Search results

Shutterstock Australia can claim more than its fair share of environmental blunders, but the introduction of cane toads in 1935 surely ranks as one of the worst. The toads were imported from Hawaii and released in Queensland, purportedly to manage pest beetles in sugar cane crops. The toads...

AAP Image/Supplied by Fire and Rescue NSW Sinkholes are back in the news after a 13-year-old boy fell down a two metre deep hole in a waterlogged football field in Sydney over the weekend. The boy reportedly sank further into the hole every time he tried to push down with his feet, but was...

An artwork made by a young person receiving mental health care in hospital during an art therapy session. Author provided Creating art for healing purposes dates back tens of thousands of years, to the practices of First Nations people around the world. Art therapy uses creative processes...

Dean Lewins/AAP Flash droughts strike suddenly and intensify rapidly. Often the affected areas are in drought after just weeks or a couple of months of well-below-average rainfall. They happen worldwide and are becoming more common, including in Australia, due to global warming. Flash...

MMXeon/Shutterstock Loyalty programs enable firms to offer significantly lower prices to some of their customers. You’d think this would encourage strong competition. But that isn’t always what actually happens. New research shows that paradoxically, by changing the way companies target...

Morgan Sette/AAP Australia’s big supermarkets have been put on notice. A Treasury-commissioned review recommends making the existing voluntary food and grocery code of conduct mandatory. The voluntary code sets standards for wholesalers, retailers and suppliers to try and ensure fair...

Natalia Sharygina/Shutterstock Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide are taking drugs like Ozempic to lose weight. But what do we actually know about them? This month, The Conversation’s experts explore their rise, impact and potential consequences. Many have declared drugs like Ozempic...

Car infotainment systems are getting ever more sophisticated. AP Photo/Ryan Sun Do you ever use your cellphone while driving? Don’t feel too guilty about saying yes – nearly 60% of drivers admit to using their phone in hands-free mode while driving. But don’t become complacent either. Using...

Shutterstock/Da Antipina The Australian government released its draft National Autism Strategy yesterday. It aims to power a “coordinated national approach, supporting Autistic people at each stage of life”. The strategy is the fulfilment of an election commitment by the Albanese government...

haak78/Shutterstock Since the start of this year, the price for cocoa traded on the futures exchange has doubled, climbing from US$4,275 a tonne to US$9,481 after earlier hitting an all-time high of US$10,274. So it would be natural to expect the price of chocolate to soar, and to expect...

Zakharchuk / Shutterstock Outside the world of open-source software, it’s likely few people would have heard about XZ Utils, a small but widely used tool for data compression in Linux systems. But late last week, security experts uncovered a serious and deliberate flaw that could leave...

Lopolo/Shutterstock Australia is facing a whooping cough outbreak. Some 2,799 cases were recorded in the first three months of 2024. Cases are highest in Queensland and New South Wales, with more than 1,000 recorded in each state. The last time Queensland recorded more than 1,000 cases in...

Dr. Victor Wong/Shutterstock Corporate Australia loves a big merger. And amid a growing flurry of them across the business scene, a new blockbuster has emerged. All eyes are on two titans of the pharmacy industry – Chemist Warehouse and Sigma Healthcare. They are poised to join forces under...

Food Photo Master/Shutterstock Intermittent fasting has gained popularity in recent years as a dietary approach with potential health benefits. So you might have been surprised to see headlines last week suggesting the practice could increase a person’s risk of death from heart disease. The...

Tamara Bellis/Unsplash As we slide of out summer, you might be wondering how careful you need to be about sun exposure. Excessive exposure causes skin cancer, but sun exposure also has benefits. How do you balance the two? A new position statement from cancer, bone health and other experts...

Sebastian Pfautsch , CC BY If you visit southern Greece or Tunisia, you might notice lots of white rooftops and white buildings to reflect the intense heat and keep residents cooler. It’s very different in Australia. New housing estates in the hottest areas around Sydney and Melbourne are...

Khak/Shutterstock Australians have had plenty of time in the last 100 years to work out what they value about cinema-going and why it matters. Head to any cinema and catch the Val Morgan advertising in the pre-show. Take a closer look at the date the company was founded. Not 1984, but 1894...

Jbruiz/Shutterstock Your money, postcode, friends and family can make all the difference to how the criminal system treats you. The New South Wales police recently scrapped a widely condemned program known as the Suspect Targeting Management Plan. It used algorithmic risk scores to single...

Shutterstock Recent revelations about poor air quality at Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station probably came as no surprise for passengers who have experienced such conditions. Train platforms, bus terminal and nearby areas have recorded alarmingly poor air quality. In some parts of the...

Jessie Casson/Getty Images The recent Facebook announcement by Whaikaha – the Ministry of Disabled People on changes to funding for carers and equipment modification and services has put the media spotlight, once again, on respite care for families with disabled children. Much of the...