Lens: Expert topical commentary, pioneering research

Menopausal mature woman having a hot flush, cooling herself with a handheld electric fan

Australian women will soon be eligible for a menopause health check

The federal government has committed $26 million over two years to fund menopause health assessments, but an accredited training program is also needed.

Medicine and health

Featured

Woman on the ground holding her back after falling from an e-scooter

E-micromobility is booming, but so are injuries

E-scooters, e-bikes, and other personal mobility devices, have surged in popularity in Australia due to their sustainability and cost-effectiveness, but there are also safety concerns, with increased injuries and fatalities among users and pedestrians.

Politics and society

The 30kmh revolution: Rethinking speed for safer, happier streets

Globally, 30kmh speed zones have been shown to enhance road safety and liveability, yet Australia lags behind, with policy implementation facing significant challenges.

Medicine and health

Public housing demolition should be a last resort

Plans to knock down and rebuild 44 Melbourne public housing towers are flawed. Retrofitting and upgrading is feasible, cheaper, and better for people and the planet.

Design and architecture

Robot hand and human hand touching a light bulb with a brain inside

Dancing with digital partners: The creative revolution of generative AI

Generative AI is transforming the creative process, becoming a collaborator rather than a replacement for human creativity. Its impact spans various industries, from advertising to education, while raising important ethical considerations.

Education

Digital rendering of Earth ringed by Sustainable Development Goals icons

Mixed progress on SDGs: How Australia can turn the tide

Australia’s progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals is stagnating, with growing inequalities and environmental challenges. Bold policy action and integrated approaches are essential to secure a sustainable future by 2050.

Environment

What Happens Next? View all

A father with a beard holds his infant son at an outdoor party. There are other partygoers seated at a table in the background, and a string of electric lights over the man's head. The father and baby are both smiling.

Episode 99: How Do We Build a Future Where Everyone Feels Safe?

In the podcast’s season finale, learn how we're making progress, challenging harmful systems, and creating real solutions in the push to eliminate gender-based violence.

Podcast: What Happens Next?

A view from behind of a young boy wearing headphones and a white shirt watching videos of an angry, yelling bald man on two computer monitors in front of him. The man looks similar to Andrew Tate,

Episode 98: What’s Behind the Gender-Based Violence Crisis?

One woman dies every nine days in Australia from domestic violence. In this “What Happens Next?” episode, leading experts examine the drivers behind this national emergency.

Podcast: What Happens Next?

Eight GIG students listen to a local expert while snorkelling in the ocean off the coast of a Pacific Island.

Episode 97: Can Good Stories Help Save the Planet?

See how storytelling, not statistics, can inspire climate action by highlighting resilience and innovation across the Indo-Pacific on a new episode of “What Happens Next?”

Podcast: What Happens Next?

A house in the Indo-Pacific region engulfed by floodwaters.

Episode 96: Will Climate Change Wipe Out the Indo-Pacific?

Discover the urgent climate challenges facing the Indo-Pacific and the power of storytelling to drive meaningful climate action in this new “What Happens Next?” episode.

Podcast: What Happens Next?

Episode 95: Can We Create a Better Reality?

While AI and robotics reshape our reality, experts explore how these emerging tools could be used to create a more equitable future – from healthcare breakthroughs to Indigenous-led innovation.

Podcast: What Happens Next?

Episode 94: Will AI Cut Us Off from Reality?

In the season nine premiere of Monash’s podcast, learn how AI, deepfakes and humanoid robots are transforming human interaction and our perception of reality.

Podcast: What Happens Next?

The ‘What Happens Next?’ Podcast Is Back

Monash's award-winning podcast, “What Happens Next?”, returns for a ninth season that explores pressing global issues including reality in the digital age, climate change in the Indo-Pacific region and the ongoing struggle to eliminate gender-based violence.

Podcast: What Happens Next?

Episode 93: Can We Learn to Be More Civil?

In the final episode of season eight, “What Happens Next?” explores the importance of civility in a digital age, reminding us to recognise the humanity behind screens.

Podcast: What Happens Next?

Medicine and health View all

Australian women will soon be eligible for a menopause health check

The federal government has committed $26 million over two years to fund menopause health assessments, but an accredited training program is also needed.

Medicine and health

The 30kmh revolution: Rethinking speed for safer, happier streets

Globally, 30kmh speed zones have been shown to enhance road safety and liveability, yet Australia lags behind, with policy implementation facing significant challenges.

Medicine and health

Female doctor giving advice to a female patient.

The glaring omission in Australia’s clinical guidelines

Clinical guidelines in Australia too often do not incorporate sex and (especially) gender into healthcare, with only 5% defining the terms “sex” and “gender“.

Medicine and health

A professional female doctor sitting with an Asian female patient

What do the changes to IUD access mean for Australian women?

New measures have been announced to ease access to intrauterine devices (IUDs) in Australia, but key issues in reproductive justice, such as access to abortions, remain challenging.

Medicine and health

Climate change: Rising to the real and urgent challenge View all

Mixed progress on SDGs: How Australia can turn the tide

Environment

A 3D render of a topographic map of the Gulf Of Mexico with the clouds from category 5 major Hurricane Milton

Hurricane Milton and climate change: A wake-up call ahead of COP29

The evidence is clear – without a concerted effort to mitigate climate change, the world will continue to face catastrophic weather events that threaten both lives and ecosystems.

