By Brian Oliver, Professor, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney
Peter J. Irga, Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Air and Noise Pollution, University of Technology Sydney
The blaze at the Geelong oil refinery in Victoria has reportedly been extinguished. But residents in the area may be worried about the health effects of lingering smoke.
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By Tony Wood, Senior Fellow in Energy and Climate Change, Grattan Institute
Late on Wednesday, Victorian firefighters were called to a large fire at Viva Energy Group’s oil refinery in Corio, a suburb of Geelong. The blaze is believed to have been an equipment failure. Thankfully, no-one was injured.
Viva is one of two refineries left in Australia, and supplies more than 50%…
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By Stephanie Wescott, Lecturer in Humanities and Social Sciences, Monash University
Naomi Pfitzner, Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Hub and Senior Lecturer in Criminology Monash University, Monash University
Sarah McCook, Research Fellow, Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, Monash University
Steven Roberts, Professor of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Monash University
In a cabinet reshuffle, Paul Edbrooke has been appointed Victoria’s first minister for Men and boys. Academic evidence gives him some clear policy priorities.
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By Daria Dergacheva
Generative AI does not write, design or paint: it generates statistically closest patterns; these are probabilistic automation systems, which make them fundamentally different from human cognition or creativity.
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By Symon Braun Freck, PhD Candidate, School of Engineering, DeathTech Research Team, The University of Melbourne
This week, Nicole Kidman revealed she is training to become a death doula. She told an audience at the University of San Francisco it “may sound a little weird”, but she was inspired after her mother died in 2024.
Observing how her family wasn’t able to provide the support they hoped they could, Kidman wished there were “people in the world that were there to sit impartially and just provide solace and care”. This is how she came to explore the field of death doulaship.
The…
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By Murat Ungor, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Otago
There have been repeated calls for a food security strategy in NZ, but little progress. Will a global fertiliser shock now prompt leaders to act?
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By Annabel Blake, PhD Candidate, Human-Computer Interaction, University of Sydney
Eduardo Velloso, Professor, Computer Science, University of Sydney
Marcus Carter, Professor in Human-Computer Interaction, ARC Future Fellow, University of Sydney
In 2022, the founders of chatbot startup Character.AI launched a platform where anyone could create interactive characters powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
The app exploded, quickly growing to more than 20 million users who created more than 10 million chatbot characters.
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By Ana Carolina Garriga, Professor or Political Science, Department of Government, University of Essex
Cristina Bodea, Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University
President Donald Trump has again threatened to oust Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, putting at risk a keystone of good economic policy and inflation management: central bank independence.
The president said on April 15, 2026, that he would fire Powell if the Fed chair stayed on in that…
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By Hal Swerissen, Emeritus Professor of Public Health, La Trobe University
The number of complaints about assessments for home-based aged care are rising. Now, the ombudsman is getting involved. Here’s what needs to happen next.
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By Ali Mamouri, Research Fellow, Middle East Studies, Deakin University
Iran’s leaders are demanding sovereignty over the strait for a reason: it protects them from future attacks and can be a very effective bargaining chip.
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