Marvel meets Mesopotamia: how modern comics preserve ancient myths

By Louise Pryke

Ancient Mesopotamia, the region roughly encompassing modern-day Iraq, Kuwait and parts of Syria, Iran and Turkey, gave us what we could consider some of the earliest known literary superheroes. One was the hero...

Clearing: how students use social media to choose their university

By Elvira Ismagilova Et Al

The internet has undoubtedly changed the way we live and communicate. People are now able to share information not only with their friends and relatives, but also with complete strangers through the likes of Facebook,...

The royal commission should result not only in new regulation, but new education

By Dirk Baur Et Al

The Financial Services Royal Commission has not only shown that banks and their representatives have behaved appallingly, but that we need better-educated consumers. It is naive not to expect new schemes will pop up to...

A recipe for mummy preservation existed 1,500 years before the Pharaohs

By Jana Jones

Ancient Egypt continues to throw up one fabulous surprise after another. Today my colleagues and I published our analysis of an intact Egyptian prehistoric body (from around 3700-3500 BC) that had been housed in a...

Research suggests bigger banks are worse for customers

By Elizabeth Sheedy

Yet again this week, the Hayne Royal Commission has brought disturbing news of misconduct toward customers of our largest financial institutions. This time super accounts have been plundered for the benefit of...

Controlling intoxicants in Ontario is history not worth repeating

By Dan Malleck

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is making good on his buck a beer campaign promise, is pledging to put beer and wine in corner stores and has just announced his intention to give distribution of cannabis to private...

When Canada did – and didn’t – stand up for human rights

By David Webster

Justin Trudeau governments is under fire not only from Saudi government officials, but also from some Canadians who have implictly criticized Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland for being too aggressive in advocating...

The real promise of LSD, MDMA and mushrooms for medical science

By Erika Dyck

Psychedelic science is making a comeback. Scientific publications, therapeutic breakthroughs and cultural endorsements suggest that the historical reputation of psychedelics such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD),...

Truth to power: my time translating Behrouz Boochani’s masterpiece

By Omid Tofighian

The GM picks me up from the airport. I call him the GM because after the PNG Supreme Court ruled the Manus Island immigration detention centre illegal, this man was able to leave the prison and find work as the general...

Coming out at work is not a one-off event

By Raymond Trau

For many LGBTIQ+ workers coming out is a never-ending process. A recent study in the UK shows coming out at work is still a problem. Our research, to be launched in Sydney on August 27, supports this finding and further...

We asked five experts: is it possible to catch up on sleep?

By Alexandra Hansen

Its Friday and youre clocking off, and after a few sleepless nights you want to tuck yourself up early and catch up on all the sleep youve lost. But does it really work that way? During sleep our memories from the day...

Aboriginal traditions describe the complex motions of planets, the 'wandering stars' of the sky

By Duane W. Hamacher

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story may contain images and voices of people who have died. The five planets we can see by naked eye were known to the ancient Greeks as asteres...

In the outrage over the Trump-Putin meeting, important questions were overlooked

By Filip Slaveski

In a now famous Fox News interview with Donald Trump in February 2017, Bill OReilly asked the new US president if he respected his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The following discussion ensued: Trump: Well, I...

Australia could house around 900,000 more migrants if we no longer let in tourists

By Raja Junankar

Many who fear Australias population boom believe we should be cutting down on immigration. They blame immigration for congestion and expenditure of environmental and other vital resources. They say Australias cities are...

Size isn't everything when it comes to the proposed UniSA-University of Adelaide merger

By Gwilym Croucher

The proposed merger between the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia is building momentum. If it proceeds, it will be the first major merger between Australian higher education institutions in...

Genoa bridge collapse: maintaining these structures is a constant battle against traffic and decay

By Marios Chryssanthopoulos

As rescue workers look for survivors in the concrete rubble that used to be part of the Morandi bridge in Genoa, Italian authorities are starting their investigation into the possible causes behind this terrible...

Suspects confess to crimes they didn't commit – here's why

By Skelton Skelton

Office clerk Stefan Kiszko spent 17 years in prison for the murder of schoolgirl Lesley Molseed in Rochdale in northwest England in 1975. Though he had confessed his guilt to the police at the time, evidence later proved...

