Fighting frog fungus: Lee Berger wins PM's Life Scientist 2018 award

By Lee Berger Et Al

Lee Berger is the 2018 recipient of the Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year, one of the Prime Ministers Prizes for Science announced on October 17. Lees research identified the cause of mysterious and...

Senate inquiry calls for tougher rules on pet food in Australia

By Bronwyn Orr Et Al

Compulsory rules for the standards and labelling of pet food in Australia are among the recommendations in a Senate inquiry report released late Tuesday. The Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee...

Moving the Australian embassy to Jerusalem makes sense: here's why

By Ran Porat

Apparently looking to garner the support of Jewish constituents behind the Liberal candidate, David Sharma, in the upcoming critical Wentworth by-election on October 20, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said he will...

Curious Kids: Why do we need food?

By Amanda Devine

This is an article from Curious Kids, a series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions theyd like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome serious, weird or wacky! You might also like the...

Shifting the Australian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would be a big, cynical mistake

By Tony Walker

In the Gospel of Matthew 26:15, it took 30 pieces of silver for Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. In modern Australian politics it has taken the prospect of a loss of a byelection for a political leader to opportunistically...

Now cannabis is legal, let's use it to tackle the opioid crisis

By Stephanie Lake Et Al

The legalization of cannabis for adult use in Canada is one of the biggest national public policy shifts that many of us will ever witness in our lifetimes. This historic change in drug policy was proposed by the...

The Modern Slavery Bill is a start, but it won't guarantee us sweeter chocolate

By John Dumay Et Al

Is the Modern Slavery Bill at present before the Senate onerous? It is if you are Nestle, because it might make your product more expensive. Or so it suggests in its submission to the Senate inquiry. The bill will...

Legal cannabis vs. black market: Can it compete?

By Michael J. Armstrong

The Oct. 17 launch of legal recreational cannabis in Canada brings many challenges. Retailers are now worrying about possible product shortages or web site glitches. Governments are still debating how to handle amnesties,...

The war in Syria may be ending, but is likely to bring a fresh wave of suffering

By Mehmet Ozalp

As the war in Syria comes to its final stages, the future of the country and the whole region hangs in the balance. As Syrian President Bashar al-Assad consolidates his power by defeating all opposition, resistance runs...

Why R2D2 could be your child's teacher sooner than you think

By Kristyn Sommer Et Al

C3PO, R2D2 and Wall-E: three distinctly memorable robots that captured our hearts as they rolled and beeped across the silver screen. But pint-sized and friendly, humanoid robots are now more than just fictional...

Stressed about managing your child's behaviour? Here are four things every parent should know

By Anthea Rhodes

Around one-quarter of Australian parents feel stressed by their childs behaviour every day and more than one-third are overwhelmed by it. These are some of the findings released today from our latest Royal Childrens...

Soft power goes hard: China's economic interest in the Pacific comes with strings attached

By John Garrick

Chinas economic expansion into the Pacific Islands region raises critical questions for both the islands and Australia. What happens if infrastructure loans by Chinese banks and authorised state enterprises to vulnerable...

France: The road to a low-carbon building sector by 2050 will be a long one

By Carine Sebi Et Al

In the wake of the Paris Climate Agreement, France has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to 75% below 1990 levels. To help achieve this ambitious target and as part of its energy transition strategy,...

Are two parents better than one? Yes, but only if you're a burying beetle

By Natalie Pilakouta

Parenting behaviour varies greatly across the animal kingdom. In most mammals, only mothers look after the young, and in most fishes, only fathers look after the young. When it comes to birds, mothers and fathers usually...

Curious Kids: if you have lots of the thing you're allergic to, does your body get used to it?

By Sophie Medlin

This is an article from Curious Kids, a series for children of all ages. The Conversation is asking young people to send in questions theyd like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome: find out how to enter at the...

Why a new national carrier for Nigeria is never likely to get off the ground

By Stephen Onyeiwu

One of the most vexatious ironies about Nigeria perhaps even an embarrassment is the lack of a national airline. Nigerians are often very piqued to be travelling on airlines owned by smaller less resource-endowed African...

Kenya is planning to privatise prisons: why it's risky and needs careful planning

By Gráinne Perkins

Kenya is taking steps towards privatising its prisons. Gráinne Perkins asked expert Rob Allen, an independent researcher and cofounder of Justice and Prisons, about the benefits and risks of prison...

