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Editor's note
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Today we’re exploring the world of camel beauty pageants. Professor Jaime Gongora, who is helping Oman develop a new scoring system for camel competitions, explains what makes a camel beautiful. (Hump size, naturally, is a factor.)
SeaChange is making a comeback to TV and, just as it did before, it’s likely to influence some people to change their lives. As Rachael Wallis found in her research, when we read about and watch other people moving to the coast or country, sometimes we’re persuaded to join the seachangers and treechangers ourselves.
And our latest book – The Conversation Yearbook 2018, 50 standout articles from Australia’s top thinkers – is about to hit bookshops. And you’re invited it help us launch it. Come and meet The Conversation editors and fellow readers as we discuss the year that was at one of our launch events.
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Madeleine De Gabriele
Deputy Editor: Energy + Environment
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Top story
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Camel beauty competitions are held throughout the Arabian Peninsula.
ALI HAIDER/AAP
Jaime Gongora, University of Sydney; Mahmood Alamri, University of Sydney
Camel beauty pageants are multi-million-dollar events on the Arabian Peninsula.
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The TV drama SeaChange had a huge public impact, which made the town where it was filmed, Barwon Heads on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula, a highly desirable destination.
Diana Plater/AAP
Rachael Wallis, University of Southern Queensland
We read about and watch other people moving to the coast or country and, in doing so, sometimes we're persuaded to join the seachangers and treechangers ourselves.
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Health + Medicine
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Garry Jennings, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute
Doctors have long acknowledged heart attacks are more likely to occur in cold weather. But now a major study has confirmed it.
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Rosemary Stanton, UNSW
The participants who chose more organically grown foods over 4.5 years had slightly lower rates of cancer. But it doesn't necessarily mean one thing caused the other.
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Julie Henderson, Flinders University; Eileen Willis, Flinders University
The biggest system failure in aged care is staffing. We don't need to wait until the royal commission is over to fix it – this can be done now.
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Education
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Tonia Gray, Western Sydney University
Being outside helps kids learn. Here are some ways to get them to spend more time in nature.
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Politics + Society
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Clare Wright, La Trobe University
The early suffragists would be rolling in their graves to know that women joining the ranks of parliamentarians barely changed their male colleagues’ outlook and demeanour at all.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Scott Morrison, unless his prayers for a political miracle are answered, will go down as the fireman who arrived late armed only with leaky buckets to confront a building ablaze and collapsing.
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Fiona Kelly, La Trobe University; Hannah Robert, La Trobe University
Having a gender identity that does not match one's sex on a birth certificate can cause confusion and embarrassment and potentially lead to discrimination.
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Alana Mann, University of Sydney
If the food movement's goal is to reclaim a corporatised food system by 'rebuilding the public sphere from the ground up', what does this look like?
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Environment + Energy
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
The fund is to provide support against future droughts, helping primary producers, non-government organisations and communities prepare for and respond to their impact.
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Peter C. Doherty, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Nobel Prizewinning health researcher Peter Doherty reflects on the challenge of delivering a healthy climate for the world. From hydrogen power to wooden skyscrapers, the options are endless, but all require leadership.
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Peter Newman, Curtin University; Kate Meyer, Curtin University
You could take the bus to work, or eat less meat. But how do you know if your efforts are making a difference? A new approach aims to break global environmental budgets down into digestible chunks.
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Science + Technology
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John Long, Flinders University
New research shows shallow, near-land seas similar to Bass Strait were critical in the early days of fish evolution. These are the waters we need to protect now to ensure ongoing biodiversity.
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Seth Lazar, Australian National University; Colin Klein, Australian National University
A new study provides fascinating data on how people prioritise who to save in hypothetical driverless car crashes. But it takes more than just numbers to really create ethical machines.
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Business + Economy
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Helen Hodgson, Curtin University
Former prime minister Paul Keating wants to divert an extra 2-3% of our salaries to 'longevity insurance'. It's what the pension was meant to be for.
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Richard Holden, UNSW
We should ignore out-of-date and failed theories and test what full employment really means in 2018.
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Benjamin Koh, University of Technology Sydney; Pat McConnell, Macquarie University
Banks have viewed their codes of conduct as non-binding statements of comfort. They need to enforce them under pain of legal penalty.
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Arts + Culture
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Tanya Dalziell, University of Western Australia; Paul Genoni, Curtin University
Leonard Cohen's final (posthumous) book was released in Australia this week. Another new book sheds light on Cohen's life on Hydra in the 1960s and the relationships he forged with Antipodeans seeking liberation there.
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Zoltan Szabo, University of Sydney
Schiff persuaded his near-capacity audience to remain completely silent until the very end of each half of the program – a major coup.
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Columnists
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Featured jobs
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RMIT University — Melbourne, Victoria
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University of Melbourne — Parkville, Victoria
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The University of Newcastle — Newcastle, New South Wales
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University of Western Australia — Perth, Western Australia
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Featured events
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Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) 1 Convention Centre Place , South Wharf, Victoria, 3000, Australia — The Conversation
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Hilton Hotel - Brisbane; Mural Hall - Melbourne; Doltone House Hyde Park - Sydney; National Museum of Australia - Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, New South Wales, 2000, Australia — The Institute of Managers and Leaders
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Various locations, Footscray, Victoria, 3011, Australia — Victoria University
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The Sofitel Arthur Streeton Auditorium, 25 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia — La Trobe University
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