Did 'wokeness' cancel Police Ten 7? New research suggests racial stereotyping was the real culprit

By Antje Deckert Et Al

When TVNZ cancelled reality TV show Police Ten 7 earlier this year, it certainly rattled some law-and-order cages. The shows former host Graham Bell, who described suspects variously as creeps, halfwits, low-lifes,...

Daniel Penny's GiveSendGo campaign: Crowdfunding primarily benefits the most privileged

By Jeremy Snyder

A former United States Marine was recently charged with second-degree manslaughter for fatally choking a 30-year-old Black man, Jordan Neely, on a New York subway train. A GiveSendGo crowdfunding campaign has raised...

The first line of vaccines was highly effective at restricting COVID-19’s damage

By Nana Wu Et Al

After more than three years of COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that over 763 million infections, and nearly seven million deaths, have been attributed to SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 vaccination was deemed...

It's not just climate – we've already breached most of the Earth's limits. A safer, fairer future means treading lightly

By Steven J Lade Et Al

People once believed the planet could always accommodate us. That the resilience of the Earth system meant nature would always provide. But we now know this is not necessarily the case. As big as the world is, our impact...

Closing the First Nations employment gap will take 100 years

By Reza M. Monem Et Al

In 2008 Australias federal, state and territory governments set the goal of halving the employment gap between First Nations Australians and others within a decade. That required, by 2018, lifting the employment rate for...

Making NZ's tax system fairer is a good idea – but this proposed new law isn't the answer

By Jonathan Barrett

Its no secret that Revenue Minister David Parker has long been interested in tax reform in New Zealand. In 2022, he announced plans for legislation requiring future tax policy changes to be measured against a set of tax...

Mr. Associated Press: How 20th-century journalism titan Kent Cooper transformed the news industry

By Gene Allen

On the day of Kent Coopers funeral in February 1965, the flow of news through the international Associated Press network the institution he spent a 40-year career building came to a complete stop. In scores of AP...

Recycling: what you can and can't recycle and why it's so confusing

By Matthew Derry

When it comes to recycling are you a wishcycler? No, I didnt know what this term meant until recently either apparently its when people try to recycle items that should be thrown away instead. And the government are...

Debate: The end of the internal-combustion car: why competition is vital to bringing about cleaner transport

By Anna Souakri Et Al

On 7 March 2023, just as the European Council was preparing to vote on a ban on the sale of new internal combustion engine cars in Europe from 2035, something went wrong: Germany, whose vote was essential for the measure...

Why 40°C is bearable in a desert but lethal in the tropics

By Alan Thomas Kennedy-Asser Et Al

This year, even before the northern hemisphere hot season began, temperature records were being shattered. Spain for instance saw temperatures in April (38.8C) that would be out of the ordinary even at the peak of summer....

How to hone your leadership skills, and what your company can do to help

By Zara Whysall

The UK labour market has finally started to see a fall in vacancies following a post-COVID spike in open positions. But there are still more than a million job vacancies, which are damaging the economy by preventing firms...

Kenya at 60: how the British used street names to show colonial power

By Melissa Wanjiru-Mwita

Place names, along with other urban symbols, were used as a tool of control over space in many African countries during the colonial period. This strategy was epitomised by the British, who applied it in Nairobi and other...

If we're going to label AI an 'extinction risk', we need to clarify how it could happen

By Nello Cristianini

This week a group of well-known and reputable AI researchers signed a statement consisting of 22 words: Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such...

Succession finale: HBO’s epic family drama comes to an end

By Gill Jamieson

Warning: the following article contains spoilers. Succession, HBOs searing indictment of late capitalism, has finally ended for good. And what an ending. The warring siblings Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah...

It's time to end Western Australia's $4 billion-per-year GST bonus

By Robert Breunig

The Morrison governments decision to give a special deal to Western Australia for the distribution of the income from the goods and service tax is one of the worst public policy decisions made in Australia in the past two...

Technology is far from a silver bullet for solving homelessness or child welfare issues

By Aron Lee Rosenberg Et Al

In 1921, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Christian Lous Lange stated: Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master. A century later in a digital landscape where technology giants strive to move fast and break...

South Africa has changed its electoral law, but a much more serious overhaul is needed

By Mashupye Herbert Maserumule

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed into law a change to the countrys electoral act to allow individuals to contest national and provincial elections independently of political parties. The change...

