Latest Story
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Hypnosis offers help for chronic back pain suffers
Open Forum | May 19, 2018Chronic low-back pain is the leading cause of disability in Australia and drugs can be ineffective and cause problems of their own. New research suggests that hypnosis, combined with pain education, can help sufferers find relief.
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LGBTI rights in Africa
Tinashe Jakwa | May 19, 2018When it comes to LGBTI rights in Africa, arguing against Western interventionism is a front for advocating the acceptance of discriminatory legislation. However the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held no hope for a return to African societies’ traditional acceptance of diverse sexualities and gender identities.
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Can the National Resilience Taskforce help protect Australia?
Paul Barnes | May 19, 2018Australia faces a range of natural and man-made threats to its vital infrastructure. How should the government’s resilience taskforce tackle the challenges which lie ahead?
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Logging burns conceal industrial pollution in the name of ‘community safety’
Chris Taylor | May 18, 2018Rather than ‘hazard reduction burns’, a large proportion of the smoke which has fouled Melbourne this autumn was produced by the intensive burning of debris left behind after clearfell logging. This is essentially industrial pollution.
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The legacy of a great scientific hoax
Rohan Long | May 18, 2018May 18 marks International Museum Day to raise awareness on the importance of museums to social development. The University of Melbourne’s anatomy museum features fossil models from an entirely fictional early human, for example, a forgery that derailed the study of our evolution for decades.
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‘Solar gardens’ could empower all Australians
Open Forum | May 18, 2018The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has announced funding for a feasibility study that could allow the third of Australians who rent, live in apartments or live in low income housing to access the benefits of rooftop solar energy.
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The power of collaboration between PNG and Australia
Jeremy Palme | May 17, 2018Members of the inaugural Pacific Connect Business Network Dialogue in Papua New Guinea share their stories on Open Forum. This is the first in a new series of blogs from our PNG partners, in the lead-up to the Pacific Connect Forum in Sydney this September.
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The error in thinking at the root of science denial
Jeremy Shapiro | May 17, 2018There are three important issues on which there is scientific consensus but controversy among laypeople: climate change, biological evolution and childhood vaccination. Many science deniers do cite empirical evidence, but the problem is that they do so in invalid, misleading ways.
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Outdated surgical choices put women at risk
Open Forum | May 17, 2018Australian women are undergoing unnecessarily invasive hysterectomies due to a lack of surgical skills among gynaecologists.
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Liberal democracy: just one option among many?
Mike Scrafton | May 17, 2018Democracy appears to be on the retreat around the world and the rise of economically successful authoritarian states is undermining the assumption that political and economic freedom are essential partners for national success.
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Does switching to ‘diet’ soft drinks really improve your health?
Open Forum | May 16, 2018A University of Sydney study that models a full sugar to diet soft drink switch in rats suggests swapping to artificially sweetened drinks may help improve the metabolic and cognitive impairments that high sugar consumption can exacerbate.
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4 ways ‘internet of things’ toys endanger children
Marie-Helen Maras | May 16, 2018Online devices raise privacy concerns for all their users, but children are particularly vulnerable. Here are four examples of when internet connected toys put kids’ security and privacy at risk.
