• Resilience

    When life gives you lemons


    Open Forum |  February 12, 2025


    Scientists have found that taking a playful approach to life doesn’t mean you don’t take your situation seriously, but it can mean you cope with it better.


  • Environment

    More parks, please


    Open Forum |  February 12, 2025


    New research shows that three-quarters of Australians support the establishment of new national parks to protect natural and cultural values, and only 5% are opposed to establishing new parks.


  • Artificial Intelligence

    A small step for AI…


    Open Forum |  February 12, 2025


    Researchers have developed a new AI algorithm, called Torque Clustering, that is much closer to natural intelligence than current methods. It significantly improves how AI systems independently learn and uncover patterns in data, without human guidance.


Latest Story

  • Health Information Exchange becoming a reality in Canada. When in Australia?

    Malcolm Crompton     |      June 4, 2010

    Done right, an approach based on Health Information Exchange would be vastly CHEAPER AND BETTER if government established a well regulated,  competitive market place for the supply of services instead of building a monopoly that will inevitably fall behind the 8-ball.

    Canada is getting on with the job that matters with eHealth information:  Health Information Exchange (I call it HIX…).  In Australia, are we running the risk of building last century’s equivalent: a large, monolithic Health Information Record (eHR) system?

    Hopefully not.

  • Uncategorised

    Congratulations: Australian International Design Awards 2010

    editor     |      June 1, 2010

    Executive Director of the Australian International Design Awards reflects on more than a decade of supporting good design and the growing importance of the program. Read his blog..

  • Child-sex tourism legislation neglected and abused

    Susan Merrell     |      May 31, 2010

    The application of Australia’s child-sex tourism legislation seems to be suffering from being either under-policed or exploited.

  • Bringing up a Daughter! Islamic Perspective and Muslim Societies

    Open Forum     |      May 30, 2010

    Bringing up a Daughter!
    Islamic Perspective and Muslim Societies

  • Time for the Real You to Come Out

    Clive Leach     |      May 28, 2010

    Events over the last week or so concerning the ‘outing’ of a senior politician bring into sharp focus the challenges still faced by many in the lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) community in being able to live and work authentically.

  • Uncategorised

    ALRC Family Violence Blog Closes 4 June

    editor     |      May 27, 2010

    ALRC logoThe Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) is hosting a blog as part of the public consultation process of their current Family Violence Inquiry. Visit the blog and have your say today.

  • Brisbane, Melbourne & ‘Freo’, 3 models for bike-sharing

    Brodie McCulloch     |      May 27, 2010

    How a Bike Share Social Enterprise can change Australian Transportation.

    Bike Sharing has become one of the primary forms of inner city transportation in many cities around the world. It allows local residents, business commuters and tourists to make short trips around a city by bike rather than using buses, trains, taxies or their normal car. The advantages of such a system are instantly recognisable from the reduced emissions that are generated through not using automotive transportation to the health benefits from cycling rather than driving.

  • ALRC Family Violence Inquiry Blog closes 4 June

    ALRC     |      May 26, 2010

    The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) is hosting a blog as part of the public consultation process of their current Family Violence Inquiry. 

  • Safe Highway, Safe Car, Safe Driver: the online versions?

    Malcolm Crompton     |      May 20, 2010

    It has taken a couple of generations of continuous effort since Ralph Nader and Unsafe at Any Speed to make significant inroads into the road toll; that said, we still have more to do.

  • Budget undermines Prime Minister’s promise of “historic reshaping of mental health services”

    Patrick McGorry     |      May 19, 2010
    The Federal budget has deepened concern within the mental health sector that the Government has not yet acted on the Prime Minister’s commitment to a “historic reshaping of mental health services” made at the COAG health summit last month.

    Government commitments to expanding access to mental health services for young people are positive in direction, but very limited in scale. Even when the Government expresses full confidence in evidence based models like headspace (for mild to moderate mental ill-health) and EPPIC (for psychosis), the funding is inexplicably meagre. The investment will shave a mere 3% from the waiting list of 750,000 young Australians currently locked out of the mental health care they and their families desperately need. Australians expect the Government to remedy this in the coming months. 

  • Fred Hollows Foundation Awarded the Golden Cup

    Andy Nilsen     |      May 13, 2010

    The Fred Hollows Foundation recently received a very special award from the Vietnamese Government. The award, named the Golden Cup for Community Development in Vietnam, recognises individuals and organisations and honours their contribution to poverty reduction and community development.

    It is the fifth time this award has been granted in Vietnam since 2004 and The Foundation was one of 11 international non government organisations (NGOs) to receive it in 2010.

    In Vietnam, receiving this award is a pretty big deal. The award was presented to The Foundation’s Vietnam Country Manager Dr Huynh Tan Phuc at a ceremony in the Hanoi Opera House and broadcast live on national television.

  • Should computers have rights?

    quagga     |      May 11, 2010

    Here's a question for you: Where does a human's human-rights lie?

    I personally answer this question by the following reasoning. When somebody's leg is amputated it is the rest of the body retains the rights of the person, not the discarded leg. Likewise when you preform heart transplants, the rights of the person remain with the person and not with the old heart nor the new heart.  The extreme logical conclusion of this is that if we progressively replace or destroy each part of the body…starting at the feet working our way up to the eyes then it is the remaining part of the original body that retains the person's rights.  

    In otherwords, the rights belong to a person's brain/mind: ie, when we say that a person has rights, what we're really saying is that a brain/mind has rights.  The human rights, such as the right to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to trade, etc.., lie with the brain.