney

As I’ve argued before and it’s generally accepted, the car industry is a critical part of Australia’s science and technology base. The sector spends A$600 million a year on R&D and another $800 million…

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