In our backyards, balconies and beer gardens – Australians get along famously with booze. Drinking is an entrenched part of our national identity: it’s a recurrent theme in our pop culture, a scene-setter for friendship, a supposedly inherent part of work and play.

Lately, though, as the personal, social and public health costs of drinking become clear, many Australians are…

In her new book on anaesthesia, journalist Kate Cole-Adams looks at the facts, and explores the enigma of this mysterious medical practice – interweaving scientific and historical research with personal experience to present a haunting meditation on memory, paralysis and consciousness.

How common is it for patients to ‘wake up’ during surgery? Is pain still pain if you can’t feel it…

Today, around one in six Australian couples of reproductive age are unable to conceive but their options are better now than ever. IVF technology has accelerated and become commonplace; increasing numbers of Australians are turning to international surrogacy.

State and federal governments have struggled, however, to keep apace with these changes. The growing industry around assisted reproduction is largely privatised…