Nostalgia for a greater game this Grand Final day

Editor's note

In today’s AFL Grand Final, Richmond gets its first chance at winning a premiership in 35 years. As Clare Wright reflects, the game has changed dramatically. While the rise of the football ‘industry’ might make some nostalgic, the women’s league, which played its first games this year, is something to celebrate.

James Whitmore

Editor, Arts + Culture

Arts + Culture

Robbie ‘Bones’ McGhie after playing in the 1973 Grand Final, in which his team, Richmond, won. Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive

'Bones' McGhie, a cigarette and nostalgia for a greater game

Clare Wright, La Trobe University

Football has changed dramatically in the 35 years since Richmond last had a chance at the Grand Final. But while footy is now 'an industry', the arrival of the first women's league is to be celebrated.

Detail from a statue of the Virgin Mary cradling the body of Jesus (15th-century Slovenia). For many centuries, the pain that could accompany dying was seen as punishment for sin and ultimately redemptive.

When a 'good death' was often painful: euthanasia through the ages

Caitlin Mahar, Swinburne University of Technology

For centuries, in Western societies, 'euthanasia' referred to a pious death, blessed by God. The pain that could accompany dying was seen as ultimately redemptive.

Environment + Energy

Sections of pipes are lined up ready for use in the construction of a coal seam gas pipeline. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

To avoid crisis, the gas market needs a steady steer, not an emergency swerve

Andrew Hopkins, Australian National University

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has blamed gas exports for rising energy costs, breaking with a party room determined to find renewables guilty.

High-voltage power lines stand near an electricity substation on the outskirts of Sydney. Reuters

Baffled by baseload? Dumbfounded by dispatchables? Here's a glossary of the energy debate

Ariel Liebman, Monash University; Ross Gawler, Monash University

The energy debate in Australia is making daily headlines. This glossary of the energy debate is our attempt to decipher the language behind the debate in simple terms.

Politics + Society

Over time, the Kim family has become adept at coup-proofing its rule in North Korea. Reuters/KCNA

Five assumptions we make about North Korea – and why they're wrong

Benjamin Habib, La Trobe University

We should interpret the threat posed by North Korea from an informed perspective based on demonstrable strategic logic, rather than on caricatured misrepresentations of its leadership.

It would be easy to set up an inquiry into the ABC – with the findings already known. Shutterstock

How the government and One Nation may use media reforms to clip the ABC's wings

Denis Muller, University of Melbourne

Of the four concessions One Nation won from the government in the latest media reforms, one has the potential to seriously threaten the public broadcaster.

Health + Medicine

No, you can’t blame (most) tooth decay on your parents. But for crooked teeth, the story’s a little more complicated. from www.shutterstock.com

Bad teeth? Here's when you can and can't blame your parents

Jeffrey Craig, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; Pamela Leong, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; Toby Hughes, University of Adelaide

Can you blame bad teeth on your genes? Here's why the answer is not as simple as you might think.

Pores are self-cleaning, so you don’t need to rip out or scrub off their contents. from www.shutterstock.com

Health Check: do we have to clean out our pores?

Michael Freeman

Many of us would have seen, if not tried, various products claiming to clean the dirt out of our pores. But do we need to?

Science + Technology

The Telstar 1 satellite inspired a chart-topping pop tune, the iconic black-and-white hexagonal Adidas soccer ball, and maybe even a Doctor Who creature, the Mecanoids. National Physical Laboratory

Trash or treasure? A lot of space debris is junk, but some is precious heritage

Alice Gorman, Flinders University

Protecting culturally significant spacecraft enables people on Earth to feel connected to space as the common heritage of humanity.

An impression of what it could have looked like: a giant lizard, Megalania, stalks a herd of migrating Diprotodon, while a pair of massive megafaunal kangaroos look on. Laurie Beirne

Giant marsupials once migrated across an Australian Ice Age landscape

Gilbert Price, The University of Queensland

Studies of the fossil teeth of the three-tonne Diprotodon have revealed the now-extinct beast was Australia's only known seasonally migrating marsupial.

Cities

Housing policymaking hasn’t gone smoothly since Tony Abbott sidelined the experts by scrapping the National Housing Supply Council in 2013. Alan Porritt/AAP

Mounting housing stress underscores need for expert council to guide wayward policymaking

Hal Pawson, UNSW; Oliver Frankel, University of Technology Sydney

Unaffordable housing and homelessness are burning issues. Policymaking has suffered from a critical lack of data and expert input since the National Housing Supply Council was axed in 2013.

Perth has long had many fine parks but is losing vegetation cover in a band of increasingly dense development across the city. Ruben Schade/flickr

We're investing heavily in urban greening, so how are our cities doing?

Marco Amati, RMIT University; Alex Saunders, University of Western Australia; Bryan Boruff, University of Western Australia; Drew Devereux, CSIRO; Kath Phelan, RMIT University; Peter Caccetta, CSIRO

A new study shows major Australian cities are suffering an overall loss of green space – although some areas are doing better than others.

Podcasts

On this podcast, academic experts separate the signal from the noise, the data from the anecdotes, explain the science, look at the peer-reviewed evidence and ignore the media hype. The Conversation

Trust Me, I'm An Expert: a new podcast from The Conversation

Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation

A new monthly podcast from The Conversation, where we bring you the most fascinating, surprising stories from the academic world.

Business + Economy

In the 1950s, Australia was actively involved in the space industry via collaboration with other space players, including the UK. Shami Chatterjee/Flckr