Pursuit
World-changing research made possible by Melbourne
Welcome to Pursuit, the latest in cutting-edge research and expert commentary by world-leading experts.
More about usScience Matters
The chemical that tells plants when it’s time to sleep
Ethylene is famous as the chemical that tells bananas to ripen, but new research shows it also helps maintain plants’ circadian clocks
The Policy Shop
Why do we measure everything and value nothing?
The President of Ireland questions neoliberalism
PodcastEngineering & Technology
Turning old tyres into new roads
With millions of tyres dumped in Australia, a new innovation could turn used tyres into permeable surfaces - helping the environment and our future infrastructure
How neuroscience beats PowerPoint coma
Here are five ways to blitz your next PowerPoint presentation – it's all about the neuroscience, says a University of Melbourne researcher.
Why gargoyles and gryphons keep watch over cities
From mythical beasts on churches to skilled stoneworks on rows of terraced houses, the design features of buildings map a city's history.
When economists have babies
After both his children were born via C-section, University of Melbourne researcher Dr Cain Polidano investigated how caesarians impact cognitive development.
The chemical that tells plants when it’s time to sleep
Ethylene, the hormone responsible for fruit ripening, also helps regulate plants' circadian rhythms, University of Melbourne research has found.
Why do we measure everything and value nothing?
President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins questions neoliberalism and prioritising the economy over people, on the University of Melbourne's Policy Shop podcast.
What are the keys to a successful urban innovation district?
Urban thinker Julie Wagner on how city innovation districts grow, and how their reliance on the physical and the local serves to foster creative industries.
Health & Wellbeing
Retraining the underdogs
How dogs that don’t graduate seeing-eye school but are trained up as special assistance dogs are helping people with younger onset dementia live fuller, happier lives
Legal Affairs
Coming soon to an aisle near you
Consumers have a love-hate relationship with our two largest supermarkets. But Australia’s grocery sector is set for a shake-up with the entry of AmazonFresh and Kaufland. What will this mean for regulation designed to reign in the buying power of Coles and Woolworths?
Legal Affairs
Australia’s place at the human rights table
Australia has been elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the body responsible for protecting civil liberties, but it presents an opportunity for self-analysis and reform
Up Close
What are the keys to a successful urban innovation district?
Walkability and human networking are among the essential ingredients in creative ecosystems popping up in cities across the globe
Podcast
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The Brave New World of Work
Inside Business
5 ways the future of work could change for women
The last generation saw a significant shift towards equality for women in the Australian workplace, but they remain under-represented in senior roles, earn less and don’t have as much superannuation. So, what could the future of work look like for women?
Design
Working in an autonomous world
As autonomous technology becomes a part of every-day life, what impact will they have on where we live and how we work?
Health & Wellbeing
Hiring for personality, training for skill
As workplaces demand more of their employees, having only technical skills or expertise is no longer enough. Instead, the emphasis is on multi-skilled individuals making up a team
Engineering & Technology
Thriving amid the rise of the machines
Since 1948, futurists have warned about the impact automation could have on the human workforce, and now those changes are becoming a reality. Does it mean a re-think about what jobs humans can do better than machines?
Engineering & Technology
The new hyper-reality of work
Augmented and virtual realities promises to dramatically change how we work in the future, but the technology is already having an impact in education and training
Environment
Science Matters
Helping fish fight their own battles
Researchers have discovered fish have an innate ability to avoid parasite infection, paving the way for new methods to prevent outbreaks in farmed populations
Science Matters
Thunderstorm asthma: Counting pollen to save lives
This year’s dry winter is good news for Melbourne’s hay fever sufferers, but after last year’s thunderstorm asthma event claimed nine lives, there are never any guarantees when it comes to pollen
Science Matters
Written in King Billy’s tree rings: 1700 years of climate history
The iconic King Billy Pines of Cradle Mountain offer a glimpse into climate history, with the publication of one of the longest tree-ring chronologies in the Southern Hemisphere
Design
Q&A: Aspiring to an ecocity future
Urban design, planning, building and maintenance must respond creatively, appropriately and effectively to the relationship between the social and the natural at both the local and global level. But how do the needs of countries differ?
Science Matters
Recurring fires are threatening the iconic snow gum
Frequent bushfires in the Victorian high country have devastated the snow gum population, endangering the flora and fauna that depend on them for survival
Engineering & Technology
Exploring the birthplace of monster waves
An expedition to the Antarctic explores where rogue waves begin, and what these monsters tell us about the way the ocean behaves and interacts with global climate change
Business & Economics
Inside Business
Ex-auto workers could boost clean energy industry
Australia’s 100-year-old auto manufacturing industry will finally come to an end later this month, but workers’ skills would translate to the storable electricity industry
Inside Business
For the love of the punt
While we may be a nation of gamblers, how many of us are problem gamblers? And how much harm does it cause? The HILDA Survey is on the way to telling us.
Humanities
Getting women on board
Innovations in Australia and Singapore are getting more women on corporate boards across the Asia Pacific, but more work needs to be done to close the gap between senior executive roles and directorships
Inside Business
Lack of women in economics ‘bad for business’
Although some of Australia’s finest economic minds are women, they remain under-represented in the discipline’s highest ranks
Inside Business
Australia’s housing: Hard crash or soft landing?
After 25 years recession free - could our complacency about Australia’s euphoric house market be coming to an end?