Marikana: it's time Ramaphosa moved on accountability and reparations

By Mia Swart

The 2012 Marikana massacre in South Africas North West Province, in which 34 miners were killed by the police, remains an unhealed scar in post democratic South Africa. Two of the most important unresolved issues involve...

Lessons from Kenya on how to restore degraded land

By Leigh Ann Winowiecki Et Al

The state of the earths biodiversity the worlds variety of living organisms is in crisis. About one third of the worlds land has been severely degraded from its natural state. Some of the worst forms of degradation...

ANC expediency is messing up South Africa's land reform process

By Jannie Rossouw

Its highly likely that an amendment will be made to South Africas constitution that will allow for land expropriation without compensation following a decision to do so by the ruling party the African National Congress...

How Virtual Reality is giving the world's roller coasters a new twist

By Candice Louw

Roller coasters have been a popular attraction at theme and amusement parks around the world for more than a century. Whether its at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, in the US or the now-defunct Ratanga Junction in Cape Town,...

Hajj: how globalisation transformed the market for pilgrimage to Mecca

By Seán McLoughlin

More than 2m Muslims are currently gathering in Mecca ahead of the annual Hajj, which begins on August 19. As long as they are fit and financially able, the pilgrimage is an obligatory act of worship that followers of...

The big BBQ debate: how best to fuel your outdoor feast

By Duane Mellor

The smoky aroma of a barbecue is a familiar smell on warm sunny evenings around the world. In countries like Australia, the barbie is such an intrinsic part of the culture that open public spaces are often equipped with...

Trump’s Space Force isn't as new or as dangerous as it seems

By Cameron Hunter Et Al

Donald Trumps plans to create a Space Force have ruffled plenty of feathers and alarmed some commentators. Some argue it will merely cause a bureaucratic headache. Raising greater concerns, others have argued the Space...

Why there's been a boom in discovering new species despite a biodiversity crisis

By Jean Boubli

Something of a boom in the discovery of new species is taking place right now. It is so significant that some say it is similar to the period of the 18th and 19th centuries when European naturalists ventured into newly...

'Cwtch': what the most famous Welsh-English word reveals about global dialects

By Rob Penhallurick

What is your favourite dialect word? This was a question that I should really have anticipated, but it took me by surprise. I had just talked to a packed marquee at the 2018 Hay Festival about why dialects of English...

Indonesia earthquake: how scrap tyres could stop buildings collapsing

By Juan Bernal-Sanchez

At the time of writing, 436 people have died following an earthquake in the Indonesian island of Lombok. A further 2,500 people have been hospitalised with serious injuries and over 270,000 people have been...

Madonna: pop's superlative shapeshifter turns 60 with style

By Freya Jarman

One of the first albums I owned was a tape of Madonnas 1987 remix collection You Can Dance. Im not sure where I got it from and Im not sure I even liked it but the bright red cover and Madonnas hard, direct stare are...

Darwin's theory of evolution owes more to his garden than the Galápagos

By Ben Garrod

Its one of the greatest stories in science, right up there with Neil Armstrongs small step on the moon and Jane Goodalls overhaul of ideas on non-human relationships. When naturalist Charles Darwin first set foot in the...

I went to see Pussy Riot – if they're serious protesters, I'm Sid Vicious

By Hugh McLachlan

Many years after my first punk concert, when I met Pete Shelley and the other Buzzcocks at the old Apollo Theatre in Glasgow, I was excited at the age of 69 to be in Edinburgh to attend my second one. Pussy Riots...

Anaemia: why is it still affecting women?

By Jahnavi Daru Et Al

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world, affecting both low- and high-income countries. Although it is an easy problem to fix, it remains unfixed. Our bodies need iron to function. Too...

Scientists are developing greener plastics – the bigger challenge is moving them from lab to market

By Richard Gross

Synthetic plastics have made many aspect of modern life cheaper, safer and more convenient. However, we have failed to figure out how to get rid of them after we use them. Unlike other forms of trash, such as food and...

Small business owners are getting a new incentive to sell to their employees

By Joseph Blasi Et Al

The federal government just made it a lot easier to form an employee-owned business. In an increasingly rare example of bipartisan cooperation, President Donald Trump on Aug. 13 signed a defense bill into law that...

Finance drives everything — including your insecurity at work

By David Peetz

Theres a common link between the many things that have promoted insecurity at work: the growth of franchising; labour hire; contracting out; spin-off firms; outsourcing; global supply chains; the gig economy; and so on....

