Editor's note
|
|
If you succumbed to the flu this winter, you’re in good company: there were more than 220,000 cases – and they’re just the ones recorded. Several flu strains were circulating, sometimes in the same person at the same time, and the flu vaccine offered little protection. So what went wrong? Ian Mackay and Katherine Arden explain.
|
Fron Jackson-Webb
Health + Medicine Editor
|
|
|
Health + Medicine
|
Vaccines for the flu offer mediocre coverage compared with those for other diseases.
PLRANG ART/Shutterstock
Ian M. Mackay, The University of Queensland; Katherine Arden, The University of Queensland
A better vaccine could have reduced the rates of flu, but not the high-dose Fluzone vaccine doctors were touting at the start of the week.
|
Worrying about not being able to sleep pushes it further away.
from www.shutterstock.com
Joanna Waloszek, University of Melbourne
If you're tossing and turning in the middle of the night, these techniques may help you to nod off.
|
Podcasts
|
Sibling competition may have played a bigger role in human evolution than you thought.
Flickr/Dmitry Boyarin
Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation
Our November episode of Trust Me I'm An Expert is all about competition, including the often fierce rivalry between siblings.
|
Perry Duffin/AAP
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Kevin Rudd now spends much of his time in the US, where he keeps a close eye on the unfolding Trump presidency.
|
FactCheck
|
More than 640,000 firearms, mainly rifles and shotguns, were surrendered during the 1996 and 2003 gun buybacks.
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
David Bright, Flinders University
Did the government-funded gun buybacks introduced after the Port Arthur massacre have "no effect" in reducing gun deaths in Australia, as an audience member claimed on Q&A? Let's look at the evidence.
|
Science + Technology
|
Horse racing is enjoyed by many people, employs thousands of people but there are some concerns over the welfare of the horses.
Shutterstock/Vladimir Hodac
Paul McGreevy, University of Sydney; Phil McManus, University of Sydney
Horse racing is enjoyed by millions of people but there are others who have concerns over animal welfare. A social license to operate may help keep all sides happy.
|
In skin, muscle, fat and more tissues, genes behave differently in men and women.
from www.shutterstock.com
Jenny Graves, La Trobe University
Like it or not, evidence now shows that men and women differ genetically far more profoundly that we previously recognised. An analysis from the 2017 winner of the Prime Minister's Prize for Science.
|
Business + Economy
|
New credit information-sharing rules promise to open up the consumer credit market to increased competition.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP
Justin Malbon, Monash University
The government needs to learn from the mistakes in the US in sharing our credit history information to third parties.
|
The perimeter fence at Silverwater jail in Sydney’s west.
AAP
Jenni Henderson, The Conversation; Josh Nicholas, The Conversation
Prisons are big business in Australia. Companies not only run entire prisons but provide many of the services. But what does the research say about the impact?
|
Education
|
At last week’s Party Congress, President Xi Jinping stated that China’s priority is to become a globally “stronger” nation.
AAP/Thomas Peter
Jonathan Benney, Monash University
Australian universities shouldn't silence or be silenced by Chinese students who hold nationalistic views, they should encourage a healthy debate.
|
Teaching-focused academics are often considered to be “lesser” academics.
Shutterstock
Michael Whelan, Southern Cross University
Cultural bias against teaching-only academics will see them get the axe in funding cuts to higher education.
|
Environment + Energy
|
Sunrise over the Earth. Hydrofluorocarbons were created to protect the ozone layer, but their stable nature makes them an extremely potent greenhouse gas.
NASA
Jenny Fisher, University of Wollongong; Stephen Wilson, University of Wollongong
Australia has ratified an agreement to phase out hydrofluorocarbons, a manmade compound once hailed as the saviour of the ozone layer. What went wrong?
|
Mark Baker/Reuters
Kerryn Herman, Deakin University
The fourth Aussie Backyard Bird Count, which has just finished, has some potentially worrying news about one of our best-loved species.
|
Arts + Culture
|
Detail from Little Big Woman: Condescension, Debra Keenahan, 2017.
Designed and made by Debra Keenahan, Photograph by Robert Brindley.
Debra Keenahan, Western Sydney University
For centuries, women with dwarfism were depicted in art as comic or grotesque fairytale beings. But artists are challenging these portrayals and notions of beauty and physical difference.
|
A scene from Bangarra Dance Theatre’s 2014 work Patyegarang. An Eora woman, Patyegarang became the main informant for William Dawes, the first European to sympathetically chronicle the language and culture of the Sydney landowners.
Jess Bialek/AAP
Malcolm Allbrook, Australian National University
Just 210 of nearly 13,000 biographical entries in the Australian Dictionary of Biography are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women. A new project aims to change this.
|
Politics + Society
|
The redress scheme cannot be a truly ‘just response’ if it says some kinds of victims simply don’t count.
AAP/Dave Hunt
Kate Seear, Monash University; Suzanne Fraser, Curtin University
The government's proposed redress scheme for victims of institutional child sexual abuse controversially excludes some victims.
|
(From L-R) researcher Margaret Embahe, interviewees Angela Arasepa and Alberta Doiko, and researcher Mavis Tongia.
Author supplied
Victoria Stead, Deakin University
In stories about the Pacific War and the Kokoda Track, women's stories were often overlooked, but they provide an important perspective on a pivotal moment in history.
|
Cities
|
Lots of parking: the extraordinary amount of valuable land used to park cars in most cities could soon be freed up for other uses.
Antonio Gravante/Shutterstock
Dorina Pojani, The University of Queensland; Iderlina Mateo-Babiano, University of Melbourne; Jonathan Corcoran, The University of Queensland; Neil Sipe, The University of Queensland
Cities around the world are starting to rethink the vast areas of land set aside for parking. The convergence of several trends likely will mean this space becomes available for other uses.
|
Cars are submerged on a flooded road in the Sydney suburb of Marrickville in 2012.
Alex Holver/NixPages
Rob Roggema, University of Technology Sydney
A massive residential development in a flood-prone inner-city suburb sounds like a recipe for disaster. But good urban design can deliver higher density and reduce the flood risk.
|
| |
Featured jobs
|
|
University of Melbourne — Parkville, Victoria
|
|
RMIT University — Melbourne, Victoria
|
|
CSIRO — Clayton, Victoria
|
|
Deakin University — Newtown, Victoria
|
|
|
|
Featured events
|
|
Sydney Law School, The University of Sydney New Law School Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown Campus, Common Room Level 4, Sydney, New South Wales, 2050, Australia — University of Sydney
|
|
|
300 Herston Road, Herston, Queensland, 4006, Australia — QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
|
|
|
South Perth Community Centre, Perth, Western Australia, Australia — South Perth Community Centre
|
|
|
Law School Foyer, Level 2, Sydney Law School, Eastern Avenue, the University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia — University of Sydney
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
