Tony Blair sold the UK on a vision for the future. Can Keir Starmer do the same to return Labour to power?

By Liam Byrne

When British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the UK general election outside 10 Downing Street in the pouring rain last month, the ignominy of the moment was compounded by the sound of a protester playing Things Can...

What actually makes avocados bad for the environment?

By Thomas Davies

The soaring demand for avocados in Europe and North America has led to a trebling of global production in just over 20 years. However, this popular fruit is increasingly controversial because of the environmental impacts...

People are worried about the media using AI for stories of consequence, but less so for sports and entertainment

By Amy Ross Arguedas Et Al

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are disrupting many aspects of modern life, and the news industry is no exception. In a year with a record-breaking number of elections worldwide, there has been considerable soul...

‘Loyal to the Oil’: Finding religion in the Stanley Cup finals

By Cody Musselman Et Al

Hockeys biggest prize is the Stanley Cup, and for the first time in nearly two decades, the Edmonton Oilers are vying for it. Hoping to stage a comeback against the Florida Panthers, the Oilers are two wins away from...

Heat exposure during pregnancy can lead to a lifetime of health problems

By Matthew Chersich Et Al

Climate change is one of the greatest public health threats humanity has ever faced. Global warming is part of this threat. Increasing temperatures are linked to deteriorating health, especially in vulnerable...

Raw milk health risks significantly outweigh any potential benefits − food scientists and nutritionists explain why

By Juan Silva Et Al

Despite an ongoing outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows, the popularity of raw milk has only risen. Advocates claim raw milk has superior health benefits over pasteurized milk. There is little evidence to support these...

Euro 2024: football is a magnet for online abuse – but it is also the ideal platform to challenge it

By Gary Sinclair

As Euro 2024 enjoys its first week of high-stakes football, thoughts will have returned to how the last one ended. One of the abiding memories of the Euro 2020 final was the vile racist abuse black English players received...

Microplastics and nanoplastics have been found throughout the human body – how worried should we be?

By Michael Richardson Et Al

The world is becoming clogged with plastic. Particles of plastic so tiny they cannot be seen with the naked eye have been found almost everywhere, from the oceans depths to the mountain tops. They are in the soil, in...

Farmers told me what they really think about reintroducing lynx and wolves to Britain and Ireland

By Jonny Hanson

The only howl I heard on a recent walk across the Garron plateau in the Glens of Antrim, Northern Ireland, was from a bitter, biting wind. But 300 years ago, the howls would most definitely have been lupine: this place was...

Our smartphone screening tool could help detect strokes faster – and lead to quicker treatment

By Dinesh Kumar Et Al

In Australia, stroke is among the leading causes of death and permanent disability. Some 5% of deaths are due to stroke, while strokes cost the Australian health-care system A$6.2 billion annually. Strokes occur when...

I watched some 40 films at this year’s Sydney Film Festival. Here are my top five picks – and one hilarious flop

By Ari Mattes

This years Sydney Film Festivals rich offerings of films more than compensated for the minor technical issues that led to some screenings being interrupted. Out of the 40-odd films I saw, here are my top five, along...

Dutton goes nuclear, proposing seven government-owned generators with the first starting in 2030s

By Michelle Grattan

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has announced seven sites for reactors, unveiling his long-awaited and highly-controversial policy for nuclear power with the claim it could start operating from the 2030s. The locations...

I’ve been given opioids after surgery to take at home. What do I need to know?

By Katelyn Jauregui Et Al

Opioids are commonly prescribed when youre discharged from hospital after surgery to help manage pain at home. These strong painkillers may have unwanted side effects or harms, such as constipation, drowsiness or the...

Please stop obsessing over words. It’s quite simple: the RBA thinks inflation is too high

By Stephen Bartos

These days every word of every statement from the Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock is pored over in minute detail as is every word uttered at her press conference after each Reserve Bank board meeting. Desperate...

Do you have a mental illness? Why some people answer ‘yes’, even if they haven’t been diagnosed

By Jesse Tse Et Al

Mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders have become more prevalent, especially among young people. Demand for treatment is surging and prescriptions of some psychiatric medications have climbed. These...

The renaming of universities and campus buildings reflects changing attitudes and values

By Reuben Rose-Redwood Et Al

As protests have swept across university campuses calling on higher education institutions to break ties with Israel over the war in Gaza, one tactic that protesters used to raise awareness of the wars devastating human...

Ukraine summit fails to provide a path to peace for Kyiv and its allies

By Stefan Wolff Et Al

Was the the first so-called Summit on Peace in Ukraine, held in Switzerland on June 15 to 16, a failure? Certainly not, if you listen to the fairly upbeat reactions of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his western...

