By Katie Edwards, Commissioning Editor, Health + Medicine and Host of Strange Health podcast, The Conversation
Dan Baumgardt, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol
Light therapy sounds wholesome. Clean. Almost pastoral. Sit in front of a lamp. Feel better.
In our latest episode of the Strange Health podcast, we discovered that it can also mean strapping on a flashing mask and watching your own brain generate kaleidoscopic hallucinations behind closed eyelids.
The spark for this episode was a stroboscopic light device called the Lumenate Nova, promoted on social media…
(Full Story)
|
By Karina Utami Dewi, Dosen Jurusan Hubungan Internasional, Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) Yogyakarta
The Indonesian public has grown increasingly uneasy with President Prabowo Subianto’s foreign policy pivot toward the United States. From Indonesia’s decision to join the Board of Peace (BoP) initiated by Donald Trump to the signing of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) on February 19, 2026, the trajectory is clear:…
(Full Story)
|
By Jared Mondschein, Director of Research, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney
The Trump administration is likely hoping the US can be less involved in the Middle East after this war, if it results in a different Iran.
(Full Story)
|
By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Ekrem İmamoğlu in front of the courthouse in Istanbul, Türkiye where he received his official mandate to serve a second five-year term as Istanbul mayor after winning the March 31, 2024 municipal election, April 3, 2024. © 2024 Yasin Akgul/AFP via Getty Images The Istanbul mayor and main opposition Republican People’s Party presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu will stand trial on March 9 as the central defendant in a politically motivated mass corruption prosecution of 407 defendants which raises serious fair trial concernsThe case is the culmination of a 17-month…
(Full Story)
|
By Zulker Naeen
Between May 2018 and December 2025, 2,425 documented fires have struck the world’s largest refugee settlement in Southeast of Bangladesh, affecting over 100,000 Rohingya refugees and destroying more than 20,000 shelters.
(Full Story)
|
By Catherine Speck, Emerita Professor, Art History and Curatorship, Adelaide University
These are troubled and changing times – a view of the zeitgeist that permeates Yield Strength, the 2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.
The stresses and anxieties navigated on a daily basis include political extremism, challenges to social cohesion, ecological collapse, the enduring effects of colonialism, and social and economic inequality.
Yield strength is also a technical term. Taken from engineering, yield strength refers to the maximum stress a material can withstand before starting to break down.
But as the exhibition’s curator Ellie Buttrose explains…
(Full Story)
|
By Stella Huangfu, Associate Professor, School of Economics, University of Sydney
Global oil markets have reacted swiftly to escalating tensions in the Middle East as the United States and Israel continue their assault on Iran.
After oil tanker traffic through a key chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, stopped, the benchmark oil price, Brent crude, jumped about 6% to over US$77 a barrel. It initially spiked as high as US$82, its highest level since January 2025.
A roughly US$10 jump in a matter of days is a significant move and delivers an immediate inflationary jolt for oil-importing…
(Full Story)
|
By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University
So far, Australia’s response to the US and Israeli strikes on Iran has been ‘say nothing’. But this may not be a successful long-term approach.
(Full Story)
|
By Nigel Andrew, Professor of Entomology, Southern Cross University
For years, Queensland authorities have been broadscale baiting fire ants. But the infestation is too big – and the baits wipe out rival species
(Full Story)
|
By Shahram Akbarzadeh, Director, Middle East Studies Forum (MESF), Deakin University
Iran’s authorities have moved fast to show they are still in charge. But selecting a new supreme leader may take some time.
(Full Story)
|