Why Indonesia’s anti-sexual violence bill is important for people with disabilities

By Dina Afrianty

Despite many controversies surrounding deliberation on the anti-sexual violence bill in Indonesias parliament, people with disabilities welcome the new bill. Many disability organisations and advocates have demanded the...

Bills, banks and promises: here's what you can expect as 'government business' starts again

By Mark Kenny

If the first week of the 46th Parliament was heavily ceremonial dominated by the new governor-general, a raft of first-time MPs and Bob Hawke condolence speeches the next two weeks will mark a return to normal...

It's Sarabi's pride, Mufasa just lives there: a biologist on The Lion King

By Alexander Richard Braczkowski

Last week saw the release of the rebooted The Lion King, an attempt to capitalise on the billion-dollar success of the 1994 original. With a star-studded cast, the reboot closely follows the plot of the first movie...

All-night public transport hasn't reduced alcohol-related harm in Melbourne

By Ashlee Curtis Et Al

The Victorian government introduced 24-hour public transport on Friday and Saturday nights in Melbourne from January 1 2016. Services mostly run every hour from 1am to 5am on all metropolitan lines with some additional...

Dangerous to human health: that's a housing problem much bigger than a few high-profile apartment blocks

By Andrew Beer Et Al

Australias biggest city is abuzz with news of yet another housing development declared unsafe for human habitation. This time it is apartments built on a toxic dump the local council fears was not properly cleaned...

Math challenges? A school psychologist could help

By Kelsey Gould

Statistically speaking, five to eight per cent of children meet the criteria for a mathematics learning disability. Kids who have challenges with math at a young age also tend to experience these challenges throughout...

Rabies: How it spreads and how to protect yourself

By J Scott Weese

A 21-year-old Canadian man recently died of rabies a disease that kills an estimated 59,000 people a year internationally but hasnt infected a person in Canada since 2007. Nick Major, from Parksville, B.C., suffered a...

Indonesia's environment ministry fails to communicate risk of air pollution to Jakartans

By Juhri Selamet

Indonesias Ministry of Environment and Forestry has failed to communicate the risk of air pollution in the capital, Jakarta, and surrounding areas. Data presented on the ministrys website shows Jakarta has good air...

Why isn't Australia in deep space?

By David Flannery

This weekend marks 50 years exactly since humans first walked on the Moon. It also marks Australias small but significant role in enabling NASA to place boots on the lunar landscape or at least to broadcast the...

The 'Mandela effect' and the science of false memories

By Neil Dagnall Et Al

Theres a theory doing the rounds online that nuclear research experiments caused the world to shift into an alternate reality where Donald Trump became president. This might sound stupid, but some people genuinely believe...

Instagram influencers: no, having 30,000 followers does not make you a celebrity

By Hayleigh Bosher

Claims that anyone with more than 30,000 social media followers is officially a celebrity have been circulating, following a recent ruling by the UKs Advertising Standards Authority, in which it decided that an ad for...

Understanding the political economy of maize in Kenya

By Timothy Njagi Njeru

Maize is the cheapest source of calories among the cereal grains, making up about 65% of total food calories consumed by households in Kenya. To meet this demand, maize is produced on 40% of the total crop area mainly by...

What Amazon's decision to retrain a third of its employees means for the future of work

By Scott F. Latham

Amazons announcement that it will invest US$700 million to retrain 100,000 employees a third of its U.S. workforce in new technologies is the latest reminder that the much-heralded future of work is well...

Brain machine interfaces are getting better and better – and Neuralink's new brain implant pushes the pace

By Robert Gaunt Et Al

Elon Musk grabbed a lot of attention with his July 16 announcement that his company Neuralink plans to implant electrodes into the brains of people with paralysis by next year. Their first goal is to create assistive...

Yes, I'm searching for aliens – and no, I won't be going to Area 51 to look for them

By Jason Wright

Editors note: What started as an internet joke has generated a stern military warning after more than a million people signed up to raid Area 51 a secretive military installation in Southern Nevada long fancied by...

Are Syrian refugees a danger to the West?

By Arie Kruglanski Et Al

While todays news is full of stories about refugees and migrants to the U.S. from Central America, the plight of those particular refugees is only part of an international migration crisis that has been going on since 2015...

What school segregation looks like in the US today, in 4 charts

By Erica Frankenberg

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, a senator from California, has spoken about how she benefited from attending Berkeleys desegregated schools. There was a little girl in California who was part of the...

Boris Johnson lacks character, competence and credibility, say leadership experts

By Michael Smets Et Al

The race to become the UKs next prime minister is challenging our usual assumptions about what is important when people choose a leader. The rule book has been thrown out of the window. The general public does not have...

How far-right groups use Britain's extremism definition to argue they aren't extremist

By Chris Allen1

The governments definition of extremism is so unfit for purpose that far-right groups with clearly dangerous ideology are using it to prove that they are not extremist. Ive written about this in a new study published by...

Cigarette butts are the forgotten plastic pollution – and they could be killing our plants

By Dannielle Green

Its amazing how quickly people have ditched plastic straws thanks to campaigns to discourage us from using such pointless plastic. Yet rarely do we hear about a much more common source of plastic pollution. Cigarette...

Humans aren't designed to be happy – so stop trying

By Rafael Euba

A huge happiness and positive thinking industry, estimated to be worth US$11 billion a year, has helped to create the fantasy that happiness is a realistic goal. Chasing the happiness dream is a very American concept,...

How geological maps made the Apollo moon landings worthwhile

By David Rothery

I still remember a cartoon in a newspaper in July 1969, just before the first Apollo moon landing. It showed the ground crew reminding the astronauts as they boarded their rocket, Dont forget to bring back some rock! This...

New wave of smart cities has arrived - and they're nothing like science fiction

By James Ransom

An abandoned mine shaft beneath the town of Mansfield, England is an unlikely place to shape the future of cities. But here, researchers from the nearby University of Nottingham are planning to launch a deep farm that...

Why is nursing home food so bad? Some spend just $6.08 per person a day – that's lower than prison

By Cherie Hugo

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety this week turned its attention to food and nutrition. The testimony of maggots in bins and rotting food in refrigerators was horrific. When so much of a residents...

What's not to like? Instagram's trial to hide the number of 'likes' could save users' self-esteem

By Joanne Orlando

Instagram is running a social media experiment in Australia and elsewhere to see what happens when it hides the number of likes on photos and other posts. If you have an Instagram account, youll get to see the numbers...

What's the next 'giant leap' for humankind in space? We asked 3 space experts

By Molly Glassey Et Al

Youve probably heard that this week marks 50 years since humans first set foot on the Moon a feat that still boggles the mind given the limitations of technology at the time and the global effort required to pull it...

Explainer: what is leptospirosis and how can it harm us and our pets?

By Christine Griebsch Et Al

Recently reported cases of the often fatal bacterial infection leptospirosis in dogs in Sydney have raised the issue of animal diseases that also affect humans. This zoonotic disease is spread by rats and other rodents....

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...