Editor's note
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Plonk, booze, goon, grog: whatever colloquialism we might use for alcohol, Australians have plenty of them, and use them with relish. Howard Manns has put together a user’s linguistic guide to getting on the turps, which you might want to trot out when it’s your shout (unless, of course, you wouldn’t shout if a shark bit ya).
But if it’s the chateau cardboard that you’re getting stuck into, take it easy, or you’ll end up full as a bull’s … backside. Have a lovely weekend.
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Politics + Society
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Here’s cheers: Australians have developed a lot of slang phases for alcohol and drinking.
Shutterstock
Howard Manns, Monash University
Our drinking culture has brought some colourful phrases into the Australian vernacular.
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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the minister in charge of the new ‘super-portfolio’, Peter Dutton, announce the changes on Tuesday.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Adele Garnier, Macquarie University
The creeping invisibility of the immigration portfolio comes as the government is overseeing major changes to immigration policy.
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Science + Technology
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The Madjedbebe excavation in the Northern Territory.
Dominic O Brien/Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation
Chris Clarkson, The University of Queensland; Ben Marwick, University of Washington; Lynley Wallis, University of Notre Dame Australia; Richard Fullagar, University of Wollongong; Zenobia Jacobs, University of Wollongong
A new study pushes back the first known evidence of human activity in Australia - to 65,000 years ago.
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GnuPGP still has many important uses today.
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Ralph Holz, University of Sydney
Most people have never heard of the software that makes up the machinery of the internet
- especially the tools that keep us safe.
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Arts + Culture
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Detail from Tony Albert Self-portrait (ash on me), acrylic on linen.
102 x 102 cm
© the artist Photo: Jenni Carter, AGNSW
Joanna Mendelssohn, UNSW
The packers' favourite has gained prominence and their are few portraits of politicians in this year's popular art prize. The stand out work is a deceptively innocent re-appropriation of Aboriginal kitsch.
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Detail from Katsushika Hokusai, The great wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki namiura), (1830–34), from the Thirty-six views of Mt Fuji (Fugaku-sanjū-rokkei)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Felton Bequest, 1909 (426-2)
Hugh Davies, La Trobe University
Hokusai's Great Wave is the enduring image of Japanese art. Less well known is the story of its primary pigment - Prussian blue - which was created in a lab accident in Berlin and sparked 'blue fever' in Europe.
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Podcasts
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Lukas Coch/AAP
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Peter Jennings says while the Department of Home Affairs will present an array of bureaucratic challenges, it is largely a 'sensible step'.
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Could genetic engineering one day allow parents to have designer babies?
Tatiana Vdb/flickr
William Isdale, University of Melbourne
William Isdale talks to Professor Julian Savulescu about the ethical implications of geneticaly modifying humans.
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Health + Medicine
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We’re less able to understand others if we ruminate on our own problems.
胡 卓亨/Unsplash
Adam Gerace, Flinders University
Having “been there”, we believe we know what it’s like to be our friends in trouble. But do we really?
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The new Netflix film To the Bone missed some opportunities to dispel myths about eating disorders.
Screenshot, Youtube
Joanna Doley, La Trobe University; Susan J Paxton, La Trobe University
To the Bone has attracted comment from mental health professionals and advocates. Critics have concerns it could cause or worsen eating disorder symptoms.
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Cities
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Some local councils are more tolerant than others in allowing residents to grow food where they want.
dscribe
Jennifer Kent, University of Sydney
Urban residents are increasingly keen to farm verges, parks, rooftops and backyards, but planning rules sometimes stand in the way.
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While homelessness is becoming more visible, it is not new in affluent societies like Australia.
AAP/Joe Castro
Anne O'Brien, UNSW
Taking the long view of homelessness can reveal patterns that explain how and why people get caught up in conditions not of their making.
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Education
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Children benefit from previous understanding of spoken words before reading them.
Africa Studio/Shutterstock
Signy Wegener, Macquarie University; Anne Castles, Macquarie University
Eye-tracking research reveals that children are likely to read new words faster and easier if they have heard the words before.
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Parents should understand where the value is in social media so they can guide their kids to positive use.
Shutterstock
Joanne Orlando, Western Sydney University
Social media provides many emotional, health and social benefits for young people.
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Environment + Energy
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Undoing shoppers’ engrained behaviours is a tricky job.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
Daniela Spanjaard, Western Sydney University; Francine Garlin, Western Sydney University
The success of the plastic bag ban announced by Australia's big two supermarkets will hinge on whether they can persuade customers to change an engrained behaviour - without annoying them.
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A beached hoodwinker sunfish, the new species described by researchers from Murdoch University.
Murdoch University
Marianne Nyegaard, Murdoch University
A four-year puzzle has ended with the discovery of a new species of sunfish. These famously strange-looking animals are the largest bony fish in the oceans.
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Business + Economy
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Most coworking spaces target small-business workers who tend to be in professional services and technical or knowledge-based work.
Josh Hallett/Flickr
Tim Mahlberg, University of Sydney
Rather than just catering to one stereotype of worker, people who use coworking spaces actually come from different backgrounds, professions and ages.
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New funding vehicles could finance large scale agricultural programs.
Shutterstock
Danielle Logue, University of Technology Sydney; Gillian McAllister, University of Technology Sydney; Jochen Schweitzer, University of Technology Sydney
There is a lot of potential in borrowing ideas from the startup world to complement foreign aid funding.
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Featured jobs
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Deakin University — Burwood, Victoria
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UNSW Sydney — Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
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Monash University — Parkville, Victoria
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University of Melbourne — Parkville, Victoria
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Featured events
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Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3051, Australia — IMPACT7
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Deakin Downtown, Level 12, Tower 2, Collins Square, 727 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3008, Australia — Deakin University
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UTS Business School, level 8, 14-28 Ultimo Rd, Sydney, New South Wales, 2007, Australia — University of Technology Sydney
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Deakin Downtown, Level 12, Tower 2, Collins Square, 727 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3008, Australia — Deakin University
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