Cliff Richard judgment a new shift in legal balance between free speech and privacy

By Robin Callender Smith

The question at the heart of Mr Justice Manns High Court judgment in the Sir Cliff Richard v BBC case had been a longstanding legal conundrum: how far do a celebritys privacy rights or indeed anyones extend in respect of...

Disillusioned voters find it easy to embrace a crossbencher like Rebekha Sharkie

By Michelle Grattan

More than two decades ago Alexander Downer stood aside as opposition leader for John Howard, paving the way for the 1996 Coalition election win. This week Howard was in Mayo, his former foreign ministers one-time South...

What makes Putin's vision of a Russian-US oil alliance a pipedream

By Anna Mikulska

When Russian leader Vladimir Putin addressed the media in Helsinki alongside President Donald Trump, he proposed that their countries work together to make oil and gas markets calmer. Trump didnt say whether he...

US health care companies begin exploring blockchain technologies

By Ana Santos Rutschman

The sprawling U.S. health care industry has trouble managing patient information: Every doctor, medical office, hospital, pharmacy, therapist and insurance company needs different pieces of data to properly care for...

Reeling from the news? Train your brain to feel better with these 4 techniques

By Laurel Mellin

Americans have been barraged in the past couple of weeks by a series of major news events some of them unsettling. President Trumps trip to Europe left many unsettled OR anxious OR jittery about the future of the...

MGM is suing the victims of the worst mass shooting in US history. Here's why

By Timothy D. Lytton

Last October, Stephen Paddock unleashed a barrage of automatic gunfire from a 32nd-floor hotel room overlooking a large crowd of concertgoers attending a country music festival in Las Vegas. With a body count of 59 dead...

What is heaven?

By Joanne M. Pierce

When a family member or a friend passes away, we often find ourselves reflecting on the question where are they now? As mortal beings, it is a question of ultimate significance to each of us. Different cultural groups,...

Football may be caught in the crossfire between Qatar and the Saudis

By Simon Chadwick

Most football fans will still be reflecting on Frances win, Germanys failure, Messis frustrations, Harry Kanes goals and the rest. Yet many of us who followed the off-field games just as closely will have found the World...

How culture influences children's development

By Ching-Yu Huang

From educational toys to governmental guidelines and detailed nursery progress reports, there are lots of resources available to help parents track and facilitate their childrens development. But while there are tricks we...

Research shows four in five experts cited in online news are men

By Laura Jones

Who gets to speak? Who do we listen to? And whose opinions do we respect? These questions are always important, but even more so now, as the UK faces an uncertain future, and political leaders need to make some tough...

John Nicholson: the sadistic British officer who was worshipped as a living god in India

By Sean Lang

It does not fall to many of us to be worshipped as a living god, but that was the fate of John Nicholson, a 19th century British army officer in the service of the East India Company. Nicholson the subject of a new book...

Explainer: what is parricide and how common is it in Australia?

By Kate Fitz-Gibbon Et Al

The recent killing of a young mother and two of her children in Western Australia, allegedly by the womans 19-year-old son, has attracted significant attention. This form of homicide is referred to as parricide - the...

Policing of cannabis possession is largely accidental – and many officers don't think it makes a difference

By Charlie Lloyd Et Al

The legal status of cannabis, and in particular its medicinal benefits, have been much debated in parliament and the press in recent months. During this time, we have been interviewing police officers in North Yorkshire,...

Rising reliance on personal income tax signals need for bolder reforms

By Phil Lewis

The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has just released a report on trends in Commonwealth taxation receipts. While supporting the expectations of a budget in balance by 2019-20, it exposes worrying trends in the balance...

Here's a funny thing: can comedy really change our environmental behaviours?

By Kim Borg Et Al

Someone (possibly George Bernard Shaw) once said: If you want to tell people the truth, youd better make them laugh or theyll kill you. While comedy can certainly soften a message, can it really change our...

The winners and losers in the 2018 World Cup broadcast battle

By Marc C-Scott

France might have won the 2018 World Cup title, but who were the real winners in the broadcast battle? Not everyone could make it to Russia to watch the games live, and that left people all over the world relying on the...

Tech innovators start to see old-fashioned benefits of collective bargaining

By Michael Walker

Disruption has been a defining buzzword of this decade, as companies in nearly all sectors find themselves challenged or supplanted as a result of the impact of technology. The beneficiaries of this disruption have mostly...

