Will we have a COVID wave, spike or blip this Christmas? It depends where you live
By Laura Nicole Driessen
As the holiday season approaches, COVID cases are rising again in Australia, particularly in Victoria and Tasmania.
This is now the fourth year running with a summer rise of COVID, and the second year with a roughly...
Many people don’t get financial advice even though it can help ensure a comfortable retirement
By Antonia Settle
This article is part of The Conversations Retirement series where experts examine issues including how much money we need to retire, retiring with debt, the psychological impact of retiring and the benefits of getting...
Rising desertification shows we can’t keep farming with fossil fuels
By Jack Marley
Three-quarters of Earths land has become drier since 1990.
Droughts come and go more often and more extreme with the incessant rise of greenhouse gas emissions over the last three decades but burning fossil fuels is...
Can the UK’s ‘Online Safety Act’ tame the hidden violence in leisure communities?
By Kristine De Valck
The UKs new Online Safety Act, programmed for implementation in the second half of next year, could reshape how social media platforms deal with harmful online content. This legislation aims to protect users by requiring...
Freemasons, homosexuals and corrupt elites in Cameroon – inside an African conspiracy theory
By Peter Geschiere Et Al
An unusual and fascinating new book has been written by two anthropologists, called Conspiracy Narratives from Postcolonial Africa: Freemasonry, Homosexuality, and Illicit Enrichment. It explores an ongoing conspiracy...
15% of global population lives within a few miles of a coast − and the number is growing rapidly
By Arthur Cosby Et Al
Coastal populations are expanding quickly around the world. The rise is evident in burgeoning waterfront cities and in the increasing damage from powerful storms and rising sea levels. Yet, reliable, detailed data on the...
US role in Syria is unclear in wake of Assad’s fall from power
By Jordan Tama
As a new government is set to form in Syria following a sudden coup earlier this week, the United States response to the political upheaval appears uncertain.
Rebel groups unexpectedly overthrew Syrias longtime leader,...
Why being forced to precisely follow a curriculum harms teachers and students
By Cara Elizabeth Furman
In teaching, fidelity refers to closely following specific procedures for how to teach a lesson or respond to student behavior. For example, following a curriculum to fidelity might mean a teacher is required to read from...
Ghana’s election system keeps women out of parliament. How to change that
By Gretchen Bauer Et Al
Voters in Ghana elected the countrys first woman vice president, Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, in early December 2024. Voters also elected John Mahama as president, a man who had served as president before, from 2013 to...
We’ve found an answer to the puzzle of how the largest galaxies formed
By Annagrazia Puglisi
It is as humbling as it is motivating to think about how much we still have to learn about the universe. My collaborators and I have just tackled one of astrophysics enduring mysteries: how massive elliptical galaxies can...
The hidden benefits of birdsong
By Natalia Zielonka Et Al
Imagine youre walking across rolling hills that stretch for miles, with warm sunshine and the chirping of birds all around.
This peaceful and serene scene is an increasingly rare one in the modern world.
Our natural...
Poliovirus found in wastewater in Spain, Germany and Poland – what you need to know
By Mariachiara Di Cesare Et Al
In 1988, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for the global eradication of polio. Within a decade, one of the three poliovirus strains was already virtually eradicated meaning a permanent reduction of the disease...
Israel government’s boycott of left-wing Haaretz newspaper is understandable for an administration in wartime
By Ori Wertman
At a recent conference held in London by Israels longest-running newspaper, Haaretz, the publisher Amos Schocken who is known for his critical stance towards Israels treatment of Palestinians argued that the Palestinians...
Russia and Ukraine face off at European security conference as all sides wait for Trump presidency
By Stefan Wolff Et Al
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) marks the 50th anniversary of its foundation next year. Last week, after months of wrangling, its 57 members meeting in Malta managed to agree on a new...
The UK’s booming creative industries could employ even more people – if they attract fresh international investment
By Jonathan Jones Et Al
The UKs creative industries are an economic success story, contributing 124.6 billion to the countrys economy in 2022 around 6% of the total. These industries, which include film, TV and publishing, grew by more than 50%...
Kenya has moved people out of the country illegally: what the law says about extraordinary rendition
By Oscar Gakuo Mwangi
Kenya has been accused by various non-state and state actors of supporting extraordinary rendition, which refers to the secret transfer of people from one country to another without due process of law and against their...
Louis Vuitton, Notre Dame and the quest for ‘secular immortality’
By Ben Voyer
The reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris has recalled debate over the 200 million contribution of Frances Bernard Arnault, the CEO of the LVMH luxury group, to its restoration. Announced in the hours after fire devastated the...
