Latest Story
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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Outdated surgical choices put women at risk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.
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Women in music – Searching the canon
Ruth Lee Martin | May 16, 2018We need to keep shining a light on the amazing creative work being undertaken by women across so many artistic fields, otherwise women will once again be notable largely by their absence.
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Blockchain technology offers a catalyst for Australia-Pacific collaboration in Papua New Guinea
Tina Briggs | May 15, 2018The ‘Second Track’ leads to first class collaboration opportunities for emerging leaders in Papua New Guinea and Australia.
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Pre-colonial Australia: natural wilderness or gentleman’s park?
Gabrielle Murphy | May 15, 2018Professor Marcia Langton explains why a book that rewrote the history of Aboriginal land management before British colonisation is on her list of the 10 greatest books ever written.
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How Captain Cook became a contested national symbol
Tracy Ireland | May 15, 2018The government has allocated $48.7 million over four years to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Cook’s voyages to the South Pacific and Australia. However the funding has been widely debated on social media as another skirmish in Australia’s culture wars.
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New report settles the score on Perth’s ‘liveability’
Open Forum | May 14, 2018A new report assessing Perth’s ‘liveability’ finds that despite the city’s improvements, it still struggles to meet its targets for infrastructure and policy implementation.
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Why eliminating malaria remains a global priority
Helen Evans | May 14, 2018While diseases such as SARS, ebola and the zika virus have hit the headlines in recent years, the age-old scourge of malaria remains a major threat to many nations, and potentially Australia as well.