Articles on Explainer
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Joel Carrett/AAP
Explainer: what is systemic racism and institutional racism?
Mary Frances O'Dowd, CQUniversity Australia
Systemic racism looks at the way racism operates over all of society, not just in one-on-one interactions.
How script supervisors keep film continuity - and coffee cups and cigarettes - in check
Darren Paul Fisher, Bond University
Rogue coffee cups and changing hairstyles can distract film audiences. Whose job is it to maintain continuity? And does it matter in the big picture?
Emotion recognition technology, an outgrowth of facial recognition technology, continues to advance quickly. Steve Jurvetson/flickr
AI can now read emotions – should it?
Christoffer Heckman, University of Colorado Boulder
A report calls for banning the use of emotion recognition technology. An AI and computer vision researcher explains the potential and why there's growing concern.
Boris Yeltsin shakes hands with Russia's most powerful businessmen in Moscow. AP Photo
What is an oligarch?
Joel Samuels, University of South Carolina
Oligarchs have made headlines recently as the impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump move forward.
Around 5% of adults and 90% of babies who contract hepatitis B go on to have life-long infection that can only be managed with regular medication. Ronald Rampsch/Shutterstock
We have a vaccine for hepatitis B but here's why we still need a cure
Peter Revill, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and Margaret Littlejohn, Melbourne Health
Babies in Australia have been vaccinated against hepatitis B since May 2000, but 240,000 Australians still live with the disease.
The US is one of a few countries that still uses private prisons. AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
Why are private prisons controversial? 3 questions answered
John M. Eason, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Private prisons have long been a topic of controversy in the U.S. A professor of sociology explains what they are and why they matter.
The conductor's role is to communicate with the performers and their audience. Their role is part artistic, part mathematical. Shutterstock
Explainer: what exactly do musical conductors do?
Warwick Potter, The University of Queensland
A conductor's role is about communication with performers and their audience. They do so using eye contact, dress, and of course, the fabled waving of the arms.
A worker of the Democratic Republic of Congo Health Ministry checks people's temperature in Goma. Patricia Martinez/EPA
Ebola epidemic officially declared a global health emergency
Mark Eccleston-Turner, Keele University
Ebola has now now spread to Goma – a city of 2m people.
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is taking 'extraordinary measures' to avoid busting the debt ceiling. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
The dysfunctional debt ceiling and why we should kill it: 5 questions answered
Steven Pressman, Colorado State University
The US hit the debt ceiling in March and is expected to run out of ways to get around the new $22 trillion limit by September. An economist explains why the ceiling is a dysfunctional relic.
Sculpture of ninth-century Persian scholar Al-Khwarizmi in Khiva, Uzbekistan. Latin discovery of Al-Khwarizmi's work introduced the numerals 0-9, one of many ways in which Islamic cultures have contributed to Western civilisation. LBM1948/Wikimedia Commons
Explainer: what Western civilisation owes to Islamic cultures
Constant Mews, Monash University
Western civilisation and Islam are sometimes seen as diametrically opposed. Yet Islamic cultures have contributed much to the West, in language, philosophy and literature.
S. Pytel/Shutterstock
Diving into cold water can be deadly – here's how to survive it
Mike Tipton, University of Portsmouth
Cold water shock explained.
Tennis player Venus Williams may have Sjögren's syndrome but here she was, earlier this year, competing in the Miami Open. Johnny Louis/WENN.com/AAP
Explainer: what is Sjögren's syndrome, the condition Venus Williams lives with?
Fabien B. Vincent, Monash University and Maureen Rischmueller
Sjögren's syndrome has no cure. Here's how it affects the body and what the future might bring for people with this challenging autoimmune disease.
A supporter of Narendra Modi's BJP party at rally in late March. Jaipla Singh/EPA
India: what's at stake in the 2019 elections
Indrajit Roy, University of York
India heads to the polls in April and May for the world's biggest democratic exercise. Why the world should be watching this election.
Special counsel Robert Mueller reached no definitive conclusion about whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice in firing FBI Director James Comey or attacking his own investigation. Reuters/Hyungwon Kang, AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Reuters/Jonathan Ernst, Twitter
Trump and obstruction of justice: An explainer
David Orentlicher, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Legally, a person can obstruct justice even if he committed no other crime – though it is harder to prove. It all depends on the intent behind pressuring investigators, say, or firing an FBI director.
Indian soldiers arrive at the wreckage of an an Indian helicopter that crashed on the Indian side of Kashmir on Feb. 27, 2019. AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan
Kashmir conflict is not just a border dispute between India and Pakistan
Chitralekha Zutshi, William & Mary
India and Pakistan have been fighting for control over Kashmir, an 86,000-square-mile territory in the Himalayas, for seven decades. But the people of Kashmir have their own political goals too.
Protestors at the Women's March in Washington in January 2017. There was intense discussion of intersectionality at the time of this march. Shutterstock
Explainer: what does 'intersectionality' mean?
Carolyn D'Cruz, La Trobe University
The term initially focussed on the intersection between race and gender, but more recent uses have extended to include sexuality, gender diversity and disability.
The Culex annulirostris mosquito and waterbirds are responsible for spreading Murray Valley encephalitis. Paul Zborowski
Explainer: what is Murray Valley encephalitis virus?
Ana Ramírez, James Cook University; Andrew Francis van den Hurk, The University of Queensland; Cameron Webb, University of Sydney, and Scott Ritchie, James Cook University
Murray Valley encephalitis virus is a rare but potentially fatal mosquito-borne virus. Here's what you need to know about it.
Sinisha Karich/Shutterstock
Domestic abuse bill: proposed changes to protect victims explained
Marian Duggan, University of Kent
But questions remain on how well a scheme to provide victims with information about abusive partners is working.
Parliament's Brexit clock is ticking. bryan.../flickr
Ministers found in contempt of parliament over legal advice – why it matters for Brexit
Christopher Kirkland, York St John University
Ministers were found in contempt of parliament on December 4 for not publishing the full legal advice on the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome as men. from shutterstock.com
Explainer: what is irritable bowel syndrome and what can I do about it?
Suzanne Mahady, Monash University
Irritable bowel syndrome causes abdominal pain and constipation or diarrhoea. These symptoms overlap with other disorders, so it's important to get the correct diagnosis and then the best treatments.
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Arts explainer
Health Explainer
Allen Cheng
Professor in Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, Monash University
Departmental Lecturer in Law and Public Policy, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
Rodney Sinclair
Professor of Dermatology, The University of Melbourne
Merlin Crossley
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic and Professor of Molecular Biology, UNSW
Michael J. I. Brown
Associate professor in astronomy, Monash University
Jonathan Carroll
Post Doctoral Research Associate, Centre for the Subatomic Structure of Matter, University of Adelaide
Fabien B. Vincent
Research Fellow; Rheumatology Research Group, Centre for Inflammatory Diseases, Monash University
Cameron Webb
Clinical Associate Professor and Principal Hospital Scientist, University of Sydney
Charles Watson
John Curtin Distinguished Professor of Health Science, Curtin University
Steven Maltby
Project Officer; Centre for Advanced Training Systems, University of Newcastle
Martin Boland
CBRN defence scientist, Charles Darwin University
Lorraine Finlay
Lecturer in Law, Murdoch University
Senior Lecturer in Networking, The Open University
Tanya Hill
Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne and Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria
Yee-Fui Ng
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University