Prime Minister Tony Abbott has effectively ended any chance of same-sex marriage in this term of parliament. Public opinion in Australia is in clear support of same-sex marriage. So how have opponents had so much success in blocking change?
Prominent arguments against same-sex marriage have been based on history, tradition, human rights, and social scientific research into health and welfare. The role of religion in opposition has been less explicit.
DALLAS, August 12, 2015 - During a stroke, slightly more than half of patients use emergency medical services (EMS) to get to the hospital, with white women the most likely, and Hispanic men the least likely to use EMS transport, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association.
The results of a recent study show that children who report eating more polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), found in tree nuts, seeds and fatty fish, and consume a higher ratio of PUFA: saturated fatty acids (SFAs), have more lean body mass, lower percent body fat, and less intra-abdominal fat (belly fat).
Cost of radiation therapy among Medicare patients varied most widely because of factors unrelated to a patient or that person's cancer, report University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers in the Journal of Oncology Practice.
The latest dubious tactic of global soft-drink giant Coca-Cola has now been revealed for what it is - a move by an industry with a threatened financial future to confuse science, policy and the public, in order to buy time, and protect profits.
Quantitative analysis of the performance of men and women professional tennis players over the past five completed seasons shows for the first time that evidence of inconsistency in women's play is likely attributable to match format (e.g., best of three or five sets), not gender, Stephanie Kovalchik--an associate statistician with the RAND Corporation--today revealed at a session focused on analytics of women's sports at the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM 2015) in Seattle.
Documents dating back to the 16th Century provide a unique insight into one of Darwin's landmark studies - according to new research from the University of East Anglia.
In 1862, Darwin presented the case that some plant species have two floral forms that differ in height and arrangement of the male and female sexual structures - and adopted the term 'heterostyly'.
When political candidates give a speech or debate an opponent, it's not just what they say that matters -- it's also how they say it.
A new study by researchers at the University of Miami and Duke University shows that voters naturally seem to prefer candidates with deeper voices, which they associate with strength and competence more than age.
The researchers say our love for leaders with lower-pitched voices may harken back to "caveman instincts" that associate leadership ability with physical prowess more than wisdom and experience.
Adding the price tag to prescription medicines worth more than £20 in England is just a "headline grabbing gimmick," which, among other things, could potentially mislead patients into believing that cheaper drugs are somehow less important, says an editorial in Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (dtb).
On 1 July this year, health secretary for England Jeremy Hunt announced plans to print the indicative cost of medicines on all packs of those worth more than £20 alongside the phrase "funded by the UK taxpayer."
The U.K. Government's current alcohol guidelines are unrealistic and largely ignored because they have little relevance to people's drinking habits, according to a new report by the University of Sheffield's Alcohol Research Group (SARG) in collaboration with the University of Stirling.
The study, which is the first of its kind, explored how drinkers make sense of the current UK drinking guidelines which suggest men should not regularly exceed three to four units of alcohol a day, while women should not regularly drink more than two to three units daily.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on August 3 released the final rule of the EPA Clean Power Plan, regulations that limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the US.
In the days and years ahead, the Clean Power Plan will loom large, both as it works its way through legal challenges and at states as they implement their plans to reduce power utility emissions.
Here are four key points about the plan from my perspective as an agricultural economist.
Even before President Obama announced the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan on August 3 to regulate carbon emissions from power plants, there were a number of legal challenges to block the law at its proposal stage – none of them successful. Earlier this year, the DC Circuit court told opponents, which included a coal company joined by twelve states, that their arguments were premature.
Now that the rules are final, the new court challenges will come fast and heavy. The legal arguments against the plan will be focused on two issues.
Cancer survival in England remains lower than countries with similar healthcare systems, according to a new study. Cancer survival in England has steadily improved but the gap in survival remains.
The Thing, Human Torch, Invisible Woman and Mister Fantastic are back this summer!
In the new movie reboot, the team gets its powers while in an alternate dimension. At Reactions, though, they stick to comic-book canon. In this week's video, they explain the original way the Fantastic Four got their power - radiation - with help from SciPop Talks.
The non-medical use of prescription opioids (POs) has become an area of increasing public health concern in the United States and rates of use are particularly high among young adults. In the past decade, an emerging "epidemic" of non-medical PO use has been reported. Among young adults, self-reported use is 11% and overdose deaths involving POs now exceed deaths involving heroin and cocaine combined.