Established in 1850, the University of Sydney was Australia’s first tertiary education institution. It is committed to maximising the potential of its students, teachers and researchers for the benefit of Australia and the wider world.
The “good old days” of psychopharmacology involved only a few major suspects: alcohol, cannabis, opiates, uppers (amphetamines), downers (barbiturates) and the occasional serendipitous curiosity such as…
Almost a third of professional musicians regularly take medication to manage their performance anxiety.
Flickr/kronik
“One of the most exhilarating experiences I know of is performing in public, especially when there is a magnificent piano under my fingers, great music in my head, and the feeling that there are no technical…
Some parents send their children to a religious school, but others struggle to choose.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Australia has an unusually high proportion of children enrolled in non-government schools, when compared to similar nations. This dates back to the struggles between colonial governments and Catholic bishops…
The Dominique Strauss-Kahn case has polarised opinions in France.
AAP
Since news of the controversial rape case involving Dominique Strauss-Kahn (quickly dubbed “Affaire DSK”) broke in May, the focus of the French media and French political class has been firmly fixed on…
Counterintuitively, the carbon tax may make it harder to get a bus.
Dale Gillard/Flickr
Transport accounts for 14% of Australia’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and has one of the fastest emission growth rates. Cutting our national emissions might, therefore, be expected to shine a blowtorch…
Designer shopping in China can lead to an experience like no other.
Flickr/Gadgetdan
China’s phenomenal economic growth during the last three decades has significantly altered its pattern of social stratification. One of the most equal countries in the world has become one of the most…
India will need to look after its own slum areas, now Australia is starting to withdraw aid.
Flickr/lecercle
The Australian aid program is a multi-million dollar enterprise. It has doubled in size over the past five years to $4,836 million in the current budget, and it’s still growing. A comprehensive look at…
In the latest change to the Federal Government’s health reforms, Health Minister Nicola Roxon has scrapped the guarantee that public patients who don’t receive their elective surgery on time will be treated…
So-called “humane” industry slaughter practices need to be investigated more carefully.
AAP
One of the more welcome results from the furore around Australia’s involvement in live animal exports is that some Australians appear to have started rethinking their food choices. Last month, The Age…
Is that a planet, a galaxy or a Rosetta Stone?
ichewmylips
A vital part of professional astronomy is collecting data using large telescopes. In many cases, these telescopes are national or international facilities, with time available to all through a competitive…
US House Speaker John Boehner wants government programs cut: but is austerity politics the answer?
AAP
For some time, it appeared that the severity of the global financial crisis had created a compelling “learning moment” that promised to return the world to a more civilised form of capitalism. Insufficient…
Many Greeks are ashamed by what has happened to their country.
EPA/Orestis Panagiotou
Athens is no longer considered by scholars as the birthplace of democracy but all of a sudden it has become the epicentre of a powerful political earthquake rocking the foundations of every democracy in…
Health promotion has a lot of catching up to do on social media.
Steve Kay
Smokers who quit with the assistance of a text messaging service are nearly twice as likely to be smoke-free six months later than smokers with no support, according to a study published this week in The…
Few in the Liberal party are keen to see a potentially damaging return to the workplace debate.
AAP
With political debate dominated by carbon and mining taxes, the recent stirrings by Peter Reith about industrial relations may have come as a bit of a surprise – out of left field, if you will excuse the…
Netherlands has moved to ban ritual slaughter without stunning but is killing an animal for food ever ethical?
Flickr/Nick Saltmarsh
Ritual slaughter is an important part of Islamic and Jewish belief systems but, as recent TV footage showing cattle being butchered in Indonesian abattoirs demonstrated, there is great variation across…
Peter Reith votes in the Liberal Federal presidency election.
AAP
I have some very fond memories of the mid 1980s. The fluoro shirts, the feathered haircuts, dancing to Wham! at the local blue light disco. But this week I’m having a disturbing ‘80s industrial relations…
The UN General Assembly will discuss a global approach to combating non-communicable diseases in September.
AAP
Australia has done well by international comparison in addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) over the past fifty years and while there remains much to do, we could play a leading role in the upcoming…
Brown talking up the Green’s role in the new Senate AAP/Alan Porritt.
One hundred and ten years after Federation, the Senate today helps to ensure that the Australian Parliament more closely reflects the will of the people. But despite assurances by Bob Brown in his speech…
A big new tax isn’t the problem, our levels of consumption are.
JPDaigle/Flickr
On Sunday 5 June 2011, 8000 people reportedly turned up to demonstrate support for the Government’s proposed carbon tax. By Sydney standards this amounts to a large public display of support for Government…
Ken Henry’s tax review discusses a ‘bequest’ tax - should it be back on the public agenda?
AAP
The concept of death duties reared its controversial head publicly recently, with Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon quizzed on party policy by the ABC’s political editor Chris Uhlmann. Greens leader Bob Brown…