How extremists have used the COVID pandemic to further their own ends, often with chaotic results

By Kristy Campion

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, extremists have sought to exploit the pandemic environment to their own ends. Where most of the population sees an enduring health catastrophe, extremists tend to see opportunity. Over...

How Covid broke supply chains, and how AI and blockchain could fix them

By Andreea Minca

When the coronavirus crisis erupted in 2020, it became apparent that the medical emergency was accompanied by severe shortages, especially in some medical devices. The pattern was first observed for ventilators: demand...

How social media can crush your self-esteem

By Sabrina Laplante

We all have a natural tendency to compare ourselves to others, whether intentionally or not, online or offline. Such comparisons help us evaluate our own achievements, skills, personality and our emotions. This, in turn,...

Feeling powerless in the COVID-19 pandemic? 4 principles of self-determination can help you take back some control

By Kate Mulligan

The Omicron wave seemed to come like a rising tide slowly, then suddenly, in all directions and all at once. Inside the health-care system, skeleton crews face impossible workloads and moral distress. Outside of it,...

Omicron: Vaccines remain the best defence against this COVID-19 variant and others

By Julian Daniel Sunday Willett

We have made it through another pandemic winter holiday. Fortunately, COVID-19 fatalities have decreased since the year before, however, the numbers still werent ideal. Using Dec. 25 as a reference date, the death rate...

The U.S. failed in Afghanistan by trying to moralize with bullets and bombs

By F. Haider Alvi

Last August, the world watched the chaotic and painful American departure from Afghanistan. It led to a profound reckoning: how could two decades of war end in such humiliating defeat at the hands of Taliban...

Supreme Court considers derailing federal vaccine mandates

By James Hodge1

Conservative justices on the Supreme Court appeared to signal a belief that the Biden administration may have overreached in ordering private companies to require that staff be vaccinated or subject to regular testing. But...

In Kazakhstan, Russia follows a playbook it developed in Ukraine

By Lena Surzhko Harned

Add Kazakhstan to the list of former Soviet republics whose independence is now being threatened by Russia. Russian leader Vladimir Putin is using a similar playbook in Kazakhstan to one that he has used over almost a...

Supply chains in 2022: shortages will continue, but for some sellers the problem will be too much stock

By Sarah Schiffling

Everything was about shortages in 2021. COVID vaccine shortages at the start of the year were replaced by fears that we would struggle to buy turkeys, toys or electronic gizmos to put under the Christmas tree. For most of...

Sydney's dams may be almost full – but don't relax, because drought will come again

By Ian Wright

Dams serving capital cities such as Canberra, Hobart and Sydney are near full after two years of widespread rainfall. But these wet conditions wont last. Under climate change, droughts in Australia will become more...

Capitol assault: the real reason Trump and the crowd almost killed US democracy

By Stephen Reicher Et Al

It was the moment that could have brought US democracy to its knees. One year ago, around noon on January 6, 2021, Donald Trump gave the concluding speech to a Stop the Steal rally in Washington DC. Within an hour,...

A simple calculation can stop artificial intelligence sending you broke

By Evan Shellshear Et Al

Mike is a 40-something crop farmer from southern Queensland. With a chestnut tan, crushing handshake and a strong outback accent, hes the third generation of his family to grow sorghum, a cereal mostly used for animal...

From speed viewing to watching the end first: how streaming has changed the way we consume TV

By Stephanie Feiereisen Et Al

In 2010, there were around 200 television programs in the United States and only 4% of them aired on streaming networks such as Netflix. By 2020, this number had more than doubled. Thanks to streaming platforms such as...

Insurance isn't enough: Governments need to do better on natural disaster resilience

By Anne E. Kleffner Et Al

The massive floods in British Columbia in November 2021 demonstrated the devastation that natural disasters can cause in Canada. Prior to 2010, it was rare for annual insured losses from natural disasters in Canada to...

Working holidaymakers bring in $3bn each year – so, how will Australia ensure they come back?

By Sarah Gardiner

Working holidaymakers will be one of the first international visitor markets to return to Australia in 2022. But as global travel slowly resumes and many young people start thinking about working overseas again, global...

This New Year, why not resolve to ditch your dodgy old passwords?

By Paul Haskell-Dowland Et Al

Most of the classic New Year resolutions revolve around improving your health and lifestyle. But this year, why not consider cleaning up your passwords too? We all know the habits to avoid, yet so many of us do them...