Health & Medicine
Health & Wellbeing
Knee deep in footy injuries
Sports medicine has come a long way from the days of the gnarled trainer with a wet towel and a few choice words of encouragement, with a booming research industry into knee injuries
Health & Wellbeing
Kids’ sleep a key indicator of wellbeing
Australia’s largest survey of children’s happiness finds that sleep is a key indicator of wellbeing – but traditional things like reading and pets still make kids smile
Health & Wellbeing
The household chemicals affecting your fertility
Planning a baby? Here are seven pro-active steps you can take to avoid some common chemicals in your home and food that may affect your fertility
Health & Wellbeing
Brush your teeth! It could save your life
Bacteria in your mouth and can wreak havoc in your body but research is on its way to developing a new vaccine, says Professor Eric Reynolds, winner of the 2017 Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation
Health & Wellbeing
What is mindfulness? Nobody really knows, and that’s a problem
Mindfulness, or focusing on the present moment to improve awareness, is all the rage in schools, workplaces, and medical clinics, but questions have been raised over how poorly it is defined and researched
Health & Wellbeing
Uncovering the brain biology of eating disorders
Technologies like brain imaging and gene mapping are starting to shed light on the biological drivers of eating disorders, including a link to how our eyes track between points, but is prejudice towards a serious mental illness slowing down progress?
Education
Learning & Teaching
Tips and tricks to boost your Year 12 scores
Study smarter not harder, with tips for students and parents from an educational neuroscientist
Inside Business
Bringing uni research to market
Finding a way to commercialise research while supporting academic culture is an ongoing but necessary challenge for universities
Learning & Teaching
Australia’s ‘spectacular’ failure in languages
Despite living in an increasingly interconnected world, the proportion of Australia’s Year 12 students taking a language has plummeted to just 10 per cent
Health & Wellbeing
Bullied school kids left behind in learning
The first large scale study into school bullying and academic achievement finds kids targeted by bullying are well behind in their learning, and the impact is worse on girls
Learning & Teaching
Realising the promise of STEM education
While there are many promising initiatives in Australia to engage students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, there is a need to support these in a sustained and coordinated way
Arts & Culture
Music, Arts & Screen
Jon Cattapan: A portrait of the artist as a new director
As he begins a new role as Director at the Victorian College of the Arts, Jon Cattapan talks life, loss and longevity in one of his most cherished places: his studio
Humanities
Peeling back history to reveal Melbourne’s faces from the past
Victoria’s Trades Hall has been standing for more than 100 years. Now a team of conservators is discovering the rich history under layers of paint ahead of a large-scale heritage redevelopment project supported by the state government.
Humanities
Alice Pung on John Marsden
In a collaboration between the University of Melbourne, the State Library Victoria and independent publisher Black Inc called Writers on Writers - modern authors reflect on the influence of those who came before them. In this book extract Alice Pung writes to her literary champion, John Marsden.
Humanities
The arrival of Amazon and the future of Australian publishing
As Amazon sets up shop in Australia, what impact could the massive online retailer and publisher have on the country’s book culture?
Go Figure
Why doesn’t modern Australia have diverse regional accents?
Unlike other countries the modern Australian-English accent doesn’t have huge regional variations. So what are the factors that lead to the evolution of an accent?
Humanities
Why Shakespeare would approve of the Pop-Up Globe
As Melbourne hosts the world’s first full-scale working replica pop-up of one of the greatest theatres in history, the second Globe, we explore what the Bard would make of it
Politics & Society
The Policy Shop
Can cities save us all?
By 2050, almost 70 per cent of the world’s population will live in cities. How can universities help urban populations thrive?
PodcastHumanities
Catalonian and Scottish independence: Why so different?
While separatists in Scotland and Catalonia rally support by mixing stories of past conflicts with contemporary grievances, democratic bargaining is the more effective way to resolve nationalist tensions
Humanities
“Risky” lack of nuclear governance in the Asia Pacific
Strong nuclear industry governance is crucial to ensuring power stations are safe and industrial nuclear material is kept out of the wrong hands, but in large parts of the Asia Pacific nuclear governance too often looks like “window dressing”
Up Close
The rise and reach of transnational policing
Criminologist Ben Bowling on how policing is increasingly crossing national borders, chasing globalised crime and cyber offenses, and raising questions about governance and public accountability
PodcastLegal Affairs
Same sex marriage, religious freedom and the law
As Australians vote in the same sex marriage survey, the national debate has focused on anxiety over whether religious freedom could be negatively affected. So what exactly does discrimination law say on the issue?
Sciences & Technology
Engineering & Technology
Crunching the numbers for the common good
How big data is informing some of the big decisions about our country’s future
Engineering & Technology
Using maths to map mines deep underground
Mapping the massive network of tunnels that give miners underground access to mineral ores is an expensive and time-consuming process, but new optimisation software, inspired by the complexity of the microchip, could save the industry millions
Science Matters
The opportunists after the fires
Research finds a dramatic increase in feral predators as fires make some native Australian animals even more vulnerable
Science Matters
Life’s a drag, unless you live in a bubble
In a breakthrough in our understanding of hydrodynamics, researchers have demonstrated the seemingly impossible: a ball that sinks in water with almost zero drag
Engineering & Technology
The students who built Australia’s first satellite
In 1970 a group of University of Melbourne students defied the odds to build and launch Australia’s first satellite – now a new book looks at their story of innovation and ingenuity
Animals, Food & You
Mapping Australia’s snakebites for pets
As spring begins to emerge, so too are Australian snakes. Now a first-of-its-kind map is tracking where and when our pets are bitten, but even which breeds are more likely to suffer a snakebite