The case for public funding of scientific and technological research in Australia, as in most countries in the world, is generally regarded as self-evident and axiomatic. Without sustained and curiosity-driven research, as everyone knows, bridges might well fall down, cheap fuels remain undiscov- ered, new viruses spread unchecked from country to country
Alcohol and drugs: Why do people take them, what do they hope to get out of taking them? Why do things go wrong sometimes? How do people get into trouble? The history of substance use in Australia is rich and colourful. White Australia was settled with our first soldiers, the Rum Corps, being paid in alcohol
At the New News conference at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne in October 2015, run under the auspices of the Centre for Advancing Journalism at Melbourne University, I chaired a session on the various ways in which organisations and individuals are using social media to reach audiences
Worry has been described as an attempt to engage in mental problem-solving on an issue whose outcome is uncertain. We think about bad things that could happen and how we might respond to them if they should occur. People worry about all sorts of things, including the possibility of physical harm, rejection or disapproval by others, failure, loss, harm to loved ones or simply not coping with future demands
The emergence of the Internet is one of the most significant leaps in the history of humanity. Information, knowledge and culture are exchanged among masses of people through interconnected information platforms.These platforms enable our culture to be analysed and rewritten, and fundamentally opens our perceptions to a wide variety of concepts and beliefs.
There is no more fundamental human rights issue than a threat to life on this planet as we know it. There are only two such threats that international policy failure can make real. One is global warming, and the other is annihilation by the most destructive and indiscriminately inhumane weapons ever invented. And nuclear weapons can kill us a lot faster than CO2
We all begin life as a single cell that divides and develops until we are a fully grown human being. Inside this cell, our DNA carries the complete set of instructions for this to happen. However, if your DNA sequence harbours an alteration — even a small, seemingly insignificant single-base sequence change — it can have detrimental consequences: inherited genetic disease
There are numerous examples in the climate change and sustainability literature of people not getting the message, not connecting emotionally with the evidence, and not modifying their behaviours in the face of overwhelming evidence that they need to care for their world, or face catastrophic health consequences
It is 40 years since the first land rights claim by Aboriginal people was instituted in Australia. It was dismissed: Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd (1971) 17FLR 141 (the Nabalco case). This loss was a great disappointment to those who had devoted their lives to claims that Indigenous Australians had land rights at the time of British settlement and that where those rights still existed they should be recognised and the land returned to that community
For too long our politicians have focused only on short-term goals and objectives; never thinking much beyond the next election. It is time that we all start thinking about our long-term future; in 100 years, what sort of society would we like our grandchildren to be part of