
Australia's first robotic help in a hip replacement operation
Apr 19, 2016 06:40 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology
The first robotically assisted hip replacement operation in Australia is due to be performed today on a patient in Brisbane. A total hip replacement (THR) is one of the most successful operations that surgeons perform,...
Nature is neglected in this election campaign – at its and our own peril
Apr 19, 2016 06:39 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
The electioneering has begun. In a campaign set to be dominated by economic issues, the Coalition and Labor are locking horns over who can best manage our finances, protect jobs and make housing more affordable. The Greens...
Balancing the budget mantra overlooks benefits of infrastructure spending
Apr 19, 2016 05:04 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy Politics
When the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) recently released its recommendations on how the government should balance the budget, it prefaced it with the statement No economic problem in Australia is...

The problem with measuring productivity
Apr 19, 2016 04:59 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy
Productivity seems to be one of the measures the Federal Government is using to justify its policy decisions in the lead up to the budget. The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull invoked this little understood term in...

Are the Japanese and Ecuador earthquakes related?
Apr 19, 2016 04:54 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Japan on Friday, causing widespread injuries and property damage. Then on Saturday evening, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Ecuador on the other side of the Pacific, collapsing buildings...

Apr 19, 2016 04:52 am UTC| Insights & Views Health Law
The misuse or abuse of pharmaceutical pain medications usually opioids has received increasing media attention recently. The focus of such news items has largely been on people who transition from oral use of medication...

The argumentum ad whingeum: an idea whose time can't pass quick enough
Apr 19, 2016 04:39 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
The marketplace of ideas is usually less a showroom for shiny new models and more of a cheery Op Shop. So its a big deal when a genuinely new argument is spotted in the wild even, or perhaps especially, when it comes from...