Pursuit
Cutting-edge research and insightful commentary by world-leading experts
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More about usAnimals, Food & You
Life after the pandemic for your (new) pet
As some of us take the first steps to returning to life after lockdown, there are steps that can help your pet adapt to the new normal – especially if social distancing is the only life they’ve known
Design
Rethinking urbanity
A continuity of understanding place is necessary. And with crises of breath severing time, a rethinking of urbanity is required in the present
Health & Wellbeing
Looking to the distance for healthy vision
Half of the world’s population is predicted to be short-sighted by 2050, driven by the growing intensity of close-vision work, highlighting the importance of getting outdoors
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.
What chickens can tell us about living with COVID-19
The poultry industry copes with an avian coronavirus that can tell us a lot about tackling SARS-CoV-2 and future viruses says University of Melbourne expert
Life after the pandemic for your (new) pet
As we start to emerge after lockdown, there are some steps that can help your pet adapt to life after social distancing says a University of Melbourne expert.
Rethinking urbanity
The NGV Triennial explores the necessity of continuity in understanding place and forces us to rethink our urbanity, says a University of Melbourne expert.
Engineering & Technology
Predicting Risk of Spinal Fracture Using Bioengineering
Researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind predictive tool for spinal fracture in people who have osteoporosis, including activities and spinal joints that carry higher risk
Humanities
The politics of hacking
Associate Professor Dunbar-Hester discusses the cultures and the communities of the digital era, with a focus on media and tech activists
PodcastHealth & Wellbeing
Fear, memory and brain exploration
A largely unknown region of the brain, the zona incerta, could hold the key to how we control our fears
Inside Business
Is transparency at work good for productivity?
In a time of remote working, questions around motivation and productivity are more important than ever. Is transparency the answer?
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COVID-19
COVID-19
Part 1: Things we know at the end of 2020
No one could have predicted some of the hard lessons we’d learn in 2020. So what do we know at the end of this year that we had absolutely no clue about before?
COVID-19
Part 2: Things we know at the end of 2020
From lockdowns and travels bans to isolation and testing queues, we’ve all experienced a very different year. So what do we know at the end of 2020 that we had absolutely no clue about before?
COVID-19
Part 3: Things we know at the end of 2020
COVID-19 has changed the world as we know it. So what do we know at the end of this year that we had absolutely no clue about before?
COVID-19
Part 4: Things we know at the end of 2020
After almost a year of working-from-home, home learning and lockdowns, what do we know at the end of this year that we had absolutely no clue about before 2020?
Health & Wellbeing
Watch Episode 2: Conversations on COVID-19: A Global View
In a world where data drives most decision-making, how can we work together to use analytics to help prevent the next pandemic?
Environment
Music, Arts & Screen
Reimagining waste
Could artists, designers, scientists and engineers working collaboratively to tackle over-consumption save humanity from itself?
Design
The importance of Australia’s Big Things
What’s the point of dotting Australia with Big Things – like the Big Banana or the Big Prawn? Well, they’re kitsch fun but they also connect us to one another
Legal Affairs
The investor-led push on climate change
Investor-led pressure on Australian companies is forcing boards to adopt sustainable business practices to meet climate change goals
Science Matters
Our country, Our way
Wiradjuri man and geographer Associate Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher explores how Indigenous people and knowledge can save Australia’s environmental unravelling
Animals, Food & You
How do some frogs ‘rebound’ after disease while others perish?
A new study shows how some species survive infectious disease epidemics, and how we can use this knowledge to assist and direct wildlife management
Health & Medicine
Why COVID-19 should make us rethink our relationship with meat
With COVID-19 spreading through abattoirs and meat processing facilities around the world, it’s a chance to reconsider eating meat for the climate
Health & Medicine
Health & Wellbeing
Psychedelic medicine: A mental health game changer?
