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Loose Notes, Serious Questions

Did John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids predict the age of AI?

Key takeaway: John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids did not predict artificial intelligence, but it did anticipate one of the defining anxieties […]

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World’s best at one thing: South Korea’s high-speed zombies

Key takeaway: South Korean zombie films have made the undead faster, more feral and more frightening. But what is the […]

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The KLF’s strange preview of AI

Key takeaway: The KLF turned self-plagiarism into pop art. In doing so, they offered a strange early preview of AI’s […]

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Sacking Ange Postecoglou: The decision that almost destroyed Tottenham Hotspur

Key takeaway: Sacking Ange Postecoglou after Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League triumph was more than a managerial change. It disrupted momentum, […]

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The trickiest parts of English: When should you italicise foreign words?

Key takeaway: In Australian English, foreign words are italicised only when they have not been absorbed into everyday English. Common […]

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Fragile worlds: The Javan rhino’s uncertain future

Key takeaway: The Javan rhino survives in one small population in Ujung Kulon National Park, Indonesia. Its future is shaped […]

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Fragile worlds: Rethinking orangutan rehabilitation

Key takeaway: Orangutan rehabilitation raises difficult questions about care, captivity and conservation. Drawing on Juno Salazar Parreñas’ Decolonizing Extinction, this […]

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The world’s best at one thing: Indonesia’s wild durian

Key takeaway: Indonesian wild durian is bold, unpredictable and increasingly valuable in China’s booming fruit market. But Indonesia’s export opportunity […]

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The world’s best at one thing: Egypt’s dominance in squash

Key takeaway: Egypt’s dominance of squash did not happen by accident. It grew from a powerful sporting ecosystem shaped by […]

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The miracle of Leicester City: The value of a lucky charm

  Introduction Leicester City’s 2015-16 English Premier League title remains one of the greatest achievements in modern sport. After heroically […]

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World War Z, twenty years on: What Asian zombie films add to the story

Key takeaway: Max Brooks’ World War Z remains one of the most convincing fictional oral histories of the zombie apocalypse. […]

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Jakarta’s strangely compelling viral traffic cop

Key takeaway: Jakarta traffic officer Muhamad Ferdiansyah has become an unlikely social media star by turning road enforcement into strangely […]

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Americamaxxing: You met us at a very American time in our lives

Key takeaway: Americamaxxing reverses the logic of Chinamaxxing. If non-Chinese creators perform fragments of Chinese culture online, then Chinese creators […]

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My professor marked my essay using AI – help!

Key takeaway: If students submit essays written with AI and lecturers respond by marking them with AI, university assessment risks […]

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Chinamaxxing, Indonesiamaxxing and the shift from curiosity to content

Key takeaway: Chinamaxxing and Indonesiamaxxing show how cultural curiosity can quickly become online content. What begins as humour, admiration or […]

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Editing the Asia-Pacific boom: Why copyediting and proofreading matter more than ever

Key takeaway: As the Asia-Pacific grows, more writers, businesses and organisations are using English to reach global audiences. Copyediting and […]

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Wise Directions: What’s in a name?

Key takeaway: The name Wise Directions comes from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 2, where the young King Henry V embraces […]

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