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Shutterstock This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the government was seeking to strengthen laws to combat doxing. Its ongoing review into Australian privacy law will now be expanded to include doxing, as will other laws covering hate crime and hate speech. Doxing (sometimes...

LBeddoe/Shutterstock You might have heard of something called “cryptosporidiosis” recently, closely followed by warnings to stay away from your local swimming pool if you’ve had diarrhoea. More than 700 cases of this gastrointestinal disease were reported in Queensland in January, which is 13...

SKT Studio/Shutterstock At least one in ten people have depression at some point in their lives, with some estimates closer to one in four. It’s one of the worst things for someone’s wellbeing – worse than debt, divorce or diabetes. One in seven Australians take antidepressants. Psychologists...

Shutterstock The world’s coral reefs are close to 25% larger than we thought. By using satellite images, machine learning and on-ground knowledge from a global network of people living and working on coral reefs, we found an extra 64,000 square kilometres of coral reefs – an area the size of...

Mykolastock, Shutterstock After the memorable collapse of Australia’s largest soft plastic recycling program REDcycle in late 2022, a new scheme is emerging. It’s remarkably similar, albeit on a much smaller scale. The trial underway in 12 Melbourne supermarkets intends, once again, to...

Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock Hundreds of millions of people worldwide use dating apps. But only half of users say that they have had positive experiences. Indeed, a shocking 11% of female users under 50 have received threats of harm. Surely there’s a better way to build these apps. Dating sites...

Uwe Aranas/Shutterstock The Australian government has brought forward plans to criminalise doxing, bringing nationwide attention to the harms of releasing people’s private information to the wider public. The government response comes after the public release of almost 600 names and private...

Mazda CX30. Shutterstock Opposition leader Peter Dutton says Labor’s proposed fuel efficiency standard for new cars would push up the price of a Mazda CX30 “by about $19,000”. Given that right now the Mazda CX30 costs A$33,140, that’d be one hell of an increase. So what should we really...

IMGP. When the first cane toads were brought from South America to Queensland in 1935, many of the parasites that troubled them were left behind. But deep inside the lungs of at least one of those pioneer toads lurked small nematode lungworms. Almost a century later, the toads are evolving...

Shutterstock Vitamin patches are trending on social media and advertised in posts and podcasts. With patches marketed for sleep, detox, immunity and hangovers, they are being talked up as near magical fix-all stickers. Manufacturers claim they are easy-to-use, convenient and ethical when...

Centre for Ageing Better/Unsplash Australia’s subsidised aged care services now help around 1.5 million older people to receive care and support. Taxpayers contributed A$28 billion to the various programs in 2022-23. And yet the system is governed by an act that was first passed in 1997. A...

Bianca De Marchi/ AAP When students walked through the sandstone gates of Sydney’s Newington College for the first day of school last week, they were met by protesters. A group of parents and former students had gathered outside this prestigious school in the city’s inner west, holding...

PR Image Factory/Shutterstock An affordable daily diet has edged too far away for many Australians. Food prices have risen sharply since 2021, fuelling cost of living pressures and food insecurity. Some 3.7 million Australian households experienced food insecurity in 2023 – 10% more than in...

Shutterstock For many, elite sport is the quintessential human endeavour. It drives ferocious competition, captures unconditional tribal loyalty, and rewards the victors with fame and fortune. As the Olympic motto declares, the limits of human performance are there to be tested – faster...

Harajicadectes cruises through the ancient rivers of central Australia ~385 million years ago. Brian Choo More than 380 million years ago, a sleek, air-breathing predatory fish patrolled the rivers of central Australia. Today, the sediments of those rivers are outcrops of red sandstone in the...

Studio Romantic/Shutterstock Despite most businesses around the world returning to some form of normal after the pandemic, supply chain problems continue to disrupt the manufacturing and availability of new and second hand cars. This disruption has caused vehicle prices to sky-rocket, adding...

Darren England/AAP There are two things the prime minister needs to get into his head about tax. One is that saying he won’t make any further changes no longer works. The other is that negative gearing doesn’t do much to get people into homes. Anthony Albanese seemed to have taken the first...

AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer. This is an unexpected announcement: it is unusual for the royal family to release details of medical conditions to the public. “Don’t let the daylight in” was how British essayist Walter Bagehot advised the British...

Divyakant Solanki/EPA/AAP King Charles’ cancer diagnosis, which was identified recently during treatment for an enlarged prostate, continues to make news globally. The type of cancer has not been revealed, but it has been confirmed it is not prostate cancer. So what can King Charles and...

Rick Rycroft/AAP Australians have been hit by large rises in grocery, energy, transport, child and aged care prices, only adding to other cost of living pressures. While extreme weather and supply delays have contributed to the increases, an inquiry into what’s causing the hikes has confirmed...