The Oscars: more predictable than you think

Editor's note

With less than a week until the 2017 Oscars, you might be wondering where to place your bets. As mathematician Stephen Woodcock writes, the Oscars are remarkably predictable, if you know where to look. Which means you can expect La La Land to be taking home at least some gold.

James Whitmore

Editor, Arts and Culture

Top story

If the bookies are right - and they usually are - La La Land and Emma Stone will be dancing home from the Oscars. Summit Entertainment

How predictable are the Oscars? More than you might think

Stephen Woodcock, University of Technology Sydney

If you want to know who's going to win the Oscars, your best bet is the bookmakers.

Politics + Society

Netanyahu's visit prompts Australia to rethink its relationship with Israel

Dashiel Lawrence, University of Melbourne

Israel has only a handful of friends on the international stage. Australia is one of them.
There are some difficult questions to ask Netanyahu, but boycotting his visit won't answer them

Dennis Altman, La Trobe University

Rather than boycotting the Israeli leader's visit, we should instead demand that he put forward some concrete proposals for a meaningful peace process.

Science + Technology
No animal required, but would people eat artificial meat? Clive Phillips, The University of Queensland; Matti Wilks, The University of Queensland We might be able to grow artificial meat but are people really prepared to eat such produce over meat from farmed animals?

Environment + Energy

Tax and dividend: how conservatives can grow to love carbon pricing

Andrew Hopkins, Australian National University

Taxing carbon has always been a tricky political sell for conservatives. But a group of establishment US Republicans is touting the idea of a carbon "tax and dividend" as a way to break the deadlock.
Government losing the argument on energy, according to poll

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

A series of questions by Essential on energy policy has found the Turnbull government is so far failing to persuade people of either its performance or its arguments on energy security.
Mount Isa contamination 'within guidelines' but residents told to clean their homes

Mark Patrick Taylor, Macquarie University; Chenyin Dong, Macquarie University; Paul Harvey, Macquarie University

Glencore has admitted responsibility for air pollution in Mount Isa, but its latest report puts the onus on residents to minimise their exposure to lead contamination in their homes.

Health + Medicine

What's most likely to kill you? Measuring how deadly our daily activities are

Hassan Vally, La Trobe University

A Stanford professor developed a handy way of estimating and comparing our risk of death from various events – the micromort.
How we kept disease-spreading Asian Tiger mozzies away from the Australian mainland

Cameron Webb, University of Sydney; Andrew Francis van den Hurk, The University of Queensland; Scott Ritchie, James Cook University

A new study shows how Australian authorities are battling the invasive Asian tiger mosquito in Torres Strait, reducing risks of mosquito-borne disease outbreaks.

Business + Economy

Why algorithms won't necessarily lead to utopian workplaces

Uri Gal, University of Sydney

Despite its promises, people analytics has serious ethical implications and can adversely affect organisations and how people are treated at work.
APRA fiddles on bank risk while Rome burns

Andrew Schmulow, University of Western Australia

Some argue, determinedly and erroneously, that when functioning correctly bank capital levels are almost magical things.

Arts + Culture
Trainspotting on stage brings a disturbing reality vividly to life Julian Meyrick, Flinders University It's one thing to read Irvine Welsh's grim tale of 1980s Scotland - it's another to see it happen three feet away from you.