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Editor's note
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Many of our beloved endangered species rely on large, old trees to develop hollows so they have a safe place to live. These skyscrapers of diversity are home to more than 300 species of vertebrates in Australia, but we’ve knocked so many down that, in some places, it’s likely to be another 100 years until we can replace them. In our new comic explainer , David Lindenmayer explains how hollow-bearing trees in Australia form, the many animals
they house and why we can’t simply replace them with nesting boxes.
And we don’t often think about wine or beer adding to our daily energy intake. But a pint of beer has nearly the same number of kilojoules as a chocolate bar. Researchers from Deakin University found raising the price of alcohol is the most cost-effective option to reduce our waistlines and prevent obesity. According to their modelling, setting a price of $0.84 per standard drink could cut our drinking by 16% and lead to an average weight loss
of 0.7kg per person. This could prevent 190,000 cases of diabetes and 16,000 cancers.
Also before you go, please don’t forget to donate. So far in 2018 more than 6,700 people have made donations to help keep The Conversation’s public interest journalism free. We’d like to reach 7,000 before the end of the year. If you value what we do please make a donation.
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Wes Mountain
Multimedia Editor
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Top story
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Wes Mountain/The Conversation
Madeleine De Gabriele, The Conversation; Wes Mountain, The Conversation
It takes a eucalyptus tree more than a hundred years to develop hollows suitable to shelter Aussie animals, and just moments to cut it down.
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Australians drink more than nine litres of pure alcohol a year.
Jaithri Ananthapavan, Deakin University; Gary Sacks, Deakin University; Vicki Brown, Deakin University
It may not be popular, but an increase in the cost of alcohol would make us drink less and consume fewer kilojoules.
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Business + Economy
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Michael O'Neil, University of Adelaide
Far from being wiped off the map as was once predicted, Whyalla is coming back in an unlikely way, as potentially Australia's biggest steel producer powered almost entirely by renewable energy.
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Arts + Culture
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Adam Turner, University of Newcastle
With his beard, trident, and status as Atlantean ruler, the superhero Aquaman borrows many traits from the sea gods of mythology.
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Ana Stevenson, University of the Free State
Disney's 1964 classic film had a suffragette theme, but it remains to be seen if the new version will celebrate votes for women.
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Science + Technology
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Merlin Crossley, UNSW
Genome editing technology has, and will always have, limits. Limits that are related not to the technology itself but to the intrinsic complexity of the human genome.
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Katharine Kemp, UNSW
The ACCC would like closer scrutiny of digital platforms such as Facebook and Google – in particular with regards to user privacy, market power and operational algorithms.
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Health + Medicine
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
The health program was unveiled as the federal, state and territories meet in Adelaide on Wednesday for the Council of Australian Governments with health one of the items on the agenda.
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Daryl Efron, Royal Children's Hospital; Harriet Hiscock, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Rates of ADHD medications prescribed for children have gone up by 30% in three years. But our research found only one in four children who meet ADHD criteria are taking medication.
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Politics + Society
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Luke McNamara, UNSW; Julia Quilter, University of Wollongong
At one time, law and order was seen by some as a sure-fire voter winner in elections - but that's changing after a concerted effort by Victoria's opposition appeared to backfire badly.
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Adrian Beaumont, University of Melbourne
The final results post-election Victorian upper house are not a ringing endorsement for democracy - and provide a strong case for reform.
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Azadeh Dastyari, Monash University
The refugee and migration compacts are not perfect, but they offer the chance for countries to do better by people on the move, and should be joined.
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Tony Walker, La Trobe University
Meng Wanzhou's arrest in Canada has caused further tensions in the strained relationship between China and the US.
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Education
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Vaughan Cruickshank, University of Tasmania; Casey Peter Mainsbridge, University of Tasmania; Kira Patterson, University of Tasmania
All Australians aged 13-17 are encouraged to do 60 minutes of physical activity a day.
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