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Cutting-edge research and insightful commentary by world-leading experts
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In times of crisis, does parliament really matter?
The sidelining of parliaments across Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the dominance of the new National Cabinet, has concerned experts but not the public. Why?
Science Matters
Targeting the bacteria inside insects for improved pest management
Researchers are targeting essential microorganisms inside insect pests in an approach that could revolutionise agricultural pest management
Inside Business
Casual work and COVID-19
COVID-19 has put casual work under a fresh spotlight but it still seems to work for many. Rather than wholesale regulatory change, responding to the pandemic should be about taking temporary emergency action
The maths and ethics of minimising COVID-19 deaths
A University of Melbourne experts says the government must factor in the maths and ethics of either flattening the curve or an eradication endgame for COVID-19.
Modelling the spread of COVID-19
Forecasting the spread of COVID-19 including undetected cases is difficult but important; a University of Melbourne scientist has an app to track the outlook.
Why do some people believe the Earth is flat?
Although science says the Earth is round, there are some people around who still think it's flat; two University of Melbourne experts look at why.
Staying active in lockdown can make for a better normal
Melburnians need to stay responsibly active given lockdowns are recipes for non-communicable diseases like heart disease warns University of Melbourne expert
Targeting the bacteria inside insects for improved pest management
New research including the University of Melbourne is targeting essential microorganisms inside insect pests to potentially revolutionise farm pest management.
Casual work and COVID-19
Casual jobs seems to work for many, so responding to COVID-19 is about taking emergency action not making wholesale changes, says University of Melbourne expert
Design
People in share housing are struggling to cope in COVID-19
A new survey finds that many people living in share housing in Victoria are facing a precarious future as a result of COVID-19, with reports of job losses and financial stress
Science Matters
Test smarter not harder for an agile system
Delays to reporting test results and contact tracing from an overloaded system slows the containment of COVID-19. Victoria’s testing strategy needs to recognise this risk and allocate resources accordingly
Humanities
Diplomacy at a distance
Australia’s diplomats are doing important work during the COVID-19 pandemic in the face of department cuts, as they help to ensure the safety and security of many Australians
Inside Business
Parents of school-age kids during COVID-19? Yes, you’re stressed
In the midst of a major economic downturn and increasing family-work conflict, Australian parents are feeling the burn of COVID-19
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COVID-19
Health & Wellbeing
Bonus Episode: Life Beyond Coronavirus: The Expert View
Why is Melbourne back in lockdown when it looked like Australia had succeeded in reducing the spread of COVID-19? And what's the way out?
Health & Wellbeing
Watch Episode 6: Life Beyond Coronavirus: The Expert View
This COVID-19 crisis is unlikely to be an isolated event, that’s why it’s important to start planning for the next pandemic
Health & Wellbeing
Watch Episode 5: Life Beyond Coronavirus: The Expert View
Australia is set for its first recession in 29 years, but what are the potential long-term effects of COVID-19 on the way we work?
Health & Wellbeing
Watch Episode 4: Life Beyond Coronavirus: The Expert View
As schools begin to reopen not just in Australia, but around the world, it’s timely to ask ourselves - are the kids alright?
Health & Wellbeing
Watch Episode 3: Life Beyond Coronavirus: The Expert View
Experts around the world are racing to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, but what are the challenges? And who is getting close?
Health & Medicine
Health & Wellbeing
Making sense of Victoria’s daily COVID-19 cases – and (maybe) some good news
It may feel like the number of new COVID-19 cases in Victoria are a rollercoaster ride, going up and down, but there’s a reason for this. And it could mean some good news
Science Matters
Why are there so few drugs to treat viruses?
As coronavirus case numbers surge, University of Melbourne experts explain why we have effective drugs for bacterial diseases, but relatively few for combating viruses
PodcastHealth & Wellbeing
Dealing with COVID-19 in aged care
Communication and connection are critical to addressing COVID-19 in Victoria’s aged care facilities. But this crisis is yet another reminder that the system is broken – it’s high time we fixed it
Health & Wellbeing
Early cardiovascular disease deaths linked to overweight and obesity are rising
For decades, the rate of people dying of cardiovascular disease has fallen. But continued declines are threatened by rising mortality linked to overweight and obesity – particularly in younger people
Health & Wellbeing
Why we should worry more about anxiety in older adults
COVID-19 has caused particular psychological stress to older adults from heightened risk of severe illness to social restrictions. We need to know more about anxiety, a ‘silent killer’
Health & Wellbeing
A remedy for false COVID-19 cures?
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration has been more vigilant in policing advertisements for unproven COVID-19 ‘treatments’. But have some slipped through the cracks?
Business & Economics
Inside Business
JobSeeker and JobKeeper in post-COVID policies
What will happen to Australians receiving JobKeeper and JobSeeker? Now is the time to look at fine-tuning these programs to help people, and the economy, bounce back
Inside Business
The economics of COVID-19
Policymakers need a new roadmap for navigating the balance between managing a pandemic and supporting the economy, and setting criteria and targets for action can help
Inside Business
How are Australia’s doctors faring during COVID-19?
