Pursuit
Cutting-edge research and insightful commentary by world-leading experts
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Triaging the terminally ill
The concept of triage in emergency medicine has been around for centuries, but now researchers have developed a new tool to help triage those patients needing palliative care
Humanities
Treading softly in power diplomacy
Museums have emerged as new and effective actors of cultural soft power, including outside the West in countries like China and Russia
Eavesdrop on Experts
Finding memories in music
Music therapist Professor Felicity Baker uses singing and songwriting to ease the distressing behavioural and emotional symptoms of dementia
PodcastHeroines of mathematics
We asked some of the University of Melbourne's prominent mathematicians to share with us who their favourite maths heroines are and why.
Why that Instagram post may cost you more than you think
We need greater transparency around how our social media data will be used by banks, and how to challenge their decisions say University of Melbourne experts.
Finding the fundamentals of reading
An independent evaluation by University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children's Research Institute finds intensive phonics-based reading interventions can deliver
Rediscovering a ‘lost’ species
A rare insect species, Key’s Matchstick Grasshopper, was thought to be extinct in Victoria but has now been rediscovered by University of Melbourne researchers.
Finding memories in music
University of Melbourne music therapist Professor Felicity Baker uses singing and songwriting to ease the behavioural and emotional symptoms of dementia.
Triaging the terminally ill
Triage in emergency medicine has been around for centuries, but a new tool from University of Melbourne researchers helps triage patients in palliative care .
Science Matters
Why are our rainforests burning?
Many of us may think the wet, humid conditions in a rainforest makes them unburnable, but bushfires in Australia and the Amazon are proving otherwise
Humanities
Bringing ancient Rome to life
Filmmakers just love the vivid drama of Ancient Rome. But which screen visions of the ancient superpower do our history experts rate the best?
Health & Wellbeing
How our ‘avian athletes’ could spread influenza
New research shows migratory birds are exposed to a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu before they arrive on Australian shores
Public Affairs
Most Asian-Australians experience discrimination
New research finds that many Asian-Australians experience discrimination in the workplace, which impacts on opportunities to move into senior leadership positions
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Politics & Society
Humanities
How the toxic went mainstream
By adept use of social media, including memes, far-right and white supremacist ideologies are gaining currency and making extremist and divisive language part of everyday life.
Legal Affairs
A crisis of citizenship in India is risking mass statelessness
The updated National Register of Citizens in India’s Assam state has left almost 2 million people being deemed non-citizens in a process that may be widened throughout India
Engineering & Technology
Where’s the proof internet voting is secure?
Victoria’s Electoral Matters Committee is looking at how our elections are conducted and internet voting is a real option. But is there any real proof that our votes would be secure?
Legal Affairs
Bringing democracy to the internet
Author and lawyer Lizzie O’Shea argues that we need to stop looking forward and start looking backwards in order to determine our digital future
PodcastLegal Affairs
Hong Kong: The canary in the coal mine
Hong Kong continues to be wracked by civil unrest. How did it come to this, what does it signal, and where is it likely to end?
Health & Medicine
Health & Wellbeing
Understanding posttraumatic nightmares
Research into the effectiveness of “rescripting” dreams suggests that posttraumatic nightmares are actually a range of different phenomena, opening up the possibility of targeted treatments
Health & Wellbeing
How allergies may get under our skin
Emerging evidence suggests that infants may be contracting allergies through their skin. Now, a major trial is underway to test whether regular skin treatment can prevent babies becoming allergic
Health & Wellbeing
Mapping eye disease
Researchers have created the world’s most detailed atlas of the genetic code of the human retina, and it could help treat and prevent blindness
Health & Wellbeing
Delving into memory to understand schizophrenia
Impaired memory is a symptom of schizophrenia and University of Melbourne PhD student Cassandra Wannan has identified areas of the brain that give us new clues as to what’s going on
PodcastUnder the Microscope
Becoming a STEM-inist
When PhD candidate Amy Shepherd began her career in science, she didn’t dream that within a few years she’d be rubbing shoulders with Nobel Prize winners but still wondering where all the women are
Health & Wellbeing
Hunting the genetic cause of stuttering
Stuttering can run in families, hinting at an underlying genetic cause that researchers are focusing on through a major world study. But here’s what we know now, including tips on speaking with someone who stutters.
