An AI-flown military aircraft is being designed in Australia. Are our laws equipped to protect us?
By Eve Massingham
In September, Boeing announced it would design and build a new military aircraft in Queensland, a first in Australia for over 50 years.
The Loyal Wingman is an uncrewed craft that flies in teams with other crewed and...
Our understanding of black holes has changed over time
By Valerio Faraoni
It took Albert Einstein 10 years to find the equations of general relativity, but German astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild only needed a few months to solve them. Schwarzschilds solution describes the gravity of an...
Explainer: how do police undertake major crime investigations?
By Terry Goldsworthy
Recent high-profile criminal cases, such as the suspected death of William Tyrrell and the abduction of Chloe Smith, have captured the attention of the media and the public.
As a former detective inspector, I...
Is your state ready to handle the influx of federal funds for expanding broadband?
By Brian Whitacre Et Al
The federal government is pouring billions of dollars into expanding broadband internet access. But its at the state level where the financial rubber meets the fiber-optic road. History suggests some states are ahead of...
Football: English fans want an independent regulator – here's how it could help save clubs from ruin
By Mark Middling
Football clubs are not like other businesses. Their primary aim is not to make a profit, but to win matches.
Research shows this creates a conflict between sporting goals on the one hand, and the logic of business on...
Vital Signs: Albanese to come clean on emissions targets, but a carbon price is still hush-hush
By Richard Holden
The Australian Labor Party is set to announce its target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions today.
At the 2016 and 2019 elections, Labor promised net zero emissions by 2050 and a cut of 45% on 2005 levels by 2030....
'One China' principle: what this interesting aspect of diplomacy means for China and Taiwan
By Colin Alexander
The tense triangular relationship between the US, China and Taiwan has emerged once again amid escalating military tensions across the Taiwan Strait. The status of the small, densely populated island off the southeast...
South Africa is failing to ride the digital revolution wave. What it needs to do
By Antonio Andreoni Et Al
Workplaces are adopting new forms of advanced automation at a rate that suggests a digital revolution in the making.
Digital technologies such as sensorisation, networked data analytics, and artificial intelligence make...
Swapping probiotics for antibiotics: how it could be a game changer for chickens, and us
By Deon Neveling
In 1928, microbiologist Alexander Flemings discovery of penicillin was hailed as a scientific breakthrough. In the nearly 100 years since then, scientists have discovered numerous other antibiotics that have saved billions...
Germany: the three biggest issues facing Chancellor Olaf Scholz
By Niccolò Pisani
Olaf Scholz is soon to be sworn in as the new chancellor of Germany after nearly two months of intense negotiations between the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and liberal Free Democrats (FDP).
It is a complex coalition...
Why COVID-19 must be included in safer sex messaging on college campuses
By Tamra Burns Loeb Et Al
With college students back on campus, and COVID-19 with us for the foreseeable future, it has become increasingly clear that educators need to develop a new definition of safer sex.
Although the virus is not a sexually...
COP26: New Zealand depends on robust new rules for global carbon trading to meets its climate pledge
By Nathan Cooper Et Al
As the COP26 climate summit draws to a close, debate continues on one key issue in particular: a new rule book for global carbon trading to allow countries to purchase emissions reductions from overseas to count towards...
Marketing is getting in the way of markets that could get us to net-zero
By Richard Holden
This week the prime minister entered full marketing mode.
Scott Morrisons topic was climate change and his plans to get to net-zero.
At the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday, he tried out a few...
We studied suicide notes to learn about the language of despair – and we're training AI chatbots to do the same
By David Ireland Et Al
While the art of conversation in machines is limited, there are improvements with every iteration. As machines are developed to navigate complex conversations, there will be technical and ethical challenges in how they...
A new era of planetary exploration: what we discovered on the far side of the Moon
By Iraklis Giannakis
Seven months after it was launched, the US robotic rover Perseverance successfully landed on Mars on February 18 2021. The landing was part of the mission Mars2020 and was viewed live by millions of people worldwide,...
Corruption: how the UK compares to other countries
By Daniel Hough
Corruption allegations have been flowing freely in the UK of late. To cherry-pick just some, an MP has resigned over his apparent conflicts of interest, a former attorney general has had his external business practices...
The publishers who made Shakespeare a global phenomenon
By Andrew Murphy
Walk into any decent bookshop today in search of Shakespeares plays and youre sure to find at least one. And even if you cant find what youre looking for on the bookshelves, there is always the internet, where a great...
