Culture

Treasurer Joe Hockey has released the fourth Intergenerational Report. Like its predecessors, the government is likely to use the IGR to frame its economic and budget message. What past experience tells us is that behind the messaging, the numbers tell a consistent, and surprisingly optimistic, story. Whatever today’s headlines, remember to look at the numbers and ask one important question – will future generations be richer or poorer on average than today?

Countless couples have recited the words, 'in sickness and in health' on their wedding day with the intention of honoring those vows. But as it turns out, that may be easier said than done.

A low-cost antiseptic used to cleanse the cord after birth could help reduce infant death rates in developing countries by 12%, a systematic review published in The Cochrane Library suggests. Authors of the review found that when chlorhexidine was used on babies born outside of a hospital, it reduces the number of newborn babies who died or suffer from infections.

Leaders of many of Australia’s top scientific research organisations have today called on the federal government to release A$150 million in vital science infrastructure funding, which is currently being withheld due to wrangling over the government’s proposed higher education reforms.

With three decades of data from more than 475,000 participants, a new study on narcissism from the University at Buffalo School of Management reveals that men, on average, are more narcissistic than women.

Forthcoming in the journal Psychological Bulletin, the study compiled 31 years of narcissism research and found that men consistently scored higher in narcissism across multiple generations and regardless of age.

Medical marijuana is proliferating across the country due to the ability of cannabis ingestion to treat important clinical problems such as chronic pain. However, negative side effects and the development of tolerance limit the widespread therapeutic use of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), the major psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

The concept of randomness appears across scientific disciplines, from materials science to molecular biology. Now, theoretical chemists at Princeton have challenged traditional interpretations of randomness by computationally generating random and mechanically rigid arrangements of two-dimensional hard disks, such as pennies, for the first time.

Sad movies are bad news for diets. A newly reported study from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab showed movie-goers watching tearjerkers ate between 28% and 55% more popcorn both in the lab and in a mall theater during the Thanksgiving holiday.

According to findings published in a JAMA Internal Medicine research letter, movie goers ate 28% more popcorn (125 versus 98 grams) when watching the tragedy Love Story than when watching the comedy Sweet Home Alabama.

People have highly variable views on how much overdetection is acceptable in cancer screening, finds a UK survey in The BMJ this week. The authors say invitations for screening "should include clear information on the likelihood and consequences of overdetection to allow people to make an informed choice."

This article is part of a series on overdetection (overdiagnosis) looking at the risks and harms to patients of expanding definitions of disease and increasing use of new diagnostic technologies.

Starting a new business is challenging under the best of circumstances, but for female entrepreneurs, the uphill battle can be particularly steep.

UC Santa Barbara sociologist Sarah Thébaud didn't doubt that women are at a disadvantage when it comes to establishing their own business enterprises -- plenty of evidence proves that to be the case -- but she wanted to find out whether or not people are systematically biased in favor of male-led businesses, and if so, why.

Smokers have become accustomed to stepping outside at bars and restaurants. But has the change in rules governing enclosed public places inspired enough of them to smoke less behind their own closed doors or maybe even quit altogether?

These questions were posed in research recently published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, in which a team that included Sylvia Kairouz of Concordia University found no significant change in home habits in the aftermath of a ban. But the measures could have an impact in more complex ways.

Growing up, you may have been given reasons for not smoking marijuana. What you may not have heard is that marijuana, like other pollen-bearing plants, is an allergen which can cause allergic responses. A new article published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), summarizes research on the ways in which cannabis can act as an allergen. The article draws attention to allergic responses that may be unfamiliar to marijuana users.

If San Francisco wants to curb childhood obesity, they might be off banning divorce than banning soda, according to a new study from San Francisco State University which found that children of recently separated or divorced families are likelier to drink sugar-sweetened beverages than children in families where the parents are married.

Toril Moi. Photo: Ida Irene Bergstrøm

Feminist theory has become so abstract that it no longer says anything about ordinary women’s lives. Concepts like intersectionality have become so over-theoretical that they no longer apply to people’s actual experiences.

Evaluations of research ethics do not benefit from a tick-box approach. Image sourced from Shutterstock.com

Australia’s social science research, like that in most developed countries since the infamous Milgram experiments took place at my alma mater in 1961, occurs under the watchful eye of ethics boards.