How much does aging affect mental acuity? It’s debatable

By Donald Jurivich

I cringed recently while driving to the clinic where I specialize in geriatric medicine when I heard a young radio announcer refer to old people as wiggy, a pejorative for wacky. As a doctor who has extensively...

Meteorite strike in South Africa: scientists offer clues about what it is and where it came from

By Roger Lawrence Gibson Et Al

On a Sunday morning in late August 2024 a nine-year-old girl named Eli-zé du Toit was sitting on her grandparents porch near a small town in South Africas Eastern Cape province, when she heard a long rumble, then...

The emotional toll of dating apps and why they’re no longer about finding love – podcast

By Gemma Ware1

Dating apps are having a rocky moment. In February, Bumble said it would lay off 30% of its workforce after disappointing results in 2023. Match Group, which has struggled to maintain paying subscribers for its most...

Think you’re better at driving than most? How psychological biases are keeping our roads unsafe

By Gemma Briggs

You never have to look hard to find recent reports of fatal vehicle crashes on UK roads. After devastating events such as a crash in West Yorkshire in July 2024, where four adults and two children were killed, media...

How Sigmund Freud attempted to solve the ‘riddle’ of Leonardo da Vinci’s genius

By Luke Thurston

The idea that prowess in activities like playing chess or writing poetry might be fuelled by frustrated, unconscious sexual desire is fairly well known today. But writing more than a century ago, Sigmund Freud was...

How Australia’s new AI ‘guardrails’ can clean up the messy market for artificial intelligence

By Nicholas Davis

Australias federal government has today launched a proposed set of mandatory guardrails for high-risk AI alongside a voluntary safety standard for organisations using AI. Each of these documents offer ten mutually...

How to get the housing we need: healthy, affordable and resilient to climate change

By Lyrian Daniel Et Al

Imagine coming home after a long day at work. It is winter. You step inside your home. It is warm, quiet and dry. A storm is forecast to blow in tonight. Unprecedented rainfall, they are saying. But you are not worried....

GPS tracking is everywhere in pro sports but many AFLW players are uncomfortable with it

By Dr Paul Bowell Et Al

The 2024 AFLW season kicked off last week, continuing the growth of a variety of sports that were once considered only for men. This growth has resulted in more women athletes entering elite sporting structures for the...

드론 공격이 우크라이나 전쟁의 규칙과 비용을 어떻게 바꾸고 있는가

By Marcel Plichta

우크라이나가 새롭게 공개한 장거리 무기는 드론과 미사일 기술이 결합된 형태로, 키이우는 이를 통해 러시아군의 공격에 대처하는 능력을 크게 강화할 것으로 기대하고 있다. 우크라이나 홍보 자료에 따르면 이 로켓 드론은...

Newspoll remains tied at 50–50, but Albanese’s net approval slumps

By Adrian Beaumont

A national Newspoll, conducted August 2630 from a sample of 1,263, had a 5050 two-party tie between Labor and the Coalition, unchanged from the previous Newspoll three weeks ago. This is the first time this term there have...

We found teenage girls don’t know vulvas from vaginas or when their menstrual cycle starts

By Felicity Roux Et Al

It is important for everyone but especially girls, women and people who menstruate to understand how ovulation and menstruation work. The menstrual cycle is a key indicator of overall health and sadly, issues such as...

‘It’s time to give up on normal’: what winter’s weird weather means for the warm months ahead

By David Bowman

Heavy winds struck south-east Australia over the weekend as a series of cold fronts moved across the continent. It followed a high fire danger in Sydney and other parts of New South Wales last week, and a fire in...

Military veterans with PTSD face an agonising choice: the stigma of declaring it to employers or being denied support

By Richard O'Quinn Et Al

Australia is home to almost half a million military veterans, most of whom are in the workforce. But most around 60% live with long-term health problems. About half of these face enduring mental health challenges,...

Without sanctions, making companies disclose their environmental and social impacts has limited effect

By Charl de Villiers

As of last year, New Zealands largest companies and financial institutions have been required to disclose their climate-related risks and opportunities in their annual reports and regulatory filings. This follows a...

Aluminium foil that can clean water: we’ve developed a coating which attracts and traps dangerous microbes

By Taufiq Ihsan

More than 2 billion people around the world do not have access to safe, uncontaminated drinking water. Around 418 million of them live in African countries. The problem is most acute in rural communities, where peoples...

Is Iran’s anti-Israel and American rhetoric all bark and no bite?

By Shahram Akbarzadeh

On August 27, Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told the newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and his cabinet that talking to the enemy may be useful. In a thinly veiled reference...

