How big is the Moon? Let me compare ...

By Jonti Horner

Even though we can see the Moon shining brightly in the night sky and sometimes in daylight its hard to put into perspective just how large, and just how distant, our nearest neighbour actually is. So just how big is...

The profile of festival drug takers might be different to what you expect

By Monica Barratt Et Al

A NSW Coronial Inquest investigating a series of drug-related deaths at Australian music festivals has heard evidence of festival goers taking multiple concurrent doses of MDMA to avoid police detection and not receiving...

Dog owners could take the lead on dingo conservation with a 'Fido fund'

By Neil R Jordan Et Al

Humans and dogs go way back. From wolf totems to the big bad wolf of fact and fairy tale, through sheepdogs, lap dogs, and labradoodles, our relationships with these animals are complex, emotionally charged and sometimes...

Is your child addicted to screens? Here's what you can do about it

By Jackson A. Smith Et Al

Lukes parents gave him a cell phone last year for his 10th birthday. Since then, the amount of time he spends playing video games on and off his phone has increased. Luke has gained weight and recently started refusing...

Standoffs at sea highlight the shameful criminalization of rescuing migrants

By Michael Gordon2

After being denied a safe harbour, the German humanitarian rescue vessel Sea-Watch 3 recently entered into Italian territorial waters following a lengthy standoff with Italian authorities. The captain of the ship,...

Why Japanese-Americans received reparations and African-Americans are still waiting

By Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann

In June, the United States House of Representatives held a debate about reparations to African-Americans. One of the questions in this discussion is why Japanese-Americans received reparations for their internment by the...

Mathematics is about wonder, creativity and fun, so let's teach it that way

By Peter Taylor1

Alice in Wonderland enthusiasts recently celebrated the storys anniversary with creative events like playing with puzzles and time and future Alice exhibits are in the works. The original 1865 childrens book Alices...

When an artist looks at a chemical element, what do they see?

By Mark Blaskovich Et Al

Artistic depictions of several chemical elements feature in a new exhibition from today as part of Australias celebrations for the International Year of the Periodic Table. They are the work of artists Damon Kowarsky...

Pink passion: rosé on the rise as millennials dictate new wine codes

By Richard C. Delerins

Every July in New York City, thousands of partygoers gather on the lawns of Randalls Island Park for a huge Pinknic. A regular event since 2016, the two-day festival brings together foodies, musicians, chefs and more, all...

Trump wasn't the first president to confront the Supreme Court – and back down

By Bethany Berger

A key presidential election is approaching. The U.S. Supreme Court hears a case with powerful political implications. The court rules, but the populist president doesnt care. Our national commitments to the Constitution,...

Barbudans are resisting 'disaster capitalism', two years after Hurricane Irma

By Gemma Sou

Its been nearly two years since Hurricane Irma devastated the tiny Caribbean island of Barbuda. Gusts of 150mph or more damaged or destroyed almost every structure on the island, and its 1,600 residents were evacuated....

The army is being used to fight Cape Town's gangs. Why it's a bad idea

By Lindy Heinecken

Following the latest spate of murders on the notorious Cape Flats in the Cape Town, the South African government has decided to send in the army. The move has been welcomed by many who want to see an end to the rampant...

The internet is surprisingly fragile, crashes thousands of times a year, and no one is making it stronger

By Vasileios Giotsas

How could a small internet service provider (ISP) in Pennsylvania cause millions of websites worldwide to go offline? Thats what happened on June 24, 2019 when users across the world were left unable to access a large...

ADHD: how race for the Moon revealed America's first hyperactive children

By Matthew Smith1

As the world commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, we can appreciate the numerous technological advances that have emerged through space exploration, ranging from artificial limbs and water...

Mafia in Naples is still going strong – and we must not forget how it affects everyday life in the city

By Felia Allum

The Italian city of Naples has long been the stronghold of its own brand of mafia known as the Camorra. But according to some, its dominance has now been overtaken by the presence of baby gangs. There is a growing...

3 myths to bust about breaking up 'big tech'

By Bhaskar Chakravorti

As the public and government regulators around the world discuss whether and how to manage the power of technology companies, one idea that keeps coming up is breaking up these large conglomerate corporations into smaller...

Helping smokers quit: financial incentives work

By Jamie Hartmann-Boyce Et Al

Smoking kills one in two regular smokers, but quitting at any point in life leads to big improvements in health, increased life expectancy and savings in healthcare costs. Thats why we need a range of ways to help people...