Global trade in wild animals is soaring – South Africa’s laws aren’t doing enough to prevent harm
By Neil D’Cruze Et Al
The quantity and complexity of commercial wildlife trade laws has grown globally over the past century. A new study examines wildlife trade laws in 11 countries and finds that a countrys Global Biodiversity Index does not...
Moroccan schools are fuller thanks to cash grants. The problem now is the quality of their education – study
By Jules Gazeaud Et Al
Reprinted by permission from VoxDev
The spread of conditional cash transfer programmes in low- and middle-income countries has been described as perhaps the most remarkable innovation of recent decades in welfare...
Our analysis of wealth trends suggests Australia’s middle class may be ‘shrinking’
By Melek Cigdem-Bayram Et Al
There are growing concerns about wealth inequality in Australia and what it means for peoples ability to get ahead.
For many, home ownership has become a pipe dream. Huge numbers of Australians now feel the cards are...
If ‘correlation doesn’t imply causation’, how do scientists figure out why things happen?
By Hassan Vally
Most of us have heard the phrase correlation does not equal causation. But understanding how scientists move beyond identifying correlations to establish causation remains a mystery to many.
Finding out what causes a...
Crisis accommodation is failing women fleeing domestic violence. Here’s how to fix it
By Anastasia Powell
Every day in Australia, thousands of people call a family violence crisis support line. Often, its someone experiencing family violence who fears for their safety and needs support to leave immediately.
These calls are...
Chinese security companies are putting boots on the ground in Myanmar. It could go disastrously wrong
By Adam Simpson1
Just as the legal noose tightens on the leader of Myanmars military junta, with a request for an arrest warrant from the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the Chinese government seems to be extending a...
‘Pressure makes diamonds’: how Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout can get even faster
By Chris Gaviglio Et Al
At just 16 years of age, Gout Gout captured the worlds attention with his record-breaking performance at the Australian National All-Schools Championships.
He ran an extraordinary 20.04 seconds for the 200m, breaking a...
Canadian policymakers should avoid handling Trump 2.0 like another pandemic
By Kevin Quigley
Since Donald Trump won the recent United States presidential election, Canadian policymakers are trying to anticipate a variety of plausible scenarios to deal with an unpredictable leader and his intentions on everything...
Why bovine colostrum supplements could be a health gamble
By Manal Mohammed
From Kim Kardashian Barker to Gwyneth Paltrow, wellness celebrities are extolling the benefits of taking bovine colostrum supplements. Social media influencer Sofia Richie Grainge has even launched her own bovine...
Sediment is a time capsule that shows how past climate change altered our landscapes – and hints at their future
By Joanne Egan
Sediments are more than just layers of mud on the ground. They can reveal a wealth of information about landscapes from millions of years ago right up to the present day. To delve into those layers, scientists like me...
Psychoanalysis explains why Donald Trump is taunting Canada and ‘Governor Justin Trudeau’
By Gavin Fridell Et Al
Canadian policymakers were just beginning to recover from the shock of Donald Trumps recent threats to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico when the president-elect detonated another rhetorical explosive. In an...
Syrians rejoice in a new beginning, after 54 years of tyranny
By Wendy Pearlman
Millions of Syrians are feeling hope for the first time in years.
The authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad fell on Dec. 8, 2024, after a 12-day rebel offensive.
Most commentaries on this stunning reversal of a...
Vaccination rates among Australian teens are dropping. Here’s how we can get back on track
By Archana Koirala Et Al
Australia has a successful adolescent immunisation program, routinely achieving high vaccine coverage for teenagers.
However, recent data shows the number of Australian teens receiving the recommended vaccines for their...
Retiring with debt? Experts explain downsizing, using super for your mortgage, and pension eligibility
By Kathleen Walsh Et Al
About 36% of homeowners still have a mortgage when they retire, up from 23% a decade ago.
This increase in mortgage debt is due to soaring property prices, changes in retirement ages and easy access to drawdown equity...
AI was supposed to make the UK benefits system more efficient. Instead it’s brought bias and hunger.
By Iris Lim
A freedom of information request has revealed that an AI system used by the UK government for assessing benefits cases is apparently getting it wrong by a statistically significant amount. The admission to journalists at...
Surging global tourism emissions are driven by just 20 countries – major new study
By James Higham Et Al
Surging global tourism emissions are driven almost entirely by 20 countries, and efforts to rein in the trend arent working.
That is the main finding of our new research, published in Nature Communications today. It...