Education
Learning & Teaching
Why early childhood education is everyone’s business
The first five years of life are the most critical for building the foundations for life-long learning, well-being, and health, and it is critical we have policy reform and investment in quality early childhood education
Learning & Teaching
Finding the fundamentals of reading
An independent evaluation by researchers finds that an intensive phonics-based intervention program for students struggling to read can improve foundational skills
Inside Business
Helping ‘impatient’ students stay in school
Patience can have a significant impact on a child’s educational outcomes, and understanding why can help inform good policy for Australia’s school system
Learning & Teaching
Taking positive psychology into the classroom
Positive psychology in schools is exploring how best to apply the science of wellbeing in key learning environments - helping students develop skills for life
Learning & Teaching
A chance to even the odds
A child’s destiny is heavily influenced by the lottery of socio-economic status and where they happen to grow up, but access to quality early learning can help even the odds for all Australian children
Sciences & Technology
Legal Affairs
The very human language of AI
Artificial intelligence can be convincingly human-like when it writes news or even poetry, but what ethical issues does this raise for the future of AI?
Science Matters
The science that stops possums eating your garden
When possums ate her garden, Professor Lynne Selwood fought back and invented a spray that protects plants from Australia’s hungry possums
Science Matters
Heroines of mathematics
We asked some of our prominent mathematicians to share with us who their favourite maths heroines are and why
Engineering & Technology
Engineering magnetics to grow human tissue
Tissue engineering can restore damaged or lost tissue in the human body, and biomedical engineers are working to one day scale up the technology to regenerate entire organs
Engineering & Technology
Two data points enough to spot you in open transport records
Last year, 15 million partially redacted public transport passenger details were posted online. It took researchers very little time to re-identify themselves and others, highlighting a risk to privacy
Under the Microscope
The dark matter detective
High energy physicist Professor Elisabetta Barberio is leading groundbreaking Australian research in the hunt for dark matter and it’s all happening deep underground
Environment
Humanities
Revealing the true value of fashion
Entrepreneurs, designers and fashion businesses are rethinking the human and environmental costs of clothing and ensuring customers know exactly what they’re getting
Animals, Food & You
Using tech to save wine from bushfire smoke
Wine vintages can be ruined by smoke contamination from nearby bushfires, but new digital agriculture tools could help both large and small winemakers reduce the damage
Design
Australian Modernism’s Top 10: Part Two
Modernist design ushered in a new way of thinking in Australia and inspired some of our most iconic architecture. Two architectural historians continue their look at the legacy of some of our top designs
Design
Australian Modernism’s Top 10: Part One
Modernist design ushered in a new way of thinking in Australia and inspired some of our most iconic architecture. Two architectural historians look at the legacy of some of our top designs
Engineering & Technology
Simulating smog
This White Night festival, Melbournians can vicariously experience some of the world’s dirtiest air in the art installation, Pollution Pods. But how does it compare to the air we breathe in Australia?
Arts & Culture
Humanities
Narcissus and the drawbacks of being a hot teenage boy
The myth of Narcissus as told by the Roman poet Ovid isn’t so much about narcissism and self-discovery, as about what it is to transgress the norms of male sexuality
Music, Arts & Screen
Game over? Not yet…
Old technologies like gaming consoles are being reimagined and reinvigorated by creative musicians, harking back to the lateral thinking that gave us the Game Boy
Humanities
Faithfully conserving a Rembrandt
The Three Crosses is Rembrandt’s powerful depiction of Christ’s crucifixion – but how do you stabilise a 350-year-old print for exhibition while preserving the qualities which make it distinct?
Humanities
Friends, Romans, Fake News
In a world of ‘alternative facts’ and spin, Shakespeare’s plays can help teach us how to grasp complexity and expose manipulation
Humanities
Revealing the true value of fashion
Entrepreneurs, designers and fashion businesses are rethinking the human and environmental costs of clothing and ensuring customers know exactly what they’re getting
Humanities
A bittersweet history
Sugar is one of the world’s oldest documented commodities, but the story of how it came to dominate our modern-day diets is one of exploitation and transformation
Business & Economics
Engineering & Technology
Why that Instagram post may cost you more than you think
We don’t really know how social media posts are being used or evaluated by banks. We need greater transparency around exactly how our data will be used and the ability to challenge decisions
Inside Business
Is empathy good for business?
Being able to put yourself in the shoes of your customers and colleagues is a crucial advantage in business, but too much empathy can also have unintended consequences
Inside Business
Care for our financial health
Many Australians stress over their finances, but just like a health problem, the answer is better education, financial health checks, and counselling for those that need it
Legal Affairs
Focusing financial law on what really matters
The complex and unclear laws governing financial services need to be overhauled, with financial wellbeing put at the core, say researchers in the new FinFuture white paper
Inside Business
Can your personality be good, or bad, for your health?
The HILDA 2019 Survey finds intriguing links between dominant personality traits and the onset of serious illness – but it’s more likely to do with the behaviours linked to those traits