Pursuit
Cutting-edge research and insightful commentary by world-leading experts
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What does it take to run faster, throw further, jump higher?
Many of us are aware of anti-doping regulations in elite sport, but there are also unregulated non-doping performance-enhancing strategies that give an inequitable advantage to some athletes
Humanities
How literature helps us interpret the human face
New research looks at how the human face is represented in writing from the medieval to contemporary eras, revealing how we have interpreted human emotion for centuries
Inside Business
Keeping supply chains ethical and sustainable amid COVID-19
The pandemic has put global supply chains under stress and we need to be watchful that ethics and sustainability don’t fall by the wayside
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.
Did time slow down in lockdown?
Our perception of time passing fell apart during COVID-19 lockdown, giving us a sense of time-warp, almost like jetlag, says a University of Melbourne expert.
What does it take to run faster, throw further, jump higher?
Unregulated non-doping performance-enhancing strategies can give an inequitable advantage to some elite athletes, says a University of Melbourne expert.
Keeping supply chains ethical and sustainable amid COVID-19
Pressure on global supply chains from COVID-19 means we need to be watchful that ethics and sustainability aren't sacrificed say University of Melbourne experts
Learning & Teaching
Children are more than just a return on investment
Early childhood programs and related funding are often justified on the cost-benefit analysis of what children could contribute to the economy when they grow up. But that needs to change
Inside Business
Saying ‘no’, nicely
Many businesses have become ‘gatekeepers’ during COVID-19, prioritising public health over profit. But there are strategies to keeping customers happy while sticking to the pandemic rules
Science Matters
Solving the mystery of the four-headed echidna penis
Scientists have for the first time detailed the anatomy and workings of the short-beaked echidna penis, demonstrating its innovative evolution
Engineering & Technology
Blocking AI to keep your personal data your own
A new machine learning model puts ‘noise’ into personal images to stop artificial intelligence programs from exploiting and misusing your data
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COVID-19
Health & Wellbeing
The global race to understand COVID-19 variants
The BRACE trial is investigating whether it’s possible to predict who’s susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 variants – despite previous COVID-19 infection or vaccination
Learning & Teaching
Parenting during lockdown
As a result of COVID-19 restrictions, 2020 was a challenging year for many parents – but did being at home with kids affect their levels of life satisfaction?
Health & Wellbeing
How your blood can help understand COVID-19 vaccine responses
A new biobank will collect, process and store samples from people having their COVID-19 vaccine in order to help researchers better understand immunity to the virus
Health & Wellbeing
Don’t be that person
Would vaccines have saved Melbourne from this very concerning outbreak? Quite possibly. So don’t be that person who says they’re going to ‘just wait and see what happens’
Health & Wellbeing
Preventing a rebound in youth homelessness after COVID-19
Initiatives to protect homeless young people during the pandemic were effective, but we need a long term strategy that delivers better support and helps prevent homelessness
Arts & Culture
Music, Arts & Screen
Is opera dead or can it redefine itself?
Caitlin Vincent, a lecturer in the creative industries, describes how we can interpret classical operas in a way that does not perpetuate harmful stereotypes or cultural appropriation
PodcastHumanities
What was it like to be a child in the Roman Empire?
As the researcher for a new children’s novel set in Ancient Roman times, archaeologist Tamara Lewit found herself hunting for answers to questions she’d never considered
Music, Arts & Screen
How to create Oscar-nominated visual effects
Special effects artist Genevieve Camilleri describes how her work makes movie monsters ‘real’ and her Best Visual Effects nomination for the 2021 Academy Awards
PodcastHumanities
Artists, environment and truth telling in Indonesia
Art and environmental activism go together for many Indonesian artists, but some are also pushing for a reckoning as a new way forward for the country
Humanities
Understanding the diversity of Australia’s LGBTQI+ community
To understand the issues that impact people within our LGBTQI+ community, many of us need to acknowledge our own position of privilege
Humanities
Dying apart, buried together
COVID-19 exposes some of Western culture’s deepest prejudices around death and human remains, ingrained by hundreds of years of past mass death events
Politics & Society
Health & Wellbeing
The power of Indigenous data
Government has recognised the importance of Indigenous Data to Closing the Gap, but datasets need to be community-driven and owned if they are to be most effective
Humanities
What you need to know about the status of Taiwan
Australia’s Prime Minister has been criticised for referring to “one country, two systems” in relation to Taiwan, which isn’t Australia’s policy. Now isn’t the time to send mixed signals
Legal Affairs
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
Legal Affairs
Intimate partner sexual violence and the courts
Sexual assault by an intimate partner often goes unreported, and when it is, the legal system is daunting whether a woman is seeking justice or simply protection. We need a better way.