What is space made of? An astrophysics expert explains all the components – from radiation to dark matter – found in the vacuum of space

By Nilakshi Veerabathina

What is space made of what does gravity actually bend? Phil, age 12, Birmingham What comes to mind when you think of space? Imagine a friend boasting about a spacious building, stadium or museum they recently...

Healthy soils are good for your gut, brain and wellbeing – here’s why

By Jose David Henao Casas

Often overlooked, soil is one of our planets largest living ecosystems and the foundation of our lives. It provides 95% of our food, supports global biodiversity and helps balance the climate by storing atmospheric...

Five notorious cyberattacks that targeted governments

By Rachael Medhurst

Warfare is no longer confined to physical battlefields. In the digital age, a new front has emerged cyberspace. Here, countries clash not with bullets and bombs, but with lines of code and sophisticated malware. One of...

Home education: why are so many parents choosing it over mainstream school?

By Lucie Wheeler

There has been a notable rise in parents choosing to home educate their children over recent years, and particularly since the COVID pandemic. Elective home education carrying out a childs education at home, outside...

Sudan is the world’s worst modern war

By Kagure Gacheche

Sudans war has been raging since April 2023. The country was on a bumpy road to democracy after mass uprisings in 2019 ousted long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir. This all came to a halt when troops from the Rapid Support...

Is ‘coaching’ a shortcut to mental health care? Not so fast − here are key differences

By Emily Hemendinger

Life coach, wellness coach, business coach, weight loss coach, breakup coach the list goes on and on. All are different titles for similar jobs, with the same limitation: Anyone can claim to be an expert. Health...

If new technologies snarl your airline experience, here are old-school strategies to cope

By Christopher Schaberg

Ten years ago I wrote a book titled The End of Airports about how digital technologies and commercial air travel were on a collision course. Earlier this summer, I was proved right. In July, a cybersecurity software...

Trump and Harris, with starkly different records on labor issues, are both courting union voters

By Robert Forrant

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump are in a tight race for the White House. Every voting bloc will count including members of labor unions and other people in their...

When cannabis is rescheduled, states can look to Colorado and Washington for ideas on how to regulate it

By Boyoung Seo

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has made moves to reclassify marijuana, making it a type of legal but regulated medicine, like Tylenol with codeine or some steroids. With the reclassification, 26 states where...

DRC: fighting with rebels in the country’s east has intensified, sparking fears of a wider war

By Dale Pankhurst

Security forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been battling the M23 rebel group in the east of the country since 2012. However, there has been a major upsurge in fighting so far this year. The M23...

How AI can dramatically reduce the time it takes to make VAR offside calls in Premier League football matches

By Mark Middling Et Al

The start of the new English Premier League (EPL) football season is seeing further changes to the way VAR (the video assistant referee) is operated. VAR was introduced to the EPL in 2019 in an attempt to reduce the number...

Robots are coming to the kitchen

By Patrick Lin

Automating food is unlike automating anything else. Food is fundamental to life nourishing body and soul so how its accessed, prepared and consumed can change societies fundamentally. Automated kitchens arent sci-fi...

How drone attacks are changing the rules and the costs of the Ukraine war

By Marcel Plichta

Ukraine has unveiled a new long-range weapon, a mix of drone and missile technology that Kyiv believes will significantly boost its ability to combat Russian military attacks. Ukrainian promotional material suggested...

Who says boys don’t cry? Why we must encourage men and boys to express their emotions

By Michael Kehler

The Democratic National Convention recently wrapped up in Chicago, where Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were officially nominated as the partys ticket for the 2024 presidential election. One...

How low can we go? To cut the carbon that goes into buildings to net zero, we need radical change

By Philip Oldfield Et Al

Philip Oldfield, Head of School and Professor of Architecture, UNSW Built Environment, UNSW Sydney Buildings are one of our biggest contributors to global heating. They produce 37% of all greenhouse gas emissions from...

Yes, you can borrow money to invest in shares

By Sean Pinder

In their scramble to secure a foothold on an increasingly unaffordable housing ladder, some young investors might be looking for new ways to boost their returns on savings. One such approach albeit highly risky is...

Why Americans do political speeches so well (and debates so badly)

By David Smith

The recent Democratic National Convention in Chicago was a showcase of impressive speeches. Presidential nominee Kamala Harris justified the newfound enthusiasm of Democrats with a strong acceptance speech, but even she...

How the Republicans are trying to use Trump’s revised court charges to energise the campaign

By Natasha Lindstaedt

US special counsel Jack Smith has issued revised charges against former president Donald Trump for allegedly attempting to interfere in the 2020 election. This follows last months historic and widely criticised Supreme...

