Police officers in many  western countries now dress like paramilitaries. Special police units are being trained and organised along military lines and issued with military-grade weapons. Is this creeping “militarisation” justified and what are the future implications for the effectiveness of policing in democratic societies?

There’s a new emphasis on land reclamation and building floating structures for everything from accommodation to marine farming to energy generation. Re-defining the use of the ocean is part of the emerging “blue economy” – one that can be both economically beneficial and environmentally responsible. How well can these often contradictory goals be reconciled?

Future Tense a look at how we might be revealing more private details online than we think and the value in the information that’s being mined - and you’ll hear how you could protect your data by actually revealing more than you already are.

AI holds enormous potential for transforming the way we teach, but first we need to define what kind of education system we want. Also, the head of the UK’s new Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation warns democratic governments that they urgently need an ethics and governance framework for emerging technologies.

After more than four decades of dominance, free-market capitalism is facing a challenge. Its rival, the rather blandly named Modern Monetary Theory, promises to return economic planning to a less ideological footing. It’s also keen to strike a blow against the “surplus fetish” that many economists now blame for declining public services and growing inequality.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, has seen better days. Historian and military analyst, Andrew Bacevich, once described it as an organisation that privileges “nostalgia over self-awareness”. But most critics, Bacevich included, want NATO refocused and retooled. So what needs to change in order to restore the alliance as an effective military force? What role should the United States play in such a reshaping? And how can NATO be strengthened without increasing tensions with Russia?

Street artists are busy commandeering as many city surfaces as their paints will allow, authorities are trying to neutralise the threat, while advertising agencies are keen to clone the potency of hand painted art.

Critics say that the proliferation of modern, wafer-thin skyscrapers are symbols of rising urban inequality. Also: Are levels of density in our cities making us ill? And what's the impact of short-term letting on urban affordability? 

Countercultural movements, like Occupy Wall Street, are meant to be future-focussed — revolutionary even. So why do they often fade into commercialism? Are they simply a function of consumer capitalism? If so, what future do they have? And must they always be progressive?

It’s a scarce resource and likely to get even more so. But is it causing an increase in political friction? The answer is yes… and no.

Water banking involves the deliberate injection of surplus water into known aquifers. The idea is to repurpose the world’s many artesian basins as giant sustainable storage tanks - ones that can readily be drawn upon in times of drought. It’s just one of the ideas we explore in the second instalment of our two-part series on water conflict and management – the politics, the problems and the potential solutions.

A growing number of human rights academics and activists are worried that our notions of welfare in the democratic west are changing – and not for the better. They’re concerned that the tools of the digital era are being used to create a new form of welfare state directed against the poor and the disadvantaged, not in their interests.

The hope of nuclear fusion is the dream of a fossil-fuel free future - of limitless baseload power. Enthusiasts say fusion offers all the benefits of nuclear energy without the dangers. In theory and in practice fusion energy is already a reality, but getting the economics right is proving much more difficult than imagined.

The Himalayas are sometime called the earth’s “third pole”. They’re a vital source of water for a large chunk of the world’s population. But the local, national and international systems put in place to protect and manage human development in this vital ecosystem are failing. In this episode, Matt Smith travels to the Himalayas for Future Tense to gauge the size of the problem and possible solutions for safeguarding its future.

Police search for a shooter after an 18-year-old man, who was standing on a unit balcony, is shot in the arm from a neighbouring apartment.

Railton is full of topiary with hedges cleverly clipped into animals, words and objects but there are hopes it can reinvent itself and boost its economy like the north-east town of Derby on the back of newly-opened mountain bike tracks.

Four parachutists were forced to make an emergency jump from a light plane over a popular skydiving region south of Adelaide earlier this year when the engine cut out, according to an Australian Transport Safety Bureau report.

Police arrest three people who allegedly led them on a pursuit in two stolen cars through several Adelaide suburbs, after road spikes failed to stop the high-speed chase.

The Roosters entrench themselves in the top four with a win over the Bulldogs at the SCG after Manly defeats the Dragons at Brookvale.

The Korean film Parasite, about a lower-class family who con their way into a wealthy household, wins in a year dominated by social issues.

Dark Mofo art experience Hrafn: Conversations with Odin sees tourists returning to the fire-ravaged Huon Valley south of Hobart to spend money and boost the local communities.

Gold Coast junior Riley Parsons shares his love of cricket, by refurbishing old gear to give to kids who need it.

MORNING BRIEFING: The father of missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez will front the media today as homicide detectives travel to Byron Bay to assist in the investigation, while some of the residents of Mascot Towers will be permitted to return to their homes to pick up belongings.

Elite women's tennis will return to WA at least one more time after Perth was chosen to host the final of the Fed Cup competition in November, beating bids from Melbourne and Brisbane.

This kangaroo species normally lives high in the treetops but is now being found in odd places, unable to see and confused, and one ecologist is trying to find out the cause.

A software upgrade to more than 500 Myki ticket machines fixes an issue that has baffled Victorians for years and also caused littering problems and security concerns.

Brumbies star Christian Lealiifano will retire from Super Rugby at the end of the season, taking up a lucrative offer to play in Japan.

MORNING BRIEFING: Many regional Tasmanian areas are in a population decline, and Hobart scores high on drug waste water testing.

The number of older women experiencing homelessness has surged in recent years, with divorce, pay disparity and a lack of superannuation culminating in a "perfect storm" of gender disadvantage.

The family of a Gold Coast man who died after being hit by a car on Sunday night say they're "absolutely devastated" that a fight between two friends led to him losing his life.

A tiny number of performers worldwide stuff their adult frames into cannons, to be shot across an arena at 60 kilometres per hour. Queenslander Warren Brophy is one of them.

The WA Attorney-General casts doubt on whether more than $600,000 worth of severance payouts, made to former Health Department employees embroiled in a decades-long corruption scandal, will be recovered.

Chrys Barker has been confined to a wheelchair and is in need of 24-hour care since being critically injured in a car accident in 2014. He's now been awarded what is believed to be the biggest single personal injury settlement in Queensland.

Security guards are seen during the Round 13 AFL match between the Carlton Blues and the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Saturday, June 15, 2019.

The Northern Territory Chief Minister says plans for a water theme park in Darwin are not dead in the water yet, despite his Government formally rejecting all expressions of interest in the project submitted so far.

Sex workers say they are being harassed and intimidated by South Australian police, as figures show charges for sex-work offences have spiked in the past two years.