In recent days, the “right to disconnect” has entered Australia’s legislative agenda. It refers to employees’ rights to refuse unreasonable after-hours contact from their employer. In a work landscape where employees are constantly available after hours thanks to smartphones and portable devices, and employers are competing in global markets and operating on tight deadlines, concerns about […] … learn more→

Australia’s research institutions are targets for nefarious actors, from China and elsewhere. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has publicly tabled an “awareness” of various attempts to compromise the sector. What are we doing about it? Not enough, according to critics. One recent charge is that Australia “lags behind” its allies and partners in responding to threats to “research […] … learn more→

Built in 1910, James Elementary is a three-story brick school in Kansas City, Missouri’s historic Northeast neighborhood, with a bright blue front door framed by a sand-colored stone arch adorned with a gargoyle. As bustling students and teachers negotiate a maze of gray stairs with worn wooden handrails, Marjorie Mayes, the school’s principal, escorts a […] … learn more→

The phenomenon of citizen science is not new, but it has grown over the last decade. Moreover, you yourself may have contributed by observing birds from your balcony or garden during the 2020 confinement, or by using your smartphone to identify a plant or an insect during a walk in the forest. In doing so, you shared your observations […] … learn more→

Forgetting in our day to day lives may feel annoying or, as we get older, a little frightening. But it is an entirely normal part of memory – enabling us to move on or make space for new information. In fact, our memories aren’t as reliable as we may think. But what level of forgetting is actually […] … learn more→

In fiction it is not strange to find the figure of the assistant robot. This is usually a fully self-aware humanoid robot, a type of sapiens robot programmed to collaborate on certain tasks with humans. Some of the best known are C-3PO, from Star Wars , and Baymax, from Big Hero 6 . In these stories there is usually […] … learn more→

The French school is reputed, at least in a significant part of public and political representations, to be locked in a multifaceted crisis. Thanks to these findings, attention has focused on “academic failure”, “dropouts” and the average results of French students in international rankings (PISA). This context of increased academic competition translates, in the eyes […] … learn more→

Taking selfies to document daily life is now a completely normalised activity across all ages and demographics. At the same time, however, selfies are often maligned – particularly in specific contexts such as at places of worship, sacred sites, or when animals are made unwitting participants. It’s easy to see why taking selfies could be considered inappropriate in such cases. But […] … learn more→

There have been massive gains in productivity over the past century. So why are people still working so hard for so long? Output per worker increased by almost 300% between 1950 and 2018 in the U.S. The standard American workweek, meanwhile, has remained unchanged, at about 40 hours. This paradox is especially notable in the U.S., where […] … learn more→

`One of the essential skills students need to master in primary school mathematics are “multiplication facts”. What are they? What are they so important? And how can you help your child master them? What are multiplication facts? Multiplication facts typically describe the answers to multiplication sums up to 10×10. Sums up to 10×10 are called […] … learn more→