Jackson Hole: how a meeting of bankers in a remote Wyoming valley could have consequences for us all

By Amr Saber Algarhi Et Al

The economic world recently turned its attention to the resort of Jackson Hole, in a remote Wyoming valley. The annual economic policy symposium of central bankers, policymakers, academics and financial gurus took place in...

Ukraine war: US military support for Kyiv has been very cautious – here’s how a Harris presidency could change that

By David Hastings Dunn

Russias recent military advances and ferocious bombardment of Ukraine have led the country to renew calls for western allies to lift their ban on the use of their long-range missiles to hit military targets in Russia. But...

NT election: the Country Liberals claim a landslide victory in a contest decided in suburbia

By Rolf Gerritsen

The Northern Territory is a different place. On the day prior to this election, Speckles the Adelaide River crocodile was asked to predict the result of the election. He had replaced the previous crocodile, a spiv who got...

Mpox: African countries have beaten disease outbreaks before – here’s what it takes

By Oyewale Tomori

Barely over a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that mpox was no longer a public health issue of international concern, it is back in the news. This time with a diversity of variants, new modes of...

‘Humanity is failing’: official report warns our chance to save the Great Barrier Reef is fast closing

By Ove Hoegh-Guldberg

The Great Barrier Reef will continue to deteriorate, largely to climate change, and the window to secure its future is rapidly closing. That is the sobering conclusion of a major new report into the state of the...

Rail shutdown: What the dispute tells us about labour relations and politics in Canada

By Gerard Di Trolio

The situation surrounding the nation-wide rail shutdown is evolving quickly as the Canadian government rushes to get workers back on the job and trains running again. Canadas two largest freight railroads came to a...

Not even the boss of Starbucks needs to be doing a 1,000-mile commute if they can do the job from home

By Heejung Chung

New Starbucks boss Brian Niccol caused many to spit out their coffee with the news he will commute around 1,000 miles from his home in California to the companys HQ in Seattle. Its true that hell have the luxury of the...

Kamala Harris and her fellow Democrats used ancient Greek rhetorical tricks to keep their audiences spellbound

By Richard Toye

The Democratic Party has had a good week. Ill start that again the Democratic Party has had an amazingly good week. Not so long ago, the Democrats seemed down, if not actually out. Now, theyre not merely pulling ahead...

How Web3 and Blockchain Are Shaping the Future of Digital News

By Sonny Kwon

The digital media industry is at a crossroads, facing ongoing challenges in delivering trustworthy news in an era of information overload. Web3 and blockchain technology are emerging as potential game-changers, offering a...

Irish hip-hop, British K-pop and the best end-of-summer novels – what you should watch and read this week

By Anna Walker

This article was first published in our email newsletter Something Good, which every fortnight brings you a summary of the best things to watch, visit and read, as recommended and analysed by academic experts. Click here...

How we’re using ‘chaos engineering’ to make cloud computing less vulnerable to cyber attacks

By Amro Al-Said Ahmad

Cloud computing has emerged as a crucial element in todays technology, serving as the backbone for global connectivity. It empowers businesses, governments, and individuals to employ and construct cloud-based services and...

Can a new access scheme get more working-class people into the TV industry?

By Paul Tucker

TV was everything to me, said British playwright James Graham at this years Edinburgh TV Festivals MacTaggart lecture on August 20. The dramatist used his recollections of the television he watched in his youth together...

Tory leadership contenders would be wise to become the ‘heir to Keir’

By Stephen Barber

The Conservative leadership contest is something of a sideshow to the meaningful politics of government. Whoever wins will inherit a depleted party reeling from arguably its worst ever election defeat. It comprises only...

Kamala Harris: here’s what we’ve found out so far about the presidential nominee

By Thomas Gift

Who is Kamala Harris? Thats the question the Democratic nominee for president tried to answer in her highly anticipated acceptance speech at the partys national convention in Chicago. Although she has been...

Rwanda: Paul Kagame’s fourth term as president – what his agenda will need to cover

By Jonathan Beloff

Paul Kagame started his fourth term as Rwandas president in August 2024. He first became president in April 2000. However, as the leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, he has been the countrys de facto head since his...

Project 2025: what is it and why does Trump say he knows nothing about it?

By David Hastings Dunn

Think-tank policy proposals rarely make the headlines, but 2024 is no ordinary year and Project 2025 is no usual set of plans for government. This is a not-very-secret set of plans that Republicans have put together in...