• Neil Francis wrote about the attitudes of parents at religious schools towards sexual orientation and gender diversity.
• Elizabeth Dangerfield considered the growing challenge of how to respond to movements driven by populism and emotions.
• Robert Macklin provided his take on the uniqueness of Christmas in Australia.

Finding out what causes a particular outcome is often the primary goal of scientific research, especially in studies relating to our health. We want to know if a certain factor – say, drinking wine or eating chocolate – will lead to better or worse health outcomes. That way, we can make more informed decisions about our health. But how do scientists actually get those answers?

The best thing about Christmas in Australia is Christmas in Australia. Here we are, a multicultural community way down in the Southern Hemisphere. No snow, no sleighs, no mangers and no one knows much about the little chap whose birth didn’t really occur on the day we celebrate it. But we all know of the visiting shepherds and three wise men said to have brought bizarre gifts to the little fellow. Oh, and there’s talk of angels being spotted in the vicinity.

Most Australians oppose discrimination against LGBT people. Surveys of the public routinely find most are opposed to religious school discrimination. Discrimination against LGBT staff is opposed by 73 per cent. “Belief statements” that humiliate, insult or ridicule are opposed by 77 per cent. And dismissing teachers who marry a person of the same sex or expelling LGBT students are opposed by 79 per cent and 82 per cent, respectively. But perhaps parents at religious schools comprise much of the small minority who favour discrimination? That’s the question we set out to answer in our research.

My Dad is in the twilight of his life now. The once ramrod-tall school teacher is now the stooped and ailing 85-year-old biding his time to meet his beloved, my mother, who died ten years ago.  At school, Dad was a no-nonsense disciplinarian. Naughtiness incited mild beltings for the boys. My misbehaving sisters were sternly reprimanded in deference to their girlhood gentleness.

Lucy the “paleo-rock star” took our major fossil evidence for bipedal walking, human-like creatures (collectively known as hominins) beyond 3 million years for the first time. The race to explain how humans became what we are now was well and truly on. Since then, the picture has changed repeatedly and dramatically, shaped by waves of new fossil discovery, technology and scientific techniques – often accompanied by arguments about the veracity of claims made for each new piece of the puzzle.