By Simon McKirdy, Professor of Biosecurity and Deputy Vice Chancellor of Global Engagement, Murdoch University
Lotti Tajouri, Associate Professor, Genomics and Molecular Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Bond University; Murdoch University
Rob Emery, Associate Professor, Centre for Biosecurity and One Health, Murdoch University
As a dried plant product, illegal tobacco is a biosecurity risk in its own right. With tonnes of it arriving undetected, these tiny pests may be hitchhiking in too.
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By Karoline Thomsen, Ph.D. Candidate, UNSW Sydney
Douglas Guilfoyle, Professor of International Law and Security, UNSW Sydney
Many Polymarket users won huge sums by correctly predicting when the US would strike Iran. Welcome to the gamification of information warfare.
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By Nic Rawlence, Associate Professor in Ancient DNA, University of Otago
Kane Fleury, Curator and Team Lead of Natural Sciences, Tūhura Otago Museum
Manaia Pearmain-Fenton, Teaching Fellow in Ecology and Wildlife Management, University of Otago
Debates over responsibility for past species loss generate heat but little light. Moving forward requires context, evidence and Indigenous knowledge.
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By David Murdoch, Distinguished Professor, University of Otago
The second COVID inquiry report reinforces that pandemics are not only health emergencies but also social crises, requiring attention to cohesion and equity.
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By Amy Myers Jaffe, Director, Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab, and Research Professor, New York University; Tufts University
Oil prices affect the US economy differently than in past decades. Nowadays, the US is less reliant on oil imports and uses less oil to produce more economic output.
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By Dan McGrath, Associate Professor of Cryospheric Sciences, Colorado State University
Scientists mapped the evolution of 140 glacial lakes in Alaska and found a way to tell how much larger and destructive they can get as their glaciers melt.
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By Neil McArthur, Director, Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, University of Manitoba
Amid the recent, dizzying advances in generative AI, it’s been easy to miss the slow but steady progress in facial recognition over the last decade. In the past few months, it has broken containment.
In the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deployed a technology known as Mobile Fortify, which uses facial recognition on officers’ cellphones to “quickly verify subjects of interest during operations.”
In…
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By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of Melbourne
Is your compost a veritable Vesuvius of foul-smelling, putrescible plant waste? You might be doing everything wrong. Fear not; you can learn from your mistakes.
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By William Simon, Casual Lecturer (Education and English Departments), University of Tasmania
From sticking to prestige themes, to carefully timed releases, to millions spent on publicity – there’s plenty of politics behind Hollywood’s greatest accolade.
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By Marten Risius, Adjunct Senior Fellow, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland
Christopher David, Research Associate in Online Extremism, Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences
Daline Ostermaier, Research assistant, Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences
A theory about male “sexual market value” that began in online manosphere forums is now appearing in the TikTok feeds of Australian teenagers — repackaged as AI-powered “looksmaxxing” apps.
The idea is closely tied to the incel (“involuntary celibate”) subculture. These are loose online communities of mostly young men who believe they are unable to form romantic or sexual relationships with…
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