The Sydney Morning Herald

In news that won’t shock anyone who engages with comments on social media or Married at First Sight, human intelligence is declining. The Financial Times reported the downward trend of literacy and numeracy in both kids and adults, as found by the OECD. It appears to be “a broader erosion …

I’ve never been one for numbers, but since I got a Galaxy Fit for my birthday, I’m obsessed. Why tell you I’m stressed out and sleep poorly when I can show you the cold, hard data that proves my endocrine system is on par with a guinea pig being handled …

ROMCOMBest, First and LastAmy MatthewsSimon & Schuster, $32.99Amy Matthew’s Best, First and Last has all the ingredients for a good chick lit: exotic location (Peru), a grieving granny who carries around (and chats to) her dead husband’s ashes, uses the words “sexting” and “catching feeling”, snappy dialogue that would put …

If you’re playing Married at First Sight bingo this year, by which, every time an inane word or phrase is spouted by a participant, such as “gaslighting”, “walls up” or “being on the show for the right reasons”, it’s time to yell, “bingo”.But I’d like to propose a new addition …

From looksmaxxing to gross girls, TikTok has introduced us to many new ideas, many of them questionable. However, more recently, it’s given us the “let them” theory, and I’m as surprised as anyone to say it’s actually taught me something of significance.

At the chemist the other day, I noticed a large display for Nurofen; a stand packed with painkillers, announcing they are “Committed to closing the gender pain gap”. I paused, wondering what this “pain gap” is. Are they lobbying for men to experience period pain by having their lower torso …

While strolling through sunny markets with my five-year-old daughter last week, we encountered a bare bum. Bare bums aren’t an anomaly in my kids’ lives; quite the opposite. They’re an endless source of fascination, whether it’s your brother’s plump cheeks ripe for whacking, improving your flatuosity or de-panting to run …

I’ve had four housemates in three years. And I’m not the problem. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is doing away with the company’s fact-checkers at the very time we need them most – to verify applications for the role of roommate.

I’m waiting in line at JB Hi-Fi Albury to buy a cord to connect my phone to the car so we can listen to podcasts on our road trip. “I’ll just grab your phone number so we can send you a digital receipt,” the cashier says. “Um, no thanks,” I …

Travelling interstate in a car with small children over the summer holidays is not for the faint-hearted, but some of us rise to the challenge. Sure, you could fly the 90-minute trip in an air-conditioned plane, but who wants to be stuck with a bunch of strangers giving the passive-aggressive …

As Mariah Carey once again defrosts to bring All I Want for Christmas is You into every shopping centre, there’s something else that’s warming up. Netflix is trying to bring sexy back to Christmas with not one but two Hallmark-style films featuring shirtless, buff men, including one snowman and a …

Unlike her fellow school-leavers in 1984, Cindy Pan did not learn of her HSC mark through the post.It was her headmistress who broke the news, sharing that her final exam score of 475 out of a possible 500 marks was the best among her Abbotsleigh cohort, and that she would …

I’m no linguistic purist. My brother and I exclaim “YOLO!” (you only live once) to each other, as in, “I backed into our neighbour’s car, and we didn’t realise our insurance had expired, YOLO!” Or: “Modern life is exhausting. My brain feels like a lab rat owned by sadistic scientists …

Sydney universities are receiving more requests for financial support, as cost of living pressures in one of the world’s most expensive cities hit students hard.

The West’s Alexei Navalny is a sketch joining three data points: his miraculous survival from poisoning, his return to Russia and his death in prison. To Putin, he was another Rasputin who bewitched Russia with the promise of democracy and survived the Kremlin’s attempts to poison, smear and assassinate. Until …

Two senior ministers were told that plans to slash promised upgrades to road, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure at a key Sydney intersection would have “minimal impact” on transport in the inner city, despite the now-abandoned proposal erasing 85 per cent of planned improvements.

In an article in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Oleksandr Mykhed frames the Russian invasion of Ukraine not as belligerent power play or geopolitical stunt but an outright assault on Ukraine’s very existence.The passage begins with a dream Mykhed has one night, a “whimsical homage” to Catcher in the …

A bitter housing stoush between old and new is dividing Sydney’s most iconic beach suburb.

Jose Da Costa and Shankari Kathirgamalingam were discussing their favourite Steely Dan tunes when they had an idea: they should start a club for young people like them to celebrate the music, fashion and literature of the 1970s in all their glory.

In year 12, my exasperated careers adviser tried to cobble together ideas for me based on my stated interest, “animals” (because “the Mars vending machine” and “Orlando Bloom” were apparently unhelpful). He suggested I could be a vet.After a dismal work placement emptying bloodied syringes and cleaning up dog poo …

The publisher of a controversial image used in Tuesday’s HSC English exam has confirmed to the Herald that the stimulus was generated by artificial intelligence, following days of suspicion from students and educators.

Diing Deng’s face lights up when he’s asked about South Sudan’s first Olympic basketball appearance.The 15-year-old’s family home in western Sydney was the place to be when the East African country’s national side, which played its first international game seven years ago, took to the court in...

I’m no fan of Donald Trump, but questioning his mental health on the grounds of dancing is a low blow. Kamala Harris threw shade at Trump this week for his “bizarre” dance party moves at a rally in Pennsylvania. On social media, Harris wrote “Hope he’s OK”, alongside footage of …

Transport Minister Jo Haylen has been forced to intervene weeks after transport officials quietly published plans to slash road, cycling and pedestrian upgrades promised as part of WestConnex.

I’m madly waving my hand up and down over a sensor-operated toilet flush panel, which isn’t registering my existence. I switch up the motion, maybe a swipe to the right, Tinder-style? Nothing.Does the job, presses no buttons: an old-fashioned, pull-chain cistern. Credit: Golding/Fairfax MediaAfter a few minutes, my mind goes …

A record number of Australians have sought assistance for online gambling harm in the past year, figures obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald have found.

Yes, I see you looking at me in the change room at the pool, your mammaries doing the cha-cha as you dry what would be your short-and-curlies if you hadn’t lasered them off. I’m so pleased you’re immune to shame while displaying your naked flesh, a relief map of the …

While Rachael “Raygun” Gunn shot to overnight fame, Jeff “J-Attack” Dunne was preparing for the biggest day of his life.

Sigmund Freud is quoted as saying “out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength”. If that’s true, Sydney’s public transport network has plenty of opportunities to bulk up.

Book Week rolls around again, and with it comes the predictable chorus of strung-out parents who have no time to read books themselves but are tasked with “inspiring a love of literature” in their kids. How? By dressing them up as characters from children’s books. For an entire week! Why? …