For domestic violence victim-survivors, a data or privacy breach can be extraordinarily dangerous

By Catherine Fitzpatrick

A suite of recent cybersecurity data breaches highlight an urgent need to overhaul how companies and government agencies handle our data. But these incidents pose particular risks to victim-survivors of domestic...

Nicola Willis warns of fiscal ‘snakes and snails’ – her first mini-budget will be a test of NZ’s no-surprises finance rules

By Michael Ryan

New finance minister Nicola Willis has claimed she was blindsided by the state of the governments books. Days after stepping into the role, she said: The outgoing government has left us with some nasty surprises....

A home among the gum trees: will the Great Koala National Park actually save koalas?

By Tim Cadman Et Al

Its a visionary idea: a national park for koalas. Conceived over a decade ago, the idea gained prominence after Labor took the idea to three successive elections in New South Wales. Now theyre in office and have finally...

We all know about JobKeeper, which helped Australians keep their jobs in a global crisis. So how about HomeKeeper?

By Chris Wallace

Bipartisan support for temporary extra government spending to preserve businesses and jobs through JobKeeper was one of the few positive outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognition that the long-term damage caused...

Happy birthday AUD: how our Australian dollar was floated, 40 years ago this week

By Selwyn Cornish Et Al

These days, we take for granted that the value of the Australian dollar fluctuates against other currencies, changing thousands of times a day and at times jumping or falling quite a lot in the space of a week. But for...

Hyped and expensive, hydrogen has a place in Australia’s energy transition, but only with urgent government support

By Alison Reeve

If you listen to the dreamers, hydrogen is the magical fuel of the future that can replace everything from the petrol in your car to the coal in a steelworks. Hype around hydrogen has been building in Australia since at...

4 tips to help your loved one with dementia enjoy the festive season

By Nikki-Anne Wilson

The festive season is fast approaching, and if youre organising celebrations with family or friends, you might be grappling with a seemingly endless to-do list. But as you make these plans, its important to consider how...

Australia has its first framework for AI use in schools – but we need to proceed with caution

By Lucinda McKnight Et Al

Federal and state governments have just released a national framework for generative AI in schools. This paves the way for generative AI algorithms that can create new content to be used routinely in classrooms around...

Classic Aussie cinema and new twists on old classics: our picks of December streaming

By Ari Mattes Et Al

At a time when it feels like it can be impossible to keep up with all the different streaming platforms both in time and in money the appearance of a new platform that breaks through the noise is something...

Canada’s Fall Economic Statement signals the ‘right to repair’ your tech devices

By Anthony D Rosborough

On Nov. 23, the Government of Canada released the 2023 Fall Economic Statement. In a bold move toward empowering consumers, reducing costs and promoting sustainability, the Canadian government has reiterated its commitment...

Why Canada's Smart Cities Challenge is missing the mark

By Ryan Burns

The Canadian federal government launched the Smart Cities Challenge in 2017 to award up to $50 million to municipal governments that are best able to leverage technology to improve life in their cities. The challenge is...

Equitable sentencing can mitigate anti-Black racism in Canada's justice system

By Ardavan Eizadirad Et Al

Black people continue to be overrepresented at all levels of the Canadian justice system. According to the Correctional Service of Canada, nine per cent of offenders in custody were Black in 2020-2021, despite only...

Payment controversy over ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ provokes questions about documentary storytelling

By Santasil Mallik

Months after the Indian film The Elephant Whisperers won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short at the Academy Awards this past March, the mahout (elephant rider or caretaker) couple Bomman and Bellie at the centre of the...

Silencing Sarah Jama diminishes Canadian democracy

By David Said Et Al

Sarah Jama, the MPP for Hamilton Centre, is suing the Ontario government and Legislative Assembly after being censured in the legislature by members of the Progressive Conservative government. On Oct. 23, the Ontario...

Government's preventative detention for ex-detainees who pose serious risks set to pass this week

By Michelle Grattan

The government on Wednesday will introduce its legislation to enable preventative detention of former immigration detainees judged to pose a high risk of committing serious violent or sexual crimes. The legislation will...

African countries lost control to foreign mining companies – the 3 steps that allowed this to happen

By Ben Radley

Within a few years of independence, African governments asserted sovereignty over their metal and mineral resources. Prior to this, the resources were exploited by European mining corporations. Since the 1990s,...

