Analysis: Here is a summary of significant articles published on ForeignAffairs.co.nz on June 19, 2025.
MIL-Evening Report: Migrating bogong moths use the stars and Earth’s magnetic field to find ancestral summer caves each year
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Warrant, Professor of Zoology at the University of Lund, Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, and Adjunct Professor, University of South Australia Vik Dunis/iNaturalist, CC BY-NC It’s a warm January summer afternoon, and as I traverse the flower-strewn western slopes of Australia’s highest mountain, Mount […]
MIL-Evening Report: Jaws at 50: how a single movie changed our perception of white sharks forever
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Long, Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University Shane Myers Photography/Shutterstock It’s been 50 years since Steven Spielberg’s movie Jaws first cast a terrifying shadow across our screens. At a low point during production, Spielberg worried he’d only ever be known for “a big fish story”. The […]
MIL-Evening Report: Robot eyes are power hungry. What if we gave them tools inspired by the human brain?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam D Hines, Research Fellow, Centre for Robotics, Queensland University of Technology A hexapod robot navigating outdoors. Adam Hines Robots are increasingly becoming a part of our lives – from warehouse automation to robotic vacuum cleaners. And just like humans, robots need to know where they are […]
MIL-Evening Report: Winter viruses can trigger a heart attack or stroke, our study shows. It’s another good reason to get a flu or COVID shot
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tu Nguyen, PhD Candidate, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Irina Shatilova/Shutterstock Winter is here, along with cold days and the inevitable seasonal surge in respiratory viruses. But it’s not only the sniffles we need to worry about. Heart attacks and strokes also […]
MIL-Evening Report: School playgrounds are one of the main locations for bullying. How can they be set up to stop it?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Dean (Academic), Faculty of Arts and Education, Charles Sturt University Dan Kenyon/ Getty Images Children spend thousands of hours in playgrounds at school. A lot of this time does not have the same levels of teacher preparation and supervision as classrooms do. Research shows […]
MIL-Evening Report: Would you cheat on your tax? It’s a risky move, the tax office knows a lot about you
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert B Whait, Senior Lecturer in Taxation Law, University of South Australia Soon, more than 15 million Australians should be lodging a tax return with the Australian Taxation Office in the hope of receiving at least a small refund. About 60% of taxpayers use an accountant to […]
MIL-Evening Report: Companies are betting on AI to help lift productivity. Workers need to be part of the process
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Llewellyn Spink, AI Corporate Governance Lead, Human Technology Institute, University of Technology Sydney The Conversation, CC BY-NC Australia’s productivity is flatlining, posting the worst vitals we’ve seen in 60 years. Politicians and chief executives are prescribing artificial intelligence (AI) like it’s the new penicillin – a wonder […]
MIL-Evening Report: Is Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend album cover satire or self-degradation? A psychology expert explores our reactions
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Muller-Townsend, Lecturer in Psychology, Edith Cowan University Island Records Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend album cover has fans divided. Carpenter poses on all fours, her glossy blond hair grasped by a male figure cropped from the frame. Her wide-eyed expression intensifies an ambiguous performance of subservience, […]
MIL-Evening Report: Tracing the Drax family’s millions – a story of British landed gentry, slavery and sugar plantations
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Lashmar, Reader in Journalism, City St George’s, University of London ‘Planting the sugar-cane’: vast fortunes were made from the trades in both sugar and human slaves in the Americas. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library Rich […]
MIL-Evening Report: Kicked out for coming out: more than half of LGBTIQ+ flatmates face discrimination for their identity
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brodie Fraser, Senior Research Fellow, He Kāinga Oranga Housing and Health Research Programme, University of Otago Sangar Akreyi/Getty Images People who belong to the LGBTIQ+ community say flatting is fraught with difficulties that go well beyond learning new routines and sharing space with strangers. Our new research […]
MIL-Evening Report: Nineteen Eighty-Four might have been inspired by George Orwell’s fear of drowning
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Waddell, Associate Professor in Twentieth-Century Literature, University of Birmingham George Orwell had a traumatic relationship with the sea. In August 1947, while he was writing Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) on the island of Jura in the Scottish Hebrides, he went on a fishing trip with his young […]
MIL-Evening Report: What happens when aid is cut to a large refugee camp? Kenyan study paints a bleak picture
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olivier Sterck, Associate professor, University of Oxford Humanitarian needs are rising around the world. At the same time, major donors such as the US and the UK are pulling back support, placing increasing strain on already overstretched aid systems. Global humanitarian needs have quadrupled since 2015, driven […]
MIL-Evening Report: Grok’s ‘white genocide’ responses show how generative AI can be weaponized
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Foulds, Associate Professor of Information Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Someone altered the AI chatbot Grok to make it insert text about a debunked conspiracy theory in unrelated responses. Cheng Xin/Getty Images The AI chatbot Grok spent one day in May 2025 spreading debunked conspiracy […]
MIL-OSI Global: World Refugee Day: Prolonged refugee separation is harming families — and Canada’s economy
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Christina Clark-Kazak, Professor, Public and International Affairs, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa As World Refugee Day approaches on June 20, advocates and health experts are calling on the Canadian government to urgently address prolonged family separation for refugees. With wait times for family reunification now averaging more than four […]
MIL-OSI Global: How discussion becomes discord: Three avoidable steps on the path to polarization
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Emma Lei Jing, Assistant Professor, People and Organizations, Neoma Business School From tariffs and sovereignty to politics and conflict, there’s no shortage of controversial topics for us to grapple with. (Shutterstock) Many of us have become immersed in debates with family about a contentious political issue, or found […]
MIL-OSI Global: Misogyny has become a political strategy — here’s how the pandemic helped make it happen
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Brianna I. Wiens, Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Rhetoric, University of Waterloo Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more overt forms of gendered hate have jumped from obscure internet forums into the mainstream, shaping culture and policy. Social media doesn’t just reflect sexist, anti-feminist views; it helps to organize, […]
MIL-OSI Global: Alzheimer’s: bacteria that cause stomach ulcers may protect the brain, our new research indicates
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gefei Chen, Associate professor, Karolinska Institutet _H pylori_ is more commonly known as the culprit of stomach infections. Corona Borealis Studio/ Shutterstock Every three seconds, someone in the world develops dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for between 60% and 70% of all […]
MIL-OSI Global: The UK’s warm homes plan has been saved – here’s how Labour can learn from a decade of failed insulation schemes
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Madeleine Pauker, PhD Candidate, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Natalia Nosova/Shutterstock The UK government confirmed in its June 2025 spending review that it will honour its manifesto pledge and not cut the £13.2 billion warm homes plan, as had been speculated. The money will be spent […]
MIL-OSI Global: Wandering uteruses and far-reaching tubes: the surprising mobility of the female reproductive tract
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Michelle Spear, Professor of Anatomy, University of Bristol The ancient wandering womb theory suggested that many ailments in women were caused by the uterus becoming dislodged and roaming the body in search of moisture. According to these theories, the uterus could roam freely around the body, pressing on […]
MIL-OSI Global: England is expanding free school meals – here’s what could happen if they were given to all children
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, Professor of Development Economics , Queen Mary University of London Children in Jharkhand state, India, eating their midday meal at school. Mohammad Shahnawaz/Shutterstock The UK government has announced an extension of free school meals in England to all children whose parents receive universal credit, in order […]