Skip this chore: Cleaning your air conditioner condenser probably won't make it work better

Mar 25, 2019 13:54 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

I asked my neighbor who hoses off his air conditioner condenser every spring why he does it. Because my dad always told me I had to, he said. Conventional wisdom like what my neighbors dad imparted may always seem...

Jehovah’s Witnesses: Neglected victims of persecution

Mar 25, 2019 13:50 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

In February, a Russian court sentenced a Danish citizen who was a legal resident of Russia to six years in prison for such an extremist offence as organizing other Witnesses to shovel snow from their churchs property. A...

Unrealistic striving for academic excellence has a cost

Mar 25, 2019 13:49 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

In my past experience as an academic adviser, it was difficult to explain to a disappointed family why their child did not make an admissions cut-off when the students overall high school average was over 80 per cent. I...

Worn, uneven, flooded: young people need better parks to get out and play

Mar 25, 2019 13:49 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

Who wants to play sport in the mud and muck? Or have to climb a fence to play? After an observational, private audit of the condition of Sydney sports facilities, we found that these are the types of choices young...

A half-century before the hashtag, artists were on the front lines of #MeToo

Mar 21, 2019 13:26 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

The #MeToo movement has had a sweeping effect on politics, organized religion, educational institutions, Hollywood, sports and the military. The cultural prominence of rape and sexual assault might be new. Efforts to...

British army: should 16-year-olds be able to enlist? Academic experts debate

Mar 21, 2019 13:16 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

In the UK, 16 and 17-year-olds can join the British Army as soldiers, with consent from their parents. Soldiers cannot be deployed to the front line until they are aged 18. Here, Matt Fossey and Nick Caddick from the...

Teens have less face time with their friends – and are lonelier than ever

Mar 21, 2019 13:13 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life Technology

Ask a teen today how she communicates with her friends, and shell probably hold up her smartphone. Not that she actually calls her friends; its more likely that she texts them or messages them on social media. Todays...