Netflix dominates online TV streaming, but for how long? Also, Cory Doctorow on how more government regulation could inadvertently make the tech giants even stronger.
The world of classical music is changing. Some are predicting the demise of orchestral events. Others see opportunity in social media and a new sense of engagement between the audience and musicians.
Countercultural movements, like Occupy Wall Street, are meant to be future-focussed — revolutionary even. So why do they often fade into commercialism? Are they simply a function of consumer capitalism? If so, what future do they have? And must they always be progressive?
The CIA’s former counterintelligence chief warns Western spy agencies are being “overwhelmed” by their adversaries. And new surveillance technologies could spell the death of the traditional agent-in-the-field. The future of espionage looks problematic indeed.
Automation and outsourcing are dirty words for many people in Western countries worried about their future employment prospects. Developing countries are seen to be the major beneficiaries of off-shore labour, with multinationals hoovering up increased profits. But the reality is a lot more complex and even messy. Now, even developing countries are starting to feel the pain.
The dystopian best-seller 1984 was published exactly seventy years ago. Its influence has been profound. But does it really speak to today’s politico-cultural environment?
Many Western governments continue to struggle with free speech. It’s not that they’re necessarily against it, it’s just that they don’t know how to effectively regulate out the offensive stuff.
Our emotions are being manipulated, hacked and shared like never before. So what does this mean for their future, our relationships and the technology that's reading them?
Are entrepreneurs the great innovators we’re told they are? What if the ideal of the lone genius is simply a myth? Innovation is a buzz term that’s become so over-used as to be almost meaningless. It’s time to be more innovative in our understanding of innovation.
Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg from the University of Queensland, a world-renowned marine scientist and contributor to IPCC assessments, talks about the likely loss of the Great Barrier Reef. How does a determined, optimistic researcher keep going amid the upsets?
John Houghton, a Welsh atmospheric physicist who bridged the science, policy and religious communities and served as lead editor of ground-breaking studies for the United Nations’ climate science advisory group when it won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, died April 15 in Wales. He was 88.
Catherine Hamlin was born in Sydney. She worked in Ethiopia pioneering medical treatment for young women damaged by unsuccessful childbirth. In 2000, Pauline Newman visited Catherine Hamlin and her famous hospital in Addis Ababa. Catherine Hamlin died in March 2020 at the age of 93. By way of tribute today we revisit Pauline’s program from nearly 20 years ago.
Simon DeDeo looks at the evolution of culture and institutions and uses his findings to predict our species’ future. He describes his work to Pauline Newman.
The Climate Clever app helps you measure, monitor, compare and reduce your consumption of energy and your production on waste.
Some people use their hands for emphasis as they talk. Rob Morrison will hear nothing of it. He laments at what he sees as lack of discipline in some television presenters who move their hands as they speak.
Erin Godecke says when speech is lost following brain injury, the language is still present in the brain, it is the pathways which have been damaged and need repair. She says treatment can be any activity that requires the brain to accesses words such as talking or word games.
Are dogs and cats conscious? In his book The Feeling of Life Itself – Why Consciousness is Widespread But Can’t be Computed Christof Koch offers a straightforward definition of consciousness as any subjective experience, from the most mundane to the most exalted - the feeling of being alive!
How can Jane Goodall have hope for the future, especially for the animals she loves, when the news about extinctions is so bleak? As The Hope, a 2-hour film about Jane and her life, is launched this week by National Geographic Jane joins Robyn on The Science Show to discuss the film, her work and her hope.
In his first two international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond explored what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now in the third book in his trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crisis.
If given the chance, which means protecting the waters and ecosystems, oceans can help in our challenge of turning around climate change.
Young people of Western Australia see a climate crisis developing and inappropriate action from decision makers.
The Couch Choir is a digital initiative that's grown out of the Brisbane-based Pub Choir, which has cancelled all it's events because of the COVID-19 restrictions.
For this new segment, we've been asking Australian artists to read something for us: a passage, a poem or some lines that has inspired them during the time of coronavirus.
France has accused Beijing of concealing facts, while Germany has suggested it could demand compensation.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants "to get Australia back to work", and says he's now focused on flattening the unemployment curve and creating a "COVID-safe economy".
Gary Nairn was the Federal Liberal MP for Eden Monaro from 1996 to 2007.
Voters in Eden Monaro are still waiting to find out who the Liberal candidate will be for the by-election in the marginal seat.
Cardinal Pell said in a statement yesterday that he was "surprised" by some of the views of the royal commission about his actions, and that "these views are not supported by evidence".
National Cabinet has already set a two-month timetable for the return to the workplace of the estimated one million Australians currently working from home.
Not every state and territory has put into law the code of conduct, which aims to provide rental waivers and deferrals for commercial tenants.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who continues to be held in an Iranian prison throughout this pandemic, despite more than 85,000 prisoners being temporarily released in Iran.
Certain sounds called spherics and whistlers, which are electromagnetic waves, recorded in Antarctica by scientists, have been used in a new music piece called 'Aurora Musicalis'.
While Australia continues to flatten the curve in this COVID-19 pandemic, there are serious concerns for the mental wellbeing of Australians.
With Australia's music festivals cancelled one after another as the coronavirus crisis unfolded, there was finally some good news yesterday for local music lovers.
The National Party is again embroiled in bitter infighting after Andrew Constance abandoned his bid for Liberal pre-selection for the seat.
With the focus now firmly on rebooting Australia's economy, the Morrison Government intends to cut green tape and speed up nation building projects such as major roads, dams and mines.
The ANU study has found that two-thirds of Australians feel anxious or worried about their own and others' safety, and a substantial number believe they'll contract the virus in the next six months.
The national cabinet is looking at a range of strategies to get us out of lockdown, ahead of a crunch meeting tomorrow.
It's the holy month of Ramadan, which usually means Muslims don't eat or drink during the day and gather at night at food markets and mosques to break the fast.
Since late March, Alex Dekker has provided more than 10,000 meals to frontline workers in Victoria and New South Wales.
The former South Australian Premier said it's now time for states and territories to take control of childcare and treat them more like schools.
The Prime Minister is laying the groundwork for Australia to re-open for business and wants what he calls a "COVID-19 safe economy" by July.
US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insist they've seen intelligence proving that the virus began in a lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
National Cabinet will meet on Friday to start lifting restrictions in a three stage process to lock in what the Prime Minister is calling "a sustainable COVID safe economy".
A study of riverbank sediment found there used to be a massive lake in the Lower Murray Darling, spanning hundreds of kilometres.
The economic impact of the pandemic on Australia's regional towns and cities is varied, but with a smaller population base, the path back to recovery is likely to be longer and harder for many.
The case could have ramifications for climate challenges worldwide, including in Australia.
There are questions around Indonesia's coronavirus death toll following reports thousands of people have died with COVID-19 symptoms but not recorded as victims of the disease.
Retailers have been at the economic epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, with mass shutdowns in place for the past five weeks.
News Corp Australia claimed CSIRO's Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong Victoria has been collaborating with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.