Syria: attempts by Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey to co-opt Arab tribes will deepen the country's divisions

By Haian Dukhan

Saudi Arabia is putting renewed pressure on its ties with tribal groups in Syria as it continues to support those trying to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad. In a visit in late June to Syrian territories controlled...

South Africans are upbeat about new technologies, but worried about jobs

By Benjamin Roberts Et Al

Powerful new technologies are emerging that will continue to affect individuals in multiple ways. This has led to references to a Fourth Industrial Revolution a new era involving the application of digitisation and...

A black, female 007? As a lifelong James Bond fan, I say bring it on

By Darren Paul Fisher

Something incredible might be happening to James Bond: a separation, a personal Brexit of sorts. According to the Daily Mail, while Daniel Craig will return as Bond in the next film, Bond may not return as 007. There will,...

Mansplaining: New solutions to a tiresome old problem

By Sarah Kaplan

In 2008, author Rebecca Solnits now famous essay, Men Explain Things to Me, set off a firestorm. Though Solnit didnt use the term mansplaining, the essay is credited with birthing the term thats now part of regular...

How tech firms make us feel like we own their apps – and how that benefits them

By Melody Zou

Possessions are going out of fashion. An endless stream of media reports claim millennials that amorphous mass of people born in the 1980s and 1990s who have grown up with the internet and digital technology are in...

Salt: China’s deadly food habit

By Monique Tan

People in China have used salt to prepare and preserve food for thousands of years. But consuming lots of salt raises blood pressure, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease, which includes...

Is the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty on its last legs?

By Ian Johnstone

Iran recently exceeded the limits on uranium enrichment set out in its nuclear deal with the U.S. and five other countries. Irans move was in response to the U.S.s renunciation of the same deal last May. Possession of...

The 'yield curve' is one of the most accurate predictors of a future recession – and it's flashing warning signs

By Julius Probst

More than ten years on from the global financial crisis and economies around the world are still struggling to fully recover. The latest data is not promising. International institutions such as the OECD, IMF and World...

Looking after loved ones with mental illness puts carers at risk themselves. They need more support

By Jaelea Skehan Et Al

Victorias royal commission into mental health today turns its attention to the families and carers of people living with mental illness. An estimated 2.8 million Australians provide practical day-to-day and emotional...

Design and repair must work together to undo our legacy of waste

By Tom Lee Et Al

Design has been one of the big words of the twentieth century. To say that an object has been designed implies a level of specialness. Designer items are invested with a particular kind of expertise that is likely to make...

Friday essay: the Australians who pioneered self-sufficiency, generations before Nimbin

By Rachel Goldlust

The term self-sufficiency commonly evokes images of communes, yurts and 1970s hippies, most likely living off the land in northern New South Wales. More recently, it has been linked to an explosion of interest in solar...

Vital signs: we need those tax cuts now, all of them. The surplus can wait

By Richard Holden

In an enormous week for economic news at the start of the month, parliament passed the governments three-stage personal income tax plan, and the Reserve Bank cut official interest rates to an unprecedented low of 1%. It...

When does getting help on an assignment turn into cheating?

By Peter Hurley

Students whether at university or school can get help from many places. They can go to a tutor, parent, teacher, a friend or consult a textbook. But at which point does getting help cross the line into...

We create 20m tons of construction industry waste each year. Here's how to stop it going to landfill

By Salman Shooshtarian Et Al

The Australian construction industry has grown significantly in the past two decades. Population growth has led to the need for extensive property development, better public transport and improved infrastructure. This...

Arctic ice loss is worrying, but the giant stirring in the South could be even worse

By Nerilie Abram Et Al

A record start to summer ice melt in Greenland this year has drawn attention to the northern ice sheet. We will have to wait to see if 2019 continues to break ice-melt records, but in the rapidly warming Arctic the...

How Muslim women break stereotypes by mixing faith and modesty with fashion

By Anoosh Soltani Et Al

Ardern, wearing a hijab, is depicted on the worlds tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. EPA, CC BY-ND Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns decision to wear a headscarf following the Christchurch mosque attacks in...

How heat waves increase your craving for sodas: findings from Mexico

By Lisa Oberlander Et Al

Unseasonably hot weather hit Europe this June, giving residents and visitors a taste of what could possibly become common in the near future. With ongoing climate change, temperatures are predicted to rise by 0.3-0.7C by...

