The Conversation

By Alison Habens In the beginning, there was just one, unnamed, muse. The blind bard Homer (a poet born around 850BC) invoked her with the words ‘Sing, daughter of Zeus’ ...

By Carol Johnson, University of Adelaide Having a female presidential candidate has made gender obvious in this US presidential election, even to many who normally neglect its role. The specific ...

The fastest animal on land is the cheetah, capable of reaching top speeds of 104 kilometres per hour. In the water, the fastest animals are yellowfin tuna and wahoo, which can ...

By Primrose Freestone Toothbrushes and showerheads in modern homes are teeming with viruses known as bacteriophages (bacteria eaters), a new study has found. Many of these ‘phages’ – as they’re ...

By Therèsa M Winge Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Republican contender Donald Trump could not be more different – and this split between them extends far beyond politics and ...

By Theresa Larkin When we start to go grey depends a lot on genetics. Your first grey hairs usually appear anywhere between your twenties and fifties. For men, grey hairs ...

By Kelly Jakubowski Even if we haven’t heard them for many years, familiar songs often stick with us for life. We can often recall every lyric to songs we ...

By Thomas Gift Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX recently made history by catching a Starship rocket booster as it careened back to Earth, wants you to vote for Donald Trump ...

By Sara Webb, Christopher Fluke, Tallulah Waterson A large communications satellite has broken up in orbit, affecting users in Europe, Central Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, and adding ...

By Evangeline Mantzioris Cinnamon has been long used around the world in both sweet and savoury dishes and drinks. But a new TikTok trend claims adding a teaspoon of cinnamon ...

By Mitchell Gallagher In the quiet backwaters of Yunnan, Dong Meihua – though her followers know her by the public alias Dianxi Xiaoge – has done something remarkable: She’s taken the ...

By Tristan Dunning, Martin Kear and Shannon Brincat While the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar could have provided an off-ramp for the conflict in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ...

By Liz Giuffre Former One Direction band member and solo artist Liam Payne was on Wednesday found dead outside a hotel in Buenos Aires. Payne was just 31 years old – a ...

By Glenn Fosbraey For as long as pop music has existed, there have been love songs. And as long as there have been love songs, songwriters have been wrestling with ...

By Marian Makkar and Amanda Spry Generation Z has been called ‘the sustainability generation’. Born between 1997 and 2013, 58 per cent of this consumer cohort seek to buy products that are sourced ...

By Justin Willis, Durham University and Sharath Srinivasan, University of Cambridge Sudan’s war runs grimly on. The two main protagonists (though there are others involved) are each claiming local ...

By Phoebe Hart There is a lot of talk about the hot onscreen chemistry between actors Kristin Bell and Adam Brody in the hit new Netflix series, Nobody Wants This. ...

By Tania Signal Mental health is the second-most common reason cited for getting a dog, after companionship. And many of us say we “feel healthier” for having a dog – and ...

By Nathan Abrams When director James Cameron’s The Terminator hit cinemas in 1984, it forever altered the landscape of science fiction. Released 40 years ago, the plot unfolds against the backdrop ...

By Gabrielle Weidemann and Justin Mahlberg Many of us try to eat more fruits and vegetables and less ultra-processed food. But why is sticking to your goals so hard? High-fat, ...

By Elizabeth Kealy-Morris With the release of dramas Cristóbal Balenciaga, The New Look and Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, the fashion drama miniseries has become a staple for streaming television in 2024. ...

By Matthew Sharpe Political operatives on the far right have long spoken about their ambition to shift the “Overton window”. The aim is to “mainstream” ideas long considered unthinkable, through ...

By Harry F Dahms A colleague in the sociology department used to teach a course using a film genre from the 1940s and 1950s that presented a bleak view of ...

By Garritt C. Van Dyk The most seductive culinary myths have murky origins, with a revolutionary discovery created by accident, or out of necessity. For the Caesar salad, these classic ...