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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Antony Funnell |Karin Zsivanovits
Donald Trump is establishing a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. He wants it to rival the country's stockpile of gold. He boasts America will one day be the "Bitcoin superpower of the world", but what's his end game and what will it mean for future global finance? Questions are already being asked about why he's chosen to largely deregulate the cryptocurrency sector and whether his family's personal crypto interests are now driving US policy.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Karin Zsivanovits |David Le May
After five nominations, Ruthie Foster has taken home the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album - affirming her status as an American music legend. In this intimate conversation, she shares what made her want to be a singer; the roles of her grandmother and mother in her life; why faith is so important to her and why she wants to sing about real people. And much more…A Heartlands Conservation presented at the Blue Mountains Music Festival.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Karin Zsivanovits |Antony Funnell
There's been growing research and investment in projects that use the oceans to artificially remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Such techniques involve both a biological and a chemical approach. To date, carbon removal technologies have been largely land-based, using giant air-purification machines, or planting trees to consume and store carbon. Those efforts have struggled to gain scale and acceptance. So, will a marine-based approach make any difference?
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | David Le May |Paul Penton |Karin Zsivanovits |Natasha Mitchell
The language used to talk about mental ill-health can play a key role in reducing or enforcing stigma. And it's constantly evolving. But what terms should be used and when? And by whom? The wrong word can not only deeply hurt a person's feelings. It can end careers, destroy relationships, cut access to support systems.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Antony Funnell |Karin Zsivanovits
YouTube is the second biggest website in the world, containing more than 14.8 billion videos. It's been a huge success, but its public image as a haven for influencers and digital monetisers belies its true character and role. Ryan McGrady from the University of Massachusetts takes us inside the online behemoth. Also, perspectives on boredom, its purpose and prevalence; its relationship to time, and why the measures we undertake to fight boredom so often backfire.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | David Le May |Karin Zsivanovits |Natasha Mitchell
The USA has provided about 30% of global health funding. They have been dominant in supplying HIV/AIDS medication and have funded a major part of medical research. Much of this has now stopped with Donald Trump restricting gender affirming care, withdrawing from the WHO and holding funds from USAID - and the list goes on. What are the impacts on pandemic preparedness, future global health priorities and resource mobilisation?
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Antony Funnell |Karin Zsivanovits
We like to think that increases in efficiency lead to greater sustainability – to lower resource use. But from cars to computers to bitcoin, it seems the reverse is true – efficiency stimulates demand. It’s an oft forgotten rule of economics called the Jevons Paradox, and it might explain why the demand for almost everything keeps going up even while we simultaneously fret about over-consumption.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Karin Zsivanovits |Simon Rose |David Le May
Acclaimed British historian Sir Simon Schama reflects on the history of antisemitism, the Holocaust and contemporary culture. He says that for millennia Jewish people have been "the other of convenience. We are the dark mirror in which the wish fulfilment of other societies takes it out on people who are said to represent its opposite."Presented at the Adelaide Writers Festival in partnership with the University of Sydney.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Karin Zsivanovits |David Le May
It's the story that sustainable environment regulation and programs ALWAYS come at the cost of jobs and prosperity. It doesn't matter whether it's true or not, talking about the risk to profits usually drowns out the alternative narrative of scientists and environmental campaigners. Peter Cosier was there, at the beginning — and talks about the wins and losses of environmental politics in Australia.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Antony Funnell |Karin Zsivanovits
Artificial intelligence, it turns out, has a heavy human backend — they're called "data labellers"; they mostly live in developing countries, and there are ethical questions about their pay and work conditions. So, why aren't we talking more about them? Also, Google and other search companies have begun replacing hyperlinks with AI summaries. It's a move seemingly in line with our AI obsessed times, but what will it do to the tapestry of the internet?