Explainer: how Tasmania's Aboriginal people reclaimed a language, palawa kani

By Kristyn Harman

Truganinis death in Hobart in May 1876 attracted worldwide attention. She was widely, but wrongly, believed to have been the last Aboriginal person to have survived the Tasmanian genocide. Her demise symbolised the...

Listening to employees' ideas could solve UK's productivity slowdown

By Alan Felstead

Whether we work or not, the nations productivity that is, the total amount of output produced per unit of input affects us all. It is the main determinant of living standards. Higher productivity makes employers more...

Has Trump violated his oath of office? A primer on presidential duty and accountability

By Stefanie Lindquist

After his joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, U.S. President Donald Trump was barraged with criticism from both friends and foes. Standing next to Putin, Trump repudiated U.S....

What businesses can learn from teamwork at the World Cup

By Nicole W. Forrester

Sport and business often seem to share common ground when it comes to performance. Its not uncommon for businesses to use sports metaphors such as down for the count, the balls in their court, or full court press. As an...

Cutting Indigenous revisions to Ontario curriculum is a travesty

By Theodore Christou

Ontarios newly elected government has dismissed a plan to revise the provinces social studies and history curriculums to add Indigenous content. There was no reason offered for Premier Doug Fords decision. I was part of...

Our changing views of the city: A new urban celebration

By Meg Holden

The celebration of the city today is widespread. Globally, many cities have fulfilled Louis Wirths prophesy from 1930s Chicago. Wirth said that in the future, cities would no longer be simply large concentrations of human...

How to use anger as an inspiration against ageism

By Joe Recupero

We have been taught from the time we are children that outbursts of anger are unproductive and socially unacceptable. But if channelled properly, there is an upside to anger and is most often evident in sport. The...

The origins of those sexual organs: a fishy tale much more primitive than we thought

By John Long Et Al

Fossil discoveries from the Devonian rocks of Scotland and Australia first revealed that the earliest jawed fishes, the placoderms, reproduced using copulation in much the same way as sharks and rays do today. They also...

What Australia's convict past reveals about women, men, marriage and work

By Pauline Grosjean

Success for women often comes at a cost. Award-winning, election-winning and high-earning women are more likely to be divorced in a strange trend that may affect other aspects of our lives. However, divorce may not be...

Does osteopathy work?

By Amie Steel

Every year, Australian osteopaths provide around 3.9 million clinical consultations. Osteopathy is a manual therapy developed by US physician Andrew Still in the mid-1800s, and its recognised by the World Health...

No presents, please: how gift cards initiate children into the world of 'credit'

By Louise Grimmer Et Al

Western children have more toys, games and possessions than ever before. And Australia has one of the highest rates of average spending per child on toys. Faced with a glut of childrens toys at home, more and more parents...

Ten classics of Indigenous design

By Dr Russell Kennedy

Blak Design Matters is the first exhibition in Australia specifically dedicated to contemporary Indigenous design. Its curator, architect and academic Jefa Greenaway, describes the show as a snapshot that takes the pulse...

The case for introducing rhinos to Australia

By Bill Laurance

Rhinos in Australia might seem like an insane proposition after all, weve had historically bad luck with introduced species. But on reflection its not quite as crazy as it sounds. There are five species of rhinoceros...

Do 'screaming children' in playgrounds ruin neighbourhood parks?

By Lucy Taylor Et Al

Its a fine winter morning and youve just made a cup of tea. Youre warming your hands around the mug and gazing at the trees behind your house that sway as birds hop along the branches. Then suddenly, a shrill scream:...

The US is a whole lot richer because of trade with Europe, regardless of whether EU is friend or 'foe'

By Greg Wright

President Donald Trump recently questioned the value of the long-standing United States-Europe alliance. When asked to identify his biggest foe globally, he declared: I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us...

Ozone pollution in US national parks is nearly the same as in large cities

By David Keiser Et Al

Another glorious day, the air as delicious to the lungs as nectar to the tongue John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra (1911) Most Americans associate U.S. national parks with pristine environments that represent the...

New treatment in the works for disfiguring skin disease, vitiligo

By John Harris

In many parts of the world there is great shame and stigma tied to vitiligo, an autoimmune disease of the skin that causes disfiguring white spots, which can appear anywhere on the body. In some societies, individuals with...

