By Todd Miller, PhD Candidate in Emergency Management, Auckland University of Technology
Following a series of major disasters and inquiries that questioned New Zealand’s capacity to deal with them, the new Emergency Management Act 2026 is the most significant improvement in more than two decades.
But legislation only tells part of the story.
Our research…
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By Marion Burgess, Honorary Associate Professor, School of Built Environment, UNSW
John Davy, Adjunct Professor, School of Science, RMIT University
Noise concerns have tanked several data centres proposed in residential areas in Australia. But is the noise just annoying, or is it bad for our health?
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By Jemima Kang, PhD Candidate, School of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne
Alsa Wu, PhD Candidate, School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne
Naomi Baes, PhD Candidate and Computational Social Science Researcher, The University of Melbourne
Nick Haslam, Professor of Psychology, The University of Melbourne
How should we refer to people with mental ill health, disability, or neurodivergence?
Terminology should be respectful, apt and avoid carrying stigma. It’s also important to listen to people’s preferences about how they refer to their condition. But how much consensus is there and how has terminology changed?
Our new study – the largest of its kind – explores how this language has evolved over the past 45 years to reflect our shifting views of mental illness and disability.
We found preferences…
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By Olaf Meynecke, Research Fellow in Marine Science and Manager Whales & Climate Program, Griffith University
It was a tragic sight.
One day last July, a newborn humpback whale calf lay motionless on the seafloor, just a kilometre off Australia’s Gold Coast. The encounter was captured through underwater video.
For more than an hour, the mother repeatedly returned to the same spot, gently touching the calf with her head and pectoral fin and resting beside it eye-to-eye. Our new research suggests this is the first described case of a humpback whale mother…
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By Andrew James Couzens, Lecturer in Digital Media, CQUniversity Australia
Jim Picton, Head of Course Digital Media, CQUniversity Australia
In the final moments of Steven Spielberg’s 1981 film Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, the mystical Ark of the Covenant is stored in an enormous, box-filled warehouse.
How did the filmmakers create such a huge set? The truth is, there is no set: it’s a painting.
The technique of matte painting has been used in some of cinema’s most incredible moments – and it can leave you doubting what’s in front of your eyes.
What is matte painting?
Matte…
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By Saniyat Islam, Associate Professor, Fashion and Textiles, RMIT University
You forget a load in the machine overnight, and by the morning it smells worse than before you washed it.
Most of us are familiar with that “wet dishcloth” smell. Worse, once it’s settled into your clothes, it can be difficult to get rid of.
So what’s going on, and how to fix it? The answers lie both with biology and with textile science, which helps explain why some fabrics are worse affected than others.
The hidden living things in the water
Damp fabric at room temperature is close to an ideal microbial habitat. They have warmth, moisture and abundant…
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By Brent Ritchie, Professor of Tourism Management, The University of Queensland
Almost one in seven jobs in Nepal rely on tourism. Travellers need to consider these things before planning a return to Nepal.
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By Brendan Choat, Professor of Plant Ecology and Physiology, Western Sydney University
Daniel Falster, ARC Future Fellow in Ecology, UNSW
Collecting data from sensors in remote woodlands has long required arduous treks. What if sensors could transmit data in real time?
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image People attend the Budapest Pride March in Budapest, Hungary, June 27, 2026. © 2026 Marton Monus/Reuters Hungary’s new government has taken an important step toward dismantling a key discriminatory legacy of the Orbán era—the legal targeting of LGBT people. The job is not finished, however.The government submitted legislation to Parliament on September 14 to remove several provisions of the 2021 so-called “child protection” law that restrict the “portrayal” or “promotion” of sexual and gender diversity in content accessible to children. The proposed changes…
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By Guest Contributor
An Indigenous-led campaign denounces the impacts of a mega railway project and demands respect for territory, self-determination, and the right to live and dream.
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