Pursuit
Cutting-edge research and insightful commentary by world-leading experts
Welcome to Pursuit
More about usAnimals, Food & You
Testing wildlife could stop pandemics in their tracks
The key to reducing disease in humans is proactive disease surveillance in animals, and we already have the technology to do it
Health & Wellbeing
Victoria – are you up for elimination?
Just like a politician shouldn’t waste a good crisis, so Melbourne should not waste a lockdown.
Health & Wellbeing
Q&A: How could COVID-19 drugs work and what’s out there?
Finding existing drugs that are effective against COVID-19 is our best bet toward treatments, and the US buy-up of Remdesivir supplies highlights how urgent the race is
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.
Modern lessons from our polio past
One pre-vaccine polio treatment used blood to create a serum, and there are lessons to be learned when it comes to COVID-19 says University of Melbourne expert
Testing wildlife could stop pandemics in their tracks
The key to reducing disease in humans is proactive disease surveillance in animals; we already have the technology to do it say University of Melbourne experts.
Victoria – are you up for elimination?
Australia's Victoria State should aim to eliminate COVID-19 with its new lockdown in response to this fresh outbreak, argues a University of Melbourne expert
Health & Wellbeing
Will COVID-19 change healthcare for stroke patients?
COVID-19 has stimulated a re-engineering of the health system, sometimes bringing the Emergency Department to the patient. This approach is already benefiting early treatment of stroke
Eavesdrop on Experts
How better data on death can improve lives
Professor Alan Lopez studies causes of death, so that health interventions can be better targeted. He says deaths from cardiovascular disease in Australia are starting to rise
PodcastHealth & Wellbeing
What actually works for anxiety and depression?
Researchers have written user-friendly guides to the actual evidence for a host of treatments and therapies aimed at anxiety and depression
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
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Politics & Society
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
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
Legal Affairs
Australia’s constitutional answer to structural racism
Inequality was woven into Australia’s original constitutional structures and continues today; until that changes, the system remains structurally stacked against Indigenous interests
Legal Affairs
The National Cabinet has worked. Can it last?
A new Australian institution – the National Cabinet – emerged at a time of crisis, but its success depends on how it works in practice, once the COVID-19 pandemic passes
Legal Affairs
How COVID-19 is hitting some democracies harder than others
COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on democracy worldwide, but some democracies are more resilient than others
Inside Business
Championing Indigenous women politicians
The theme for 2020’s National Reconciliation Week is ‘In this Together’; an edited extract from a new book celebrates the contribution of Australia’s Indigenous women in political leadership
COVID-19
Health & Wellbeing
The science behind the search for a COVID-19 vaccine
Unless a new treatment is discovered, developing a vaccine is crucial to controlling COVID-19. In this special report, our experts explain the complex challenge of creating, testing and distributing a potential vaccine to end the coronavirus pandemic
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 & Wellbeing
Watch Episode 6: Life Beyond Coronavirus: Preventing the next pandemic
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 Future of Work
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?
Environment
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
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
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
Design
Water management? Yes, it’s personal
A new survey of water-planning experts shows they have vastly differing risk perceptions, which may reduce the chance of innovative practices being implemented
Animals, Food & You
Helping dairy cows to beat the heat
Heat stress is a key issue for the dairy industry, but some strategies may help to reduce the negative impacts on dairy cows and increase the resilience and sustainability of the industry
Design
COVID-19 is an opportunity to reset our environmental future
The COVID-19 restrictions are having short-term environmental benefits, but the crisis also presents an opportunity to plan Australia’s low or zero net emissions future
Arts & Culture
Humanities
How Arabic is a window on the world
A chance find in a Damascus bookshop is a reminder that to study Arabic is to be drawn into a wider and vibrant multicultural world
Public Affairs
How COVID-19 made me more Australian
For a British immigrant in Australia, watching the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK from afar has brought the issue of national identity into sharp relief
Humanities
Footy is back but times have changed
Gambling is now a part of modern football in Australia, but the COVID-19 pause in footy boosterism has given fans a chance to question their relationship with the AFL
Humanities
How much digital time is too much during COVID-19?
COVID-19 restrictions have meant many of us are spending more time online, but even as they ease, can we ensure that digital media doesn’t take a toll on our family life?
Humanities
How will the arts recover from COVID-19?
Working with the limitations and opportunities of online interfaces, artists whose careers survive the pandemic will emerge with an altered sense of what they do, and of their place in society
Business & Economics
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
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
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
Inside Business
From #BlackLivesMatter to real workplace change
Some may be sceptical of the business responses to the Black Lives Matter movement, but corporate activism can make a strong statement of support for social justice causes
Inside Business
Who’s hit hardest by the COVID-19 economic shutdown?
The latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey shines a light on those most vulnerable to the COVID-19 economic downturn – low-wage workers, women and young people
Inside Business
Cutting the commute for students with a disability
How market design theory, or ‘experimental economics’, and specialist software helped reform travel services for students with disability
Education
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
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
Learning & Teaching
Embracing a new normal in ourselves and communities
COVID-19 restrictions have gone on long enough to establish new habits. So what do we want to keep doing and stop doing, both individually and as a community?
Education
How do we teach students about their wellbeing online?
As schools across the globe have settled into online teaching, the next step will be how to teach social emotional learning in digital classrooms
Legal Affairs
Education technology, schooling and privacy
COVID-19 has highlighted the increasing growth of education technology or EdTech, but more legal reform is needed for children’s privacy as they learn online
Health & Medicine
Health & Wellbeing
Is there a science to staying alive longer?
A new book applies the science of longevity to everyday life; this edited extract explores how the small daily decisions we make now can help us live better for longer
Health & Wellbeing
Deeper data needed to understand scale of abuse faced by people with disability
The size and scale of the problem of violence against people with disability remains obscure because the data is too fragmented. A new project aims to change that.
Health & Wellbeing
How brain rhythms can reveal your personality
A new study shows machine learning can be used to predict aspects of a person’s personality from their electrical brain rhythms
Eavesdrop on Experts
Towards faster treatment for major depressive disorder
Physiologist Professor Scott Thompson studies how the brain changes in patients with major depression to identify more effective, faster acting antidepressants
PodcastHealth & Wellbeing
Connecting culture and health
Cardiologist Associate Professor Luke Burchill grew up on country, and was inspired by family to study medicine and work in a strengths and solutions-focused approach to Indigenous health
Health & Wellbeing
Australia’s sub-standard reporting of refugee self-harm incidents
Basic information is often missing on incidents of self-harm among Australia’s asylum-seeker population, making it more difficult to tackle the problem
Sciences & Technology
Health & Wellbeing
Science needs to look inward to move forward
Robust science depends on encouraging and incentivising more open and transparent practices in research – now, metascientists are looking at what works and what doesn’t
Science Matters
Where have all the stars gone?
Stars helped shaped human culture for thousands of years, but we see far fewer of them now than our ancestors or rural friends; now a citizen science program will map light pollution across Australia
Science Matters
Climate change policy: The missing middle
In Australia, the COVID crisis has brought about bipartisanship and consensus, which are also urgently needed for effective climate change policy
Engineering & Technology
Extreme waves set to be bigger and more frequent
As the planet warms, researchers are warning that the frequency and magnitude of extreme wave events may rise by around 10 per cent by the end of century, increasing flood risks
Engineering & Technology
When tools for a health emergency become tools of oppression
Surveillance technology deployed to combat COVID-19 can quickly be used against civil freedoms