Hangovers and skullets: welcome to Schoolies week 2025

Hangovers and skullets: welcome to Schoolies week 2025

The rite of passage for many Australian teenagers at Surfers Paradise has changed since the first party on Broadbeach in the 1970s Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast It’s 9pm on Friday at Surfers Paradise and a DJ on the main beach is playing a club mix of Reel 2 Real’s I Like to Move It as teenage boys wearing sunglasses shuffle enthusiastically on the sand. This is the last night of schoolies, and it’s going to be large. The evening’s official costume theme is “good, evil, iconic”, which is open to wide interpretation. Someone is dressed as The Lorax, another as a Christmas tree. Continue reading...

‘Nature’s original engineers’: scientists explore the amazing potential of fungi

‘Nature’s original engineers’: scientists explore the amazing potential of fungi

Unique properties of fungi have led to groundbreaking innovations in recent years, from nappies to electronics From the outside, it looks like any ordinary nappy – one of the tens of billions that end up in landfill each year. But the Hiro diaper comes with an unusual companion: a sachet of freeze-dried fungi to sprinkle over a baby’s gloopy excretions. The idea is to kickstart a catalytic process that could see the entire nappy – plastics and all – broken down into compost within a year. Continue reading...

As Epstein files release looms, question abound on what happens next: ‘Possibilities are endless’

As Epstein files release looms, question abound on what happens next: ‘Possibilities are endless’

People implicated in the late sex offender’s crimes might face criminal charges or, at the very least, social ostracism As the clock ticks toward the congressionally mandated deadline of 19 December by which Donald Trump ’s justice department must release its files related to Jeffrey Epstein , there is intense speculation about the contents of these documents – but also questions as to what happens when they are released. The US president on 19 November signed a bipartisan bill requiring that the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, disclose these documents to the US public within 30 days. Given that other tranches of materials related to the disgraced financier included damning correspondence with high-profile individuals, many expect that still more names of the rich, famous and powerful will be named. Continue reading...