• Neuroscience

    The dress and the rabbit


    Alan Stevenson |  April 25, 2024


    Optical illusions and ambiguous pictures are more than parlour puzzles but can open our eyes to the scientific study of human perception and the role our brains play in shaping what we think we see.


  • Environment

    Robots on the reef


    Open Forum |  April 25, 2024


    QUT researchers have developed a robot to capture images of baby tank-grown corals destined for the Great Barrier Reef. The system will help keep the growing corals happy and healthy before they are deployed and save researchers thousands of hours of coral counting time.


  • Culture

    Not in my name


    Roger Chao |  April 25, 2024


    The appalling events in Bondi Junction have given us all pause for thought in recent days, in a world where such horrors are all too common.


Latest Story

  • Building better after the bushfires

    Diane Nazaroff     |      January 25, 2020

    Rebuilding the homes lost to bushfires offers an opportunity to use more resilient designs, but some areas may be better abandoned, given Australia’s fast changing climate conditions.

  • Back to school means back to bedtimes

    Open Forum     |      January 25, 2020

    Amid the back-to-school dash for backpacks, books and last-minute haircuts, children’s sleep routines must also be high on the agenda if parents want to start the year on the right foot.

  • Going viral

    Ian Mackay     |      January 24, 2020

    China has barred people from leaving the city of Wuhan, the epicentre of a new viral outbreak ,and global concern is rising, so what do we know so far?

  • We can’t say we weren’t warned

    Will Steffen     |      January 24, 2020

    Scientists have, clearly and respectfully, warned about the risks to Australia of a rapidly heating climate – including more extreme heat, coastal flooding and more dangerous bushfire conditions. Perhaps now the politicians will listen.

  • Solving the genomic jigsaw puzzle of health

    Open Forum     |      January 24, 2020

    A DNA database of thousands of healthy older Australians is set to change how we determine which genes may underpin a range of chronic and acute diseases.

  • Time to cool down our language on climate change?

    Gitanjali Bedi     |      January 23, 2020

    The language used in the climate change debate is hotting up, but more emotive terms may backfire by creating a false sense of accomplishment, or wearying the public with ‘crisis fatigue.

  • Navigating the sea of streams

    Andrew Lynch     |      January 23, 2020

    Video-on-demand streaming services have shaken up Australian viewing, but the current dominance of Netflix and Stan is being challenged in turn by a host of new services.  

  • Did an Australian asteroid impact end the Earth’s big thaw?

    Open Forum     |      January 23, 2020

    Curtin University scientists have discovered that an asteroid strike at Yarrabubba, in outback Western Australia coincided with the end of a global deep freeze known as a Snowball Earth 2.2 billion years ago.

  • Home solar panels help you and the environment

    Robert Lawler     |      January 22, 2020

    The sustainable energy movement has hit its stride in the past 10 years, and while installing solar panels on your home won’t solve global energy problems, it will be one small step along the way.

  • Mike Baird: The value of authenticity

    Andrew Trounson     |      January 22, 2020

    The McKinnon Prize in Political Leadership recognises those who’ve driven change though visionary leadership. Former NSW premier Mike Baird says leaders need a broad vision that gets people off the couch and cabinet ministers out of their chairs.

  • Australia must adapt to a new climate reality

    Mike Scrafton     |      January 22, 2020

    Dealing with the impacts of global warming must not become sidelined by narrowly defining it as a national security issue. Nibbling at the edges of the global warming phenomenon will not suffice.

  • Remembering Australia’s first female ‘undercover’ journalist

    Kerrie Davies     |      January 22, 2020

    A passionate crusader for the rights of women and children, Catherine Hay Thomson went undercover to investigate their treatment in public institutions and testified before a Royal Commission.