Belarus: whether or not Putin is behind the border crisis, it plays into Kremlin hands
By Liana Semchuk
The migrant crisis on Belaruss western border has escalated rapidly in recent days, forcing Poland and Lithuania to declare a state of emergency and close the borders with their neighbour. With 15,000 Polish border...
Embodied carbon: why truly net zero buildings could still be decades away
By Ljubomir Jankovic
Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions come from two sources: using things (known as operational emissions) and making things (embodied emissions). For a familiar example of the first kind, your home probably burns natural gas for...
As the world moves away from fossil fuels, Canada's energy security may be at risk
By Noha Razek
Oil and gas prices plummeted in 2020. In March, before the World Health Organization had declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Russia and Saudi Arabia, two of the worlds largest oil producers, set off a market-share war that sent...
Here's how to convince CEOs to support government climate action at the expense of their own profits
By Matt Gitsham Et Al
There is now widespread consensus that limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5℃ requires fundamental changes in sectors like energy, food, transport, construction and finance towards more environmentally friendly...
FW de Klerk: the last apartheid president was driven by pragmatism, not idealism
By Christi van der Westhuizen
Few recent historical figures in South Africa provoke more divergent views than Frederik Willem (FW) de Klerk. He was president of the country from 1989 to 1994. Some will remember him as the last white South African...
Eric Zemmour: Jewish heritage is a useful tool for the French far right
By Hannah Rose
French commentator Eric Zemmour has risen to political notoriety off the back of anti-Muslim hatred and anti-migrant incitement before even officially announcing his candidacy in the 2022 French presidential...
Indonesia's capital Jakarta is sinking. Here's how to stop this
By Edvin Aldrian
As Indonesias capital and most populous megacity, Jakarta needs rapid solutions to tackle the problems of land subsidence and sea-level rise.
A recent study by the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) stated...
Technology-enabled abuse: how 'safety by design' can reduce stalking and domestic violence
By Bridget Harris
Mobile phones and online technologies are frequently used by perpetrators of domestic and family violence to coerce, control and restrict the freedoms of victims and survivors.
Recent death reviews have found that...
Why are prices so high? Blame the supply chain
By Craig Austin
Consumer prices soared in October and are now up 6.2% from a year earlier higher than most economists estimates and the fastest increase in more than three decades. At this point, that may be no surprise to most...
What is Bitcoin's fundamental value?
By John Hawkins1
As it hits new highs, there is no shortage of bold predictions about Bitcoin reaching US$100,000 or more.
Often these are based on not much more than extrapolations by people with vested interests: the price has gone up...
The Moon's top layer alone has enough oxygen to sustain 8 billion people for 100,000 years
By John Grant2
Alongside advances in space exploration, weve recently seen much time and money invested into technologies that could allow effective space resource utilisation. And at the forefront of these efforts has been a laser-sharp...
Olympic Games are great for propagandists – how the lessons of Hitler's Olympics loom over Beijing 2022
By Michael J. Socolow
On the morning of Aug. 14, 1936, two NBC employees met for breakfast at a café in Berlin. Max Jordan and Bill Slater were discussing the Olympic Games they were broadcasting back to the United States and the Nazi...
How metacognition — thinking about thinking — can improve the mental-health crisis
By Brendan Conway-Smith
In these times of virtual meet-ups, negative news overload and widespread uncertainty, its fair to say it has been a tough time for our brains. If youve been feeling mentally subpar, you may be floating around the edges or...
Google loses appeal against €2.4 billion fine: tech giants might now have to re-think their entire business models
By Renaud Foucart
Google is being fined 2.4 billion (2.1 billion) for hindering competition in the EU after a 2017 decision has been upheld on appeal by the general court of the European Union. This is a saga dating back over 15 years, in...
We can't afford to just build greener. We must build less
By Johannes Novy
As the built environment takes centre stage at COP26, the scale and urgency of the climate crisis and of the industrys responsibility to address it comes into focus. A recent report from the UNs Global Alliance for...
Consulting firms are the 'shadow public service' managing the response to COVID-19
By Chris Hurl Et Al
In March 2020, as governments were implementing lockdown mandates at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the consulting firm McKinsey made a call to someone in the Ontario premiers office. Soon after, the firm was put in...
Trade war looms over article 16: the Northern Ireland protocol safeguard, explained
By Carlo Petrucci
David Frost, the UK Brexit minister, has expressed discontent with the implementation of the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol. This is the trade arrangement at the heart of controversies over trade between the EU, Great...