Why legacy media brands still matter in the UK’s ‘social media’ election

By David Deacon Et Al

For decades, the front pages of newspapers have documented iconic campaign moments. Now, many think that the internet (particularly social media platforms) is where an election is won or lost. Some have even dubbed this...

Royal Mail takeover has benefits but poses risk to those reliant on UK’s national postal service

By Nigel Driffield

Selling a British institution to a foreign billionaire is a big deal. In the case of Royal Mail, that deal is not yet done, but the companys board has agreed to the move in principle. The 508-year-old postal service,...

This is billed as a ‘change’ election – but Britain’s electoral system means hardly any seats are true multi-party contests

By Christopher Kirkland Et Al

With all polls pointing in the same direction, the 2024 election will deliver seismic change. It is being seen as a contest that will practically wipe out one party and deliver a large majority to another. But the reality...

G7 overcomes internal wrangling and ‘irrelevance’ barbs to strike US$50 deal to support Ukraine

By Gregory Stiles Et Al

In the 26 months since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the west has been riven with disagreement about how much and what support it will provide for Volodymyr Zelenskys government. There are two main reasons for...

Mother City: a tough, passionate film about the battle for affordable housing in Cape Town

By Ian-Malcolm Rijsdijk

A third of the way into Mother City theres a scene that characterises this tough, passionate film about Cape Town and its paradoxes of beauty and hardship, wealth and poverty, and the way it excludes the working...

Floating solar panels could provide much of Africa’s energy – new research

By Iestyn Woolway1 Et Al

New research has found that several countries could meet all their energy needs from solar panel systems floating on lakes. Climate, water and energy environmental scientists R. Iestyn Woolway and Alona Armstrong analysed...

South Africa’s unity government: 4 crucial factors for it to work

By Joleen Steyn Kotze

Governments of national unity built on power-sharing arrangements are common in Africa and elsewhere in the world. Now South Africa also has a unity government, following the 2024 general election in which no party won a...

Joining NATO binds countries to defend each other – but this commitment is not set in stone

By Dan Reiter Et Al

The outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election is going to have major consequences for the relationship between the U.S. and its allies. While President Joe Biden is a firm believer in the value of the...

US laws created during slavery are still on the books. A legal scholar wants to at least acknowledge that history in legal citations

By Justin Simard

As the story of Juneteenth is told by modern-day historians, enslaved Black people were freed by laws, not combat. Union Gen. Gordon Granger said as much when he read General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, in front of...

Digital public archaeology: Excavating data from digs done decades ago and connecting with today’s communities

By Emily Fletcher

The ancestors of Alaska Native people began using local copper sources to craft intricate tools roughly 1,000 years ago. Over one-third of all copper objects archaeologists have found in this region were excavated at a...

Keeping astronauts healthy in space isn’t easy − new training programs will prepare students to perform medicine while thousands of miles away from Earth

By Arian Anderson

In the coming decade, more people will go to space than ever before as human spaceflight enters a new era. NASA, the European Space Agency and other governmental agencies are partnering to develop crewed missions beyond...

Ultra-processed foods: here’s how they may affect the way the immune system functions

By Samuel J. White Et Al

In our fast-paced world, convenience can often come at the cost of nutrition. This shift has led to an increased reliance on ultra-processed foods. But diets high in ultra-processed foods are increasingly being linked...

Decades of politicians toying with A-levels and GCSEs have left students a confusing and unfair system

By Mary Richardson

In 2023, Rishi Sunak outlined a proposed change to the education system in England: scrapping the current A-level system and introducing the Advanced British Standard. This would see students study more subjects after 16...

Denmark bans noodles for being too hot – what you need to know about chilli heat

By Mark Lorch

Chilli peppers love them or hate them, theyve got a heat thats hard to ignore. Recently, their fiery nature has even caused a bit of a stir in Denmark, where Buldak Ramen noodles have been banned for being dangerously...

We’ve found a way to help endangered eels overcome dams and weirs

By Guglielmo Sonnino Sorisio Et Al

The European eel Anguilla anguilla, a sleek, snake-like fish with a fascinating life cycle, once teemed in rivers. But their numbers have plummeted by over 95% since the 1980s. Behind this dramatic decline is a...

Brexit boredom is one thing – but there’s a real problem when Britain’s leaders won’t even talk about Europe anymore

By Simon Usherwood

British politics has, in recent years, been plagued by two competing forces when it comes to Europe. On one side, there is an understanding that the UK and the EU need to rub along, because of their proximity and...

The Chemist Warehouse deal is a sideshow: pharmacies are ripe for bigger disruption

By Peter Martin1

Theres something curious about the proposed merger between Chemist Warehouse and Sigma Healthcare. Chemist Warehouse has about 550 retail pharmacies. Sigma has another 400. Yet the law limits owners to just a handful...