The major trade implications of the Canada-Saudi Arabia spat

By Sylvanus Kwaku Afesorgbor

A diplomatic spat between two countries may seem only political at first, but the ongoing Canada-Saudi Arabia spat could have serious economic ramifications as well. Over the years, international political economy...

Digital homework tools should be more than just the textbook as an app

By Robert Vanderburg Et Al

Schools are increasingly incorporating digital technologies into their teaching practice, raising questions about whether these technologies actually enhance the learning process. Were particularly interested the role...

How a Swiss bank was toppled by a financial scandal in Malaysia – and what can be learned from it

By Salvatore Cantale Et Al

The worlds biggest financial scandal, over missing billions from Malaysian state-run development fund 1MDB, has left the countrys former prime minister, Najib Razak, facing charges of corruption charges which he denies....

Hothouse Earth: our planet has been here before – here's what it looked like

By Jan Zalasiewicz Et Al

Even if carbon emissions are reduced to hold temperature rises at the 2C guardrail of the Paris Agreement, changes already afoot in the environment such as melting permafrost and forest die-back could accelerate warming...

You may call me a BAME author, but this misleading term hides more than it reveals

By Sheena Kalayil

Apparently, I am BAME. This places me as a contender for The Guardians BAME awards or the Jhalak prize, both aimed at BAME writers like myself. Ah, BAME this acronym, which means black, asian and minority ethnic, joins...

Five tips to get cheap train tickets – according to transport experts

By Marcus Mayers Et Al

British rail commuters are being told they are likely to face fare hikes. Price increases aside, the rules around tickets are complex and date back to the 1980s, which means theres a bewildering array of tickets available:...

Turkey's lira crisis: 'economic war' sees Erdoğan look east for new allies

By Emre Tarim

Global markets are on edge once again, this time thanks to the Turkish lira. It crashed more than 15% against the US dollar, euro and pound sterling on August 10 and continued to fall when markets reopened after the...

Children in Greenland are getting taller and healthier

By Henrik Thybo Christesen Et Al

A group of children runs down the hill towards the Knud Rasmussens museum in Ilulissat, Greenland. To a casual observer it might not be obvious, but to a researcher who is revisiting Greenland after many years, it is...

Rohingya crisis: a year since it shocked the world, what's changed?

By Abdullah Yusuf

This August marks a full year since one of the 21st centurys worst refugee crises gripped the worlds attention. In 2017, an unprecedented number of Rohingya Muslim refugees began fleeing Myanmars Rakhine state for...

Woody plants on the march: trees and shrubs are encroaching across Africa

By Zander Venter

Forests are being cleared by humans at an alarming rate. Since 2000, roughly 20% of Africas forests have been wiped out. This deforestation has serious consequences, among them a loss of biodiversity and the potential to...

Ghana is looking to outer space. It needs the law to match

By Julia Selman Ayetey

Rapid advances in space technology mean that space is no longer simply a stargazers paradise. The socio-economic benefits possible from the use of space technology and research are endless. For instance, satellite...

How fears about jobs drive anti-migrant sentiment in South Africa

By Steven Gordon

One of the major problems facing South Africa is anti-immigrant violence. The seriousness of this problem was highlighted in a recent report on hate crime in the country. These kinds of hate crime discourage long-term...

How roadblocks, not just minerals, fund rebels and conflict in the Congo

By Peer Schouten

For over a decade its been widely recognised that rebel financing in the Democratic Republic of Congo is firmly linked to mining. First discovered by the Belgians in 1904, the Congolese soil harbours a huge amount of...

How we use good deeds to justify immoral behaviour

By Nishat Babu

We all like to think of ourselves as morally sound individuals. However in doing so we often assume that morality is static that we are consistently moral to some extent over time. In reality, research suggests that most...

Five ways that natural nanotechnology could inspire human design

By John Thomas Prabhakar

Though nanotechnology is portrayed as a fairly recent human invention, nature is actually full of nanoscopic architectures. They underpin the essential functions of a variety of life forms, from bacteria to berries, wasps...

People with dementia and financial abuse – the warning signs and how to avoid it

By Clarissa Giebel

When most of us go online to our internet banking account and set up a direct debit to pay a bill, we probably do it swiftly without much thought. But in reality its not that easy. In fact, there are a lot of complex...