Using language to make the world of fossil fuels strange and ugly

By Matthew Hoffmann

They werent getting it. I had a room full of bright first-year university students in front of me, but confusion reigned as I tried to describe how embedded fossil fuels are in every aspect of society. OK, lets try...

Is it safe to drink alcohol while breastfeeding?

By Stephanie Liu Et Al

Is it safe to drink alcohol and breastfeed? As physicians, we have always cautioned patients not to. As mothers, we look forward to the occasional glass of wine. We also know that drinking while breastfeeding remains a...

Moon landing anniversary: One small step for man...a giant leap for space robots

By Robin Chhabra

Apollo 11s successful mission 50 years ago was the turning point in the space industry. It is comparable to the Wright brothers flight in 1903 that marked the beginning of the aviation industry and James Watts invention of...

Cartel kingpin El Chapo is jailed for life, but the US-Mexico drug trade is booming

By Luis Gómez Romero

The infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera aka El Chapo has been sentenced to life plus an additional 30 years for drug trafficking, conspiracy, money laundering and weapons charges,...

Adapting cities to a hotter world: 3 essential reads

By Jennifer Weeks

Heat waves can be deadly, especially when they combine high temperatures with elevated humidity levels that make the air feel even hotter. The impacts can be especially strong in cities, which often are several degrees...

Heat stroke: A doctor offers tips to stay safe as temperatures soar

By Gabriel Neal

I easily remember laughing at Wile E. Coyote trying to catch the Road Runner while watching Saturday morning cartoons as a child. I can still see the Coyote walking slowly through the sweltering desert, sun high in the...

Domestic abuse or genuine relationship? Our welfare system can't tell

By Lyndal Sleep

In Australias social security laws, the couple rule is used to determine if a person is in a relationship, tying access to Centrelink payments to the income and assets of their partner. For victims of domestic violence,...

Friday essay: why old is new again - the mid-century homes made famous by Don's Party and Dame Edna

By Kirsty Volz

Of all the mantras for modernism, the one I think most befitting for Australian mid-century modern houses is Lesprit Nouveau The New Spirit. These houses represented more than style; they reflected a new Australian spirit...

How public libraries can help prepare us for the future

By Matthew Finch

For generations, libraries have helped people explore knowledge, information and culture. The invention of the public library meant more and more people got to use these collections and services. In the digital age, a...

How our obsession with performance is changing our sense of self

By Ben Walker Et Al

We live in a society obsessed with performance. For both young and old, competitions, awards and rankings are an inescapable feature of life. How well we do in the classroom, at work, on the sports field or even in...

No-deal Brexit: does latest parliamentary vote make it less likely?

By Chris Stafford

MPs voted on July 18 to back an attempt to stop the UK government from shutting down parliament to push through a no-deal Brexit in late October. Four cabinet ministers abstained and 17 Conservative MPs rebelled over...

South Africa's state owned companies: a complex history that's seldom told

By Nancy L Clark

The problems of South Africas state owned enterprises are in the headlines every day. Yet many have existed for over 80 years. Why were they established in the first place and how have they survived this long? Their...

HIV in Kenya: high risk groups aren't getting the attention they need

By Makobu Kimani

Efforts to manage the HIV epidemic in much of sub-Saharan Africa need to specifically target sections of the population that are most vulnerable to HIV infection. Two such key populations include men who have sex with men...

South Africa's carbon tax matters -- for the economy and tackling climate change

By Mmatlou Kalaba Et Al

Carbon tax is likely to be an effective way of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, which lead to climate change and have negative consequences for human life. But the carbon tax thats been introduced in South Africa could...

China is building a global coalition of human rights violators to defend its record in Xinjiang – what is its endgame?

By Abbas Faiz

A letter signed in early July by 22 Western countries, including the UK, Australia, Canada and France, raised serious concerns to UN officials about Chinas incarceration of Uyghur people in so-called education camps in the...

How women and the moon intertwine in literature

By Sara Read Et Al

In the late 17th century, the female English playwright Aphra Behn wrote a smash hit play about a man obsessed with the moon, who was constantly travelling there in his imagination. Exactly 282 years later, Neil Armstrong...

Doctors as border police: what happened to 'first, do no harm'?