Legal Affairs
Five things we learned from the Biden Climate Summit
US President Joe Biden called on 40 world leaders to cut emissions during his Climate Summit - but what did we learn from the first virtual climate meeting of its kind?
Environment
Inside Business
Tougher environmental policies can create economic winners
There seems to be a working assumption that if Australia adopts tougher environmental policies, our economic growth will be undermined. But new research finds the opposite is true
Animals, Food & You
Smaller plants show promise for future food crops
Researchers have bred smaller soybean plants with the same yield, raising the possibility that smaller crops could grow more food from less land in our changing climate
Design
State leadership on emissions reduction is crucial
Australia’s Victorian Government has set a reduced emissions target of between 45 and 50 per cent by 2030. However, a more co-ordinated effort is needed by the States and Federal Governments
Animals, Food & You
Protecting Australia’s citrus industry
Researchers have identified an Australian strain of fungus that causes citrus rot, calling for effective controls to protect the citrus industry
Design
Designing-in difference
Culturally inclusive urban design can help shape our everyday public spaces, encouraging a vibrant multicultural social fabric here in Melbourne
Design
City climate leadership a model for sustainability
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals give us a global blueprint, but our cities have a key role to play in transformative change
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
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
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
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
Health & Medicine
Health & Wellbeing
Unmasking cancers with hidden identity
Cancer treatment is largely based on where it originates in the body, but when a primary site can’t be found, genomics is helping guide diagnosis and treatment for cancers of unknown origin
Health & Wellbeing
Heating and cooking at home linked to asthma
Wood heating, gas cooking and heating in the home are linked to an increased risk of asthma and more rapid decline in lung function
Health & Wellbeing
New hope for treating PTSD
Treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder usually involves patients focusing on their traumatic experience, but world-first research may offer another treatment pathway
Health & Wellbeing
Judicial stress falls heaviest on magistrates
Following up evidence of distress and burnout in the judiciary, research finds that stress affects magistrates the most, exacerbated by social isolation and a lack of autonomy
Health & Wellbeing
An unexpected find opens a new way to regulate blood pressure
In what could be a new pathway for drug therapies to treat hypertension, a team of brain researchers have discovered that zinc plays a key role in lowering blood pressure
Engineering & Technology
Do you think better when you’re moving?
Using advanced biomechanics, researchers found the results of a cognitive task to identify visual targets were significantly improved when performed while walking
Business & Economics
Legal Affairs
Charging dead clients is dishonest. Really? Who knew
The regulator’s court action against five AMP group companies over the previous scandal that saw dead clients charged fees is a wider warning to corporations
Inside Business
It’s more than the money: Getting GPs to go to rural areas
While Australia’s Federal Budget promises more money to rural GPs, will the cash make a difference when it comes to getting and keeping doctors in remote Australia?
Inside Business
The power of the Indigenous business sector
Each year, Indigenous businesses bring in at least $A4.9 billion; now first-of-its-kind research reveals the extent of the economic power and diversity of Australian Indigenous businesses
Business & Economics
Competition isn’t improving the aged care sector
A new study finds more competition isn’t associated with better quality of care or lower prices in aged care, prompting policy reform to address sources of market failures
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
Sciences & Technology
Engineering & Technology
What if Melbourne was a giant Dungeons and Dragons game?
A prototype application, Biometric DnD, takes D&D character creation to the next level, using AI and your face. But it also highlights the dark side of biased algorithms
Science Matters
Variety is the spice of life... and key to saving wildlife
Conservation genetics can boost a species’ ability to adapt and decrease its extinction risk by understanding how varied a species’ DNA is across its entire genome
Animals, Food & You
When money means a life or death choice for our dogs
New research finds many family pets are euthanised for economic reasons, when treatment is possible, but costs are too high
Science Matters
Male fertility ‘precariously close’ to climate change extinction limits
The loss of fertility in males as a result of climate change, particularly in the tropics, may be a better predictor of vulnerability to extinction
Engineering & Technology
New mobile sensor could transform testing for remote areas
Chemical engineers have developed a first-of-its-kind sensor that could boost low-cost medical and environmental diagnostic testing in developing and remote areas – all without the need for a lab
Science Matters
Laos jars are slowly revealing their secrets
New dating techniques find that Laos’ stone jars may be at least 3,000 years old, but the sites remained significant for rituals until just 700 years ago