Big Tobacco’s opposition to plain packaging is spin, not substance
Sep 24, 2018 06:42 am UTC| Insights & Views Business
No matter how you look at it, a standardized cigarette pack is ugly. The colours are unappealing, the font bland and the large graphic health warnings gruesome. Thats why standardized packaging is such an effective public...
The Catholic Church is a rich male collective
Sep 24, 2018 06:41 am UTC| Insights & Views Life
Im a typical sociologist, meaning I am skeptical about religion and human spirituality. Although I attended Catholic Church as a small child, I could see the hypocrisy, even as a child. I rejected that religion at an early...
Why life insurance companies want your Fitbit data
Sep 24, 2018 06:40 am UTC| Insights & Views Health Technology
I recently predicted that health data from electronic sources could soon be compiled into a health or wellness report and shared with insurance companies to help them determine who theyll cover. And now John Hancock,...

The 'natural resource curse' and artisanal mines: the case of Burkina Faso
Sep 24, 2018 06:38 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
Is there a natural resources curse as economists call it? This burning question arises in all resource-rich countries where the majority of the population is living in poverty. Political instability, conflicts, or poorly...

Cuts and restructures send alarm through South Australia's arts sector
Sep 24, 2018 06:37 am UTC| Insights & Views
South Australias Coalition government, elected in March 2018 after 16 years of Labor rule, has alarmed the states arts industry with major changes to the way the arts are structured and funded in South Australia. The...
I've always wondered: are SUVs and 4WDs safer than other cars?
Sep 24, 2018 06:36 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology
The Sydney suburbs around me are clogged with huge 4WD cars which have never seen a dirt road. I think people buy them because they think they are safer. Are they? Petrina of Greenwich The popularity of SUVs, 4WDs and...
Australia's residential aged care facilities are getting bigger and less home-like
Sep 24, 2018 06:30 am UTC| Insights & Views
Most older people want to stay at home as long as they can. When this is no longer possible, they move into residential aged care facilities, which become their home. But Australias care facilities for the aged are growing...