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Real action needed on Aboriginal deaths in custody
It’s 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody but families continue to lose loved ones amid high incarceration rates, making the need for effective action ever more urgent
Engineering & Technology
If these walls could talk
The Digital Bricks at Science Gallery Melbourne fuse technology and architecture with Australia’s Indigenous culture using the world’s highest resolution interactive display
Health & Wellbeing
Web-based exercise program improves knee arthritis therapy
A new online exercise program, enhanced by personalised text messages, helps people with knee osteoarthritis to reduce knee pain and improve physical function and quality of life
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.
Laos jars are slowly revealing their secrets
New dating techniques find Laos’ stone jars may be over 3000 years old, but the sites remained in ritualistic use longer, says University of Melbourne research.
If these walls could talk
A University of Melbourne expert says the Digital Bricks at Science Gallery Melbourne fuse technology and architecture with Australia’s Indigenous culture.
Prevention and justice for sexual violence
Bianca Fileborn is researching the factors surrounding sexual violence – including place – and how we can better prevent it while providing new forms of justice
Eavesdrop on Experts
Prevention and justice for sexual violence
Professor Bianca Fileborn is researching the different factors surrounding sexual violence – including place – and how we can better prevent it while providing new forms of justice for survivors
PodcastHealth & Wellbeing
Yes, older people are having sex – we need to talk about it
Rates of sexually transmitted infection (STI) are growing faster among older Australians than among younger people, pointing to the need for tailored information campaigns
Engineering & Technology
When one feral cat just isn’t another feral cat
Students have demonstrated that artificial intelligence can identify individual feral cats in the wild in what could be a step forward in the fight to control them
Science Matters
Sky fireballs and a shark in the stars: Indigenous art and astronomy
Meriam elder Uncle Segar Passi shares his knowledge of weather, wildlife, sea, land and sky and how they influence his artwork, now featured on a new commemorative coin
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COVID-19
Health & Medicine
Learning as we go during vaccine rollout
As Australia begins its COVID-19 vaccine rollout, there’s still a lot we don’t know. But the real-world data from other rollouts have clues that can help us modify as we go
Legal Affairs
The limits of government outsourcing
Failures in Victoria’s hotel quarantine have highlighted concern that outsourcing is hollowing out government. So when is contracting out appropriate and when isn’t it?
Health & Wellbeing
What is Post-COVID-19 Neurological Syndrome?
There are many unknowns about the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the brain – but new research investigates the potential impact of Post COVID-19 Neurological Syndrome (PCNS)
Design
Adapting Melbourne’s public transport to ‘COVID normal’
Given Melbourne’s franchised model of public transport provision, who is best positioned to manage cross-disciplinary risks during a pandemic?
Business & Economics
More Australians becoming wary of COVID-19 vaccines
New survey data suggests that in the last four months more Australians have become reluctant to have a COVID-19 vaccine, potentially jeopardising efforts to reach herd immunity
Environment
Engineering & Technology
Creating clean transport fuels from waste
By extracting biofuel from agricultural and urban waste, researchers hope to create a low-cost, zero emission transport fuel for the future
Science Matters
Watch Episode 2: Climate Conversations: opposing views or rising tides
The Biden Administration’s strong climate leadership is reverberating around the world. Where does Australia now fit and what options do we have to reframe climate change policy?
Engineering & Technology
It’s critical we update flood guidance
There’s been some progress in incorporating climate change into engineering design, but flood guidance must keep up with our changing climate
Eavesdrop on Ideas
Is viral marketing a key to our planet’s health?
The speed of climate decline is reaching an alarming tipping point. It’s time to hold the big companies to account, and go viral...for Earth’s sake
PodcastDesign
Designing liveable cities for our future climate
The Climate Imaginary exhibit explores works from architects and urban designers, pushing the boundaries of our imagination to envision better and more creative climate futures for our cities
Legal Affairs
Melbourne’s real-world impact on climate change
A new initiative bringing together multi-disciplinary climate change experts is focused on finding effective global solutions in Australia and beyond
Education
Humanities
Creativity and Crisis: Teaching Indonesian in Australian schools
Without Indonesian language skills and intercultural capability, Australians will struggle to navigate their relationship with one of Asia’s key players
Learning & Teaching
Getting racism out of the classroom
Schools are part of a system of colonial rule that is not easily overwritten; the education system and teachers must work to understand and challenge structural racism
Engineering & Technology
The importance of teaching boys about brilliant women
By normalising brilliant women to our daughters and our sons, we make room for those women. If we don’t, it becomes a real problem for successful women when those boys become men
Humanities
Australia’s future as a destination for international students
At the end of a challenging year, it’s time to take stock of the impacts COVID-19 will continue to have on Australia’s reputation as a destination for higher education
Learning & Teaching
Playing for participation
eSports has been touted as the future of sport in a post-COVID-19 world, but schools are uniquely placed to foster learning, collaboration and skills in gaming clubs
Sciences & Technology
Science Matters
The complexities of predicting climate change effects
Some of Australia’s iconic ecosystems are collapsing, which is likely exacerbated by climate change. But we must understand the dynamics of our ecosystems in order to protect them
Eavesdrop on Ideas
Picturing the Event Horizon
In 2019, astronomers captured the first ever image of a black hole. Around it is the Event Horizon, where space and time bend. It’s an amazing picture, but is it art?
