By Martin Zaki, Associate Research Fellow in Biomaterials, Deakin University
Alessandra Sutti, Associate Professor, Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University
“Biodegradable” has become one of the most reassuring words in modern packaging. It appears on coffee cups, shopping bags and food containers, implying a promise: this product is better for the environment because nature will eventually take care of it.
However, biodegradability is not a simple yes-or-no property. It exists in shades, which we can measure.
Biodegradation is a complex process. Microbes and molecules present in an environment such as soil attack a material and digest it, much like what happens to food in our gut.
A material is typically defined…
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By Mattia Bessone, Post Doc, Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
The meat of wild animals, or wild meat, is a big part of the diets of millions of people in central Africa.
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By Amnesty International
Malaiyaha Tamils working on private tea estates and smallholdings in Sri Lanka are being subjected to abuses that meet many of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) indicators of forced labour, while being denied access to the country’s strict labour protections, Amnesty International said in a new report. The research, which documents the plight of workers in […] The post Sri Lanka: Malaiyaha Tamil workers in private tea estates suffer serious labour abuses – new report appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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By Andrew King, ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor in Climate Science, ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather, The University of Melbourne
Removing the worst-case climate future for Earth isn’t failed science, as climate sceptic Donald Trump claims. It’s a sign climate action has made a difference.
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By Donna Mazza, Associate Professor, English and Creative Writing, Edith Cowan University
The Blazing World is a testament to how far the written novel has travelled in the past 400 years. A literary time capsule, it holds within it the origins of a genre we now call speculative fiction.
Written by Margaret Cavendish, a wealthy iconoclast who advocated for women’s educational opportunities, and published in 1666, The Blazing World is a strange work. Testament to this, its full title is The Description Of A New World Called The Blazing-World, written by The Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and Excellent…
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By Asha Bowen, Team Lead, Healthy Skin and Acute Rheumatic Fever Prevention, The Kids Research Institute Australia
Lorraine Anderson, Medical Director, Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services, Indigenous Knowledge
Stephanie Enkel, Postdoctoral Researcher, The Kids Research Institute Australia
The current diphtheria outbreak – which has spread across four Australian states and possibly claimed one man’s life – may seem unexpected.
But a closer look shows it is yet another example of inequitable…
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By Michelle Burgis-Kasthala, Professor of International Law, La Trobe University
Trump’s demand other countries sign the accords has been met with silence, which shows how far this is from becoming reality.
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By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Andrew Hastie has become a special target for One Nation over his willingness to give evidence against Victoria Cross winner Ben Roberts-Smith.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image "Slave Chain with Four Yokes" from the Dexue voodoo convent in Adounko, Benin, dating from the 19th century at the Memorial ACTe, the Caribbean Centre of Expression and Memory of Slavery and the Slave Trade, in Point-a-Pitre, May 8, 2015. © 2015 Nicolas Derne/AFP via Getty Images French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the need for reparations in connection with France’s role in the transatlantic slave trade on May 21.Macron said that reparations for enslavement crimes should no longer be ignored. He also warned against “false promises,” emphasizing that the legacy…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A group of deported Cubans gather outside the Juan Graham Hospital in the city of Villahermosa, Mexico, March 2026. © 2026 Josué Leal The Trump administration has deported over 4,300 Cubans to Mexico, many of whom are older people with serious health conditions who had been living in the United States for years or even decades. Many are left stranded without access to housing and health care. Those who cannot access protection as refugees are trapped in a permanent state of legal limbo.The United States should guarantee people in removal proceedings individualized…
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