Editor's note
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It feels like every week there are claims of a battery breakthrough – batteries that will one day power electric cars, batteries that could power an entire electrical grid. But when will all this actually happen?
In our Future of Batteries series, we sought to add some reality to the debate. Ben McLellan explored the origins of the raw materials that will make up this technology, from outback Australia to China to Chile’s Atacama Desert. And Raja Jurdak looked at
how we can build batteries that can sustain themselves, armed with little more than solar panels and some software.
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Science + Technology
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Brine pools and processing areas at the Rockwood lithium plant on the Atacama salt flat in northern Chile.
REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado
Ben McLellan, Kyoto University
We need to think about the raw materials of batteries -- where they come from and their environmental cost.
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Batteries that can last indefinitely are needed to track wildlife.
Mamiraua Sustainable Development Institute
Raja Jurdak, CSIRO; Brano Kusy, CSIRO
Batteries that can self-sustain are needed for long-term animal tracking as well as shipping and logistics.
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Business + Economy
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Women’s activism has indeed enabled progress to be made in norms and direct gender regulation, but it has not prevented, the growth of market liberalism that has increased regulation distance in many areas.
Richard Milnes/ newzulu
David Peetz, Griffith University; Georgina Murray, Griffith University
The weakening of collective rights and employment protections has harmed the relative position of women in ways that have offset gains through changing values and individual rights.
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The economics of the money-back guarantee can work for retailers.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Yalcin Akcay, Melbourne Business School; Tamer Boyaci, ESMT Berlin
The economics of the money-back guarantee can work in retailers' favour, in certain circumstances.
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Arts + Culture
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Mitch Cairns’s Agatha Gothe-Snape, oil on linen, 140.5 x 125 cm.
© the artist Photo: Mim Stirling, AGNSW
Joanna Mendelssohn, UNSW
This year's annual Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes both reaffirm traditions and confirm new directions in the arts establishment.
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Eugenia Falleni in 1920. An Italian-born-woman-turned-Sydney-dwelling-man, Falleni was convicted of murder in 1920.
Wikimedia
Pip Smith, Western Sydney University
An Italian-born-woman-turned-Sydney-dwelling-man, Eugenia Falleni was convicted of murder in 1920. Researching a novel about Falleni left this author literally, and figuratively, at sea.
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Politics + Society
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Surely, things were easier in the past.
shutterstock
Rodney Tiffen, University of Sydney
There has been much attention paid to the widespread resurgence of populism. Restorationism in Western democracies is a subset of this.
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We need to consider whether values are the basis of beliefs about inequality.
Shutterstock
Eva Cox, University of Technology Sydney
Who do you trust? Increasingly the answer seems to be nobody, especially when it comes to inequality.
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FactCheck
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Journalist Mehdi Hasan responds to a question from a Q&A audience member.
Q&A
Liz Allen, Australian National University
Do Muslim couples in Australia have 'on average 4.5 children' while other couples have '1.5 children'? Could Australia have a 'Muslim majority' in 'a couple' of generations? Let's check the evidence.
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Cities
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Residents of high-density housing might value features such as balconies, but when roads get busy this increases exposure to pollution.
Adam J.W.C./Wikipedia
Christine Cowie, UNSW; Guy Marks, UNSW
Many new housing developments are being built along busy roads and rail lines, but lack design features that would reduce occupants' exposure to harmful traffic pollution.
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The Sirius building and the Heritage Act are both products of a significant part of Sydney’s history: the Green Bans movement.
Dean Lewins/AAP
Chris Martin, UNSW
Social housing can certainly have heritage significance. Over more than 100 years, it has been shaped by contemporary architectural and political ideas, sometimes in an exemplary way.
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Podcasts
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Land rezoning, sales, and planning approvals are just a few of the ways ‘grey gifts’ can decide who benefits from government decisions.
Dean Lewins/AAP
William Isdale, University of Melbourne
William Isdale speaks with The University of Queensland's Cameron Murray about the nature of 'grey gifts', soft corruption, and who stands to win (and lose) when these deals are made.
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John Stillwell/EPA
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Michael Cooney says becoming a republic would give Australians important new symbols of national unity.
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Health + Medicine
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Sitting affects our glucose levels, which affects our brain.
Unsplash/Andrew Branch
Michael Wheeler, University of Western Australia; Daniel Green, University of Western Australia; David Dunstan, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute; Paul Gardiner, The University of Queensland
The brain is a glucose-hungry organ. If this energy supply is disrupted, it can impair and even damage brain cells.
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The health benefits of being close to nature are well established.
priscilla du preez/Unsplash
Danica-Lea Larcombe, Edith Cowan University
Health benefits of being close to nature are well established, but the rise of apartment living means we can't always be close to greenery.
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Environment + Energy
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Interspecies relationships can help traumatised animals form healthy attachments.
Sugarshine animal sactuary
David John Roland, University of Sydney
Animals have complex experiences of trauma. Treating them is very similar to dealing with humans, requiring compassion, calm and common sense.
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Irrigation pumps along the Barwon River in New South Wales.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Ross M Thompson, University of Canberra
The system that allocates water use in Australia's largest river basin relies on a shared commitment by states to uphold the rules. New allegations of water theft threaten to break that trust.
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Education
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Sagardeep Singh Arora is challenging Melton Christian College’s decision not to enrol his son unless he agrees not to wear his patka (similar to the photo above).
Shutterstock
Renae Barker, University of Western Australia
A case before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal highlights the need for schools to accommodate articles of religious and cultural practice in their uniform policies.
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Data big and small have come to education, from creating online platforms to increasing standardised assessments.
shutterstock
Simon Knight, University of Technology Sydney; Simon Buckingham Shum, University of Technology Sydney
We should consider how artificial intelligence will impact how we teach, what we teach, and its potential to ethically support innovation and improvement in education.
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Featured jobs
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Curtin University — Perth, Western Australia
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Featured events
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Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3051, Australia — IMPACT7
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Sydney Law School, University of Sydney, Australian Capital Territory, 2006, Australia — University of Sydney
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