By Rebecca Van Amber, Senior Lecturer in Fashion & Textiles, RMIT University
There’s a peculiar ritual in many kitchens: reaching past the crisp, pristine tea towel hanging on the oven door to grab the threadbare, slightly greying one shoved in the drawer.
We all know that old faithful dries dishes better, even if we can’t quite explain why. It seems counter-intuitive – shouldn’t brand new towels, fresh from the packaging, outperform their worn-out predecessors?
Yet here we are, instinctively choosing the frayed over the fresh.
This isn’t just kitchen superstition. There’s genuine science behind why your tea towels actually improve with…
(Full Story)
|
By Tom Robinson, Senior Lecturer Above the Bar, University of Canterbury
As heavier rain raises landslide risk, gaps in data, law and funding leave New Zealand relying on response rather than prevention.
(Full Story)
|
By Maddison Crethar, PhD Candidate, Youth Mental Health, University of the Sunshine Coast
Daniel Hermens, Professor of Youth Mental Health & Neurobiology, University of the Sunshine Coast
‘I don’t want to live but I don’t want to die.’ ‘I wish I could fall asleep and not wake up.’ When people talk like this, how should we respond?
(Full Story)
|
By Jago Dodson, Professor of Urban Policy and Director, Urban Futures Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University
Liam Davies, Lecturer in Sustainability and Urban Planning, RMIT University
Capital gains tax is once again the subject of parliamentary debate, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers declining to rule out options for reform.
Along with negative gearing, the capital gains tax discount has long been suggested as one cause of Australia’s housing affordability crisis.
The tax applies to the capital gain when an asset is held…
(Full Story)
|
By Keiran Hardy, Associate Professor, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University
Australia’s definition of terrorism was created in 2002. Since then, the threat landscape has changed dramatically, and it’s time for the term to be revised.
(Full Story)
|
By Jaithri Ananthapavan, Associate Professor in Health Economics, Deakin University
Gary Sacks, Professor of Public Health Policy, Deakin University
Vicki Brown, Research Fellow, Deakin Health Economics, Deakin University
Preventing disease is clearly worthwhile. So why is the future of a key Australian health promotion agency, VicHealth, in the balance?
(Full Story)
|
By Simon Coghlan, Senior Lecturer in Digital Ethics; Deputy Director, Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, The University of Melbourne
Sometimes criticism of vets is unfair – and harmful. But a new book urges us to reflect deeply on ethics in veterinary services.
(Full Story)
|
By Lukasz Swiatek, Lecturer, School of Arts and Media, UNSW Sydney
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, has warned young people will suffer the most as an AI “tsunami” wipes out many entry-level roles in coming years.
Tasks that are eliminated are usually what entry-level jobs do at present, so young people searching for jobs find it harder to get to a good placement.
Georgieva is not alone. Other economic and business
(Full Story)
|
By Larissa Hjorth, Professor of Mobile Media and Games., RMIT University
Katrin Gerber, Research Fellow in End-of-life and Grief Studies, RMIT University
The violence we’re witnessing on our phones impacts us on both on an individual and societal scale. This grief needs to be processed.
(Full Story)
|
By Judy Ingham, Newsletter Producer, The Conversation
On the risks of AI afterlives, ditching good character references and the survival of mountain ash forests: an edited selection of your views.
(Full Story)
|