Nine weird and wonderful facts about death and funeral practices

Dec 30, 2016 06:58 am UTC| Life

It might not be something you want to think about very often, but it turns out that the way we treat our dead in the modern age is heavily influenced by the way our ancestors treated theirs. When you look at death and...

A behaviourist's guide to New Year's resolutions

Dec 29, 2016 22:59 pm UTC| Life

Every year you set out determined to stick to your New Years resolutions. But year after year you fall off track and quickly abandon them. So why are resolutions so hard to keep? New Years resolutions are about trying...

Philanthropy's tech billionaire reboot could be good for policymaking

Dec 29, 2016 22:09 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

A new kind of philanthropist is emerging in the 21st century. They show little interest in the old philanthropic model - attending galas and endowing their alma mater. Today, relatively young technology billionaires are...

Explainer: why some churches teach that women are 'separate but equal'

Dec 29, 2016 12:56 pm UTC| Life

Complementarianism is the idea held in some faiths that men and women play different, complementary roles in life, society and particularly religious practice. Rather than regarding women as essentially inferior or...

Why do our friends want us to drink and dislike it when we don't?

Dec 29, 2016 11:14 am UTC| Life

Anyone who has ever tried to give up drinking, or goes somewhere and says theyre not drinking, knows people encourage us to drink and are unhappy when we dont. Why is this? Is it uniquely Australian? What can we do about...

When media use pictures of drunk girls in alcohol stories, we're being misled

Dec 28, 2016 15:24 pm UTC| Life

When the English artist William Hogarth produced his infamous engravings of prosperous Beer Street and chaotic Gin Lane in the mid-18th century, it reflected efforts to control Londons supposed gin crisis. Gin consumption...

How crowdfunding can connect people to their heritage and community

Dec 28, 2016 01:47 am UTC| Insights & Views Business Life

The glistening white sails of Sydney Opera House and the red brick and bluestone of Geelongs industrial mills have little in common at first glance. But for both these places crowdfunding has led people to connect with...