Would you get a genetic test?

Editor's note

More than US$3 billion is spent each year on genetic research, and hopes are high for the possibility of predicting death and disease. But do people actually want genetic testing? Or would they rather be kept in the dark about things they may not be able to change anyway?

Alexandra Hansen

Section Editor, Health and Medicine

Top story

Genetic testing has many touted future benefits - but are any of them coming to fruition? from www.shutterstock.com.au

Why it might be time to reconsider the money spent on genetics research

Louise Keogh, University of Melbourne

Over $US3 billion is spent every year on genetic research. But we are not getting enough return for this investment.

Politics + Society

Revealed: the hidden problem of economic abuse in Australia

Jozica Kutin, RMIT University; Mike Reid, RMIT University; Roslyn Russell, RMIT University

Women living in high financial stress and those who have a disability or chronic health condition are most at risk of economic abuse.
Politics podcast: former ambassador Jeff Bleich on the shocks of the Trump presidency

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Australia got a taste of Donald Trump's approach to diplomacy in a sensational phone call with Malcolm Turnbull, details of which were leaked to the Washington Post.
What would a wise democracy look like? We, the people, would matter

Janette Hartz-Karp, Curtin University

One reason Perth's Roe 8 project is the subject of passionate protests is that it's a case of a government asserting power over people rather than exercising power with local communities.
Parliamentary inquiry into free speech resolves nothing, so 18C should be left alone

Katharine Gelber, The University of Queensland

The much-anticipated report has offered little in the way of a solution to the disagreement over section 18C, so parliament should leave it as it is.

Environment + Energy
How climate change threatens to make our bread less tasty Glenn Fitzgerald, University of Melbourne Rising carbon dioxide may be a boon for crop yields, but at the expense of nutritional content and quality.

Science + Technology
When mammals took to water they needed a few tricks to eat their underwater prey David Hocking, Monash University; Felix Georg Marx, Monash University; Travis Park, Monash University There are plenty of mammals that have adapted to life in water, some more than others. That meant they also had to adapt the way they feed.

Business + Economy

China's private companies are unjustly labeled as Communist Party plants

Colin Hawes, University of Technology Sydney

The public debate about Chinese corporations investing in Australia is spurred by several misleading ideas about the control of the Chinese government and its intervention with private businesses.
We need to hear the stories of exploited unlawful migrant workers, not just deport them

Marie Segrave, Monash University

Australia needs to empower migrant workers to report abuse, and more effectively punish employers that do the wrong thing.
Despite superannuation changes, one tax loophole remains

Kevin Davis, Australian Centre for Financial Studies

The government has yet to address a major incentive to put assets into super and hold them until the retirement phase.

Arts + Culture

With Moonlight's Oscar win, Hollywood begins to right old wrongs

Scott McKinnon, University of Wollongong

When Warren Beatty began his acting career in the 1950s, the idea of homosexual men at the centre of a cinematic story could not be countenanced. Moonlight still shows us lives generally absent from film screens.
Here’s looking at Rodin’s Pierre de Wissant, monumental nude

Ted Snell, University of Western Australia

Our empathy for the anguished subject of this sculpture is heightened because although cast in bronze he is so tantalisingly human.

Education

University sexual assault policies are often 'inconsistent' and 'confusing'

Nicola Henry, La Trobe University

Prevention messages by universities are often directed at the victim and what she or he can do to avoid being raped. This may then deter reporting of the incident.
Vice Chancellor Barney Glover says universities must stand up for facts and the truth – 'if we don’t, who will?'

Barney Glover, Western Sydney University

Our need for unbiased, well-researched information has never been greater.

Health + Medicine
New proposed health data report misses many of the marks Stephen Duckett, Grattan Institute; Lucille Danks, Grattan Institute Measurement matters, especially when it comes to health care and how well we are treated if we get sick or have to go to hospital.