Universities need to take note of the gap between expectations and experience

By Subethra Pather

The student population at South African universities have changed dramatically in the last two decades. Its now much more diverse in terms of age, race, culture, backgrounds, educational experience and academic...

Pik Botha and Namibia: ambiguities and contradictions

By Chris Saunders

Roelof Pik Botha, South Africas foreign minister under apartheid, who has died at the age of 86, was a man of contradictions. He could, for example, be charming. But, though a long-serving diplomat, he was often very...

Government raises glimmer of hope for New Zealand deal on refugees

By Michelle Grattan

The Morrison government has sent qualified signals that it might agree to some refugees from Nauru being settled in New Zealand. It says it would be more likely to support the New Zealand option if Labor agreed to pass...

Man Booker Prize 2018: when writers speak we glimpse the human behind the story

By Martin Goodman

Novelists are used to staring out of windows, not out at audiences. We write in solitude, and expect our readers to read in solitude. And then, for a few, the phone rings. A publicist has struck lucky with your book. Its...

Manchester United: hated, adored, never ignored – where next for Mourinho, Woodward and the club?

By Rob Wilson Et Al

Hated, adored, and never ignored is a slogan well-known to Manchester United fans. They could certainly be forgiven for thinking that the spotlight is shining very brightly on their club this season, too. With...

Creativity is a human quality that exists in every single one of us

By Lucy M Davies Et Al

When you think about creativity, it might be highly creative people like Mozart, Da Vinci or Einstein who spring to mind. They were all considered to be geniuses for their somewhat unique talents that led to global...

The mosques that survived Palu's tsunami and what that means

By Jennifer Nourse

In the devastation that followed the earthquake and resulting tsunami in the Indonesian city of Palu in Central Sulawesi, many Muslim religious sites were destroyed. Two mosques, however, survived, with little to no...

How the polls could have caught 'surprise' victories like Trump's

By Fred Wright

The election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency surprised almost everyone, including apparently Trump himself. On the morning after the 2016 election, my teenage son made snarky comments about the state of polling...

Arms and influence in the Khashoggi affair

By Russell E. Lucas

President Donald Trumps reaction to the disappearance and death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul reveals important details about the declining influence of U.S. in the Middle East. As a scholar who...

Cultural heritage has a lot to teach us about climate change

By Cathy Daly Et Al

Museums, archaeological sites and historical buildings are rarely included in conversations about climate change, which tend to focus on the wider impact and global threats to our contemporary world. Yet these threats...

Russia’s grand strategy: how Putin is using Syria conflict to turn Turkey into Moscow's proxy

By Mustafa Demir

Turkey, Russia and Iran have actively involved themselves in the Syrian conflict, each with their own divergent interests. Moscow and Tehran have put their support behind the regime of the Syrian president, Bashar...

Proteins wear clothes – and understanding their fashion choices could help us treat cancer

By Pedro Beltran-Alvarez Et Al

We humans are top of the evolutionary tree, the most complex organisms that have ever lived on Earth in five billion years. Right? One way we might actually prove our biological complexity is to look at the number of...

Creativity can be the bridge between science and humanities education

By Gareth Loudon

In his famous Rede Lecture of 1959, chemist and novelist C P Snow spoke of the separation of science and the humanities, and the lack of respect and understanding that often exists between the fields. He argued that this...

Stop telling people who need social care they aren't eligible – be honest, there isn't enough money

By Peter Beresford

As the crisis in social care funding continues, the government is due to publish a much-delayed green paper in autumn 2018 on how it plans to make the care system for both older people and working-age adults more...

African countries' policies must shift to achieve zero hunger

By Sheryl L Hendriks Et Al

For the third year in a row hunger is rising across the world. And, as a recent report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation shows, the situation is worsening in most regions in Africa. Almost 21% of the...

How insects can help fight hunger in the world

By Esther Ndumi Ngumbi

Insects could be a game changer in the race to combat food insecurity and achieve zero hunger the theme of this years World Food Day. Eating insects can help fight hunger and food insecurity. They are a fantastic...

