AI has beaten us at Go. So what next for humanity?
Mar 11, 2016 11:08 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology
In the next few days, humanitys ego is likely to take another hit when the world champion of the ancient Chinese game Go is beaten by a computer. Currently Lee Sedol the Roger Federer of Go has lost two matches to...

How can we understand the origins of Islamic State?
Mar 11, 2016 05:23 am UTC| Insights & Views
Since announcing its arrival as a global force in June 2014 with the declaration of a caliphate on territory captured in Iraq and Syria, the jihadist group Islamic State has shocked the world with its brutality. Its...
Nature's hidden wealth is conservation's missed opportunity
Mar 11, 2016 05:21 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
Australia has one of the worst extinction records in the modern world. Since European settlement, a third of the countrys native mammals have disappeared. How can we stem the losses? A recent article in Nature...
Vital Signs: confidence ranges from 'ok' to 'not great'; meanwhile, the Euro crisis simmers
Mar 10, 2016 23:58 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy
Vital Signs is a weekly economic wrap from UNSW economics professor and Harvard PhD Richard Holden (@profholden). Vital Signs aims to contextualise weekly economic events and cut through the noise of the data impacting...

The Trumpification of the US media: why chasing news values distorts politics
Mar 10, 2016 23:19 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics
Outside the US, the prospect of Donald Trump being elected president is typically met with a mixture of amusement and alarm. After all, how can a billionaire reality TV star become the most powerful leader in the world...

Is the Bank of England independent when it comes to Brexit?
Mar 10, 2016 23:17 pm UTC| Insights & Views Central Banks
The Bank of England has been attacked by Leave campaigners for articulating what they deem to be pro-government, pro-Remain views about Brexit, when it should supposedly be independent. Governor Mark Carneys comment that...
Who benefits from media reform? If history is any guide, it's not the public
Mar 10, 2016 23:11 pm UTC| Insights & Views Business
The most significant media reform in Australia in a generation, as unveiled by Communications Minister Mitch Fifield earlier this month, is no reform. It is a capitulation to the interests of licensees, shareholders and...