Who butchered the rhino?

Editor's note

Piece by piece, land mass by land mass, scientists are putting together the puzzle of early humans and their movements across our world.

Published today, the newest evidence comes from Luzon, an island in the northern Philippines. Here, as Adam Brumm writes, an international research team has uncovered a fossilised “Ice Age” rhinoceros that was butchered around 700,000 years ago. It’s the first evidence demonstrating the presence of archaic humans in the Philippines.

Who butchered the rhino? We don’t know. But Adam suggests there may be some real surprises in store when human-like fossil records are eventually available in Luzon and nearby islands.

Sarah Keenihan

Section Editor: Science + Technology

Top story

Excavations at Kalinga in Luzon’s Cagayan Valley (Philippines). G.D. van den Bergh

Rhino fossil rewrites the earliest human history of the Philippines

Adam Brumm, Griffith University

Humans butchered a rhino in a remote part of the Philippines 700,000 years ago, but who were they and how did they get there?

Science + Technology

Why decisions to desex male dogs just got more complicated

Paul McGreevy, University of Sydney; Anne Fawcett, University of Sydney; Melissa Starling, University of Sydney

Giving male dogs the snip is a common practice in Australia and elsewhere to help reduce the number of unwanted dogs. But it can also lead to some unwanted behavioural problems.
DNA facial prediction could make protecting your privacy more difficult

Caitlin Curtis, The University of Queensland; James Hereward, The University of Queensland

Our ability to reconstruct physical features from DNA is advancing, but can we ensure the privacy of "anonymised" genetic data if we can predict the face of its owner?

Education

Gonski 2.0: teaching creativity and critical thinking through the curriculum is already happening

Bill Louden, University of Western Australia

The role of general capabilities in a subject-based curriculum has been a recurring theme in Australian curriculum history.
Why some students are excluded from university later in their degree, and how to remedy it

Colin Jevons, Monash University; Sophie Lindsay, Monash University

Much of the research on attrition focuses on the first year of university, but little is known about why people drop out later in their studies. A recent study looked at some factors.

Environment + Energy

$500 million for the Great Barrier Reef is welcome, but we need a sea change in tactics too

Jon Brodie, James Cook University

The federal government's new $500 million funding package for the Great Barrier Reef seems predominantly focused on the tactics that are already being tried, without much success.
Rio Tinto's climate change resolution marks a significant shift in investor culture

Anita Foerster, University of Melbourne; Jacqueline Peel, University of Melbourne

The shareholder resolution on climate change at Rio Tinto's AGM is another indication of how much investor culture is tilting towards demanding that companies take a responsible climate stance.

Politics + Society

The politics behind the competitive neutrality inquiry into ABC and SBS

Denis Muller, University of Melbourne

The focus raises questions about the motives behind the inquiry and how it might benefit anti-ABC crusaders, including Pauline Hanson.
Legal precedent based on false beliefs proves hard to overturn

Helen Fraser, University of New England

Not all false beliefs arise from malicious misinformation. Some legal precedents rest on the status of everyday 'common knowledge', since shown to be false, but embedded in our law nonetheless.
Labor MP Tim Hammond quits for family reasons, creating byelection in WA

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Hammond said he would resign "in the near future" after discharging obligations to his electorate and staff.

Health + Medicine

Sweet power: the politics of sugar, sugary drinks and poor nutrition in Australia

Phillip Baker, Deakin University; Mark Lawrence, Deakin University

Australia needs a sugar tax, as part of a broader national nutrition policy, to combat the obesity crisis. And the sugar industry is getting in the way.
I go to the gym every day. Why can’t I lose weight?

Tim Olds, University of South Australia

People are often disappointed when exercise doesn't translate into weight loss. Here are four reasons it might not be happening for you (yet).

Arts + Culture

'Treatments' as torture: gay conversion therapy's deep roots in Australia

Marguerite Johnson, University of Newcastle; James Bennett, University of Newcastle

With Victoria attempting to crack down on gay conversion therapies, some have called for more debate on the issue.
Cannes is right, Netflix movies just aren't the same

Ari Mattes, University of Notre Dame Australia

Netflix's Chief Content Officer has said the streaming service is the future of film. But cinemas have survived many other threats to their dominance.

Business + Economy

Why your app is updating its privacy settings and how this will affect businesses

Claudio Bozzi, Deakin University

Australian businesses will not be forced to comply with or fall foul of the new data regulation merely because they maintain websites accessible in the EU.
After damning the Commonwealth Bank's management, regulators want the bank to fix itself

Helen Bird, Swinburne University of Technology

The Commonwealth Bank has been given responsibility to fix its own management mess. Regulators could have done a lot more.
Greens urge Buffett rule to get more tax from high income earners

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

The Greens plan would bring in "a Buffett rule" to ensure higher income earners paid their fair share of tax by limiting deductions made by those earning more than $300,000.

Cities
Big city gaybourhoods: where they come from and why they still matter Scott McKinnon, University of Wollongong Sydney's LGBTQI heartland has moved and changed over time, but the importance of urban space to queer communities remains a constant.