It’s 11 pm on a weeknight and your teenager still has their bedroom light on. You want them to get enough sleep for school the next day, but it’s a struggle. Our new research shows what happens to the brains and behaviour of young teenagers, years after they’ve become “night owls”. We found this shift in sleep […] … learn more→

The impact that research generates in society is a hot topic internationally. It can be a complex topic and poses different challenges depending on whether you are a researcher, research professional, funder, or research user. Over the last year, the four authors of this article have settled into an informal community of practice, meeting roughly […] … learn more→

Research in developmental psychology has shown the importance of lifestyles in the health and well-being of children and adolescents, as well as their influence on later stages of the life cycle. In childhood and adolescence, the developmental benefits of sports and physical activity as a protective factor follow a dose-response relationship. At least one hour a […] … learn more→

When leaders at a middle school in New Orleans asked me to help students who were struggling after the city had been struck by Hurricane Katrina, we didn’t see eye to eye. They wanted me to focus on helping the children overcome test anxiety. Their concern was enabling the children to pass a high-stakes standardized test. […] … learn more→

Like the liver or the lungs, the brain is an organ. It is made of organic tissues, and its structure contributes to its function — probably. While we understand some of the most intricate behaviors of some of the least consequential organs in the human body, we hardly know anything for certain about the brain, […] … learn more→

Looking up at the moon in the night sky, you would never imagine that it is slowly moving away from Earth. But we know otherwise. In 1969, NASA’s Apollo missions installed reflective panels on the moon. These have shown that the moon is currently moving 3.8 cm away from the Earth every year. If we take […] … learn more→

Experts often recommend that people specialize in one field of work or research to maximize their chances of success. Yet our recently published research indicates that successful innovators take a broader path. We looked at the careers of Nobel Prize winners, who are arguably among the most innovative people in the world. We found that they are unusually likely to be […] … learn more→

Many academic studies have been centred on Western theories and methodologies for a long time. This approach to research is broadly defined as “universalist”. It assumes that “one-size-fits-all” and set norms can be applied across cultures. For example, Western ideas about identity revolve around the individual. That shapes how research is conducted: it focuses mainly […] … learn more→

Education Minister Jason Clare has just announced an independent review of the Australian Research Council (ARC). This is the body that oversees funding for non-medical research in Australian universities and plays a critical role in the careers of academics. After years of concerns about the ARC – about political interference and low success rates – the review is a welcome step. […] … learn more→

Open access (OA) journals are academic, peer-reviewed journals that are free and available for anyone to read without paying subscription fees. To make up for lost subscription revenue, many journals instead charge author fees to researchers who wish to publish in them. These fees can reach thousands of dollars per article, paid out of publicly funded […] … learn more→