Why nitrates and nitrites in processed meats are harmful – but those in vegetables aren’t
By Richard Hoffman
Many of us know that we should steer away from processed meats and eat more vegetables if we want to be healthier and lower our chances of developing certain types of cancers. While there are many reasons processed meats...
Big business and climate change: finally, sustainability pays
By Craig Anderson1
One thing becoming clear during the debate over how to respond to climate change is that prioritising profit at the expense of the environment, or disregarding the social consequences, is not just morally unacceptable, it...
Myths and truths around South Africa’s recent renewable energy auction
By Wikus Kruger
South Africas department of mineral resources and energy recently announced its choice of companies to build and operate a new batch of renewable energy projects. This is part of a programme in which the government invites...
AI shop assistants: get ready for a world where you can't tell humans and chatbots apart
By Shweta Singh
I regularly fly with KLM from Minneapolis to New Delhi, and always stop over in Amsterdam. I am frequently in Minneapolis for research and this is my route to go home to take a break from work. I have done the journey so...
Should Elon Musk try to solve the problem of world hunger with $6 billion? 5 questions answered
By Jessica Eise
Elon Musk hinted on Oct. 31, 2021, perhaps jokingly, that he might be willing to donate US$6 billion of his fortune to pay for hunger relief. But there was a catch: The United Nations would have to prove that it can solve...
Investors who trust ESG funds for a positive impact have a crucial blind spot, and it puts the $35 trillion industry's promises in doubt
By Tinglong Dai Et Al
If you own stocks, chances are good you have heard the term ESG. It stands for environmental, social and governance, and its a way to laud corporate leaders who take sustainability including climate change and social...
Congress passes $1T infrastructure bill
By Ana Maria Dimand
The U.S. Congress passed an infrastructure bill that funds more than a trillion dollars in nationwide federal spending on Nov. 5, 2021.
The bill puts about US$240 billion toward building or rebuilding roads, bridges,...
Why the era of cheap money is finally ending
By John Whittaker
The Bank of England was widely expected to slightly increase its official bank rate on November 4, but it decided to stick to the all-time low of 0.1%. However, the bank has made it clear that a rise will soon be needed,...
Protesting during a pandemic: New Zealand's balancing act between a long tradition of protests and COVID rules
By Alexander Gillespie Et Al
Several times this week, protesters have forced Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to abandon events aimed to support the COVID vaccination rollout.
Over the past few weeks, thousands have gathered, in breach of COVID...
Supreme Court appears to suggest right to guns at home extends to carrying them in public too
By Morgan Marietta
Faced with the question does the constitutional right to possess a gun extend outside the home? the majority of the Supreme Court appears to be heading toward the answer yes.
On Nov. 3, 2012, justices heard oral...
Lessons from the Virginia governor's race: Make your best case
By Mary Kate Cary
I teach political speech writing. My students know that earlier this year I served on a committee that wrote the University of Virginias statement on free speech and free inquiry, which stated that All views, beliefs, and...
Why the Taliban must be held accountable for past atrocities
By Latifa Jafari Alavi
In August, after Taliban rapidly swept to power in Afghanistan, its fighters executed 13 people from the Hazara minority in Daikundi province, where I was born. Amnesty International has said these extrajudicial killings...
Students are told not to use Wikipedia for research. But it's a trustworthy source
By Rachel Cunneen Et Al
At the start of each university year, we ask first-year students a question: how many have been told by their secondary teachers not to use Wikipedia? Without fail, nearly every hand shoots up. Wikipedia offers free and...
Borrowing from King Solomon, economists are getting closer to working out how good leaders can make good decisions
By Richard Holden
Heres a story from the Bible. As far as I know, its the first reported instance of the branch of economics known as implementation theory.
Its from the First Book of Kings, Chapter 3, starting at Verse 16.
Two women...
Metaverse: how Facebook rebrand reflects a dangerous trend in growing power of tech monopolies
By Peter Bloom
Facebooks rebranding as Meta has been seen by many as the companys latest attempt at corporate crisis control. The social media giant has been publicly attacked for creating an environment that fosters far-right extremism...
A 150-year-old note from Charles Darwin is inspiring a change in the way forests are planted
By Rob MacKenzie Et Al
More than 150 years ago Victorian biologist Charles Darwin made a powerful observation: that a mixture of species planted together often grow more strongly than species planted individually.
It has taken a century and a...