Health clubs using tanning beds to attract members despite cancer risks, new study shows

By Sherry Pagoto

I drove past Planet Fitness on the way to my 10-year-olds gymnastics class and had to chuckle at their sign advertising free pizza as part of a new member promotion. I decided to use this as a teaching moment, explaining...

Where the UK's Brexit plan (and Customs Bill) leave Northern Ireland

By Katy Hayward Et Al

The status of the Irish border after Brexit is the most complicated and contested part of the UKs withdrawal from the EU. The UK government insists the issue can only be addressed in the formulation of a new UK-EU...

What criminal conspiracy charges against an alleged Russian spy might mean for the NRA: 3 questions answered

By Brian Galle

Editors note: U.S. authorities have arrested Mariia Butina, a Russian advocate for firearms ownership also known as Maria. In a criminal complaint that led to her indictment, the Justice Department accused her of secretly...

Some people in 'modern slavery' are underworked – and they pay a heavy price for it

By Andrew Crane

People trapped in modern slavery situations endure terrible conditions, threats to their safety, and limits on their freedom. Yet sometimes, they actually do less work than they really want to. It may sound unlikely, but...

Sacha Baron Cohen: is he wrong to make fools of the unwitting?

By Ian Wilkie

There is no such thing as bad publicity, as the 19th-century showman and godfather of fake publicity P T Barnum may (or may not) have once said. But some high-ranking politicos caught up in Sacha Baron Cohens new...

Brexit: Theresa May's plan will strengthen rather than weaken European legal control

By Davor Jancic

One of the key objectives of Brexit is to get rid of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and restore the authority of British courts. But under prime minister Theresa Mays current plan, the ECJs influence after Brexit will...

Biya must stop the killings in Cameroon and lead the search for peace

By Julius A. Amin

I spent part of last month in Cameroon travelling to various communities and listening to ordinary voices about the ongoing Anglophone crisis. I witnessed the devastating impact of the conflict on people and their...

Nigerian children recount the challenges they face working in a city

By Prof. 'Dimeji Togunde

Stories of children being used in Nigerian mines have hit the headlines. But this phenomenon isnt uncommon. About 15 million Nigerian children work - the highest rate of working children in West Africa. Globally there...

Nigeria's plan to redistribute recovered corruption money needs a rethink

By Tolu Olarewaju

The Nigerian government has announced that USD$322 million (244 million) stolen by Nigerias former military ruler, Sani Abacha, has been returned by the Swiss authorities. Abacha, an army general who was head of state from...

Probiotics and prebiotics – is it safe to use them to treat disease?

By Amreen Bashir

The link between gut microbes and health is now well established. As a result, researchers have been investigating the effects of probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics on various diseases. Worryingly, though, they havent...

Microprocessor designers realize security must be a primary concern

By Mark Hempstead

Computers amazing abilities to entertain people, help them work, and even respond to voice commands are, at their heart, the results of decades of technological development and innovation in microprocessor design. Under...

In the era of Brexit and fake news, scientists need to embrace social media

By Andy Tattersall

Social media can be an intimidating place for academics as not all of them take to it like ducks to water. For many newcomers, a more appropriate analogy is a newborn giraffe - clumsy, awkward and vulnerable to...

When corporations take credit for green deeds their lobbying may tell another story

By Magali (Maggie) Delmas Et Al

Today most large companies like Exxon Mobil, Ford and GM issue slick reports extolling their efforts to conserve resources, use renewable energy or fund clean water supplies in developing countries. This emphasis on...

Red sky at night, shepherd's delight: the science of beautiful sunsets

By Adam Morgan

A red sky at night is a shepherds delight! A red sky in the morning is a shepherds warning. Perhaps this saying came to mind if you caught a spectacular sunrise or sunset recently. Since biblical times and probably...

Think the dual citizenship saga does not affect state parliamentarians? It might be time to think again

By Lorraine Finlay

Over the past year, we have seen 15 federal parliamentarians leave the Australian parliament because of dual citizenship. Under Section 44(i) of the Australian Constitution which has been given a strict interpretation...

How rising inequality is stalling economies by crippling demand

By Stephen Bell

Rising inequality is a concern across the developed economies, including Australia where top earners pay has soared to a 17-year high while ordinary workers wage growth has been the lowest on record. And thats ultimately...