How can Congress regulate AI? Erect guardrails, ensure accountability and address monopolistic power

By Anjana Susarla

Takeaways: A new federal agency to regulate AI sounds helpful but could become unduly influenced by the tech industry. Instead, Congress can legislate accountability. Instead of licensing companies to...

Your body naturally produces opioids without causing addiction or overdose – studying how this process works could help reduce the side effects of opioid drugs

By John Michael Streicher

Opioid drugs such as morphine and fentanyl are like the two-faced Roman god Janus: The kindly face delivers pain relief to millions of sufferers, while the grim face drives an opioid abuse and overdose crisis that claimed...

Expert advice for budding UK entrepreneurs during a cost of living crisis

By Robert Crammond

Getting your foot on the career ladder can be a challenging experience. Looking for the right role within the right organisation or sector is often competitive, uncertain and stressful. These kinds of concerns may be...

Tobacco use is costly, but so is quitting. Surveys of 8 African countries show who needs help

By Sam Filby

Tobacco use imposes a large health and economic burden worldwide. Research estimates that, in 2019, about 8 million deaths were attributable to tobacco smoking. Tobacco also reduces years of healthy living: about 200...

Revenge, excitement, or profit: why do people commit arson?

By Xanthe Mallett Et Al

The huge blaze that struck Randle Street in central Sydney last week is now the subject of an arson investigation, authorities have confirmed. Many details remain unclear, including the safety and whereabouts of some of...

The FDA finally approved Elon Musk's Neuralink chip for human trials. Have all the concerns been addressed?

By David Tuffley

Since its founding in 2016, Elon Musks neurotechnology company Neuralink has had the ambitious mission to build a next-generation brain implant with at least 100 times more brain connections than devices currently approved...

What are the long-term effects of quitting social media? Almost nobody can log off long enough to find out

By John Malouff

Being on social media has become synonymous with living in the 21st century. Year after year, we see new platforms and smarter algorithms roping us into highly addictive online worlds. Now, a growing number of people...

Rupert Murdoch: how a 22-year-old 'zealous Laborite' turned into a tabloid tsar

By Sally Young

In September 1953, Rupert Murdoch arrived in sleepy Adelaide to take up his inheritance of News Limited. He was only 22 and had little experience of working at a newspaper, let alone running one, but his family had...

NATO must tread carefully in Southeast Asia, where painful memories of colonialism remain

By Shaun Narine

NATOs incursion into the Indo-Pacific region is a move that will exacerbate regional conflicts and tensions. Thats because NATO cannot be separated from the history of European colonialism and imperialism that shaped...

China in Africa: Kenya railway study shows investment projects aren’t a one-way street

By Gediminas Lesutis Et Al

China is an important economic player in Africa. In 2021 alone, China accounted for nearly US$5 billion in foreign direct investment in African countries. The rapidly increasing Chinese presence across Africa has become a...

Kids missing school: Why it's happening -- and how to stop it

By Joshua Childs

Chronic absenteeism defined as a students missing approximately 18 days of the school year is on the rise. Compared with the years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, almost three-quarters of U.S. public schools are now...

What really started the American Civil War?

By Robert Gudmestad

What really started the Civil War? Abbey, age 7, Stone Ridge, New York The U.S. citizenship test which immigrants must pass before becoming citizens of the United States has this question: Name one problem that...

Can high-stakes debt-ceiling brinkmanship in the US lead to unprecedented political unity?

By Jared Mondschein

Congress appears to be on the cusp of passing legislation that would not only avoid an unprecedented US government default and economic catastrophe but also provide some much-needed political stability in...

Is it true the faster you lose weight the quicker it comes back? Here's what we know about slow and fast weight loss

By Nick Fuller

When people decide its time to lose weight, theyre usually keen to see quick results. Maybe they have an event coming up or want relief from health problems and discomfort. But expert guidelines typically recommend...

Why taxing the world's biggest companies at 15% won't fix the gaping hole in global tax rules

By Kerrie Sadiq Et Al

Australias federal government has a plan to discourage companies from shifting profits to tax havens. The idea is to impose a global minimum tax on large Australian and foreign-owned companies with subsidiaries in low or...

Over half of eligible aged care residents are yet to receive their COVID booster. And winter is coming

By Hassan Vally

As Australia heads towards the fourth winter of the pandemic, we have once again started seeing an increase in the level of COVID circulating. With this comes an increased risk of infection and serious illness. Elderly...

