Striking a balance between employer expectations and employee rights is becoming increasingly complicated due to new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). Businesses are embracing systems that supposedly “boost productivity,” and a parliamentary inquiry into workplace surveillance has heard some are also using them to keep a closer eye on their workers.

The same properties that make plastics so useful—their durability and resistance to degradation—also make them nearly impossible for nature to completely break down. But we can turn to chemical recycling: breaking down plastics to their molecular components, particularly hydrogen and carbon (the building blocks of fuels), through techniques like depolymerization, pyrolysis, and gasification.

By combining carbon offsetting with “carbon plus nature” ecological restoration, Greenfleet offers the restoration movement a model to address both climate change and biodiversity loss. Their restoration work is backed by science, not greenwash and disinformation, as ‘no amount of assertion will help us if we cannot prove our case scientifically.’

The manufacturing sector is evolving, and we are producing world-class infrastructure here in Victoria. But for all the resources our mining nation extracts for use in products, the most important element of Industry 4.0 is a STEM-literate workforce. ‘Research and Development’ must establish a dynamic equilibrium between Australian business and academia.

Since 2015, science communication company Scientell has worked on over 350 projects for clients including research institutions, all levels of government, and private companies, enhancing the impact of science, research and technology with accessible, evidence-based activities and products. Dr Simon Torok shares his top tips on running a sustainable, science-based business.