Plant-based doesn’t always mean healthy

By Meghan McGee

As we ring in the new year and people announce their resolutions and goals for 2022, many opt for getting healthy, cutting out drinking or starting a new hobby. Vegan magazines and organizations are pushing plant-based...

Here are some of the political events that will dominate headlines in 2022

By Thomas Klassen

Last year started out hopeful with the emergence of COVID-19 vaccines, but quickly proved to be a challenging year for governments and communities worldwide. Still, in the midst of the pandemic, 2022 will bring about a...

AI-powered chatbots, designed ethically, can support high-quality university teaching

By Nadia Naffi Et Al

While COVID-19 forced an emergency transformation to online learning at universities, learning how to teach efficiently and effectively online using different platforms and tools is a positive addition to education and is...

Life after COVID: most people don't want a return to normal – they want a fairer, more sustainable future

By Stephan Lewandowsky Et Al

We are in a crisis now and omicron has made it harder to imagine the pandemic ending. But it will not last forever. When the COVID outbreak is over, what do we want the world to look like? In the early stages of the...

How COVID-19 transformed genomics and changed the handling of disease outbreaks forever

By Angela Beckett Et Al

If the pandemic had happened ten years ago, what would it have looked like? Doubtless there would have been many differences, but probably the most striking would have been the relative lack of genomic sequencing. This is...

New Year's resolutions – if the future is preordained can we really change?

By Matyáš Moravec

Many of us set ourselves New Years resolutions hoping to form better habits. Some of us might want to be more environmentally friendly. Others want to eat better, stop smoking or, if youre like me, start running more...

Weightlifting: how beginners can get started this new year

By Athalie Redwood-Brown Et Al

Weightlifting has become increasingly popular with people looking to get in shape. Not only can it be a great way to lose weight, it can also build strength and prevent muscle loss as we age. But knowing how to start...

Six big digital trends to watch in 2022

By Theo Tzanidis

According to recent McKinsey research, 2021 was a year of transformation: people, corporations and society began to look ahead to influencing their futures rather than just surviving the present. It was the year that...

Is The Matrix a trans film? Revisiting the Wachowskis through a trans lens

By Naja Later

With Lana Wachowskis The Matrix Resurrections about to hit theatres, were going to see a lot of criticism interpreting siblings Lana and Lilly Wachowskis body of films through a trans lens. Im really looking forward to it:...

Nature's GPS: how animals use the natural world to perform extraordinary feats of navigation

By Richard Holland

At Christmas, thousands of greetings cards feature the iconic winter plumage of the robin. But not all the robins you might find in your backyard are permanent natives to your country. In the UK, for example, some will...

Ghislaine Maxwell guilty in Epstein sex trafficking case: What the case revealed about female sex offenders

By Poco Kernsmith Et Al

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been convicted for her role in luring and grooming girls to be sexually abused by the American financier Jeffrey Epstein. In a court in lower Manhattan, Maxwell a close friend of...

Why COVID-19 means the era of ever cheaper air travel could be over

By David Beirman

After its worst two years since the second world war, 2022 is looking brighter for the global airline industry. For passengers, though, the chance to travel at low cost again may prove short-lived. In 2020 international...

How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity's technological revolution

By Nicholas R. Longrich

For the first few million years of human evolution, technologies changed slowly. Some three million years ago, our ancestors were making chipped stone flakes and crude choppers. Two million years ago, hand-axes. A million...

Explainer: what is corporate social responsibility or CSR – and what do investors need to know?

By Limin Fu

With the world facing an ever-growing number of environmental and social challenges, investors are increasingly expecting corporations to do the right thing and contribute positively to the community. This is known as...

When should you go to hospital for a headache?

By Natasha Yates

I waited for hours in emergency last night with this dreadful headache, but eventually gave up and left. Should I have kept waiting at the hospital? This is a surprisingly common scenario I encounter as a general...

Five ways the internet era has changed British English – new research

By Vaclav Brezina

The dramatic changes in technology over the past 20 or so years, from the internet to the smartphone and digital assistants like Alexa, have made communication more accessible than ever before. We have created an online...

Beyond Sherlock Holmes: five Victorian detective stories you must read

By Clare Clarke

In December 1893, just six years after his first appearance and at the height of his popularity with the late-Victorian reading public, Sherlock Holmes, the worlds most famous fictional detective, was killed off by his...

Can China win back global opinion before the Winter Olympics? Does it even want to?

