Pursuit
Cutting-edge research and insightful commentary by world-leading experts
Welcome to Pursuit
More about usHealth & Wellbeing
Flattening the curve to help Australia’s hospitals prepare
Mathematical and epidemiological modelling helps us understand whether Australia is flattening the COVID-19 curve and allows us to work backwards from a manageable health services demand – keeping it ‘just flat enough’
Engineering & Technology
Keeping aged care residents connected
As COVID-19 increasingly impacts on our day-to-day lives, people in aged care homes are already isolated. But new technologies can play a role keeping residents connected
Health & Wellbeing
COVID-19 can reframe health politics
The response to COVID-19 is a reminder of the huge capacity of states to improve health outcomes and exposes how our acceptance of suffering on the basis of ‘affordability’ costs lives
Heroines 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
Our food supply has problems with equity, not quantity
Shocks to our food supply provide opportunity to transform our food systems to be healthier, more sustainable and equitable say University of Melbourne experts.
Flattening the curve to help Australia’s hospitals prepare
University of Melbourne mathematical modelling helps us understand whether Australia is flattening the COVID-19 curve and whether our hospitals are prepared.
Keeping aged care residents connected
People in aged care homes were already isolated before the COVD-19 crisis but University of Melbourne research finds new technology can help better connect them
Health & Wellbeing
Protecting our ageing population from COVID-19
While Australia works to prevent the spread of COVID-19, there are extra health considerations when it comes to older Australians and our ageing society
Education
How to keep your head during COVID-19
When there’s a crisis the first impulse can be fear and panic. But the COVID-19 pandemic demands clear thought, here is one way to adapt your thinking
Health & Wellbeing
How to take care of yourself if you have COVID-19
From managing your symptoms to good hygiene at home, if you have tested positive for COVID-19 there are some steps you can take to make your isolation more comfortable
Health & Medicine
The maths and ethics of minimising COVID-19 deaths
The Australian Government must clarify its COVID-19 strategy, but to do so means understanding the maths and ethics of either ‘flattening the curve’ or an eradication endgame
Subscribe to Pursuit
Receive your weekly email digest from Pursuit
Education
Learning & Teaching
Five tips for keeping kids learning at home
As schools in several Australian states close their doors, many parents are concerned about the disruption to their child’s education. So, what’s the best way to keep kids learning at home?
Learning & Teaching
The soft power of education
Since the 1950s, Australia has been consistent about the way education can build our nation’s soft power, but the time has come to update our approach
Education
Tech-bots, virtual worlds and personalised everything
Technology is changing our world at an unprecedented rate, and it’s up to educators to help equip today’s children to become future-ready citizens
Education
The enduring ‘cultural cringe’ about teaching Australian literature
Australian literature hasn’t received the attention it deserves in the classroom, but a new project aims to help teachers share its diversity with Australian high-school students
Learning & Teaching
Our business leaders must think critically
Critical thinking has become highly valued in business, but these skills aren’t taught to business students. So, how do we ensure that the next generation of business leaders don’t repeat the mistakes of the past?
Sciences & Technology
Science Matters
Modelling the spread of COVID-19
Forecasting the spread of COVID-19, including the likely number of undetected cases, is fraught and difficult, but a sense of the numbers is important for appreciating the challenges ahead
Science Matters
Machine learning to scale up the quantum computer
A machine learning framework has been created to precisely locate atom-sized quantum bits in silicon – a crucial step for building a large-scale silicon quantum computer
Science Matters
What causes an ice age to end?
In order to know why an ice age ends, we need to know when it ended. Now, new research is working to solve one of the enigmas in palaeoclimatology
Science Matters
Magnetic teeth revealed using quantum imaging
Scientists have used new quantum magnetic imaging techniques to study the hardest known biomineral – the magnetite found in mollusc teeth – which may inspire new industrial materials
Science Matters
Why do small dogs live longer than big dogs?
Larger animals tend to live longer than smaller ones, but within the dog kingdom it pays to be short. Here’s why
Business & Economics
Inside Business
The COVID-19 shock to supply chains
The coronavirus pandemic is only the latest shock to supply chains – but COVID-19 is a wake-up call to businesses in terms of the cost of being under-prepared
Inside Business
Rebelling against modern slavery
Seventy-five per cent of modern slaves are women and girls. As consumers, we need to challenge the way we think about what we buy to help end exploitation
Legal Affairs
Women, age discrimination and work
Ageism and sexism are nothing new, but many countries are reporting an increase in age bias, particularly against women. So why are women less likely to make an age discrimination claim?