The modern world’s relationship to time is broken

By Jesus Casquete

To truly understand populism, we have to take the long view. In the 1960s, populist parties won, on average, 5.4% of the vote in Europe, while today, following the European Parliament elections on 9 June, more than 20% of...

For the next prime minister to solve the UK’s productivity problem, they must attract more foreign investment – here’s how

By Costas Milas

The British economy has a serious productivity problem that will have to be addressed by the next government. According to data from the OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), productivity...

What is cervical cancer and how can it be prevented? Answers to key questions

By Abba Mallum Et Al

In 2020 the World Health Organization rolled out a global strategy to eradicate cervical cancer by 2030. This is the fourth-most common cancer among women, claiming an estimated 350,000 lives globally in 2022. More than...

Humour can make you a better workplace leader, if you use it properly – here’s how

By Nilupama Wijewardena Et Al

When asked to describe an ideal organisational leader, many people might be inclined to use quite serious adjectives such as solemn, determined or results-oriented. Yet one trait is not only often overlooked, but also...

High fliers: pleasure-seeking parrots are using aromatic plants, stinky ants and alcohol

By Penny Olsen

Birds have been known to seek out pungent chemicals for various reasons. Some consume fermented fruits with gusto and suffer the ill effects. Others expose themselves to ants, but only the stinky kind. These ants produce...

Albanese government raises ‘concern’ over treatment of journalist Cheng Lei with Chinese embassy

By Michelle Grattan

The Albanese government has formally expressed its displeasure to the Chinese embassy over Chinese officials trying to impede camera shots of journalist Cheng Lei during Premier Li Qiangs visit to Canberra this...

Bird strike: what happens when a plane collides with a bird?

By Doug Drury

Late last night, Virgin Australia flight VA 148 set out from Queenstown in New Zealand bound for Melbourne. Not long after takeoff, the right engine of the Boeing 737-800 jet started emitting loud bangs, followed by...

Mothers have long been absent from dystopian stories. ‘Maternal cli-fi’ is changing the narrative

By Rachel Williamson-Dean

Writing over 30 years ago, feminist film scholar E. Ann Kaplan famously described mothers in cinema as an absent presence background figures that might facilitate the narrative but who are rarely, if ever, its focus. I...

ABC’s new series Ladies in Black gives us vintage fashions and feminist anthems

By Lisa French

Ladies in Black, the new six-part ABC series, opens with Magda (Debi Mazar), the head of Goodes luxury department stores Model Gowns. As Magda is striding assuredly down the main street, we hear Peggy Lees famous 1962...

Give Chaucer a chance! Why ‘dead white men’ can still be relevant in NZ’s classrooms

By Simone Celine Marshall

While the proposed revisions of the English curriculum in secondary schools have unnerved and offended some, there is perhaps one silver lining. In a system seemingly intent on pushing students towards scientific and...

Cancer is affecting more young people than ever before: How health care can learn to meet their needs

By Cheryl Heykoop

The Princess of Wales cancer diagnosis at the relatively young age of 42 brought attention to the realities of being diagnosed with cancer as a younger person. By definition, adolescents and young adults (AYAs) are people...

A byelection to watch: What the Toronto-St. Paul’s vote means for Justin Trudeau

By Sam Routley

Residents of the federal riding of Toronto-St. Pauls will soon be tasked with voting for their next Member of Parliament. Under conventional circumstances, this wouldnt be very interesting. The riding, occupying a sizable...

South Australia’s plan to ban political donations raises big risks as well as benefits

By Anne Twomey

The South Australian government has proposed banning political donations because of the risk and the perception that they buy undue influence and fuel corruption. Premier Peter Malinauskas said the aim was to give South...

What you should know before you start chasing bargains at the EOFY sales

By Park Thaichon

What cost-of-living crisis? Millions of Australians are expected to spend A$10.1 billion during the end of financial year (EOFY) sales. Many products, from cars and holiday packages to clothing and white goods will be...

Big batteries are solving a longstanding problem with solar power in California. Can they do the same for Australia?

By Asma Aziz

When you graph electricity demand in power grids with lots of solar panels, it looks a bit like a duck, with high points in the morning and evening (when people are relying on the grid) and a big dip in the middle of the...

Some of Earth’s most ancient lifeforms can live on hydrogen – and we can learn from their chemical powers

By Pok Man Leung Et Al

Three-quarters of all matter in the universe is made up of hydrogen. The young Earth was also rich in hydrogen, thanks to fierce geological and volcanic activity. Just as stars burn hydrogen to produce heat and light...