By Jennifer Y.J. Hsu

The Beijing Winter Olympics are only weeks away and China has been forced on the defensive by a diplomatic boycott called by the US, UK, Australia and other western countries. There had been pressure for Western...

How 2021 was the year governments really started to wise up against big tech

By David Tuffley

After all the bad press tech companies have received, would anyone still be surprised to learn the outwardly smiling face of social media conceals a sophisticated data-collection industry? This years headlines delivered...

Running out of ideas? Dozing off could be the secret to unlocking your creativity

By Delphine Oudiette Et Al

At the fringe between wakefulness and sleep, there is a grey zone where our consciousness fluctuates, our responsiveness decreases and our awareness of the real world starts to dissolve, giving way to spontaneous...

What will 2022 bring in the way of misinformation on social media? 3 experts weigh in

By Anjana Susarla Et Al

At the end of 2020, it seemed hard to imagine a worse year for misinformation on social media, given the intensity of the presidential election and the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic. But 2021 proved up to the task,...

Hunting galaxies far far away – here's how anyone can explore the universe

By Sara Webb

This article is part of a series explaining how readers can learn the skills to take part in activities that academics love doing as part of their work. By far my favourite thing about my job as an astronomer is those...

How much trouble is Boris Johnson in? Lessons from the fall of Margaret Thatcher

By Paul Whiteley Et Al

It has been a bad few weeks for Boris Johnson and the Conservative government. It began with allegations that Christmas parties had been held in Downing Street during the lockdown of 2020 and has escalated into open...

Kim Jong Un’s decade in power: Starvation, repression and brutal rule

By Sung-Yoon Lee

By the grim metric of fatalities in the first 10 years of a dictators rule, Kim Jong Un has yet to match the records set by his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, or father, Kim Jong Il the two tyrants who reigned by terror in...

Lost touch with friends during lockdown? Here's how to reconnect (and let go of 'toxic' ones)

By Roger Patulny

As we resume our social lives after strict COVID restrictions have lifted, many of us are finding its time to take stock of our friendships. Recent research Ive been involved in found friendship networks were shrinking...

Latest government bid to dictate research directions builds on a decade of failure

By Ksenia Sawczak

The acting minister for education and youth, Stuart Robert, wrote a letter last week to Australian Research Council (ARC) CEO Sue Thomas, listing four demands. These included changes to ARC funding models and an overhaul...

Face masks, digital screens and winter weather are a triple threat for dry eyes

By William Ngo

How do your eyes feel right now? Whether youre sitting at home or in the office, youre likely reading this on a digital device, and your eyes may be hot, scratchy, tired and dry. If so, you may be part of a new phenomenon...

Farmers shouldn't have to compete with solar companies for land

By Madeline Taylor

When it comes to solar energy, Australia has a huge natural advantage with an abundance of sun and vast, flat expanses of land. This makes it relatively easy to build solar farms across the continent. Some proposed...

Why toy shops — and Amazon — are tapping into paper catalogues

By Joanne E. McNeish

Did you receive them? Found in many mailboxes in this second pandemic holiday season were paper catalogues from Toys R Us, Mastermind Toys and perhaps most surprisingly, the highly profitable digital retailer Amazon....

Organizational support: The key to employee commitment and well-being during the pandemic

By Oli Mihalache

For nearly two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it increasingly difficult for people to do their jobs. In addition to regular work duties, people have had to worry about their health and that of their loved ones. They...

A new approach finds materials that can turn waste heat into electricity

By Jan-Hendrik Pöhls

The need to transition to clean energy is apparent, urgent and inescapable. We must limit Earths rising temperature to within 1.5 C to avoid the worst effects of climate change an especially daunting challenge in the face...

Releasing US$9.5 billion in frozen assets can't help the Afghan people as long as the Taliban remain in power

By Weeda Mehran

Afghanistan is in a major humanitarian crisis: the health sector is failing, the economy is collapsing, and amid the COVID pandemic, famine is inflicting ever-larger numbers of casualties. According to the most recent...

Hydroelectric dams take toll on endangered big cats, study shows

By Tara Pirie

Big cats are among the most widespread top predators on Earth. Lions stalk zebra in the African savanna, tigers ambush antelope in the forests of Asia and jaguars hunt deer in the jungles of South America. They play an...

Coffee's health benefits aren’t as straightforward as they seem – here’s why

By Charlotte Mills1 Et Al

Youve probably heard it before: drinking coffee is good for your health. Studies have shown that drinking a moderate amount of coffee is associated with many health benefits, including a lower risk of developing type 2...