Inside Business
Thinking about using donated eggs to start a family?
In Australia, the donor egg industry is heavily regulated, but in countries like the US, it can feel more like online shopping. Here’s what you need to know
Learning & Teaching
Our business leaders must think critically
Critical thinking has become highly valued in business, but these skills aren’t taught to business students. So, how do we ensure that the next generation of business leaders don’t repeat the mistakes of the past?
Health & Medicine
Health & Wellbeing
What is COVID-19 doing to our mental health?
Coronavirus isn’t only taking a physical toll, it’s playing with our minds, too. But there are steps we should all be taking to keep ourselves mentally well
Health & Wellbeing
Schools must provide soap to maintain basic hygiene
Good hygiene practices are more important than ever with the COVID-19 outbreak, but soap isn’t provided as standard in all schools
Health & Wellbeing
No place for ‘good bloke’ excuse
The media reporting of domestic violence is important and needs to be responsible if it is to avoid fuelling or excusing violence
Eavesdrop on Experts
Shaping the brain: Before, during and after birth
Professor Tracy Bale looks at the role that stress and trauma play across generations and how our life experiences can be transmitted biologically, creating our unique brains
PodcastHealth & Wellbeing
Double hit to malaria from new drug candidate
New antimalarial compounds target two essential molecules required for critical stages of the parasite’s life cycle, holding promise for overcoming the threat of drug resistance
Health & Wellbeing
Where are all the missing girls?
A preference for sons in patriarchal societies across the world means we are missing 126 million women. Here is what we can do about it.
Arts & Culture
Humanities
Kangaroo hunting in colonial Australia
A new book explores how the kangaroo became a quarry, a resource and a point of violent conflict between settlers and Australia’s Aboriginal people
Humanities
Motherhood in a climate crisis
Historically there’s been a strong link between mothers and environmental advocacy, but as our planet and society changes, women are on the frontline of the ecological battle
Music, Arts & Screen
The healing history of dance
Dance movement therapy is a relatively new healing practice, but its cultural roots date back a millennia. So, how can this history inform modern therapies?
Humanities
Has Hollywood run out of original ideas?
With remakes of Mulan, Dune, The Witches and The Invisible Man all due out this year, a new book answers the big question: what justifies a remake?
Humanities
Out of ancient marshes
Archaeology at the site of the former Pontine Marshes has uncovered a massive but forgotten feat of ancient land reclamation revealing the early determination of the Romans to bend the world to their will
Politics & Society
Public Affairs
The symbolism of the Olympic Games
With indications that it may have to accept the inevitable, why has Japan been adamant that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games should go ahead in the face of COVID-19?
Engineering & Technology
Disarmament: What is it good for?
Efforts to control the weaponisation of new technologies like AI are fragmented, but the UN hosts an existing disarmament framework that could bring these efforts together
Humanities
Uncivil society
Civil society has been seen as a bedrock of democracy, but around the world democracy is being undermined by the same forces that were supposed to sustain it
Public Affairs
A superpower in transition
A resurgent China is challenging the hegemony of the Indo-Pacific and here’s how it’s testing the Australia-United States alliance
Health & Wellbeing
We’ve lost the wisdom of Solomon
The legal presumption of shared care is the starting point for childcare arrangements both informally and through the courts. This presumption is putting women and children in ongoing danger of violence and abuse. The law needs to change
Environment
Design
Reduce, reuse and recycle for a circular economy
Using a university campus as a ‘living laboratory’, a new study evaluates what materials universities use, their associated environmental effects and how to curb them
Design
Disasters, planning and Australian tourism
Australia’s summer of bushfires is hitting our tourism industry to the tune of billions of dollars; future planning must integrate tourism and disaster resilience
Design
Building equity into architecture
We’ve had qualified women architects in Australia for nearly 120 years, but there is no way that we’ve reached gender parity in the professions
Eavesdrop on Experts
Renewing Democracy in a time of environmental crisis
Social researcher Dr Rebecca Huntley says renewing democracy is critical to dealing with climate change because there’s little trust in our current politics to do anything about it
PodcastDesign
Curving concrete’s carbon footprint
In a bid to reduce waste while achieving great design, researchers have developed an adjustable frame for casting curved concrete panels