Decoding the music masterpieces

Editor's note

Ever found yourself befuddled by Beethoven or musing on Mozart? Today we begin a guide to classical music, starting with Johannes Bach’s The Art of Fugue, an unfinished masterpiece written in the German composer’s last years.

James Whitmore

Editor

Arts + Culture

Carl Seffner’s 1908 statue of J.S. Bach in front of St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, Germany. pixy/shutterstock

Decoding the music masterpieces: Bach's The Art of Fugue

Daniel Herscovitch, University of Sydney

Johann Sebastian Bach's The Art of Fugue is a work of high art. But in keeping with the late works of artists such as Shakespeare, Beethoven and Goya, it contains elements of pathos, humour, gravity, exuberance and tragedy.

Bruce Springstein and Chuck Berry performing Johnny B. Good at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Stringer/Reuters

How do you remember a rock god? The complicated legacy of Chuck Berry

Catherine Strong, RMIT University; Emma Rush, Charles Sturt University

Chuck Berry has died age 90, rightly remembered as the legend who shaped rock and roll. But his misdeeds can't be ignored in the rush to glorify an icon.

Politics + Society

Being a footy fan is about more than just supporting a team. AAP/David Crosling

Commercialise my footy: how the AFL's grip on the game shrinks the fans' role

Andy Fuller, University of Melbourne

More and more, the culture of elite, professional footy is characterised by commercialisation and corporatisation.

Sports betting has become a high-profile part of the rugby league’s income and branding. Karl Monaghan

Sporting codes' deals with gambling companies force them into a Faustian bargain

Daryl Adair, University of Technology Sydney; David Bond, University of Technology Sydney

The NRL is trying to reduce its exposure to the integrity risks posed by spot-fixing.

Health + Medicine

The fatty acid DHA is crucial for fetal brain development in the last trimester of pregnancy. from www.shutterstock.com

You can't rely on fish oil supplements in pregnancy to make your children smarter

Jacqueline Gould, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute; Maria Makrides, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute

Fish oil capsules are marketed as prenatal supplements to improve brain development in children. But now top quality evidence suggests they won't make any difference in women eating a balanced diet.

It’s a myth that waking up a sleepwalker is dangerous. from www.shutterstock.com.au

Health Check: is sleepwalking problematic and can it be 'cured'?

Helen Stallman, University of South Australia

People have long been fascinated with sleepwalkers. Is it dangerous?

Education

Once upon a time… Shutterstock

How dogs could make children better readers

Gill Johnson, University of Nottingham

Poor literacy impacts a child's life chances – but there may be a rather colourful solution.

shutterstock

It’s not what sport children play, but how they play it that matters

Ioannis Costas Batlle, University of Bath

Does sport really improve young people’s development?

Science + Technology

The camera traps that help monitor animals, so long as the cameras don’t get stolen. Paul Meek

How to stop the thieves when all we want to capture is wildlife in action

Paul D Meek, University of New England

One of the problems with using automatic cameras to track wildlife is that people keep stealing them. And they go to great efforts to do so. But why?

Pluto is a dwarf planet but that doesn’t make it any less worthy of our attention. NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Planet or dwarf planet: all worlds are worth investigating

Tanya Hill, Museum Victoria

A group of astronomers are trying to reclassify Pluto as full 'planet'. But there are good reasons to leave our classification system alone, and this doesn't mean Pluto is any less interesting.

Environment + Energy

The Whanganui River: now a legal person. Joerg Muller/Ulanwp/Wikimedia Commons

Three rivers are now legally people – but that's just the start of looking after them

Erin O'Donnell, University of Melbourne; Julia Talbot-Jones, Australian National University

New Zealand's Whanganui River and the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers in India have been given the right to 'sue' over issues like pollution. The challenge now is to ensure these legal rights are enforced.

Orange-bellied parrots are one of the species included in the government’s Threatened Species Prospectus. JJ Harrison

Government needs to front up billions, not millions, to save Australia's threatened species

Don Driscoll, Deakin University; Bek Christensen, The University of Queensland; Euan Ritchie, Deakin University

The government's charity drive for threatened species shows it's unwilling to invest what's needed to prevent extinction.

Business + Economy

Many of the economists argued that the principle of the CGT discount is not a bad policy, however the level of the discount is generous and is open for abuse. Lukas Coch/AAP

Capital gains tax concession is too generous: economists poll

Maria Yanotti, University of Tasmania

The Economics Society of Australia (ESA) Monash Forum polled economists on whether capital gains tax deductions for housing investment should be removed.

With widening income differences and growing social divisions, citizens are less willing to support each other and taxpayers less willing to pay taxes. Joe Castro/AAP

It's harder for governments to tax their way out of rising inequality

Chris Doucouliagos, Deakin University

Analysis shows that rising inequality over the past 20 years makes it harder to increase taxes and makes citizens less willing to pay them.

Cities

The uncertainties about the new Badgerys Creek airport in Western Sydney are raising many questions that only good governance can resolve. from www.shutterstock.com

Flying into uncertainty: Western Sydney's 'aerotropolis' poses more questions than answers

Robert Freestone, UNSW

Building a second Sydney airport will be a demanding engineering project. But the real challenge will be one of governance needed to choreograph the mix of old and new city that will surround it.

Federal Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull are eyeing value capture as a way to fund projects, but how will they sell a new tax to voters? Paul Miller/AAP

Value capture: a good idea to fund infrastructure but not easy in practice

Marion Terrill, Grattan Institute; Owain Emslie, Grattan Institute

Consider these home truths: value capture is a tax, it would need to apply to the family home and deciding which areas it covers would be politically contentious. A broad-based land tax is simpler.