Researchers Ross Gordon, Gordon Waitt and Theresa Harada look at the many ways to keep cool over summer With energy prices and temperatures both rising, keeping cool in summer is an increasingly costly challenge for many Australians. Energy bills are predicted to increase by 50% over the...
Rebecca Chaney faces the quandary of whether or not to send her daughter to school next year. I’m watching my child in the preschool playground. I have just kissed her goodbye for the day. She runs to her teacher and gives her a hug. The teacher...
Do they get it? Asks Rachael Sharman. And where’s the line? We all lie to our kids. Some lies – telling them their artwork is wonderful, or that Wiggles band-aids are infused with anaesthetic – benefit the child. Others are just a bit of fun. Shutterstock Take the...
Lisa Lintern’s feels buoyant as she watches her son overcome his fears at the pool. Let’s be honest; we all secretly want our children to be ‘best’ at something. It’s a natural urge even the most level headed of us fights to suppress. Why else did I...
A National study by medical researchers from UNSW Sydney and multiple leading research institutions has found the current vaccine, targeting 13 serotypes of the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, is not providing optimal protection to Australian children with the current routine 'childhood immunisation program'. Using three years of...
Dr Simon Coghlan and Lucy Sparrow look at why violence against animals in video games is ubiquitous. Players can kill or torture non-human animals in various popular games, including Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V. The rise of this (increasingly realistic) trend in games – along with...
The proportion of children who are obese and overweight in Australia has plateaued, writes Tim Olds, but we should be wary of the latest Health and Wellbeing report Rising life expectancy is one of the great success stories. If you were born in 1870, you’d expect...
Jennifer McCann and Miaobing (Jazzmin) Zheng report that misleading food labels contribute to babies and toddlers eating too much sugar. Australian infants and toddlers are eating unhealthy amounts of sugar. This is mostly because the products marketed and sold by the processed food industry are high...
Michael Nagel looks at the effects of on-screen violence on young people’s brains. One of the questions that parents ask psychologists and educators is whether or not video games and television are ‘bad’ for children? In a rampantly advancing technological society, it seems that almost everyone...
Esperanza Vera-Toscano reports that an increasing number of Australian children are going to private high schools, as new research shows. The latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Annual Statistical Report has found an increasing number of students going to public schools over non-government...