Our cemeteries face a housing crisis too. 4 changes can make burial sustainable

By Kate Falconer Et Al

Australias housing crisis is no secret. What many people dont realise is that theres another, less visible housing crisis. Australias urban cemeteries are running out of space to house the dead. In Sydney, for example,...

DIY degree? Why universities should make online educational materials free for all

By Richard F. Heller

This article is part of our series on big ideas for the Universities Accord. The federal government is calling for ideas to reshape and reimagine higher education, and set it up for the next decade and beyond. A review...

3 little-known reasons why plastic recycling could actually make things worse

By Pascal Scherrer

This week in Paris, negotiators from around the world are convening for a United Nations meeting. They will tackle a thorny problem: finding a globally binding solution for plastic pollution. Of the staggering 460...

A long and fishy tail: before Disney’s Little Mermaid, these creatures existed in mythologies from around the world

By Louise Pryke

Mermaids are multicultural mythical figures, reflecting the continuing human fascination with the sea in stories echoing thousands of years into the past. Mermaids are found in cultures across the globe. In Australia,...

Debt ceiling negotiators reach a deal: 5 essential reads about the tentative accord, brinkmanship and the danger of default

By Bryan Keogh Et Al

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on May 27, 2023, agreed in principle to a tentative deal that would raise the debt ceiling while capping some federal spending at current levels. The accord, if...

As teams from the U.S. Sun Belt proceed to the Stanley Cup finals, has the NHL forgotten its Canadian fans?

By John Valentine

Hockey is supposed to be Canadas game. Yet the last two Canadian-based NHL teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers, have been eliminated from the tournament. This lengthens the...

Employers need to prioritize employee mental health if they want to attract new talent

By Stephen Friedman

Canadian employers are currently facing significant challenges in attracting and retaining talent in the workplace, putting the responsibility on employers to attract employees to their organizations. One key way for...

How smaller cities can integrate newcomers into their labour markets

By Mary Crea-Arsenio Et Al

In 2022, Canadas population grew by a million people. Nearly all this growth a whopping 96 per cent came from immigration. Thats one million new people who need housing, education, health care and employment. The last...

Deaths of despair: How income inequality puts Canadian youth at risk

By Claire Benny

Income inequality has been linked to poor physical and mental health in past research, but more recent evidence suggests the issue of income inequality may be much more severe than previously expected. While completing...

South Africa’s pact with Russia – and its actions – cast doubt on its claims of non-alignment

By Christopher Williams1

Since Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 South Africa has proclaimed a policy of non-alignment in that conflict. This position was placed in doubt when US Ambassador Ruben Brigety claimed recently that he had...

What makes peace talks successful? The 4 factors that matter

By Philipp Kastner

Peace talks that seek to end armed conflicts are underway in several African countries. Because very few conflicts are resolved on the battlefield, negotiations are fundamental. But they often fail. And even when an...

Including race in clinical algorithms can both reduce and increase health inequities – it depends on what doctors use them for

By Anirban Basu

Health practitioners are increasingly concerned that because race is a social construct, and the biological mechanisms of how race affects clinical outcomes are often unknown, including race in predictive algorithms for...

How did 'taking back control' of borders become record-high net migration?

By Alex Balch

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has described the UKs new immigration figures, showing over 600,000 net migration for the year ending December 2022, as too high. While revised estimates from the Office for National Statistics...

Turkey's presidential runoff: 4 essential reads on what's at stake

By Matt Williams1

Turkish voters will head to the polls on May 28, 2023, for the second time in the month this time facing a choice between a winnowed field of two candidates, each of whom is vowing to take the country in a very different...

How AI and other technologies are already disrupting the workplace

By Martin Spring

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often cast as wreaking havoc and destroying jobs in reports about its growing use by companies. The recent coverage of telecom group BTs plans to reduce its number of employees is a case in...

Why more foam makes for the best beer-drinking experience – and always has

By Anistatia Renard Miller

What makes for the ultimate beer drinking experience? Some like theirs in a frosty glass, others with a wedge of lime. But when it comes to froth or the head as its commonly known whats the best amount and how can it be...

UK bonds are in meltdown again – what does that mean for pensions?

By David McMillan

UK government debt prices have taken an unnerving journey south in the past few days. The closely watched ten-year bond has now hit a yield of 4.3%, taking it within a fraction of the level that caused a crisis in autumn...