Nine out of 10 South African criminals reoffend, while in Finland it's 1 in 3. This is why

By Casper Lӧtter

A very large percentage of South Africans who are released from prison end up being rearrested and being convicted for crimes again. The country has one of the highest recidivism rates in the world. Criminologist Casper...

Alleged assassination plots in the U.S. and Canada signal a more assertive Indian foreign policy

By Reeta Tremblay

A recent indictment from the United States Department of Justice has alleged an Indian security official was involved in attempting to assassinate a U.S. and Canadian citizen in New York. The alleged target, Gurpatwant...

COP28: the climate summit’s first Health Day points to what needs to change in NZ

By Alistair Woodward

Climate change has many effects, but one of the most significant will feature for the first time at COP28 its impact on human health. Now under way in Dubai, the latest Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework...

Massive planet too big for its own sun pushes astronomers to rethink exoplanet formation

By Suvrath Mahadevan Et Al

Imagine youre a farmer searching for eggs in the chicken coop but instead of a chicken egg, you find an ostrich egg, much larger than anything a chicken could lay. Thats a little how our team of astronomers felt when...

The news is fading from sight on big social media platforms – where does that leave journalism?

By Merja Myllylahti

According to a recent survey by the News Media Association, 90% of editors in the United Kingdom believe that Google and Meta pose an existential threat to journalism. Why the pessimism? Because being in the news...

Why renewed China-US cooperation bodes well for climate action

By Yixian Sun

The relationship between the US and China is the most important in the world, and it has been unstable and sometimes under extreme stress in recent years. But a recent meeting between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in...

We don't know how many victims of modern slavery are in prison – why that's a problem

By Marija Jovanovic

Modern slavery affects an estimated 120,000 people in the UK. Under international law, countries must identify and protect survivors, while prosecuting and punishing those who traffic and exploit them. Courts in England...

Do we live in a giant void? It could solve the puzzle of the universe's expansion

By Indranil Banik

One of the biggest mysteries in cosmology is the rate at which the universe is expanding. This can be predicted using the standard model of cosmology, also known as Lambda-cold dark matter (ΛCDM). This model is...

Google's $100 million to Canada's news industry is a small price to pay to avoid regulation

By Alfred Hermida

The deal between Google and the federal government to resolve their dispute over paying for news online will come as a relief for the media industry in Canada. News publishers were facing the prospect of disappearing...

Henry Kissinger was a global – and deeply flawed – foreign policy heavyweight

By Amelia Hadfield

Declarations of the end of an era are made only in exceptional circumstances. Henry Kissingers death is one of them. Kissinger was born into a Jewish family in Germany, and fled to the US in 1938 after the Nazis seized...

People who experienced childhood adversity had poorer COVID-19 outcomes, new study shows

By Jamie Hanson

Adults who faced adversity during childhood were significantly more likely to die from or be hospitalized because of COVID-19. Thats the key finding of my teams recent study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and...

US food insecurity surveys aren't getting accurate data regarding Latino families

By Cassandra M. Johnson Et Al

The federal government has conducted the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module for more than 25 years. The data collected annually from about 50,000 U.S. households helps form estimates of the scale of food insecurity...

3 ways AI can help farmers tackle the challenges of modern agriculture

By Joe Hollis

For all the attention on flashy new artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, the challenges of regulating AI, and doomsday scenarios of superintelligent machines, AI is a useful tool in many fields. In fact, it has...

MicroRNA is the master regulator of the genome − researchers are learning how to treat disease by harnessing the way it controls genes

By Andrea Kasinski

The Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, and life less than a billion years after that. Although life as we know it is dependent on four major macromolecules DNA, RNA, proteins and lipids only one is thought to have been...

Policing is not the answer to shoplifting, feeding people is

By Merissa Daborn

Big businesses like to tell us that, as consumers, we all pay for food theft. Weve been sold a narrative that as consumers who dont steal, we pay for the theft of food by others on our grocery receipts. Reported...

Māori atheism on the rise: the legacy of colonisation is driving a decline in traditional Christian beliefs

By Masoumeh Sara Rahmani Et Al

Religious beliefs among Māori have shifted significantly over the past two decades. The number of Māori identifying as having no religion in the census between 2006 and 2018 increased from 36.5% to 53.5%. Māori...

Spectacle, speed and savageness: Disney’s The Artful Dodger comes down under for a pop period spin

By Megan Nash

In a 1950 essay on Charles Dickens, literary critic Dorothy Van Ghent suggested the author had an unusual way of writing about the human form. She identified his habit of seeing the parts of the body as separable and...

