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Editor's note
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Barbra Streisand’s superstar status doesn’t protect her from the grief of losing a beloved pet. But when her dog Sammie died last year, Streisand enlisted help to clone her beloved companion. She’s now raising Miss Scarlet and Miss Violet, both of whom are exact genetic replicas of her original dog.
But these fluffy puppies almost certainly won’t turn out to be identical, mini versions of Sammie. This is because genes are not the whole story, explains Russell Bonduriansky.
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Sarah Keenihan
Section Editor: Science + Technology
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Science + Technology
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Babs turned to technology to clone her dog Sammie.
Soeren Stache/AAP
Russell Bonduriansky, UNSW
Humans, and indeed pet dogs, are more than just products of genes – even before the moment of conception, environments play a vital role in shaping us.
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AI-generated pornography – known as “deepfakes” – is becoming more convincing, seamless and real.
Shutterstock
Nicola Henry, RMIT University; Anastasia Powell, RMIT University; Asher Flynn, Monash University
People can now use artificial intelligence to swap the faces of actors in pornographic videos with those of people they know, raising fears about a new form of revenge porn.
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Health + Medicine
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Ten cases have been reported so far, including two deaths.
Shutterstock/Doug J Moore
Vincent Ho, Western Sydney University
Two people have died after eating rockmelon contaminated with listeria. A total of ten cases have been confirmed in NSW, Queensland and Victoria between Jan 17 and Feb 9, and more are expected.
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But it depends on whether you’re a healthy weight to start.
Henrique Félix
Claire Madigan, University of Sydney; Wendy Brown, The University of Queensland
We found that over 12 years, women who had an unhealthy weight and had yo-yoed didn't gain more weight than women who had never yo-yoed.
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Environment + Energy
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The Emissions Reduction Fund is not capturing enough emissions from the most polluting industries.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Ian A. MacKenzie, The University of Queensland
Australia's flagship climate policy, has spent more than $2 billion on emissions reductions, yet big businesses could wipe all this out. Time to resurrect the idea of a simple carbon tax.
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No about-face: Barnaby Joyce (left) may have gone to the backbench, but his successor Michael McCormack looks set to keep his climate views aflame.
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Marc Hudson, University of Manchester
Barnaby Joyce had a long history of opposing climate action. His successor Michael McCormack seems to think the same way, despite climate being a growing threat to the Nationals' rural voters.
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FactCheck
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Is Richard Di Natale correct in saying that Tasmanian women aren’t getting access safe termination services?
AAP/David Crosling
Angela Dawson, University of Technology Sydney
In Hobart supporting the Tasmanian Greens ahead of the state election, Greens leader Richard Di Natale said 'in one of our states, women are not getting access to safe terminations'. Is that correct?
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The CSIRO has provided new estimates of population sizes for White Sharks in Australian waters.
Fiona Ayerst/Shutterstock
Jane Williamson, Macquarie University; Vincent Raoult, University of Newcastle
How many shark encounters have there been at your local beach? Explore our interactive map to see 20 years of incidents between humans and sharks in coastal waters around Australia.
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Cities
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The morning traffic builds up on the Tasman Highway at Montagu Bay. Congestion has become a hot issue for Hobart residents.
Wiki ian/Wikipedia
Emma Pharo, University of Tasmania; Jason Byrne, University of Tasmania
Hobart is a smaller city with big city problems that have become an election issue. Recent growth is creating traffic congestion that affects productivity, residents' health and liveability.
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Tobacco smoke is notoriously difficult to contain in higher-density housing.
shutterstock
Caitlin Kameron, Curtin University
Apartment residents need sensible smoking regulations that balance personal freedoms in the home and public health interests, but the law is letting them down.
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Education
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There is also strong public understanding of the benefits that flow from research undertaken in partnership between universities and other organisations.
Shutterstock
Margaret Gardner, Monash University
The freeze on university funding not only limits opportunities for students, it puts limitations on the communities unis serve, the economy, and business interested in forming collaborations.
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Most jurisdictions in Australia already make it a crime to intentionally or recklessly engage in conduct that creates a substantial or real risk of serious harm.
Wikimedia Commons
Paul McGorrery, Deakin University
Hazing is unacceptable, but criminalising it may cause more problems than it solves.
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Arts + Culture
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A section of Hoda Afshar, Westoxicated, from left-right, #3, #9, #5, #1, #7 (Under Western Eyes series) (2013-2014), digital prints, 105 x 92cm (each).
Courtesy the artist.
Christine Judith Nicholls, Flinders University
The beguiling works on display in an exhibition by Muslim Australian artists are grounded in the realities of their daily lives.
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Morning Mist Rock Island Bend, Franklin River, Southwest Tasmania.
Peter Dombrovskis/ (courtesy Liz Dombrovskis) AAP
Billy Griffiths, Deakin University
The Franklin River campaign is commonly seen as a green victory; a fight for the right of 'wilderness' to exist. But archaeological research revealing the region's deep Aboriginal history was crucial to it.
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Politics + Society
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Aid projects in Iraq had more money than ideas.
Denis Dragovic
Denis Dragovic, University of Melbourne
We don’t care, or possibly dare, to look back five or ten years later to see what happened to international aid projects.
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Adelaide’s Bec Goddard (centre) is one of just two female senior coaches in the AFLW.
AAP/Dan Peled
Fraser Carson, Deakin University; Julia Walsh, Deakin University
Despite participation rates in women’s sport growing exponentially in recent years, the number of women in coaching positions has remained frustratingly stagnant.
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Business + Economy
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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian touring the WestConnex tunnel in Sydney.
AAP
Marion Terrill, Grattan Institute; Hugh Batrouney, Grattan Institute
Despite a huge fall in interest rates, the federal government has been using the same rate to value prospective infrastructure projects since 1989.
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Gamblers feel connected to the machine as hospitality keeps them playing for longer.
Gary Knight/flicr
Francis Markham, Australian National University; Martin Young, Southern Cross University
Pokies companies want to keep their customers "in the zone", that's why they spend so much to keep tabs on them.
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Podcasts
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Pain lets us know when there is something wrong, but sometimes our brains can trick us.
Mai Lam/The Conversation NY-BD-CC
Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation; Sasha Petrova, The Conversation; Sophie Heizer, The Conversation
Our podcast Trust Me, I'm An Expert, goes beyond the headlines and asks researchers to explain the evidence on issues making news. Today, we're talking pain and what science says about managing it.
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Eva Blue/Flickr, Southern Cross Austereo
Kath Kenny, Macquarie University
Sometimes I want to cheer online publications that combine politics, fashion and beauty for the way they are mainstreaming feminism. On closer inspection, though, it has produced some odd results.
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Featured jobs
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University of Melbourne — Parkville, Victoria
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RMIT University — Melbourne, Victoria
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University of Sydney — Kingswood, New South Wales
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Featured events
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Hyatt Regency Perth, Grand Ballroom, 99 Adelaide Terrace, Perth, Western Australia, 6000, Australia — Curtin University
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Level 12, 300 Flinders Street , Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia — Victoria University
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Law School Foyer, Eastern Avenue, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia — University of Sydney
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Chau Auditorium, Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, Level 2 14-28 Ultimo Road, Ultimo, New South Wales, 2007, Australia — University of Technology Sydney
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