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Walkers around the lake in my local park have been treated to a graceful ballet in recent weeks. Two black swans make elegant laps around a sizeable nest of sticks, leaves and flotsam. Two small fuzzy grey cygnets either loop with them or sit atop the floating mound. Their parents tip their bodies forward, black heads and necks diving for food. Onlookers stop, pull out their phones, post on Instagram. In our southern states it is the breeding season for black swans, which are native to Australia.
This week’s Friday essay traces the symbolism of the black swan, once considered by Europeans as imaginary as a unicorn. Monash University expert David Haworth, senior research officer for the Global Encounters & First Nations Peoples, writes beautifully about how black swans have been shattering assumptions and capturing our imagination since stories began. Now I’ve read about their cultural history, I may never look at the local swan
lake the same way again.
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Lucy Beaumont
Deputy Section Editor: Arts + Culture
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Bernard Spragg/flickr
David Haworth, Monash University
Not only is the black swan important for many Aboriginal people, it was also a potent symbol within the European imagination — 1500 years before Europeans knew it existed.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Scott Morrison, who was embraced as a 'bro' by Donald Trump, now seeks to become one of Joe Biden's besties, writes Michelle Grattan
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Mary Altaffer/AP
John Jackson, Monash University; Harry Al-Wassiti, Monash University
Community pharmacies and pharmacists are important resources in Australia's vaccine rollout, and right now they're being under-utilised.
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Amanda Davies, The University of Western Australia; Sarah Prout Quicke, The University of Western Australia
Lockdowns and restrictions disrupted the lives of most Australians, but the impacts on one hard-hit group, nomads, have been largely overlooked. We don't even know how many of them there are.
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Premier Dan Andrews shortly after the fall that left him with broken ribs and a damaged spine.
AAP/@DanielAndrewsMP
Denis Muller, The University of Melbourne
It is difficult for the media to deal in fake news – but the Andrews conspiracy story has been handled very well.
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Hugh Saddler, Australian National University; Frank Jotzo, Australian National University
Renewables form an ever-greater share of the electricity mix. But elsewhere in the energy sector – in transport, industry and buildings – emissions reduction is very slow.
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Education
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Jed Montayre, Western Sydney University; Alphia Possamai-Inesedy, Western Sydney University; Yenna Salamonson, Western Sydney University
Being age-friendly is not just a matter of responding to the needs of Australia's ageing population. It will benefit all students and the university as a whole.
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Kelly-Ann Allen, Monash University
A recently released schools policy guide has been receiving some criticism. Reports suggest it instructs teachers to not use terms like "boys and girls", for instance. This is not entirely correct.
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Science + Technology
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Ruggiero Lovreglio, Massey University
Researchers are using mixed reality technologies to investigate how people behave in emergency situations. The findings are helping shape disaster responses.
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James Jin Kang, Edith Cowan University; Paul Haskell-Dowland, Edith Cowan University
When the weather gets wild, your internet connection can suffer. But other users are as much to blame as the wind and rain
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Business + Economy
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Richard Holden, UNSW
The RBA shouldn't be spooked into raising interest rates, but the prospect of inflation in the next few years is an important consideration for central banks around the world.
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Weihuan Zhou, UNSW; Markus Wagner, University of Wollongong
Australia's Prime Minister wants reform of the World Trade Organisation to rein in China's "economic coercion". But it also needs to constructively engage with China on that reform.
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Health + Medicine
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Brett Mitchell, University of Newcastle; Philip Russo, Monash University
Picture yourself at the gym. It might be confined, people are huffing and puffing, everyone is moving around. And that's before you hit the showers and changeroom.
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Gary Sacks, Deakin University
The evidence is clear: a tax on sugary drinks would reduce consumption. All that's needed is political leadership that prioritises health above the profits.
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Environment + Energy
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Caitlyn Forster, University of Sydney; Eliza Middleton, University of Sydney
Erika Thompson is clearly a competent beekeeper, who's educating the public about honeybees in her own way on social media.
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Politics + Society
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Michelle Grattan discusses FOI law and Australia's submarine program with independent senator Rex Patrick
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Joshua Aston, Edith Cowan University
Children have extra rights due to their vulnerability — these are highly relevant to the situation of those stranded in India.
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Arts + Culture
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Victor Araneda Jure, Monash University
When we read comics, we 'hear' sound on the page. Creators are experts at this cross-sensory form of storytelling – indeed one database lists over 2500 comic book sounds.
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