London to be as hot as Barcelona by 2050? I research urban heat, and I'm sceptical

By Robert Wilby

Barcelona just had a week of temperatures above 30℃. Its a few degrees hotter than the long-term average, but no heatwave. In winter, Spains second largest city is typically a mild 15℃ or so. With its climate regulated by...

How digital technologies can help Africa's smallholder farmers

By Abdul-Rahim Abdulai Et Al

Digitisation could change the game for agriculture in Africa. Thats a key message in a report recently released by an international institution that enhances smallholder farming in African, Caribbean and Pacific...

How your diet contributes to nutrient pollution and dead zones in lakes and bays

By Donald Scavia

Every year in early summer, scientists at universities, research institutions and federal agencies release forecasts for the formation of dead zones and harmful algal blooms in the Gulf of Mexico, the Chesapeake Bay and...

Plastic poses a major environmental threat: but is it being over-stated?

By Peter Ryan

There is no doubt that plastic affects the environment badly. But a trend has developed in the reporting on the impact of plastics thats not only selective but also borders on panic mongering rather than impartial analysis...

Food waste: using sustainable innovation to cut down what we throw away

By Mehrnaz Tajmir Et Al

Our appetite for food is a serious problem. The huge amount of energy, land and water used to fill our supermarket shelves mean that modern overproduction and excessive consumerism are rapidly depleting resources and...

Anonymous apps risk fuelling cyberbullying but they also fill a vital role

By Killian O'Leary Et Al

When the anonymous social media app YOLO was launched in May 2019, it topped the iTunes downloads chart after just one week, despite the lack of a major marketing campaign. Designed to be used with social network Snapchat,...

The environmental cost of abandoning your tent at a music festival

By Aurore Julien

After years of depressing images of huge fields strewn with abandoned tents and rubbish in the aftermath of music festivals, it was heartening to hear Glastonbury Festival organisers claim that 99% of festival-goers tents...

Modern Slavery Act is having unintended consequences for women's freedom in Sri Lanka

By Sandya Hewamanne

The Modern Slavery Act was seen as a big achievement for combating the issue of forced labour. But since it was passed by the UK government in 2015, many have pointed out its shortcomings. In particular, how the...

How much is your data worth to tech companies?

By Samuel Lengen

New proposed legislation by U.S. senators Mark R. Warner and Josh Hawley seeks to protect privacy by forcing tech companies to disclose the true value of their data to users. Specifically, companies with more than 100...

Why states and cities should stop handing out billions in economic incentives to companies

By Nathan Jensen

U.S. states and cities hand out tens of billions in taxpayer dollars every year to companies as economic incentives. These businesses are supposed to use the money, typically distributed through economic development...

Commercial supersonic aircraft could return to the skies

By Iain Boyd

Flying faster than the speed of sound still sounds futuristic for regular people, more than 15 years after the last commercial supersonic flights ended. The planes that made those journeys, the 14 aircraft collectively...

How did people clean their teeth in the olden days?

By Jane Cotter

Dental hygiene has come a long way since the days of wine-soaked toothpicks and the urine mouthwash once thought to disinfect mouths and whiten teeth. Some of the earliest tooth-cleaning artifacts archaeologists have...

An invisible government agency produces crucial national security intelligence, but is anyone listening?

By Gregory F. Treverton Et Al

This year marks the 40th anniversary of a little-known U.S. organization that has provided crucial intelligence and analysis to presidents for all those decades: the National Intelligence Council. Right after World War...

Wimbledon: Johanna Konta interview and the problems with viewing sports stars as public figures

By Kieran File

After her loss to Barbora Strycova in the Wimbledon quarter finals, British tennis player Johanna Konta reacted somewhat angrily to a line of questioning from a journalist that appeared to hold her to account for her loss....

Our brain-computer interfacing technology uses music to make people happy

By Ian Daly Et Al

Whether its the music that was playing on the radio when you met your partner or the first song your baby daughter smiled to, for many of us, music is a core part of life. And its no wonder there is considerable...

Northern Ireland: as Marching season begins, a new political force is on the rise

By Drew Mikhael Et Al

There was a worrying increase in violence during the Protestant Orange marches of July 2018, a traditional flashpoint between Northern Irelands Nationalist and Unionist communities. The marches commemorate the victory of...