By Johnny Chan, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
They’re dubbed duanju, or microdramas – and they’ve become big business.
In China, the smartphone-friendly shows reportedly generated US$7 billion in 2024, overtaking the country’s domestic box office for the first time. Their audience numbers in the hundreds of millions, while the format is also growing rapidly in other markets, including…
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By Marta Khomyn, Senior Lecturer, Finance and Data Analytics, Adelaide University
The October 23 listing could be Australia’s biggest in three decades. Many workers look set to own a piece of Firmus via their super – whether they want to or not.
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By Michael-Shawn Fletcher, Professor in Biogeography, The University of Melbourne
Anthony John Romano, PhD student & Research Assistant (Palaeoecology), The University of Melbourne
Russell Mullett, Traditional Custodian — Kurnai, Indigenous Knowledge
Bushfire season is here. The Bureau of Meteorology expects the declared El Niño to be strong to very strong. Southeastern Australia is bracing for a long run of dangerous fire weather.
Weather is only part of a catastrophic fire. Another factor is fuel – combustible vegetation. Our new research, published today, shows the current fuel load in some Australian forests is not “natural”. It is a product…
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By Stewart Lockie, Director, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University
Nick Osbaldiston, Associate Professor in Sociology, James Cook University
Rana Dadpour, Research fellow, James Cook University
Limiting our attention to short-term workforce needs ignores a much bigger conversation about what it will take for regional Australia to thrive in the future.
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By Celeste Rodriguez Louro, Associate Professor of Linguistics and Director of Language Lab, The University of Western Australia
AI systems tend to focus on the person speaking – but the listener plays just as big a part in communication.
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By Mahima Kalla, Digital Health Transformation Research Fellow, Centre for Digital Transformation of Health, The University of Melbourne
Noushin Nazarian, PhD Candidate, School of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne
Apps and wearables are often built on invisible assumptions that might not be relevant to you. A new study shows how we can change that.
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By Theresa Dicke, Professor, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University
The OECD reports schools worldwide are under growing strain from teacher shortages. “It is getting harder to recruit, retain and deploy qualified teachers where they are most needed,” it has found.
Australia faces a similar picture. At least one third of Australian teachers say they intend to leave the profession…
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By Nina Hillenberg, Senior Lecturer, Design, Torrens University Australia
Scandinavian design is rooted in a philosophy that seems to make life easier. But it’s been turned into a bland colour palette.
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By Julian Novitz, Senior Lecturer, Writing, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology
Catherine Chidgey’s novel The Starving Bride is a disturbing and bleakly funny portrait of a society attempting to distract itself from mounting disasters.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image The remains of fighting in the abandoned village of Bakri, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from El Fasher, Sudan, where homes and fields were left deserted after residents fled escalating violence across the region, February 24, 2026. © 2026 Giles Clarke/Avaaz via Getty Images A record number of countries at the United Nations Human Rights Council this week voted to support a resolution renewing the mandate of the UN Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan. For the first time, the Gambia, Mauritius, and Malawi joined South Africa and countries from other regions voting…
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