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The Latest Breaking News from the Australian Research Council

Intense heatwaves directly threaten crops and native species. Here’s what we can do

During Australia’s unprecedented heatwave in late January, air temperatures reached 50°C in inland South Australia.

The Conversation

Australian sport still has a gender-based violence problem. Our new guide might help tackle it

Research shows gender-based violence in sport is widespread: between a quarter and three-quarters of women within sport report experiencing some form of psychological, physical or sexual violence during their sporting lives.

The Conversation

As beautiful as they were powerful: Jon Kudelka’s political cartoons were made with true conviction

The media and cartooning world shifted mightily between Jon Kudelka’s earliest contributions to The Mercury in Hobart in the early 1990s and to his last regular gig at The Saturday Paper, before the diagnosis and treatment of his glioblastoma sparked retirement in April 2025.

The Conversation

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Why scrapping a key health promotion agency makes little economic sense

News the world’s first independent health promotion agency – Australia’s own VicHealth – is to be abolished has been called “incomprehensible” and “a disaster” that places democracy at risk.

The Conversation

Can One Nation turn its polling hype into seats in parliament? History shows it will struggle

One Nation is no stranger to the headlines, but it’s been a long time since the party has been talked about as a serious political force. Operating on the fringes of Australian political life for years, suddenly Pauline Hanson is in the news every day.

The Conversation

New research shows Australians support buying local for different reasons – and not all will pay more

We have now passed the annual Australia Day peak of calls urging us to “buy Australian” – especially lamb. The iconic green-and-gold “Australian Made, Australian Grown” logo, launched by then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1986, turns 40 this year.

The Conversation

The Voice would have renewed Australian democracy. Its failure leaves us all worse off

There’s long been a fundamental issue underpinning Australia’s approach to Indigenous affairs. The state makes laws specifically about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples without any protected mechanism giving them a say in the process.

The Conversation

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Why the Voice referendum failed – and what the government hasn’t learned from it

More than two years on, you’d be forgiven for thinking the story of the failure of the referendum on an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice has been neatly folded away and filed as a story of inevitable loss. Bipartisanship was essential. The country was not ready. Racism raised its…

The Conversation

‘I had a recurring dream I was shot in the head’: school principals say violence is normal in their jobs

Principals’ jobs have always been stressful, involving a constant juggle to meet the needs of students, staff and the community. But research suggests their roles are becoming more difficult and increasingly unsustainable.

The Conversation

How much would you pay for school to provide your child with lunch every day?

Most Australian children bring their lunch to school through a “lunchbox system”. But there is a growing push for schools to provide students with lunch.

The Conversation

Opposition to moving Australia Day from January 26 is hardening: new research

Australians are deeply divided over whether January 26 is an appropriate day to celebrate Australia Day – and we are no longer debating it as much as doubling down in entrenched camps.

The Conversation

Yes, feral cats and foxes really have driven many Australian mammals to extinction

Millions of years of isolation have shaped Australia’s extraordinary mammal fauna into species unlike anywhere else in the world, from platypus to koalas and wombats.

The Conversation

Humanity’s oldest known cave art has been discovered in Sulawesi

When we think of the world’s oldest art, Europe usually comes to mind, with famous cave paintings in France and Spain often seen as evidence this was the birthplace of symbolic human culture. But new evidence from Indonesia dramatically reshapes this picture.

The Conversation

The way Earth’s surface moves has a bigger impact on shifting the climate than we knew

Our planet has experienced dramatic climate shifts throughout its history, oscillating between freezing “icehouse” periods and warm “greenhouse” states.

The Conversation

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The Conversation

From bolts to blue jets, lightning comes in many strange forms

Lightning has captured people’s fascination for millennia. It’s embedded in mythology, religion and popular culture. Think of Thor in Norse mythology or Indra in Hinduism.

The Conversation

When bushfires make their own weather

Bushfires are strongly driven by weather: hot, dry and windy conditions can combine to create the perfect environment for flames to spread across the landscape.

The Conversation

We discovered microbes in bark ‘eat’ climate gases. This will change the way we think about trees

We all know trees are climate heroes. They pull carbon dioxide out of the air, release the oxygen we breathe, and help combat climate change.

The Conversation

Can we use bees as a model of intelligent alien life to develop interstellar communication?

Humans have always been fascinated with space. We frequently question whether we are alone in the universe. If not, what does intelligent life look like? And how would aliens communicate?

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The Conversation

Yes, forest trees die of old age. But the warming climate is killing them faster

Across Australia, forests are quietly changing. Trees that once stood for decades or centuries are now dying at an accelerating rate. And this is not because of fire, storms, or logging. The chronic stress of a warming climate is killing them.

The Conversation

Gene editing in Indonesia: can new biotechnology solve old agricultural problems?

Like other developing countries, Indonesia is facing a familiar dilemma: how to feed a growing population while protecting its extraordinary biodiversity.

The Conversation

Babblers, cops and quacks: the sometimes dark – but often amusing – origins of nicknames for jobs

These days, human resources (HR) departments want us to use official titles for jobs. But we know the social truths of a job — how well that job gets done, whether we like the person doing it — are much more complex.

The Conversation

How stores fighting thieves risk putting off shoppers with disabilities and kids

“Welcome”, the sign at the supermarket entrance says, above a drawing of a shopper walking in and pushing a trolley.

The Conversation

Heading away for the holidays? Here’s how to plan for fires

Christmas is the time when Australia’s population is on the move. Many travel to celebrate the holidays with family and friends, and enjoy a well-earned break. This means roads are busy, tourist hotspots are teeming and our focus shifts to gifts, meals and winding down.

The Conversation

From violence to sexism, the manosphere is doing real-world harm

There’s a lot of debate around the extent to which the manosphere is playing out in young people’s lives and relationships.

The Conversation

Parents find Health Star Ratings confusing and unhelpful. We need a better food labelling system

Food labels are intended to support healthy choices. But not all labelling schemes are equal.

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