• Culture

    The silent truth


    Roger Chao |  April 20, 2024


    Conflict has marred the whole of human history, but the hope for peace is everlasting in the human imagination. In a world riven by war from Ukraine to Israel, Yemen to Mayanmar, we should all remember our common humanity and the healing power of art.


  • Science and Technology

    Alien science


    Philip Almond |  April 20, 2024


    We no longer live in a universe that is seen as the product of the divine plenitude. Nor one in which our planet can be viewed as the centre of the universe. As a result, ironically, we have become aliens to ourselves: modern “alienation” is that sense of being lost and forsaken in the vast spaces of a godless universe.


  • Society

    More weird books, please!


    Emmett Stinson |  April 20, 2024


    Two new books by Australian authors, “Tell” by Jonathan Buckley and “It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over” by Anne de Marcken, add to the puzzle of the post-post-postmodern novel.


Latest Story

  • A farewell to arms?

    John Tilemann     |      April 15, 2024

    With war raging in Ukraine and the Middle East it’s difficult to remember that the international system has accepted growing constraints on interstate use of force in most circumstances.

  • Mapping global cybercrime

    Open Forum     |      April 15, 2024

    Three years of intensive research by an international team of researchers has informed the first ‘World Cybercrime Index’ which ranks Russia as the major threat to global cyber security.

  • Science is the key to our manufacturing future

    Open Forum     |      April 15, 2024

    The Australian Academy of Science has welcomed the Prime Minister’s intention to legislate a “Future Made in Australia Act” to boost technologically advanced manufacturing in this country.

  • Reforming public service leadership

    Odette Meli     |      April 14, 2024

    Australia’s public service needs a more robust system for decision-making and policy planning to navigate increasing complexities and become more resilient to change.

  • Growing apart

    Open Forum     |      April 14, 2024

    Cultural values may have become more different globally, but more similar regionally, over the past 40 years, according to US researchers who analysed the data from the ‘World Values Survey’, which includes more than 400,000 people from 76 countries.

  • The last election?

    Anouk Ride     |      April 14, 2024

    Solomon Islanders are set to vote on 17 April in an election that has significance within and beyond the country’s borders due to Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s increasingly authoritarian stance and backing from China.

  • Fashioning the future

    Naoise McDonagh     |      April 13, 2024

    Whatever risks the Albanese government may face in encouraging cutting-edge manufacturing, it has avoided the much greater risk of doing nothing at all in the face of historic global economic change.

  • Centigrade cartography

    Open Forum     |      April 13, 2024

    Advocacy groups have welcomed the release of the Federal Government’s announcement of a heat mapping tool to assist affected communities deal with the worst of extreme heat.

  • Into the shimmering world

    Ian Maxwell     |      April 13, 2024

    Angus Cerini’s play Into the Shimmering World, now playing in Sydney, is an unforgiving meditation on what it is to be good and what takes to live a good life.

  • Could Australia go nuclear?

    Alan Finkel     |      April 12, 2024

    Nuclear power is a credible source of abundant zero-emissions electricity, but it would take 20 years to commence operations from a standing start in Australia.

  • Aligning skills and education

    Open Forum     |      April 12, 2024

    Student-centred reforms to more closely align the skills training and higher education sectors are needed to ensure that the Australian workforce is resilient and able to adapt to change.

  • Merge carefully

    Rod Sims     |      April 12, 2024

    The tougher merger laws proposed by the Federal government should boost competition, protect consumers and improve Australia’s economic performance and productivity by reducing the power of corporate oligopolies to dominate markets by force.