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Editor's note
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This week, we looked at
infectious diseases and how they’ve affected our societies and cultures, our habits, language, and even our evolution. But it turns out we have just as much of an effect on the little critters that call us home.
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Alexandra Hansen
Section Editor, Health and Medicine
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Health + Medicine
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The bubonic plague slowed urbanisation, industrial development and economic growth in Europe for many years.
from www.shutterstock.com
Maxine Whittaker, James Cook University
Despite being so small they can't be seen with the naked eye, pathogens that cause human disease have greatly affected the way humans live for centuries.
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Just as organisms that infect us make changes in us - we too make changes in them and they grow and adapt to their human hosts.
from www.shutterstock.com
Ian Mackay, The University of Queensland; Katherine Arden, The University of Queensland
Humans play host to many little passengers. Right now, you’re incubating, shedding or have already been colonised by viral, bacterial, parasitic or fungal microorganisms - perhaps even all of them.
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Politics + Society
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An anonymous veteran described the Australian special forces’ culture as competitive, lacking in accountability, and focused on self-glorification.
AAP
Megan MacKenzie, University of Sydney
We need to acknowledge that 'band of brothers' military culture has a dark underbelly – and that individual acts of atrocity might be a reflection of broader, systemic issues.
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With Australia’s level of media concentration among the highest in the world, the future of Network Ten is concerning.
Paul Miller/AAP
Denis Muller, University of Melbourne
The most pertinent issue is how much power the federal government is prepared to allow any single media proprietor to have.
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Environment + Energy
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The controversial Narrabri coal seam gas project. Australia has plenty of gas reserves that are cheaper to develop and a safer bet.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Dylan McConnell, University of Melbourne
Australia has enough gas reserves to supply the next 25 years' demand. Federal pressure to lift state bans on onshore gas development is pointless, risky – and won't bring prices down.
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Australia might have been ‘built on the sheep’s back’ but we can’t eat off it.
Stanley Zimny/Flickr
Bill Bellotti, The University of Queensland
Australia feeds tens of millions, at home and abroad. But if our population doubles by 2061, as some projections suggest, we'll need some smart strategies to keep those people fed.
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Arts + Culture
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Detail from Percy Leason, Thomas Foster, 1934, oil on canvas, 76.0 x 60.8 cm, State Library Victoria, Melbourne.
Gift of Mrs Isabelle Leason, 1969 (H32094) © Max Leason
Myles Russell Cook, University of Melbourne
Anthropologist Percy Leason thought he was painting the extinction of Victoria's Indigenous people in the 1930s. He was wrong, but his portraits, part of a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, are surprisingly sympathetic.
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Donald Horne saw Australia as a country that had got lucky, but was squandering its luck.
Shutterstock.com
Frank Bongiorno, Australian National University
Donald Horne saw Australia as a lucky country that was squandering its luck. His bold ideas captured the nation's imagination. But being a public intellectual is no longer easy. Who will come up with the next grand ideas?
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Science + Technology
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So-called “unconventional” deposits of oil and gas are found in shale, a type of layered, fine grained rock.
Dana283/Shutterstock
Grant Cox, University of Adelaide; Alan Collins, University of Adelaide
Gas buried in the Northern Territory's Velkerri Shale was produced in a "slime world" that existed nearly a billion years before the first complex life on Earth evolved.
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Trolls tend to downplay the impact of their abusive online behaviour on their victims and seem to relish in the mayhem they cause. Let’s use this to help them lift their game.
from www.shutterstock.com
Evita March, Federation University Australia
Trolls tend to know the impact they'll have, but don't seem to care. So, how do we use our new findings to help stop this seemingly pointless, harmful behaviour?
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Cities
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It’s hard to see how a city can be good for all its people unless they are involved in its creation.
Paul James
Paul James, Western Sydney University; Belinda Young, University of Melbourne; Brendan Gleeson, University of Melbourne; John Wiseman, University of Melbourne
Developing principles to create cities that are good for all is not easy. Who decides what is good? And for whom? We desperately need a big and general public discussion about this.
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The uniquely weak regulation of high-rise, high-density development exemplifies the market-driven growth of Australian cities.
Julian Smith/AAP
Brendan Gleeson, University of Melbourne
Achieving the goal of sustainable cities depends on rolling back the market after decades of privatisation and deregulation.
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Education
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Parents can use everyday tasks and routines to encourage learning maths in early childhood.
OnlyZoia/Shutterstock
Sivanes Phillipson, Monash University; Ann Gervasoni, Monash University
There are several ways to help children learn and be interested in maths – even the reluctant ones.
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The role of parents and carers in high school students’ learning and achievement is critical.
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
Andrew Martin, UNSW
There are four key styles to parenting high school students, and parents will likely need to move between two of them as their children grow up.
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Business + Economy
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The ACCC has referred the Tabcorp/Tatts merger to the Federal Court.
Reuters
Julie Clarke, University of Melbourne
The Federal Court will now have an opportunity to clarify how mergers should be valued, ensuring the ACCC and the Australian Competition Tribunal are applying the same standard.
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Refugee Talent, a digital matching platform to assist refugees in finding work in Australia, emerged out of one of the Techfugee Sydney Hackathon events.
alan jones/flickr
Jarrod Ormiston, Maastricht University
Social enterprises set up by refugees are also helping countries to overcome some of the challenges of economic and social integration of new arrivals.
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Multimedia
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How should you signal that you don’t want to be disturbed?
www.shutterstock.com
Jenni Henderson, The Conversation; Josh Nicholas, The Conversation; Nadia Isa, The Conversation
Our workplaces are becoming less formal. But there were some advantages to the old formality.
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AAP/Andrew Taylor
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Data Governance Australia chairman Graeme Samuel hopes that a self-regulatory code of conduct will raise the standards among data-driven organisations.
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Featured jobs
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RMIT University — Bundoora, Victoria
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University of Melbourne — Parkville, Victoria
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University of South Australia — Adelaide, South Australia
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Westpac Bicentennial Foundation — Melbourne, Victoria
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Featured events
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119 Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne , Victoria, 3205, Australia — University of Melbourne
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Conference Room, The Westmead Institute for Medical Research, 76 Hawkesbury Rd, Westmead, Australian Capital Territory, 2145, Australia — University of Sydney
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Deakin Burwood, Burwood Corporate Centre, Level 2, Building BC, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood., Melbourne, Victoria, 3125, Australia — Deakin University
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Great Hall, Level 5, UTS Tower building, 15 Broadway, Ultimo, New South Wales, 2007, Australia — University of Technology Sydney
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