By Anita Berlin Et Al

Building trust and acting in the patients best interests are guiding principles of medical practice. This is especially true when caring for vulnerable and marginalised people, such as undocumented migrants. They often...

Betting on speculative geoengineering may risk an escalating ‘climate debt crisis’

By Shinichiro Asayama Et Al

The opening of the Oscar-winning film The Big Short, a comedy-drama on the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, begins with a famous quote: It aint what you dont know that gets you into trouble. Its what you know for sure...

Why the federal government isn't prosecuting the officer who killed Eric Garner

By Caren Morrison

The Justice Department wont file federal charges against the New York City police officer responsible for the death of Eric Garner. With the statute of limitations having run out, the case, legally, is closed. The...

Washington state's big bet on 'free college'

By William Zumeta

Washington state doesnt have a problem finding educated people to work in its booming high-tech economy its just most of those people come from out of state. This is why Washington enacted the landmark Workforce...

The debt ceiling and why we should kill it: 5 questions answered

By Steven Pressman

Editors note: The U.S. government maxed out its national credit card in March and has been moving money around ever since to avoid running out of cash. Very soon the Treasury Department will reach the limits of this...

How the Volkswagen Beetle sparked America's art car movement

By John A. Heitmann

With a mariachi band playing along, the last Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line of a Mexican factory on July 10. Originally created in Germany at the behest of Adolf Hitler, the Beetle ended up being...

Home birth may start babies off with health-promoting microbes

By Joan Combellick

For all of human history, babies have been born where their mothers lived whether in a house, hut or cave. Only in the last century has birth moved out of the home and into the hospital. How has that changed the types of...

How big is the Moon? Let me compare ...

By Jonti Horner

Even though we can see the Moon shining brightly in the night sky and sometimes in daylight its hard to put into perspective just how large, and just how distant, our nearest neighbour actually is. So just how big is...

The profile of festival drug takers might be different to what you expect

By Monica Barratt Et Al

A NSW Coronial Inquest investigating a series of drug-related deaths at Australian music festivals has heard evidence of festival goers taking multiple concurrent doses of MDMA to avoid police detection and not receiving...

Dog owners could take the lead on dingo conservation with a 'Fido fund'

By Neil R Jordan Et Al

Humans and dogs go way back. From wolf totems to the big bad wolf of fact and fairy tale, through sheepdogs, lap dogs, and labradoodles, our relationships with these animals are complex, emotionally charged and sometimes...

Is your child addicted to screens? Here's what you can do about it

By Jackson A. Smith Et Al

Lukes parents gave him a cell phone last year for his 10th birthday. Since then, the amount of time he spends playing video games on and off his phone has increased. Luke has gained weight and recently started refusing...

Standoffs at sea highlight the shameful criminalization of rescuing migrants

By Michael Gordon2

After being denied a safe harbour, the German humanitarian rescue vessel Sea-Watch 3 recently entered into Italian territorial waters following a lengthy standoff with Italian authorities. The captain of the ship,...

Why Japanese-Americans received reparations and African-Americans are still waiting

By Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann

In June, the United States House of Representatives held a debate about reparations to African-Americans. One of the questions in this discussion is why Japanese-Americans received reparations for their internment by the...

Mathematics is about wonder, creativity and fun, so let's teach it that way

By Peter Taylor1

Alice in Wonderland enthusiasts recently celebrated the storys anniversary with creative events like playing with puzzles and time and future Alice exhibits are in the works. The original 1865 childrens book Alices...

When an artist looks at a chemical element, what do they see?

By Mark Blaskovich Et Al

Artistic depictions of several chemical elements feature in a new exhibition from today as part of Australias celebrations for the International Year of the Periodic Table. They are the work of artists Damon Kowarsky...

Pink passion: rosé on the rise as millennials dictate new wine codes

By Richard C. Delerins

Every July in New York City, thousands of partygoers gather on the lawns of Randalls Island Park for a huge Pinknic. A regular event since 2016, the two-day festival brings together foodies, musicians, chefs and more, all...

Trump wasn't the first president to confront the Supreme Court – and back down

By Bethany Berger

A key presidential election is approaching. The U.S. Supreme Court hears a case with powerful political implications. The court rules, but the populist president doesnt care. Our national commitments to the Constitution,...

