By Saia Nahir Bartes, PhD Student and Research Teaching Fellow, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University
Australia is now confronting an outbreak of a deadly bird flu strain.
As of Monday, the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus had been detected in 78 wild birds across mainland Australia. Until now, there had been no evidence of a large-scale outbreak.
But authorities have confirmed the…
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By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney
These Miles Franklin shortlisted novels offer six very different answers to the question: what can Australian fiction be – and do?
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By Sally Larsen, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of New England
National NAPLAN results for 2026 are released today. This is the test of Australian students’ literacy and numeracy skills in years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (which runs the test) has pointed to a “concerning” drop in Year 3 numeracy. It has hailed “signs of improvement” for other year levels in maths. It also reports that average reading scores in Years 5, 7 and 9 are lower than in 2025.
But the most remarkable takeaway from this year’s NAPLAN? None of…
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By Mirella Atherton, Lecturer in Law, University of Newcastle
Julia Cook, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Newcastle
When money is coming from the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’, a recent study found parents and adult children can have very different assumptions – which they rarely discuss.
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By Jemma Briscoe, Adjunct Lecturer in Finance, University of Technology Sydney
Accessing care often means long wait lists, complex forms and significant out-of-pocket costs. So start planning early, before a crisis hits.
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By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology, Flinders University
Julien Kimmig, Head of Palaeontology Division at the Natural History Museum Karlsruhe
As all children learn, everyone poos. But when did this begin?
And what evolutionary and environmental changes accompanied the dawn of dung? Going further, is the evolution of excrement the reason we exist?
Our new research suggests the evolution of fecal matter helped fuel one of the most important events in the history of life on Earth: the Cambrian explosion.
And poo really might be the reason animals were such…
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By Susan Kerrigan, Professor Film and Television, Swinburne University of Technology
In one scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller Vertigo, lead character John “Scottie” Ferguson (James Stewart) is shown following Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak) up a bell tower.
Scottie is afraid of heights. So when he briefly stops and glances down, he experiences a wave of vertigo. The stairwell distorts, seemingly stretching into the distance below him – a potent reflection of his dizzy and panicked state.
This scene is the first ever example of the “dolly zoom”, a dynamic visual technique achieved through camera movement and a zoom lens.
Also known as…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image People demonstrate against proposed changes to the US Postal Service and President Donald Trump's executive order regarding mail-in ballots, Miami, Florida, July 28, 2026. © 2026 Marta Lavandier/AP Photo A coalition of voting rights organizations renewed a motion for preliminary injunction on July 20 in Massachusetts to prevent the United States Postal Service (USPS) from implementing parts of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14399.The renewed motion is part of litigation challenging the order’s legality.The order purports to combat election fraud by directing…
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By Amnesty International
Twenty years after 17 aid workers from the French humanitarian association Action contre la Faim (ACF) were killed in Muttur, eastern Sri Lanka, the authorities must finally deliver truth, justice and reparations, Amnesty International said today. On 4 August 2006, 17 Sri Lankan employees of ACF – 16 Tamils and one Muslim – were found shot dead at close range at the […] The post Sri Lanka: Justice for ACF massacre cannot wait after two decades of impunity appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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By Antonio Martín, Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Gregorio Marañón, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón IiSGM ; Universidad Nebrija
Today, neuroscience treats consciousness as a process that is confined to the brain, as something that makes us aware of information that would otherwise be unconscious. This view is underpinned by an assumption: that consciousness is a self-contained and self-governing mechanism, a hidden entity waiting to be located and explained.
My own research initially followed this line of thought, treating consciousness as a cognitive program created by particular…
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