School's out for summer School's out forever For an increasing number of Australian high schoolers, Alice Cooper's lyrics resonate. They especially do so with 15-year-olds from lower SES backgrounds, according to a new ACER report. The report, based on PISA data, collated ...
More »Lines drawn around academic-student supervisory relationships
Academic supervisors should not have sexual or romantic relationships with students. That’s the message to universities confirmed by new sector principles. Developed jointly by Universities Australia, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) and ...
More »UniMelb develops ‘world-first’ discriminatory AI
If I were to tell you I could detect your personality and rate your attractiveness based solely on a head shot, would you believe me? Probably not. Would you believe an AI could do those things? Maybe, but you shouldn't, cautioned ...
More »Deakin illuminates dangers of ‘high-rise’ parenting
J.G. Ballard's 1975 novel High-Rise painted a nightmarish vision of the future. A microcosm of class warfare, residents of a tower turn on each other. As the social order decays, violence ensues. While real life high rises are more serene, they encapsulate hidden dangers ...
More »StartupAUS CEO: Unis under ‘too much pressure’
Attention coders, salespeople and user experience (UX) designers: startups want you. These were the three most in-demand industry skills, as revealed by a StartupAUS report launched on Thursday. In its report, Australia's peak national advocacy group for startups, in collaboration with Microsoft, UTS and Google, also ...
More »An ethicist’s take on those ‘obscene’ turtle researcher photos
Would you rescind an award if the recipient included 'racy' photographs in a presentation? The Herpetologists’ League would. The American society of amphibian and reptile researchers revoked renown turtle researcher Richard Vogt's Distinguished Herpetologist award. This followed an audience outcry, largely on Twitter, for ...
More »Scoop or get scooped: journal rejects ‘first to publish’ mentality
Competing researchers don't usually co-author discussion papers – unless, perhaps, they're discussing their rivalry. Such is the case with Jacob Corn and Jin-Soo Kim. On Monday, the genome editing researchers (from the University of California, Berkeley and Seoul National University respectively), ...
More »Gaming or gambling? Often, they coalesce
Legendary: Game of Heroes is a free "intense and strategic puzzle role-playing game," its developer, N3twork, provides. "Build a team of legendary heroes, go on quests and defeat monsters. Your Legendary adventure begins today!" Although aimed at players aged 12 ...
More »Trawling genetic databases for criminals risky: forensic scientists
When the Golden State Killer, who committed at least 12 murders, 50 rapes and 100 burglaries in California from 1974 to 1986, was finally caught in April, law enforcement and forensics experts celebrated. Naval veteran Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested after DNA, ...
More »People ‘very concerned’: professor alarmed by new research code of conduct
A medical researcher has warned countries like China are eclipsing us in terms of research integrity mechanisms. Professor David Vaux, deputy director and joint division head at Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, claims this is because the revised Australian ...
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