The Latest Breaking News from Australian Research Council

Cuts to key research facilities threaten Australia’s ability to be a global scientific leader

There has been much excitement since Australia signed a landmark agreement with the United States last month to expand cooperation on critical minerals and rare earth elements.

The Conversation · Nov 4, 2025

Engineering crops to photosynthesise better just got one step closer to reality

As Earth’s population grows, we will need more food. According to one estimate, we may need to nearly double our crop yields in the next century to keep up.

The Conversation · Oct 30, 2025

Grandparenting tells us much about our history. It’s important to preserve these stories

Grandparents can play a fundamental role in families, yet they have often been overlooked in Australian history.

The Conversation · Oct 30, 2025

Misinformation was rife during the 2025 election. New research shows many people were unable to identify it

Misinformation has become a routine part of daily life, shaping public discourse and distorting perceptions. A new report reveals that in the two weeks prior to the 2025 federal election, almost two-thirds (60%) of adults reported coming across election misinformation. Only 19% didn’t come across it and 21% were unsure.

The Conversation · Oct 23, 2025

Most Australians agree there’s a housing crisis. But they differ on what’s causing it – and how to fix it

Housing was a key issue during the 2025 federal election. In a campaign fought on the cost of living, rising housing costs – rents, mortgage repayments and house prices – were issues that all parties had to address.

The Conversation · Oct 22, 2025

Our brains evaluate food within milliseconds, long before we’ve decided to eat it

Imagine you’re at the grocery store, standing before a selection of snacks. Seemingly without thinking, you skip over the rice crackers to pick out a bag of chips.

The Conversation · Oct 22, 2025

Some major Australian towns still have poor phone reception. It’s threatening public safety

Australians rely on their phones and the internet for education, business, socialising and in emergencies. And as Optus’ recent Triple Zero outage highlights, the consequences of a network outage can be fatal.

The Conversation · Oct 16, 2025

The government wants more of us living in high rises. Here’s why Australians don’t want to

Australia was once a nation where the great Australian dream was owning a home with ample space for a lawn and a garden. But by the 1990s, the dream had shifted, at least politically, with then prime minister Paul Keating famously saying there was “more to life than the quarter…

The Conversation · Oct 15, 2025

It took just 60 years for red foxes to colonise Australia from Victoria to the Pilbara

To a newly-arrived red fox, the abundant rolling grasslands and swamps of Wadawurrung Country, around what is now called Port Phillip Bay, must have seemed like a predator’s paradise.

The Conversation · Oct 13, 2025

Labor is close to a deal on environmental law reforms. There are troubling signs these will fall short

The Albanese government has hinted it is close to a deal with the Coalition over the long-awaited overhaul of Australia’s environment laws. Environment Minister Murray Watt plans to introduce new legislation to parliament in November.

The Conversation · Oct 10, 2025