A conversation that reaches beyond Melbourne and Sydney

Editor's note

As a subscriber to this daily newsletter you might not realise that in the seven years since we launched The Conversation it has grown pretty big. You’re one of about 133,000 people who get this email and among the more than 9 million users globally who read our articles on The Conversation every month. When you add in republishers, the global audience for our articles is well over 30 million users a month.

Among our leading republishers are Australia’s ABC and some big-name global brands like The New York Times and The Washington Post. But they’re not the only people who see the benefit of our research stories and expert commentary from academics. We also work with local media like The Sunshine Coast Daily, The Examiner and The Gladstone Observer, among many others. We are deeply committed to helping everyone, no matter where they live, access academic expertise in stories that are clearly written and easy to understand.

As part of this, we also work hard serve audiences who live in areas outside Sydney and Melbourne. In the past year, we have embedded editors in Townsville, Hobart and Adelaide to fact-check state elections. While they have been there, our editors have met local media outlets and sought feedback from local residents about the issues that are top of mind.

Sunanda Creagh, our NSW bureau chief, is currently working from Southern Cross University in Lismore, where she is commissioning articles from local academics – several of whom are tackling topics that might not always get a good run in the metropolitan media bubble. As part of her work, Sunanda will seek input from academics and local readers on what matters to them, and build relationship with regional media outlets that might want to republish our articles.

Listening to readers and sharing the expertise of people who actually know what they’re talking about is one way in which we try and deliver on our goal of serving democracy. If you’d like to suggest a story idea – any idea really, but particularly something that might not be well covered by metropolitan media companies – you can pitch it here.

Misha Ketchell

Editor

Top story

There are calls for strong action, including criminal prosecution, following a fatal accident involving an Uber self-driving car. Uber

Legal lessons for Australia from Uber’s self-driving car fatality

Sandeep Gopalan, Deakin University

Elaine Herzberg's death will provide the impetus for clearer liability rules for self-driving cars. Australia is wise to adopt a wait-and-watch approach and maintain its human-first orientation.

Science + Technology

Curious Kids: Can chimpanzees turn into people?

Mark Elgar, University of Melbourne

The short answer is no. An individual of one species cannot, during its lifetime, turn into another species. But your question helps us think about life, evolution and what it means to be human.
Who’s to blame when driverless cars have an accident?

Raja Jurdak, CSIRO; Salil S. Kanhere, UNSW

Sensors that monitor everything a self-driving vehicle does can help determine who is responsible in the case of an accident – the manufacturer, the service centre or the vehicle owner.

Education

How #MeToo can guide sex education in schools

Melissa Kang, University of Technology Sydney

The #MeToo movement has sparked discussions about appropriate sexual behaviour that teachers can build on in sexual education.
Your ATAR isn't the only thing universities are looking at

Sarah Pilcher, Victoria University; Kate Torii, Victoria University

In 2017, around 60% of domestic undergraduate university offers were reported as non-ATAR, meaning there's a diversity of pathways to higher education.

Politics + Society

There's still a long way to go for the Don Dale royal commission to achieve justice

Thalia Anthony, University of Technology Sydney

Implementing the Don Dale royal commission's recommendations will test the capacity to redress the 'systemic and shocking failures' it identified.
Politics podcast: Sarah Hanson-Young on the Greens Batman setback

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has strongly backed party leader Richard Di Natale's push to purge those who leaked against candidate Alex Bhathal in the Batman byelection.
We won't stop lone-actor attacks until we understand violence against women

Jude McCulloch, Monash University; JaneMaree Maher, Monash University; Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University; Sandra Walklate, University of Liverpool

The Victorian government's new centre to prevent terrorist and lone actor attacks needs to fully understand the links between these types of attacks and violence against women.
We need to rethink our moral obligations to create a better world

Anne Schwenkenbecher, Murdoch University

Individually rational actions can lead to collectively undesirable outcomes. Rethinking our individual moral obligations as forming part of a collective pattern of action can lead to positive change.

Cities
NDIS needs the market to help make up at least 60% shortfall in specialist disability housing George Taleporos, La Trobe University The NDIS is allowing for Specialist Disability Accommodation for 28,000 people, with 17,500 already in such housing. The potential demand for this life-changing supported housing is even greater.

Business + Economy

Consumers need critical thinking to fend off banks' bad behaviour

Carly Sawatzki, University of Canberra; Levon Ellen Blue, Queensland University of Technology

Financial literacy is more than numeracy, it requires a healthy scepticism of financial institutions and confidence in making financial decisions.
New Zealand, US and UK outrank Australia in scores on budget transparency

Miranda Stewart, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University; Teck Chi Wong, Australian National University

In it's first inclusion in the Open Budget Index of 115 countries, Australia ranks 12th.

Arts + Culture
Here's looking at: The Execution of Savonarola and Two Companions at Piazza della Signoria Ted Snell, University of Western Australia In 1497 Girolamo Savonarola burned books and art in Florence in the most infamous act of European cultural desecration. A year later, he met the same fate.

Health + Medicine

Common skin rashes and what to do about them

H. Peter Soyer, The University of Queensland; Katie Lee, The University of Queensland

Here's a list of the most common rashes and what you need to look for.
Why does Australia have so much skin cancer? (Hint: it's not because of an ozone hole)

Terry Slevin, Cancer Council Australia; David Whiteman, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

Most Aussies think we have such high rates of skin cancer due to an 'ozone hole'. But that's not the case. Here's why we have nearly a million cases of skin cancer per year.

Environment + Energy
As humans change the world, predators seize the chance to succeed Bill Bateman, Curtin University; Trish Fleming, Murdoch University From falcons that hunt by the light of skyscrapers, to bears that sit in wait at weirs, animals are using human structures to help them catch a meal.