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Editor's note
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We all know that within every cute Tiddles or Felix lurks the instinct of a predator. But it might surprise you to learn exactly how big a toll Australia’s cats – feral, stray and, yes, even pets – are taking on our native birds.
According to a new estimate, more than 1 million birds a day are killed by cats in Australia. And as John Woinarski and his colleagues write, the problem is worst in dry outback areas where feral cats roam, biting a significant chunk out of some native bird populations.
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Michael Hopkin
Environment + Energy Editor
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Environment + Energy
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On the prowl in the outback.
Hugh McGregor/Arid Recovery
John Woinarski, Charles Darwin University; Brett Murphy, Charles Darwin University; Leigh-Ann Woolley, Charles Darwin University; Sarah Legge, Australian National University; Stephen Garnett, Charles Darwin University; Tim Doherty, Deakin University
For the first time, researchers have estimated the toll taken by feral and pet cats on Australia's bird life - and the numbers are high enough to push several species towards extinction.
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Questions have been raised over why Adani is in line for public money.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Brendan Gogarty, University of Tasmania
The proposed loan of Commonwealth money to Adani is on shaky constitutional ground, potentially paving the way for High Court challenge which could change the dynamics of federal-state funding.
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Health + Medicine
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Tom Petty was said to have died from a heart attack, when it was actually a cardiac arrest.
MIKE NELSON/EPA/AAP
Anna Beale, Monash University
People generally assume all heart-related death is due to heart attack. But there are differences between cardiac arrest, heart attack and heart failure – and none are synonymous with death.
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Michael Rosbash, Jeffrey C. Hall and Michael W. Young have been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
EPA/Chinese University of Hong Kong
Sally Ferguson, CQUniversity Australia
The winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine discovered how our internal body clock works.
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Politics + Society
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Mothers are expected to be fully available to the demands and whims of children around the clock.
shutterstock
Leah Ruppanner, University of Melbourne; Melissa Milkie, University of Toronto; Scott Schieman, University of Toronto
Inequality across the domestic sphere – housework and parenting – jeopardises relationship quality.
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Religious organisations have freedom under Australian law to practise their own doctrines and marriage rituals.
Shutterstock
Robyn J. Whitaker, University of Divinity
Even if secular law changes to allow same-sex couples to marry, churches are protected by religious freedom to choose who they will - or will not - marry.
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Podcasts
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Our first episode of Trust Me, I’m An Expert tackles the debate unfolding as Australia contemplates changing the Marriage Act to allow same-sex couple to marry.
Axel Heimken/dpa
Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation
In this episode of Trust Me I'm An Expert, we're wading into the same-sex marriage debate with experts on the Bible and the law, and fact-checking claims that kids do best with a mother and a father.
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Mick Tsikas/AAP
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Darren Chester says there is too much hyper-partisanship in Australian politics.
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Cities
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“Looking for one girl to share a master room with another 3 girls.”
Screenshot from Gumtree ad, August 19 2017, 11:58
Christian Tietz, UNSW
City living costs are driving people to organise themselves to share a room with strangers. These precarious living arrangements hardly qualify as a home.
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The floor scrubber of the year 2000, as seen from the 19th century, complete with attendant human.
Wikimedia Commons
Nick Falkner, University of Adelaide
A common theme from science fiction is a vision of a world where humans do less work and machines do more. Why have we not yet reached that point?
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Business + Economy
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Donald Trump has proposed a large cut in the US corporate tax rate.
AAP
Fabrizio Carmignani, Griffith University
Research doesn't back up calls for more corporate tax cuts. But there are areas for the government to move to spur foreign investment.
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The research group included Hazara who opened kebab shops in Adelaide.
Shutterstock
Jock Collins, University of Technology Sydney
Humanitarian refugees face many barriers to becoming entrepreneurs, but research shows they are disproportionately entrepreneurial.
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Science + Technology
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Electric cars will shake up everything from jobs to tax.
Bob Dass/Flickr
Hussein Dia, Swinburne University of Technology
Governments racing to grab a lead in the global quest to position their countries for the car industry of the future.
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Detecting the errors in data is one thing, but correction them is still possible at the quantum computing level.
Shutterstock/andriano cz
Thomas Stace, The University of Queensland
One of the challenges for quantum computing is knowing how to detect and correct errors that may occur in the data. And we can do that without even knowing what the data says.
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Arts + Culture
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A relief at the ancient Persian city of Persepolis (now in modern Iran), including inscriptions in cuneiform, the world’s oldest form of writing.
Diego Delso/Wikimedia
Louise Pryke, Macquarie University
Cuneiform was used for over 3,000 years in the Ancient Near East, but was only decoded in the 19th century. The writing form is still revealing amazing stories, from literature to mathematics.
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John Fead, Shakespeare and his contemporaries, 1851.
Wikimedia
Laurie Johnson, University of Southern Queensland
The first recorded performance of the theatre company that Shakespeare co-founded was at a playhouse south of the Thames, but was lost to historians for centuries. Now we know where it lies.
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Education
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Not all young children want – or are able – to sleep at the same time.
Shutterstock
Karen Thorpe, The University of Queensland; Sally Staton, The University of Queensland; Simon Smith, The University of Queensland; Susan Irvine, Queensland University of Technology
Mandatory sleep times in early childhood settings do not work for children, educators or parents, and need to change.
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FactCheck
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This pamphlet, authorised by the Australian Conservatives, was received in a letter box in a Victorian suburb in September.
Supplied
Bill Louden, University of Western Australia
'Vote No' campaign material distributed by the Australian Conservatives claims that if same-sex marriage is legalised, the Safe Schools program will be 'mandatory in schools'. We looked at the facts.
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Featured jobs
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Featured events
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NSW Teachers'Federation Conference Centre, 37 Reservoir St, Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, 2010, Australia — ABC FRIENDS NSW & ACT
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