Pacific leaders call for climate action

The window to hold warming close to 1.5°C is closing rapidly and the 5th Pacific Oceans Pacific Climate Change Conference has urged the rest of the world to reduce emissions with greater urgency and back Pacific leadership with finance to help Pacific states adapt to rising sea levels.

Reading the royals

Britain’s monarchy continues to fascinate the public, though the books become more scandal ridden every year as deference declines and new revelations continue to shock even the true believers.

The young ones

A five year survey of youth attitudes by Monash University show increasing concern about housing and employment opportunities and declining faith in the political system.

Troubled waters

While recent strong flows in the Murray look like positive news for the river, new research by Dr Milton Speer and Professor Lance Leslie from the University of Technology Sydney shows they mask a longer-term decline in river health and water availability.

In praise of Annie Dillard

The American novelist and essayist Annie Dillard, who has died at the age of 81, suffused her prose with poetry and pioneered a mystical form of creative nonfiction the public loved and critics misunderstood.

Governing AI ecosystems

International AI governance is entering a new phase as geopolitical competition shifts attention from regulating AI systems to securing the infrastructure that makes frontier AI possible.

Who can we trust?

The old class war asked who controlled the means of production. The emerging epistemic divide asks how democratic societies determine whom to trust.

Our changing nation in 7 charts

The latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey offers unique insights into the lives of Australians in terms of their income, employment, health and wellbeing.

Forever autumn

The anti-ageing industry is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but in a culture obsessed with staying young, we ignore the many benefits of ageing.

Overqualified

Almost half of Australian workers believe they have more education than their job requires, a dynamic associated with lower job and life satisfaction.

Justice as recruitment

Countries have a duty to see that migrants who leave their birthplace for richer countries do so under conditions that make sense.

Support the system

Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood has bluntly warned governments not to undermine public trust by “playing politics with our institutions”.