Israel's ground offensive in Gaza City is ignoring the past lessons of urban warfare

By James Horncastle

Mediators are seeking to extend the truce between Israel and Hamas beyond Wednesday amid the exchange of hostages for prisoners. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to resume the war with full force...

Cyberbullying girls with pornographic deepfakes is a form of misogyny

By Amanda Margaret Narvali Et Al

The BBC recently reported on a disturbing new form of cyberbullying that took place at a school in Almendralejo, Spain. A group of girls were harmed by male classmates who used an app powered by artificial intelligence...

Striving for transparency: Why Canada’s pesticide regulations need an overhaul

By Valérie Langlois Et Al

In 2021, Health Canada announced a freeze on changing maximum residue limits (MRLs) the maximum allowable pesticide residues acceptable under Canadian law. This decision followed substantial public outcry following...

The four challenges faced by Spain's new government

By Juan Luis Manfredi

Pedro Sánchez investiture marks the beginning of the third consecutive parliamentary term led by the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). After a fraught period of negotiations, Sánchez now leads a broad...

How big UK housebuilders have remained profitable without meeting housing supply targets

By Chris Foye Et Al

We must bulldoze through the planning system to get Britain building again. So said Sir Keir Starmer at the Labour partys last annual conference. He argued its time to fight the blockers and build the 1.5 million homes...

Governments have been able to overrule the Reserve Bank for 80 years. Why stop now?

By Peter Martin1

Pay close enough attention to parliament these next few days, and youre likely to witness something truly remarkable: politicians from both sides of politics uniting to remove the power of politicians to overrule the...

Almost half the men surveyed think they could land a passenger plane. Experts disagree

By Guido Carim Junior Et Al

Picture this: youre nestled comfortably in your seat cruising towards your holiday destination when a flight attendants voice breaks through the silence: Ladies and gentlemen, both pilots are incapacitated. Are there...

At a time when journalism needs to be at its strongest, an open letter on the Israel/Hamas war has left the profession diminished

By Denis Muller

The journalists who signed an open letter to Australian media organisations last week calling for ethical reporting on the war in Gaza have succeeded in intensifying the dispute over whether the coverage has been fair. At...

'Father of Reconciliation' Pat Dodson to quit parliament

By Michelle Grattan

Labor senator Pat Dodson, often dubbed the father of reconciliation, is quitting parliament due to ill health. Dodson, 75, told the Labor caucus on Tuesday he would resign as a senator for Western Australia, effective...

How does Australia's health system stack up internationally? Not bad, if you're willing to wait for it

By Stephen Duckett

When things are going bad in the health system, we are reassured weve got one of the best health systems in the world. But were rarely told where we actually stand relative to others. A new report from the Organisation...

Let's turn down the dial on conflict and focus on solutions

By Misha Ketchell

Is Australias political system doing a good job of serving its citizens? If not, how can we help it work better? These questions have become even more pressing in recent months. The war in Gaza has spilled over to...

Alleged assassination plot against Sikh separatist could hamper India-U.S. relations

By Saira Bano

The United States government recently stated it had thwarted a plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in the U.S. and issued a warning to the Indian government. According to media reports, U.S. authorities say they...

Pollution from coal power plants contributes to far more deaths than scientists realized, study shows

By Lucas Henneman

Air pollution particles from coal-fired power plants are more harmful to human health than many experts realized, and its more than twice as likely to contribute to premature deaths as air pollution particles from other...

Drug resistance may make common infections like thrush untreatable

By Christine Carson

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest global threats to health, food security and development. This month, The Conversations experts explore how we got here and the potential solutions. Weve all heard about...

WeWork approached physical space as if it were virtual, which led to the company's downfall

By Joseph L. Clarke

On Nov. 6, the co-working firm WeWork filed for bankruptcy. WeWork, founded by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey in 2010, had a simple business model: it signed long-term leases on urban buildings, fitting them out with...

Fallen autumn leaves are a valuable resource – here's how to make the most of them

By Muhammad Ali Et Al

Towards the end of autumn the days get colder and shorter. This triggers the reduction of the plant hormone auxin in most deciduous trees, which start to shed their leaves. In natural woodlands, this isnt an issue....

Why the man-hating feminist is a myth – according to science

By Aífe Hopkins-Doyle Et Al

As part of the Women Against Feminism campaign that launched in 2014, social media posts have featured young women holding placards with the message I dont need feminism because… listing various reasons ranging from...