Mental health disorders are widespread, so it’s critical we have a breadth of effective therapies available. Now, plant-based psychedelic compounds are showing emerging promise
Health & Wellbeing
Women who use force
While domestic and family violence is predominantly perpetrated by men, it’s important to understand the reasons why some women use force
Health & Wellbeing
Freezing eggs for IVF: Waste not, want not
Women can freeze their eggs while delaying childbirth, but many will be wasted while other women are desperate for eggs. We need a system of egg donation
Health & Wellbeing
Young people are making their way through COVID
2020 looked bleak, but Australia’s young people are working hard at getting work – volunteering and connecting to their communities. With the right support, their outlook is bright
Health & Wellbeing
Rising caesarean rates and inequality
Global rates of caesarean section are rising alarmingly, especially in Asia, and as the Indonesian experience shows, these rates are accompanied by widening inequality in access
Sciences & Technology
Science Matters
Delving into the DNA of our iconic platypus and echidna
The genomes of the platypus and echidna have now been published, providing a valuable resource for research, as well as for their conservation and health
Science Matters
Tasmanian tigers start to look like dogs in the pouch
The Tasmanian tiger and wolf evolved similar genetic blueprints and lifestyle strategies, generating similar skull shapes even at the puppy stage, finds a new study
Eavesdrop on Experts
What COVID has taught us about the wildlife trade
Wildlife trade is the third largest illegal market in the world behind drugs and munitions – so the fact that COVID-19 may have emerged from this trade tells us more regulation is vital
PodcastMusic, Arts & Screen
Exploring the most unknown universe
Around 95 per cent of the universe is still a mystery with unknown exotic particles and new forces awaiting discovery
Science Matters
Watch episode 1: Climate Conversations: Australia in 2029
2020 could be the spark that ignites a positive future for us and for the climate - so what could our hypothetical future look like in 2029?
Eavesdrop on Experts
Everything is Country
Wiradjuri man and geographer Associate Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher explores how belonging to Country embeds us within the world around us and reveals the obligation we have to care for it
Podcast
Business & Economics
Inside Business
Are you OK Australia?
Australians report high levels of life satisfaction but there are gaps – Indigenous Australians, immigrants and the unemployed fare worse. And a warning on COVID-19 fallout, social ties are important
Inside Business
Parents with children at home reach breaking point
Parents are reporting high levels of mental stress amid the COVID-19 economic downturn, highlighting that we need new policies to address work-family conflict
Inside Business
Insurance failing when we need it most
The whole concept of insurance comes under question when disasters are apparently too big to insure, but the industry needs to do more to meet the challenge
Inside Business
Pandemic fallout exposes the young and vulnerable
Latest HILDA Survey shows it’s young workers most exposed to job losses, while poverty rates were edging higher before the COVID-19, it has made welfare policy critical to many Australians
Inside Business
Pets and Australians: Who has what?
HILDA reveals that almost half of Australian households have a dog, and around two-thirds have at least one pet, with cats and fish also popular at home
Arts & Culture
Humanities
Scientist and killer: A split life
How does an urbane chemist become a Nazi, then go back to being a respected researcher? And what does it say about the extent of the humanity in all of us?
Humanities
The Queen who defied the Holy Roman Emperor
An Italian-born princess and sole heir to the Sforza dukedom, Queen Bona helps us understand how elite Renaissance women acquired, maintained and negotiated power
Legal Affairs
Rescuing Australia’s lost literary treasures
A new project is digitising some of Australia’s most culturally-important lost books, getting them into libraries and answering some important questions
Humanities
Who is nature?
A new film taps into virtual reality and First Nations wisdom to help people re-conceive of the nature around them, not as a thing but as a “who” in a relationship that needs give and take
Humanities
50 words in Australian Indigenous languages
A new online resource – the 50 Words Project – makes words from local Indigenous languages available for every Australian to hear and learn
Health & Wellbeing
Vocal fry: What is it and why does it still polarise listeners?
Love, hate or ambivalence about this vocal style may depend on our age and gender. Linguists and voice experts explain vocal fry’s origins and its place in society
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
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
Emerging from COVID-19 and taking the chance to change
Across Australia, restrictions are loosening and now is a good time to take stock of how COVID-19 has changed our lives – and where we go from here
Learning & Teaching
5 tips for Year 12 students preparing for exams
As Year 12 students prepare for their final exams during COVID-19, there are steps parents, carers and students can take to get through this final secondary school hurdle
Learning & Teaching
Australian literature’s great silence
The Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted the systemic racism in Australian society; a new study suggests that we must question the very white stories told in our classrooms
Politics & Society
Humanities
What happened in the US was Very Bad
A violent mob storming the US Capitol building has been described as a ‘coup attempt’ but the fallout could have much broader implications
Humanities
US trade policy after Trump
Even after the election of Joe Biden, the politicisation of trade policy is likely to continue and deep-seated American protectionism is here to stay
Design
Getting regional development right
A new strategic approach to revitalising Victoria’s Gippsland is centred on place-based leadership and could be applied around Australia’s regions
Inside Business
Losing our religion
Australians are rapidly dropping their religious affiliation. Even among those who are religious, the importance of their faith is relatively low, the HILDA Survey finds
Health & Wellbeing
Safeguarding our shared cultural heritage
There are thousands of agreements in place between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, but Traditional Owners need the right data to inform decision making
Humanities
The art of opposition in Erdoğan’s Turkey
Turkey’s opposition parties are mobilising against increased authoritarianism by using the Government’s own laws to establish new alliances