The west is already at war with Russia. And large-scale conflict may not be far off
By Robert Dover
Russia is already at war with the west. It has been so since its occupation of Crimea in 2014, when Russia sought to secure its access to Sevastopol as a base for its Black Sea Fleet and as a potential lever of influence...
Around 9,000 species have already gone extinct in Australia and we’ll likely lose another this week – new study
By John Woinarski Et Al
More than 95% of Australian animals are invertebrates (animals without backbones spiders, snails, insects, crabs, worms and others). There are at least 300,000 species of invertebrate in Australia. Of these, two-thirds...
Abu Mohammed al-Golani may become the face of post-Assad Syria – but who is he and why does he have $10M US bounty on his head?
By Sara Harmouch
The fall of President Bashar al-Assad has left a critical question: After a half-century of brutal dynastic rule has come to an end, who speaks for Syrians now?
One group staking a major claim for that role is Hayat...
What Father David Bauer can tell us about Canadian hockey today
By Matt Hoven
More than 50 years ago, the late Father David Bauer pointed out that studies and reports on problems in Canadian ice hockey have had a characteristic ineffectiveness.
Hockey Priest: Father David Bauer and the Spirit...
Culturally tailored patient education can improve heart health
By Gabriela Ghisi
For individuals from diverse backgrounds, managing heart disease effectively often depends on more than access to medical care it requires culturally relevant education. Recent research reveals that adapting patient...
Ravaged jungle: just 25% of the world’s surviving tropical rainforests are in good condition
By Rajeev Pillay Et Al
We are now in the middle of the sixth mass extinction, caused by our emergence as a planet-shaping force. Species are going extinct far faster than the average natural rate of loss.
In response, conservationists are...
The book that sparked a revolution: One Hundred Years of Solitude, the literary masterpiece now adapted for TV
By Gabriel Garcia Ochoa
I have read Gabriel García Márquezs One Hundred Years of Solitude five times.
The first was at someones recommendation and because I am the authors namesake; the second was halfway through my PhD, (heavy...
The human right to science is 76 years old. It’s a reminder for us all to be more curious
By Sujatha Raman Et Al
Signed exactly 76 years ago today, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the worlds most translated document. It is widely acknowledged as the foundation of international human rights work, not just in legal...
‘Unseen world’: researchers capture fascinating footage of the world’s smallest penguins in a bid to save them
By Diane Colombelli-Négrel
On Granite Island off South Australia, a colony of little penguins is fighting to survive. About two decades ago, the penguins numbered 1,600 adults now there are just 30.
It is important for scientists to monitor and...
Does menopause hormone therapy increase or decrease your risk of dementia? Here’s the science
By Caroline Gurvich Et Al
By 2050, around 135 million people worldwide will be living with dementia. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimers disease. Women are more likely than men to develop Alzheimers disease, even after accounting for...
Why a musical instrument is the perfect gift this Christmas (and some suggestions for which to get)
By Wendy Hargreaves
Christmas is the season to be jolly, but its wrapped in some cheerless trials. Theres car park mania, pre-dawn pilgrimages to purchase seafood, and the ever-perplexing question, What should I buy family and friends for...
Australians’ cars are typically larger, heavier and less efficient than in Europe – here’s why
By Robin Smit1
Road transport is responsible for a substantial share of global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. So reducing these emissions is a high priority.
In the European Union (EU), CO₂ emissions from new passenger cars have been...
India is the new China – NZ needs to see the bigger picture in trade negotiations
By Chris Ogden
Anyone who has followed New Zealands protracted trade negotiations with India will know any new announcement of progress needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters hint last week...
Farmers’ markets are a vital but overlooked part of fixing Canada’s struggling food system
By Phoebe Stephens Et Al
Since the onset of the pandemic, food prices have remained stubbornly high, even as grocery chains have made record profits. This has fuelled public frustration with so-called greedflation a term describing large...
Grand Theft Hamlet documentary shines a light on reinventing Shakespeare in a virtual world
By Andy Miah
The new documentary Grand Theft Hamlet marks a groundbreaking moment in the world of digital performance. It tells the story of an innovative theatrical production of Hamlet, staged within the popular video game Grand...
Why the fall of Bashar al-Assad is unlikely to lead to peace in Syria
By James Horncastle
The Syrian oppositions recent capture of the countrys largest city of Aleppo caught much of the international community by surprise. After the involvement of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah in the prolonged Syrian civil war,...
COP29 failed Africa – what went wrong with the climate financing bid and what happens next
By Kudakwashe Manjonjo
The United Nations 29th annual climate change conference of the parties, COP29, ended with countries from the global north committing US$300 billion per year in climate finance to developing countries. This money is meant...
