By Christopher Stevens, Associate Professor, Sport and Exercise Science, Southern Cross University
You’ve just cleaned your teeth, you’re feeling minty fresh and ready to climb into bed. You take a sip of water, but the water is icy cold, and your next breath feels cool and crisp.
What has the toothpaste done to your mouth? And could this be a hack to help you feel cooler when you really need it?
Tricking the brain
Menthol, a natural compound that comes from mint plants, is the ingredient in toothpaste that creates the feeling of cold.
Menthol activates TRPM8 receptors on nerve endings…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Protesters march in downtown Tehran, Iran, on December 29, 2025. © 2025 Fars News Agency/AP Photo Iranian authorities are brutally cracking down on nationwide protests with lethal force, killing at least 27 protesters and bystanders, including children, and injuring many more in just over a week, while carrying out mass detentions of protesters. Human Rights Watch is investigating the government’s violent repression of the protests and related human rights violations.Protests began on December 28 in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar and rapidly spread to at least 27 provinces…
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By Jorge H. Sanchez-Perez, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Alberta
Successful American action in Venezuela and threats against Greenland suggest the rules-based international order that emerged following the Second World War is now on life support.
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By Andrew Latham, Professor of Political Science, Macalester College
The U.S. mission to seize Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has pushed the concept of regime change back into everyday conversation. “Regime Change in America’s Back Yard,” declared The New Yorker in a piece that typified the response to the Jan. 3 operation that saw Maduro exchange a compound in Caracas for a jail in Brooklyn.
Commentators
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By Mesbah Sharaf, Professor of Economics, University of Alberta
Abdelhalem Shahen, Associate professor, Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University
Digital payments are often presented as a way to bring more people into the financial system. Mobile wallets, online transfers and app-based payment systems are now central to how governments, banks and technology firms talk about expanding access to financial services.
This is particularly significant today. Around the world, governments are investing heavily in digital finance as part of broader development and sustainability strategies. In Canada,…
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By Gayani Gunasekera, Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Sessional Academic, Work and Organisational Studies, University of Sydney
As many head back to work, fresh starts can open the door to change. But maintaining lasting momentum depends on what we build after the novelty wears off.
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By Nick Lomb, Adjunct Professor, Centre for Astrophysics, University of Southern Queensland
In 2026 we will see a total eclipse of the Moon, a blue Moon, a supermoon and the two brightest planets close together in the sky.
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By Samuel Chalmers, Senior Lecturer in Human Movement, Adelaide University
Yuri Hosokawa, Associate Professor, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University
Exercise can feel more difficult in the heat, but when does it become unsafe? Two experts explain how you can check your risk, at your location.
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By Liza-Mare Syron, Indigenous Scientia Senior Lecturer, UNSW Sydney
The new ABC mini-series Goolagong is a rags-to-riches story about a small-town girl with a ball and a piece of 2 x 4 who dreams of one day winning Wimbledon.
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By Belinda Medlyn, Distinguished Professor, Ecosystem Function and Integration, Western Sydney University
Laura Williams, Postdoctoral research fellow, Hawksbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University
Ruiling Lu, PhD candidate, Ecology, Western Sydney University
The warming climate is killing Australia’s forest trees at a faster rate. This offers a glimpse of what may lie ahead for forests globally.
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