The 18th-Century Enlightenment and the Problem of Public Misery

Apr 10, 2016 00:21 am UTC| Life

Many people today think of the 18th-century Enlightenment as an exciting season of reason, a black swan moment when new energies flowed, when the early modern world began to be turned upside down, thanks to the fearless...

Want to be popular? You'd better follow some simple moral rules

Apr 08, 2016 16:30 pm UTC| Life

Imagine that an out of control trolley is speeding towards a group of five people. You are standing on a footbridge above, next to a large man. If you push him off the bridge onto the track below, his body will stop the...

Pope Francis pens 300-page love letter that will disappoint some Catholics

Apr 08, 2016 15:59 pm UTC| Life

Two years in the making, Pope Franciss second apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, is a landmark statement on the family which was eagerly anticipated by liberals and feared by conservatives for the stance it might take...

Reconsidering Body Worlds: why do we still flock to exhibits of dead human beings?

Apr 08, 2016 09:51 am UTC| Life

When Dr. Gunther von Hagens started using plastination in the 1970s to preserve human bodies, he likely did not anticipate the wild success of the Body Worlds exhibitions that stem from his creation. Body Worlds has since...

Sex trade survivors deserve the chance to speak

Apr 08, 2016 09:36 am UTC| Life

This week France became the latest in a growing list of countries to decriminalise sex workers while banning the purchase of sex. The French legislation is based on what has become known as the Nordic Model, a form of...

Nudges, not legislation will drive people to save more for retirement

Apr 07, 2016 05:45 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

Getting Australian workers to save more in order to become more self-reliant in retirement is a policy idea most people understand. Over time there is increasing pressure on government funding of the age pension. In...

The banking sector can do its bit to combat family violence

Apr 07, 2016 05:44 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

The Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence has laid out a challenge to Australian banks in its recommendations to better respond to victims who are suffering from economic abuse as much as physical, mental and...