Aug
19
2026
Considered the most lucrative Australian university research commercialisation agreement ever negotiated, the 2025 deal for exclusive rights to the University of Queensland’s virus clamp technology has huge potential for vaccine development. Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi bought the university’s spin-off company Vicebio, with the rights to the clamp technology, for US$1.15 billion (A$1.6 billion) up-front and potential on-going payments of …read more
Aug
19
2026
Within weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, student teachers from the Monash Virtual School were offering online lessons to Ukrainian school-students studying in bomb shelters and displaced homes. The school helps to fill educational gaps – offering free tuition by the university’s student teachers and academics and providing a way for tens of thousands of …read more
Jul
22
2026
Investors and analysts remain wary of ASX-listed insurers, concerned earnings are at a cyclical peak after years of strong returns. “The market tends to reward earnings recovery where it looks repeatable,” said Janice How, professor of finance at the Queensland University of Technology. “In insurance, that means disciplined pricing and careful risk management, not just …read more
Jul
22
2026
Subsidised property insurance an important way to address the increasingly urgent problem of ballooning property insurance costs in high-risk regions, according to experts in the field. A scheme of that nature would keep home-owners in the insurance net but it would affect the price signal, said Paula Jarzabkowski, professor of Strategic Management at the University …read more
Jul
22
2026
The rigid tiering of gold, silver and bronze basic levels of health insurance has made building a sustainable model for affordable top hospital cover “very difficult”, with warnings it could threaten the existence of the health insurance sector. “The trouble is that gold contains the cover for mental health and for maternity care, and if …read more
Jul
22
2026
Workers’ compensation scheme reforms in NSW and Victoria have yet to have an impact on the soaring cost of business insurance, said Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox. Driven by a spike in mental health claims, particularly in the fields of healthcare and the public sector, workers’ compensation costs continue to outrun the reforms, he …read more
Jun
27
2026
When the boys at Riverview College learn to conjugate Latin verbs, they are broadening and sharpening their minds, says the school’s deputy principal, teaching and learning, Lloyd Walker. “Cognitively, learning a second language sharpens analytical thinking, memory and perception in ways that carry across every area of study,” he says. “Beyond the academic, it builds …read more
Jun
22
2026
Ben Nguyen launched the now popular Hai Au Lang Nuong Vietnamese restaurant in Sydney’s western suburb of Canley Vale more than 20 years ago, when nearby Cabramatta was widely seen as the centre of authentic Vietnamese dining. Cabramatta is still known as Little Saigon, but Canley Vale is growing as a restaurant destination and Nguyen …read more
Jun
22
2026
Residents of Western Sydney now routinely dread the baking days of summer, when temperatures can soar into the 40s in some districts – heat of 44 degrees has been recorded at Badgerys Creek, 43.9 at Penrith Lakes, 43.8 at Richmond Airbase. Days when it’s too hot to let the kids play outside, too hot to …read more
Jun
16
2026
Angel Flight has been flying rural Australians into cities for important medical and social reasons since 2003. Without a cent of government funding, the charity has helped country people get the healthcare city-dwellers take for granted: ongoing medical treatment for serious illnesses such as cancer and auto-immune disease, post-surgery rehabilitation, gynaecological and obstetrics screenings, as …read more