New research finds that general practitioners and other specialists are feeling the stress – not just from COVID-19, but also the broader economic fallout
Inside Business
Kicking Australia’s superannuation problem into the future
Australia’s Early Release Scheme allows some members to access their super funds during COVID-19, but it’s going to create serious problems for many people in the future
Inside Business
Finding new ways to track COVID-19 exposure
To overcome lower rates of COVID-19 testing in low and middle-income countries, a new method for calculating exposure risk has been developed to help stem the pandemic
Education
Learning & Teaching
How social and emotional learning can help our school kids cope
In the wake of an emergency, like the COVID-19 pandemic, social and emotional learning programs in school can play a vital role in supporting student mental wellbeing
Learning & Teaching
The challenge to retain second-career teachers
The COVID-19 downturn means more people will be considering career changes into teaching, but we need to be doing more to ensure that once they start teaching, they will want to stay.
Education
Our changing identities under COVID-19
The fallout from the pandemic is a challenge to many people’s identity, but some of us have fewer resources to cope when our worlds are turned upside down
Learning & Teaching
Future proofing Australian students with ‘new credentials’
A new report offers a glimpse into the next generation of school and university credentials and aims to redefine success for school leavers and graduates
Learning & Teaching
Being a teacher during COVID-19
A survey of teachers in Australia finds they were working harder and longer during remote learning. But there are also important lessons for the future of education
Learning & Teaching
Education in extreme times
While the desire for a return to business-as-usual (or curriculum-as-usual) is understandable, COVID-19 is an opportunity for educators to re-think the relationship between school and life
Environment
Engineering & Technology
Rising global flood risk demands action
By the end of the century tens of millions more people and trillions of dollars more of the world economy will be at risk of being flooded as sea levels rise
Design
The local governments declaring a climate emergency
The rise in the number of local governments declaring a climate emergency is significant, but only a small proportion have developed action plans
Design
What can Australia’s pandemic response teach us about bushfire recovery?
While Australia’s state and federal governments responded rapidly to COVID-19, the response to the summer’s devastating bushfires suffers by comparison
Design
Identifying the ‘Paris-End’ of town
Good urban design can help enhance our health; new research uses ‘big data’ to explore how Australian cities compare globally
Design
Investing in social housing during a pandemic
Australia needs a National Housing Strategy, as well as consistent funding and policy mechanisms, to reverse our long-term declines in social housing
Sciences & Technology
Science Matters
Herbicide impacts marsupial reproduction and development
New research shows atrazine, a herbicide banned in the EU but widely used in Australia, causes abnormalities in marsupial genitalia
Science Matters
Tracking the movement of mosquito stowaways
Dengue mosquitoes and tiger mosquitoes pose a range of challenges to global health, but genomics is helping us to prevent these dangerous species from sneaking past Australian biosecurity
Engineering & Technology
Covid-19: A challenge and an opportunity for public transport
The pandemic has raised doubts over mass public transport, but connective technology offers a new way to keep everyone moving sustainably
Science Matters
How Timor-Leste has mobilised against COVID-19
Timor-Leste is now COVID-19 free, but the ongoing threat of disruption from the pandemic could have longer term impacts on the country
Eavesdrop on Experts
Launching the SpIRIT satellite
Australian researchers describe their plans to build the SpIRIT satellite – launching by 2022 – that’s helping to develop cutting-edge space capabilities in Australia
PodcastEngineering & Technology
A little bird didn’t tell me
The hack attack on Twitter was aimed at financial gain, but what happens when hacking turns political? Regulation is part of the answer, as is becoming more savvy ourselves
Politics & Society
Humanities
When trust matters more than translation
There are minor mistakes in Australia’s translated COVID-19 communications, but it’s more important that our multilingual communities trust in official information
Public Affairs
Is Australia doing enough to support the Pacific?
The health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis are being felt by our Pacific neighbours, and it’s in Australia interests to help
Science Matters
Paternalism, public housing and COVID-19
The ‘hard lockdowns’ of some of Melbourne’s public housing buildings are another example of Australia’s long history of paternalism against public housing tenants
Legal Affairs
Five things to know about Russia’s Constitutional amendments
Russia has voted to change the country’s constitution. The amendments shore up Vladimir Putin’s power but also have serious implications for foreign policy
Public Affairs
Two leaders with the right stuff
Gladys Berejiklian and Sally Capp, the winners of the 2019 McKinnon Political Prize for Political Leadership, have successfully mixed strength with empathy
Arts & Culture
Humanities
Is this the earliest depiction of a dodo in art?
The Jagiellonian arrases – tapestries that decorate the walls of Wawel Castle in Poland – may be one of the earliest known artistic representation of the long-extinct dodo
Humanities
Unaipon: Behind the da Vinci comparisons
David Unaipon has been transformed into the Aboriginal polymath. Yet what do these comparisons with da Vinci mean when considered against the backdrop of settler-colonialism?
Humanities
Hagia Sophia reigns serene
Istanbul’s 1,500 year-old Hagia Sophia has a tumultuous history and its return to being a mosque is only the latest twist for a building that has long rolled with the times
Humanities
Matchmaking and marriage in modern China
Marriage is still considered the bedrock of Chinese society, but matchmaking is sometimes a public performance of ‘good parenting’ for the older generation
Humanities
What today’s news has in common with early execution ballads
Violence, corruption and murder dominate our modern headlines, but little has changed since execution ballads were sung in sixteenth-century Europe
Music, Arts & Screen
Finding voice
Composer Katy Abbott uses text from letters sent by ordinary Australians to detained asylum seekers to compose the musical, Hidden Thoughts II: Return to Sender