Health – Views & Research – The Conversation

A woman looks thoughtfully at her laptop

Using ChatGPT before a medical appointment? How to get the best support for your health questions

Kirsten McCaffery, University of Sydney; Julie Ayre, University of Sydney, and Liliana Laranjo, University of Sydney

Exempting pensioners from private health rebate changes won’t make it fairer. Here’s what would

Yuting Zhang, The University of Melbourne; Ali Yasin Vergili, University of Technology Sydney, and Nathan Kettlewell, University of Technology Sydney

What disability housing support could look like – beyond Australia’s outdated group home model

Di Winkler, La Trobe University

How is access to UTI treatment and the pill changing? And is the policy backed by evidence?

Lauren Cortis, Adelaide University and Hilary Bowman-Smart, Adelaide University

Peptide users don’t think of themselves as injecting drug users. 5 safety basics injectors need to know

Samuel Cornell, The University of Queensland; Jason Ferris, The University of Queensland; Kimberley Akrigg, The University of Queensland, and Timothy Piatkowski, The University of Queensland

A woman in a striped top uses a vial and syringe

Stanford prison experiment: why do controversial psychology studies still have such a hold on us?

David Kaposi, The Open University

'Prisoners' wearing yellow jumpsuits lie on the floor in the new Netflix series The New Stanford Prison Experiment.

Cost is not the only reason people buy illicit tobacco – for some, it’s an act of defiance

Janet Hoek, University of Otago and Lori Leigh, University of Otago

An Aboriginal artist paints in his studio

How to build health care Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men would actually use

Karla Canuto, James Cook University and Kootsy Canuto, James Cook University

How much autonomy do women actually have when giving birth?

Bashi Kumar-Hazard, University of Sydney; Hannah Dahlen, Western Sydney University, and Kate Brewer, Western Sydney University

How the body clock could help personalise depression treatment

Timothy Hearn, University of Cambridge; Anglia Ruskin University

Exhausted looking woman, stops alarm clock, struggling to wake up in the morning

Diagnostic uncertainty: why losing a diagnosis can be as difficult as receiving one

Esca van Blarikom, King's College London

Christina Applegate, wearing black and with long blonde hair, sits cross-legged on a red carpet with her hands resting on her Hollywood Walk of Fame star.

Seeing a psychologist is becoming more unequal – and our map shows the gap

Danusha Jayawardana, Monash University; David Johnston, Monash University; Nicole Black, Monash University, and Trong-Anh Trinh, Monash University

Latest health news and analysis

Health news

Would subsidising weight loss drugs make health care fairer?

Lauren Ball, The University of Queensland and Emily Burch, Southern Cross University

Woman in a park hugging her young child.

What is idiopathic transverse myelitis, the neurological condition Helen Haines’ alleged attacker has?

Sarah Hellewell, Curtin University

Flowers lie outside Helen Haines' office.

Prolapse is common after pregnancy and later in life. Here’s what to look out for

Rakime Elmir, Western Sydney University and Alka Kothari, The University of Queensland

A woman talks to her health provider about prolapse

A dengue vaccine is now available for travellers. Here’s what you need to know

Cameron Webb, University of Sydney; Katie Anders, Monash University, and Sarah McGuinness, Monash University

Tropical landscape with palm trees and rice paddies

Research news

A woman reaches for fruits and vegetables at a market.

Replacing just 10% of ultra-processed foods with whole foods linked to drop in bowel cancer rate

Erikka Loftfield, QIMR Berghofer

Cannabis doesn’t make you violent – despite what recent reports have claimed

Simon C Moore, Cardiff University

Cannabis and 'spliffs' on a wooden table top.

How ‘people power’ and business transformed medicine, but created a whole new set of risks

Christine Mary Hallinan, The University of Melbourne

Illustration of crowd of people, without faces

Advice to live by

A woman on GLP-1s shops for food, looking somewhat disinterested

Started a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic or Mounjaro? Here’s what you need to know about nutrition

Clare Collins, University of Newcastle

Why do I keep getting mouth ulcers?

Amit Arora, Western Sydney University; Anita Lim, Western Sydney University, and Arosha Weerakoon, The University of Queensland

Woman with orthodontic braces holds her hands near her cheeks.

