• 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

  • ESG investing in people and the planet

    Rosemary Addis     |      April 24, 2024

    Environmental and social issues need to be considered together for sustainable finance reforms to contribute positively to the wellbeing of the planet and its people.

  • The idea factory

    Open Forum     |      April 24, 2024

    AI chatbots can offer a novel avenue for idea generation, simulating multidisciplinary workshops that traditionally require significant time and resources. Soon we won’t need people at all, will we?

  • Australia’s healthy health sector

    Open Forum     |      April 24, 2024

    New research from the Productivity Commission has found Australia’s healthcare system delivers some of the best value for money of any in the world.

  • Two into one won’t go

    Anne Twomey     |      April 23, 2024

    Lucy Bradlow and Bronwen Bock, have announced that they will run as job-sharing independent candidates for the inner-Melbourne federal seat of Higgins but that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to do so.

  • Planning by numbers

    Open Forum     |      April 23, 2024

    Leading planning and geospatial figures are calling for a coordinated approach to digitising and streamlining Australia’s urban planning systems.

  • Debunking Dunning-Kruger

    Eric Gaze     |      April 23, 2024

    The Dunning-Kruger effect – that unqualified people over-estimate their ability – is often quoted and uncritically cited, but may be misleading, if not entirely untrue.

  • Can you afford to travel to work?

    Katie Miller     |      April 22, 2024

    With the cost of commuting rising and city design limitations becoming more apparent, exploring alternative work arrangements, such as flexible or remote work options, becomes increasingly crucial.

  • Encouraging regional climate cooperation

    Open Forum     |      April 22, 2024

    The Indo-Pacific is facing a steep climate change challenge and Australia’s strong education sector seems ready to do more in the fight.

  • The year the music died

    Rod Davies     |      April 22, 2024

    While megastars can still draw large crowds, other bands have struggled to find a live audience after the pandemic, spurring the Federal Government to launch an inquiry into Australia’s live music industry just two days before Splendour in the Grass was cancelled.

  • The end of Eden

    John Woinarski     |      April 21, 2024

    Mankind’s dominion over Earth is a story of monumental folly and needless greed, and now nature is suffering further fatal blows thanks to the consequences of man-made climate change.

  • The pen is mightier than the knife

    Paul Giles     |      April 21, 2024

    Knife attacks are in the news after the murderous assault in Bondi Junction and the terrorist stabbing of a Bishop in Sydney, and a new book by Salman Rushdie reflects on his own survival from a terrorist knife attack in 2022 while he delivered a lecture on freedom of speech.

  • The trial of Vladimir Putin

    Rowan Nicholson     |      April 21, 2024

    In his new book “The Trial of Vladimir Putin”, barrister Geoffrey Robertson dramatises what might happen within the walls of a future courtroom if the Russian dictator and war criminal was ever brought to justice for his imperialist assault on Ukraine.