Barbudans are resisting 'disaster capitalism', two years after Hurricane Irma

By Gemma Sou

Its been nearly two years since Hurricane Irma devastated the tiny Caribbean island of Barbuda. Gusts of 150mph or more damaged or destroyed almost every structure on the island, and its 1,600 residents were evacuated....

The army is being used to fight Cape Town's gangs. Why it's a bad idea

By Lindy Heinecken

Following the latest spate of murders on the notorious Cape Flats in the Cape Town, the South African government has decided to send in the army. The move has been welcomed by many who want to see an end to the rampant...

The internet is surprisingly fragile, crashes thousands of times a year, and no one is making it stronger

By Vasileios Giotsas

How could a small internet service provider (ISP) in Pennsylvania cause millions of websites worldwide to go offline? Thats what happened on June 24, 2019 when users across the world were left unable to access a large...

ADHD: how race for the Moon revealed America's first hyperactive children

By Matthew Smith1

As the world commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, we can appreciate the numerous technological advances that have emerged through space exploration, ranging from artificial limbs and water...

Mafia in Naples is still going strong – and we must not forget how it affects everyday life in the city

By Felia Allum

The Italian city of Naples has long been the stronghold of its own brand of mafia known as the Camorra. But according to some, its dominance has now been overtaken by the presence of baby gangs. There is a growing...

3 myths to bust about breaking up 'big tech'

By Bhaskar Chakravorti

As the public and government regulators around the world discuss whether and how to manage the power of technology companies, one idea that keeps coming up is breaking up these large conglomerate corporations into smaller...

Helping smokers quit: financial incentives work

By Jamie Hartmann-Boyce Et Al

Smoking kills one in two regular smokers, but quitting at any point in life leads to big improvements in health, increased life expectancy and savings in healthcare costs. Thats why we need a range of ways to help people...

Syria: attempts by Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey to co-opt Arab tribes will deepen the country's divisions

By Haian Dukhan

Saudi Arabia is putting renewed pressure on its ties with tribal groups in Syria as it continues to support those trying to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad. In a visit in late June to Syrian territories controlled...

South Africans are upbeat about new technologies, but worried about jobs

By Benjamin Roberts Et Al

Powerful new technologies are emerging that will continue to affect individuals in multiple ways. This has led to references to a Fourth Industrial Revolution a new era involving the application of digitisation and...

A black, female 007? As a lifelong James Bond fan, I say bring it on

By Darren Paul Fisher

Something incredible might be happening to James Bond: a separation, a personal Brexit of sorts. According to the Daily Mail, while Daniel Craig will return as Bond in the next film, Bond may not return as 007. There will,...

Mansplaining: New solutions to a tiresome old problem

By Sarah Kaplan

In 2008, author Rebecca Solnits now famous essay, Men Explain Things to Me, set off a firestorm. Though Solnit didnt use the term mansplaining, the essay is credited with birthing the term thats now part of regular...

How tech firms make us feel like we own their apps – and how that benefits them

By Melody Zou

Possessions are going out of fashion. An endless stream of media reports claim millennials that amorphous mass of people born in the 1980s and 1990s who have grown up with the internet and digital technology are in...

Salt: China’s deadly food habit

By Monique Tan

People in China have used salt to prepare and preserve food for thousands of years. But consuming lots of salt raises blood pressure, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease, which includes...

Is the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty on its last legs?

By Ian Johnstone

Iran recently exceeded the limits on uranium enrichment set out in its nuclear deal with the U.S. and five other countries. Irans move was in response to the U.S.s renunciation of the same deal last May. Possession of...

The 'yield curve' is one of the most accurate predictors of a future recession – and it's flashing warning signs

By Julius Probst

More than ten years on from the global financial crisis and economies around the world are still struggling to fully recover. The latest data is not promising. International institutions such as the OECD, IMF and World...

Looking after loved ones with mental illness puts carers at risk themselves. They need more support

By Jaelea Skehan Et Al

Victorias royal commission into mental health today turns its attention to the families and carers of people living with mental illness. An estimated 2.8 million Australians provide practical day-to-day and emotional...

Design and repair must work together to undo our legacy of waste

By Tom Lee Et Al

Design has been one of the big words of the twentieth century. To say that an object has been designed implies a level of specialness. Designer items are invested with a particular kind of expertise that is likely to make...