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You can be a better customer for LGBTQ+ hospitality workers

May 17, 2024

By Published on May 17, 2024 “The thing about being out as queer and working in hospitality is that it can give employers and customers another reason to harass you, and even if you’re not getting discriminated against, the threat of it is constant. At the same time, you’re there to make everything a good experience – be fun and cool and welcoming” (Genie, 21, café worker, Melbourne). In the hospitality industry, front-of-house workers are expected not just to serve drinks or make coffee, but to create and sustain a vibe in their venues.

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Bushfires are changing the ‘hidden’ understorey in our forests

May 16, 2024

By Associate Professor Sabine Kasel Published on May 16, 2024 Fire is a natural part of the Australian landscape. But the more frequent fires we’ve seen recently – particularly the high severity bushfires that consume or scorch the canopies of whole forests – are a major concern to our country’s ecosystem health, carbon storage and biodiversity. We should be concerned about the effect of bushfires we can’t always see - in the understorey.

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Q&A: How to talk to your kids about misogyny in school

May 14, 2024

By Dr Catherine Smith Published on May 14, 2024 This article contains references to offensive language Sexism, misogyny and gendered violence are now part of Australia’s national conversation. Last week, several male students from the elite Yarra Valley Grammar in Melbourne’s east were expelled after they put together a spreadsheet rating the attractiveness of female students. They used sexist and violent language to describe their peers ranging from “wifeys” and “cuties” to “object” and “unrapeable”.

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Who stewards the forests?

May 14, 2024

By Arpitha Kodiveri Published on May 14, 2024 It was a dreary, grey monsoon morning in the coal-rich district of Sundergarh in the state of Odisha. Located in eastern India on the Bay of Bengal, Odisha contains the third-largest population of Adivasi communities in India, and forest covers over 30 per cent of the state’s total area. Forest covers over 30 per cent of Odisha’s total area. Picture: ShutterstockOdisha’s economy is heavily dependent on the extraction of minerals like coal, iron and bauxite.

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Is ‘herd immunity’ in intensive care doing more harm than good?

May 13, 2024

By Professor James Hurley Published on May 13, 2024 Infections acquired by patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are bad news. These patients, many on life support, are already vulnerable. An infection will increase their chance of dying. Approximately one ICU patient in four will acquire an infection, most commonly pneumonia (in 20 per cent) or a bloodstream infection (in seven per cent). These infections arise either from the patient’s own bacterial community (their ‘microbiome’) or from the microbiome of the ICU (bacteria found in the ICU surrounds).

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