US midterm elections: the dirty tricks used by parties to skew results in their favour

By Richard Johnson

As the US midterm elections approach, its important to understand how the US has undergone a profound intensification in racially polarised partisanship. Race and attitudes about race closely align with party identities...

View from The Hill: How the government's plan to oppose Hanson's motion became a vote to support it

By Michelle Grattan

For Mathias Cormann, 2018 has been the annus horribilis. After emerging badly bruised from the leadership crisis, on Tuesday he took responsibility for the disastrous snafu over Pauline Hansons It is OK to be white...

Remembering Sidney Jeffryes and the darker side of our tales of Antarctic heroism

By Elizabeth Leane Et Al

Antarctica is famous for its survival stories, but one of the most compelling has languished in the shadows for over a century. An unmarked grave in the public cemetery at Ararat has been the resting place of Sidney...

Nepotism is bad for the economy but most people underestimate it

By Asmiati Malik

Indonesia is one of the worlds most corrupt countries and is making little progress in ending the practice. Corruption is rampant in Indonesia but so is nepotism, or favouritism granted to family, friends and...

Under the hammer: artwork by an algorithm is up for auction, so does that mean AI is now creative?

By Sven Brodmerkel

A painting generated by artificial intelligence will go up for sale at auction later this month raising again the question of whether a machine can be creative. The painting, called Edmond De Belamy, is estimated to be...

Green light for Tasmanian wilderness tourism development defied expert advice

By Brendan Gogarty Et Al

The Commonwealth governments decision to wave through a controversial tourism development in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area was made in defiance of strident opposition from the expert statutory advisory body...

How catching malaria gave me a new perspective on saving gorillas

By Marissa Parrott

Conservationists are in a desperate fight to save the last of the worlds gorillas. Numbers of some subspecies are so low that organisations are literally saving the species one gorilla at a time. A perhaps unlikely foe...

Fifty years later, Peter Norman's heroic Olympic stand is finally being recognised at home

By Tim Liao

Fifty years ago today, American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists in the Black Power salute on the medal podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics to protest against racial...

New autism guidelines aim to improve diagnostics and access to services

By Andrew Whitehouse

New Australian autism guidelines, released today, aim to provide a nationally consistent and rigorous standard for how children and adults are assessed and diagnosed with autism, bringing to an end the different processes...

Australian study reveals the dangers of 'toxic masculinity' to men and those around them

By Michael Flood

Young men who conform to traditional definitions of manhood are more likely to suffer harm to themselves, and do harm to others, according to a new survey of Australian men aged 18 to 30. This is the first major...

Morrison government courts controversy on Jerusalem ahead of Wentworth byelection

By Michelle Grattan

Scott Morrison has announced Australia will consider recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital and moving its embassy there in a move immediately seen in the context of Saturdays byelection in Wentworth, which has a large...

As cannabis is legalized, let's remember amnesty

By Roberta K. Timothy

Weed, spliff, cannabis, joint, blunt, Mary Jane, ganja, reefer, marijuana, pot: no matter what you call it, it is almost legal in Canada. Many will benefit from the new right to grow, sell or smoke legally and...

In the end, it was Khashoggi's 'friends' who silenced him

By Shenaz Kermalli

I was first in touch with Jamal Khashoggi the Saudi journalist who disappeared on Oct. 2 while setting up an interview with Osama bin Ladens former close friend and brother-in-law, Mohammad Jamal Khalifa, for the CBC...

Big Fail: The internet hasn't helped democracy

By Robert Diab

Hardly a week goes by without news of another data breach at a large corporation affecting millions, most recently Facebook. In 2016, the issue became political with evidence of Russian interference in the U.S. election...

Does your child struggle with spelling? This might help

By Misty Adoniou

English spelling has a reputation for being illogical and chaotic. Whats going on with yacht, and why the W in two? There are a thousand other but why? questions our children ask about English spelling. English is...

We asked five experts: should we use food as a reward for kids?

By Alexandra Hansen

Finding means of cajoling the kids into behaving in certain ways or doing things they dont want to do can be challenging. And most parents at some point would have offered up sweets as a reward for finishing veggies or...

How the Australian government is failing on countering violent extremism

By Keiran Hardy

Countering violent extremism (CVE) programs are recognised globally as a critical part of successful counter-terrorism strategies. In addition to anti-terrorism laws and surveillance powers, governments need CVE programs...