Science

A flooded shopping strip in Maryborough, Queensland

How climate change is reshaping real estate and economic geography

Climate change is driving up insurance costs, impacting housing affordability, and reshaping economic geography. The insurance protection gap and fiscal implications of extreme weather events are becoming increasingly significant.

Business

Hobart harbour, with reflections on the water

Tasmania the healthiest as new index maps environmental risks, causes of death

A world-first index of environmental health risks that found Hobart to be the healthiest Australian city highlights the need for targeted interventions to improve environmental conditions and reduce health risks.

Medicine and health

Politics and society View all

E-micromobility is booming, but so are injuries

Politics and society

Mixed progress on SDGs: How Australia can turn the tide

Environment

Sam Kerr verdict: What it means for law in the UK, and the star athlete’s career

The fallout from Sam Kerr’s UK court case, for allegedly racially aggravated harassment of a police officer, could have far-reaching ramifications.

Politics and society

Artificial intelligence apps on a phone screen - ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Anthropic Claude, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot

DeepSeek’s AI: Navigating the media hype and reality

It’s important to approach media coverage of AI ‘breakthroughs” such as DeepSeek with caution. Drawing lessons from the history of technology can help us avoid falling for either overly pessimistic or overly optimistic predictions about an uncertain future.

Politics and society

Education View all

Dancing with digital partners: The creative revolution of generative AI

Education

Andrew Tate on the ‘Anything Goes’ podcast.

Understanding Andrew Tate’s appeal to young men

Using the term “toxic masculinity” doesn’t push boys and men towards Andrew Tate. The real appeal is Tate’s weaponisation of patriarchy and economic hardship.

Politics and society

Gendered violence: Schools’ role in perpetration and prevention

Spurred on by the manosphere, a new wave of misogyny and sexism is thriving in education settings, but change is still possible.

Education

Illustration of a young male staring at a mobile phone while its light hits his face

Mirror world: Proposal to ban access to social media reflects a lack of understanding

Misogyny and violence against women are social issues, and require a social response, not a punitive one.

Education

A Different Lens View all

The Monash documentary series, A Different Lens

A Different Lens is a documentary series that draws on the unique perspectives of academic and industry leaders on the world's most pressing issues.

A Different Lens

Addressing Australia's housing crisis: What needs to happen

Owning a house has never been more difficult. What used to be a rite of passage is now a luxury few can afford. But the solution doesn’t simply rely on how we deal with inflation.

A Different Lens

The human health impact of climate change

The world has talked at great lengths about how climate change is an environmental crisis. But what about the human health effects that come from it?

Sustainability

Piecing together the poverty puzzle

How does the poverty cycle perpetuate itself, and how can we address the deepening divide between the rich and the poor?

A Different Lens

Staying ahead of the AI revolution

Does our inherent embrace of technology that makes our lives easier have the potential to threaten our very way of being?

Technology

Treating mental illness with psychedelics

We tend to think of “psychedelics” as illegal, mind-altering substances, but they might just be the key to unlocking a revolution in mental health treatment.

A Different Lens

The shifting sands of global power

A Different Lens: While it’s easy to dwell on the darker elements of contemporary global politics, we should all remember that positive change is also afoot.

A Different Lens

How old is too old?

If we get a drug for every disease and we put people on a cocktail of drugs when they're 70 years old so that they can live to 110 instead of 100, is that a good thing or not?

A Different Lens

Technology and engineering View all

Harnessing the power of drones for cleaner cities

A new drone waste alert management system that uses AI to detect and manage waste has the potential to improve urban cleanliness and environmental health on a global scale.

Engineering

Keeping gas in Australia’s energy mix makes sense

Gas-fired power plants can keep energy reliable and affordable – but they should be used only when absolutely necessary.

Engineering

FraudGPT and other malicious AIs are the new frontier of online threats. What can we do?

Widely-available AI tools are supercharging cyber crime, which means we need to stay on top of our online security like never before.

Technology

What are ‘click frauds’ – and how can we stop them?

Cybercriminals are exploiting the growing market for online clicks. But there are measures to prevent this new kind of fraud.

Technology

Digital rendering of human figures standing and examining a transparent humanoid figure with internal wiring

How consumers can influence who controls AI

AI development is currently held by a small number of companies. Public vigilance can help ensure they stick to ethical use of the technology.

Technology

Science View all

Inspiring the next generation of women in STEM

Four women share their personal experiences, challenges, and aspirations working in STEM.

Medicine and health

The power of pulses

Pulses’ importance in global food security is more critical than ever, as they contribute to sustainable farming, improved nutrition, and climate resilience.

Science

Fossil reconstruction of Smilodon, one of the largest sabre-toothed cats ever to have lived

New research reveals why sabre-toothed predators evolved their deadly teeth

The long, sharp, blade-like canines found in many extinct predators evolved at least five times throughout history.

Science

Hidden craters reveal Earth may once have had a ring like Saturn

Mounting evidence suggests the rubble of an asteroid once formed a ring orbiting our planet’s equator.

Science

Hurricane Milton and climate change: A wake-up call ahead of COP29

The evidence is clear – without a concerted effort to mitigate climate change, the world will continue to face catastrophic weather events that threaten both lives and ecosystems.

Science