To promote a set of educational resources funded by the Australian government, Bridge8 created six two minute animations about critical thinking styled in Saul Bass-esque aesthetics, reports Maria Popova.
Culture / People & Ideas
travel 
The Swiss wedding survival guide
Weddings are always a cultural minefield. But expat Claudia List didn’t expect that attending a wedding in Switzerland would require hiking boots and the ability to sing in front of a crowd.
Are all green buildings really that green?
Every new public building, it seems, is a wonder of green efficiency, driving the bar of ecological innovation ever higher. But how does that theory convert into reality? asks Alan Davies.
The $28m pantomime of airport body scanners
Airport body scanners have no demonstrated value, but the government is spending $28 million on them.
PHOTO GALLERY 
Never-before-seen photos from the night MLK died
LIFE photographer Henry Groskinsky was in Alabama on April 4, 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr was shot dead. He rushed to the crime scene and took these incredible photos of grieving civil rights leaders.
What would a ‘temple for atheists’ look like?
Author Alain de Botton, who wants to soften the voice of “aggressive” atheism, is promoting a “temple for atheists in London.” It’s a long, black tower that looks awfully dark and foreboding, writes Alan Davies.
Can the media call indigenous Australians ‘blacks’?
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, aborigines, Indigenous Australians: it can be difficult for media organisations to know what terms are appropriate when writing stories about Australia’s first inhabitants.
From the Worrier Pose to Narcissisasana (and Back): why it might be no bad thing if yoga wrecks you
We know how yoga can wreck your body. But I wonder: isn’t it more that we’ve wrecked yoga? In other words: ask not what your yoga is doing to you; ask what we are doing to our yoga, says Peter Chambers.
How can public transport work better in Australia’s cities?
Around 90% of all travel in Australia is by car. While public transport usually serves CBDs well, it’s quite ineffective at travelling across suburbs, writes Alan Davies.
Pickering: feminist is as feminist does
Feminism is undeniably going through a massive upheaval, writes Karen Pickering, creator and host of Cherchez la Femme.
Constructing aesthetics: buildings that jar with their surroundings
The IAC building in Manhattan is visually interesting, but it’s one of many examples of buildings that don’t relate well to their context. What is it with architects? asks The Urbanist’s Alan Davies.
ACCC investigation into breast imaging sparks debate
Early in January, the ACCC launched legal proceedings against two commercial breast imaging operators, alleging that the operators engaged in “false and misleading conduct”, writes Rebecca Johnson, a policy adviser at the Cancer Council Western Australia.
The tale of the pooch who kept mum
What do you do if your dog starts acting unusually quiet? What could explain its restrained behaviour? W H Chong may have some answers…
The Power Index 
The divisive feminist
When it comes to pulling down the patriarchy, there aren’t too many in the sisterhood willing to go in as hard, or as often, as Leslie Cannold, writes Tom Cowie, in this profile on the influential feminist.
aviation industry Ice legends, polar heroes and planes
There have seen some superb insights into life in Antarctica in a series of reports by ABC journalist Karen Barlow, among them some glimpses of aviation in the icy region, writes Ben Sandilands.
Inside the casas of Mexico’s drug lords
Bullet riddled walls, flak jackets and opulent domed palaces with disco balls — the homes of Mexico’s drug cartels are an interesting mix of business and pleasure, writes Damien Cave.
The story of a weatherman, drugs, Estonian girls and a 43K credit scam
Celebrity American weatherman John Bolaris’s weekend at the Fountainebleau hotel in Miami was more than a wallet-burning holiday — it became a stranger than fiction real-life nightmare, writes Pat Jordon.
Who owns the new Australian dietary guidelines?
For those who missed the announcement, Australia’s 24,000 GPs and 3500 dietitians will soon have a new weapon in their battle against big bellies and hard arteries, writes Geoff Russell.
GPS and email coming to an augmented eyeball near you
Augmented reality glasses are already, well, a reality in military and professional sectors, but it might not take long until they also enter the consumer market, writes Gavin Allen.
The economy of comedy: does less money = more laughs?
A stand-up comedy club entrepreneur in Chicago is using the American economic recession not to scale back his business but to expand it, writes Gary Strauss.
Why your broadband internet seems slower
The sooner the NBN becomes available the sooner people can be transferred to it and the problems will disappear, writes Paul Budde, a telecommunications researcher and consultant.
Come in Spinner: Come in Spinner: how the so-called experts always get it wrong
It’s that time of the year again — the time that pundits make predictably erroneous predictions about the coming year.
aviation industry Is this Boeing’s most important project?
A biofuels research agreement between Boeing and the CSIRO is arguably the most important research effort being made in transport, writes Ben Sandilands.
The most outrageous tech predictions for 2012
Lists of tech predictions for the year ahead are super abundant at this time of year, writes Charis Palmer, of Technology Spectator.
Seeing double: fascinating photos of identical twins
This month’s US edition of National Geographic runs a special feature on identical twins — and they don’t get much more identical than this.