PodcastScience Matters
Food for thought
University students going hungry in Australia was a persistent problem before COVID-19, now it’s time we use the crisis to come up with sustainable solutions for our campuses
Science Matters
One size doesn’t fit all for conserving our iconic kangaroos
New research works out where and when to apply planned fire for the benefit of kangaroos and other Australian animals in a time of rapid environmental change
Science Matters
The ‘Russian dolls’ of coral reefs
The discovery of bacteria inside the algae that live inside corals sheds new light on reef-building corals and could be important for understanding coral bleaching
Science Matters
Fossil forests under Antarctic ice
Recently described fossils are the most diverse yet of forests that grew in Antarctica around 56 million years ago, providing valuable information about Earth’s past and future climate
Business & Economics
Inside Business
Time to reform Australia’s unfair family support system
Family benefit payments aren’t fit for purpose with complex rules that make it hard for mothers to return to work and that penalise dual-earner families
Business & Economics
How businesses can head off social media storms
An analysis of almost half a million online complaints suggests businesses need to respond fast with empathy and/or explanations, but few do
Legal Affairs
Crown, Collingwood and the corporate conscience
The different failures at Crown and Collingwood shows that the law needs to go beyond individuals when holding corporations to account
Inside Business
Children with same-sex parents outperform others in school
A new study finds that same-sex-parented children actually outperform their peers in many areas of academic achievement
Inside Business
Is it time to stamp out stamp duty?
Even though stamp duty is highly inefficient, replacing it with an alternative tax will always be controversial – but what are the options?
Arts & Culture
Humanities
The life stories of Gippsland lakes fishers
An oral history project is preserving the memories of the people who fished the Gippsland Lakes before commercial fishing was shutdown
Eavesdrop on Experts
The power of queer performance
Alyson Campbell will co-lead the Feral Queer Camp, hosting activities about what makes performance queer and how we might develop a network of queer thinkers
PodcastHumanities
Shakespeare and lost plays
A new book explores the hundreds of plays known to Shakespeare’s original audiences that are now lost to us, and their value to early modern drama
Humanities
The truth behind a pirate legend
Benito de Soto was a ruthless and violent pirate, but his story has been re-written (and re-imagined) over 200 years to create his modern rebel reputation
Eavesdrop on Ideas
Finding friendship in art and algorithms
COVID-19 has reinforced the vital nature of friendship and community – not just with other humans but also our connections to nature, algorithms, animals and art
PodcastMusic, Arts & Screen
Human after all
Daft Punk’s robot alter-egos are testament to the freedom artists can exploit when free of themselves in the tradition of Alice Cooper, Ziggy Stardust and even Bob Dylan
Health & Medicine
Health & Wellbeing
Victorian kids’ mental health hit hardest during 2020
The pandemic affected the mental health of young Victorian children more than those in other states during 2020, largely due to their state’s prolonged second lockdown, finds new survey
Health & Wellbeing
Charting our way back to normal
A new web tool, COVID-19 Pandemic Trade-offs, allows people to weigh the costs and benefits of different policy responses as Australia rolls out vaccines and considers opening borders
Health & Wellbeing
Building togetherness in the face of disaster
A ten year study into the aftermath of the Black Saturday bushfires highlights the importance of community and connection in what is a lesson for current and future disaster recovery efforts
Health & Wellbeing
The challenge of treating HIV in mothers and babies in Malawi
Sustained availability of treatments and reducing drop out rates are key to tackling HIV in mothers and their infants in Malawi, but COVID-19 is making it harder
Health & Medicine
Why have nearly half of transgender Australians attempted suicide?
Stigma and discrimination must be urgently addressed to reduce alarming rates of attempted suicide among transgender Australians
Politics & Society
Legal Affairs
Returning water rights to Aboriginal people
Water justice is a critical issue for Indigenous Peoples, but there are legal and policy opportunities to hand back water rights to all First Nations and Traditional Owners
Humanities
One (wo)man’s trash...
How a Melbourne community’s mission to reduce waste is building a kinder and more sustainable society, enabled by social media
Humanities
Consent apps are a bad idea – here’s why
Using an app to verify sexual consent only risks protecting perpetrators and reduces sex to a transaction. What is needed is social change
Eavesdrop on Experts
What does our constitution say about freedom of speech?
Professor Adrienne Stone discusses the differences between the Australian and US constitutions on freedom of speech and why asserting a right to free speech doesn’t make it true
PodcastHumanities
Is this the end of the “American Century”?
Is the United States’ time in the sun as the world’s superpower coming to an end? While American exceptionalism reigns supreme, the Capitol Hill riots revealed a truth
Health & Wellbeing
Allegations of sexual harassment and abuse an urgent test for government
The latest sexual assault allegations to consume Australia’s parliament is a reminder that a roadmap for legislative reform has been ‘left on the shelf’