I spoke in January 2026 with 150 high school students about career options. After explaining my own career as a professor of education, health and behavior, I asked the students a simple question: Would you want to be a teacher? “Why in the world would I want to be a teacher?” one female student said. “My […] … learn more→

For the past decade I have volunteered at St. Francis Inn, a soup kitchen in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. Kensington, for those not from Philly, has long had a reputation for potent but affordable street drugs. Interstate 95 and the Market-Frankford elevated commuter train line provide easy access to the neighborhood for buyers and sellers, and […] … learn more→

For years, social media has operated under a clear premise: participation means being visible. Posting photos, opinions, achievements, or snippets of daily life has become an implicit norm of digital presence. In many contexts, not doing so can even be interpreted as absence, disinterest, or social disconnection. However, a behavior that breaks with this logic […] … learn more→

In economics and planning, there is a thing called the sunk cost fallacy. It comes about when people continue with something that isn’t working because they have put so much effort into it that they don’t want to abandon it. Rather than cutting their losses, they continue because, in part, they can’t let go of the […] … learn more→

Family vacations are more than photo opportunities and hotel stays. They can become powerful learning experiences that shape how children see the world. When families travel with intention, every destination becomes a living classroom. History feels real. Geography becomes visible. Culture becomes personal. Even simple moments, like ordering food in a local market, turn into […] … learn more→

Publicly funded research underpins much of daily life, from policy decisions to innovation and public debate. When research remains inaccessible, its value is diminished. Australia has made real progress on open access to research. In 2024, around 59% of papers authored by researchers in Australia were freely available online. Yet a large and mostly invisible gap remains. […] … learn more→

A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. It might involve food, or a kind of love; it might be a fantasy of the good life, or a political project. It might rest on something simpler, too, like a new habit that promises to induce in […] … learn more→

The way we communicate with machines can make work more efficient or more exhausting. In today’s factories, the key is for technology to learn to understand us so that collaboration between people and robots becomes a reality. The real challenge is not just producing faster, but doing so in a more human way. Although the […] … learn more→

Scientific publishing relies on peer review as the mechanism that maintains trust in what we publish. When we read a journal article, we assume experts have rigorously scrutinised it before publication. This crucial system is currently under severe strain. We conducted a comprehensive study of Australian academic journals and their editors – surveying 139 editors and interviewing 27. […] … learn more→

For most young people, learning about social and political issues doesn’t start with a textbook. It starts with a phone. While debates intensify about whether to impose a social media ban on under-16s in the UK, it’s important to consider how social media can be a route for learning as well as potential harm. Young people aged […] … learn more→