Australia recently had an election where they asked for a dramatic departure from previous fiscal policies. 

The reasons were simple, in hindsight. Everyone wanted more money from an increasingly larger government but incomes were declining. Inflation is still happening, government employees still get raises, but average Australian income declines showed what government claims about economic health did not.  

Increases and declines in economies have always happened but new work in the Economic Analysis and Policy journal finds that people are not better off than they were 20 years ago.  

There is a perception that 'the wealthy' are opposed to more taxes and income redistribution in America. But the wealthy already pay an alarming amount in taxes and 47% remain loyal to tax-cutting politicians every election cycle.

People have ideological reasons to oppose government redistribution of their work, of course, but it may also be relative. Someone who is in a poor neighborhood but doing better than others may not like the idea of higher taxes either, according to a paper in Psychological Science.

Diversity is listed at the bottom of priorities for human resources professionals in large firms yet many mangers still feel threatened by diversity policies.shutterstock

By Jennifer Whelan, Melbourne Business School

Many large organizations are now on their second or third wave of diversity and inclusion programs.

A good number of them are still struggling to identify obvious improvements in the metrics they hoped to see changes in. Yet, ironically, increasing numbers of people are beginning to express “diversity fatigue”.

Bitcoin calls itself the new money and says it can be minted and exchanged on the Internet, faster and cheaper than a bank.

It's gotten a lot of attention but how anonymous is it? Not very, if you have computers and about $1,500.

Several groups worldwide have shown that it is possible to find out which transactions belong together, even if the client uses different pseudonyms but it has only recently become clear that it is also possible to reveal the IP address behind each transaction. 

Results presented at the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Symposium in Barcelona show "extremely promising" early phase 1 clinical trial results for the investigational drug AG-120 against the subset of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) harboring mutations in the gene IDH1.

The finding builds on phase 1 results of a related drug, AG-221, against IDH2 mutations, presented at the most recent meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Results at this stage are preliminary, based on 17 patients.

The IDH1 mutation is found in 15-20 percent of all cases of AML, totaling about 3,500 cases of IDH1 AML per year.

Researchers using a new chemical process have converted the cellulose in sawdust into hydrocarbon chains, building blocks for gasoline.

 Cellulose is the main substance in plant matter and is present in all non-edible plant parts of wood, straw, grass, cotton and old paper.  These hydrocarbons can be used as an additive in gasoline or as a component in plastics. 

"At the molecular level, cellulose contains strong carbon chains. We sought to conserve these chains, but drop the oxygen bonded to them, which is undesirable in high-grade gasoline. Our researcher Beau Op de Beeck developed a new method to derive these hydrocarbon chains from cellulose," explains Professor Bert Sels. 

Epidemiologists have linked El Niño, a recurring pattern where every 2-7 years warm waters in the Equatorial Pacific change the weather, to short stature, also known as stunting,  which is usually due to chronic malnutrition.

The authors found that children born in coastal Peru during and after the 1997-98 El Niño, the last strong one, have a lower height-for-age than others born before the event. 

El Niño
has also been linked to epidemics of malaria, dengue fever, cholera and diarrhea, though the first recorded one was in 1525, so they have been happening a lot longer than that.. 

How can the weather stunt growth?  

Worry only if you have something to hide. Finchen

By Andrew Smith, The Open University

The computer-security firm Symantec says it may have found some of the most sophisticated malicious software ever made.

The cyber-espionage bug, called Regin, has been making attacks for many years without being caught.

Insects are the most diverse group of animals on earth. They inhabit nearly all terrestrial habitats. One of the factors underlying this success is the ability of insect eggs to survive in adverse conditions.

For a long time the ability to survive these adverse conditions has been attributed to maternal investment in the form of a protective eggshell. However, my research in the red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) shows that contrary to common belief, insect eggs are far from helpless.

Jacob and Wilhelm were Grimm. Wikimedia Commons

By Marguerite Johnson, University of Newcastle

Fairy tales have a tumultuous and fragile history. They originated as tales told by “folk”. They were passed down over generations to while away long winter nights, to provide entertainment at special occasions and for simple enjoyment.

Inevitably, as more people became literate and scholars began to record fairy tales, they were published. And then, with a wave of a magic wand, they entered the canon of European literature.