Doing end-of-year exams? 5 foods that are good for brain health – and what to avoid

Yasmine Probst, University of Wollongong and Olivia Wills, University of Wollongong

My son goes to the gym a lot. How can I tell if this is healthy or a sign something is wrong?

Samuel Cornell, The University of Queensland

A teenage boy holds a dumbbell while sitting on a bed.

Which is more filling, protein or fibre?

Margaret Murray, Swinburne University of Technology

Hand holds a plate of chopped bananas, carrot, watermelon and other fruit and veg.

Disability policy

Young smiling boy reading a comic in the library.

Not eligible for NDIS, too old for Thriving Kids. What supports should these young people get?

Emma Cowie, Deakin University and Sophie Goldingay, Deakin University

A young woman uses her laptop while sitting on a walker in her bedroom.

Confused about the NDIS changes? Here’s what’s coming, and what’s still being worked out

Georgia van Toorn, UNSW

First Nations health

Weight-loss campaigns aimed at First Nations women look like drug marketing in disguise

Troy Walker, Deakin University; Jennifer Browne, Deakin University, and Simone Sherriff, University of Sydney

For Indigenous people, connection to Country can be a preventive health measure

Joshua Waters, Deakin University

Three generations Of Aboriginal women doing traditional ochre face painting

How to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples benefit from newborn DNA screening

Gail Garvey, The University of Queensland and Sarah Norris, University of Sydney

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander famuly sitting on ground, younger woman holding baby on lap, older woman smiling.

First Nations people face racism in hospitals. They told us one thing makes a difference

Elissa Elvidge, University of Newcastle and Yin Paradies, Deakin University

Two young Aboriginal women talking outside.

Grain of Truth

Man blowing noise with tissue, orange slices and bottle of vitamin C tablets in the background.

Can vitamin C cure a cold? How a Nobel Prize winner convinced us it could

Evangeline Mantzioris, Adelaide University

Do we really need 10,000 steps a day?

Hunter Bennett, Adelaide University

A composite image of four people walking across a zebra crossing with the number 10,000 in the background

Can ‘grip strength’ exercises actually help you live longer?

Hassan Vally, Deakin University

Composite image of a woman holding a device to test her grip strength, and other hands holding weights and devices to strengthen muscles and grip

Addiction

An image featuring graphics of two holding hands, a laptop, a human brain and a large camera.

Is porn actually addictive? The science isn’t straightforward

Danielle Thielke, Edith Cowan University; Campbell Ince, Monash University, and Giselle Woodley, Edith Cowan University

An image featuring graphics related to gambling, including coins, a football, a poker machine and a jokey riding a horse.

Young people are being exposed to gambling too early. Here’s what we can do

Charles Livingstone, Monash University

'Traumatised' series

What we still get wrong about how people from non-Western backgrounds recover from trauma

Laura Jobson, Monash University and Xin Kie Lee, Monash University

Does the body really ‘keep the score’ after trauma? How the debunked idea of ‘repressed memories’ is making a comeback

Andressa Almeida, University of Sydney and Celine van Golde, University of Sydney

Sketched figure falling through a blue haze.

What does being ‘trauma-informed’ actually mean?

Bronwyn Milkins, The Kids Research Institute Australia; Hayley Jackson, The Kids Research Institute, and Jeneva Ohan, The Kids Research Institute Australia

Sketched figure crossing a rickety suspension bridge

What is trauma? The more we talk about it, the more it means

Nick Haslam, The University of Melbourne

Huddled figure surrounded by laughing faces.

Medicinal cannabis

Can I drive when taking medicinal cannabis? Is it safe?

Tom Arkell, Swinburne University of Technology

Can medicinal cannabis help kids’ autism, ADHD or Tourette’s? Here’s what we know so far

Daryl Efron, The University of Melbourne and Kaitlyn Taylor, Murdoch Children's Research Institute

Will medicinal cannabis help my mental health? Here are the evidence and the risks

Suzanne Nielsen, Monash University and Myfanwy Graham, Monash University

Should clinics prescribe medicinal cannabis that they also supply? We asked 5 experts

Barbara Mintzes, University of Sydney; Betty Chaar, University of Sydney; Christine Mary Hallinan, The University of Melbourne; Christopher Rudge, University of Sydney, and Wendy Lipworth, Macquarie University

Events

More Events

More Jobs