PM

Ever woken up famished after a big weekend of drinking? Popular explanations for alcohol-induced overeating include losing self-control when you're drunk. But new research has found there's a biological reason for your hangover cravings.

West Australian Senator Rod Culleton's brief but colourful political career could be over within days. Senator Culleton is about to be formally declared bankrupt, which will disqualify him from being a Senator. The ex-One Nation Senator wants senators to come back early from their holidays to stop the disqualification. But the President of the Senate Stephen Parry has rejected the request and confirmed the disqualification is imminent.

3D printing has been described as the next big thing, with a myriad of potential uses, from firearms to medical prostheses, to houses. Steve Sammartino is an entrepreneur and technology author who been following developments in the 3D printing arena. Dr James Gardiner is an architect and designer who leads the engineering company Laing O'Rourke's Design Innovation team, where he focuses on 3D printing in the construction industry. They joined Eleanor Hall in the studio.

Blueberry growers say they're confused and disappointed with the lack of communication on new tax arrangements for employing backpackers. A tax rate of 15 per cent now applies to working holiday makers, introduced on the 1st of January. But employers must sign up to a register with the Australian Tax Office before the end of the month to use this new tax rate.

The phone is a technology that is just changing before our eyes. Of course fixed phones are no longer our primary phones, even if anyone actually has them. The next big innovation was car phones, which have long since transformed into mobiles, then micro mobiles and then smartphones now phone watches. Eleanor Hall spoke to Professor Katina Michael from the University of Wollongong, and business technologist Steve Sammartino.

The Federal Government is vowing to tighten up the system of entitlements that go to parliamentarians within the first half of this year. It comes after a new revelation that the Liberal MP Sussan Ley tried to buy an investment property more than once, while she was on Queensland's Gold Coast paid for by the public purse. This afternoon, the Acting Special Minister of State Kelly O'Dwyer declared that taxpayers need to know their money is being spent wisely. She's promising the government will bring a new system to pay for parliamentary travel, based on the recommendations of a review presented to the government almost one year ago.

Tennis's international anti-corruption body has banned Australian player Nick Lindahl for seven years over match-fixing at a tournament in the regional Queensland city of Toowoomba in 2013. He was also fined almost $50,000. Two Brisbane players associated with Mr Lindahl's corrupt activity, Brandon Walkin and Isaac Frist, have also been found guilty of disciplinary offences by the Tennis Integrity Unit.

A new series of reports by the Lancet has found the overuse of some surgeries and medicines are more likely to cause harm than good, while the underuse is failing to use effective and affordable medical interventions. The authors of the report say the global economic burden of overuse and underuse is immense. The estimates are that up to a third of surgical procedures and medicines are either used to excess or inadequately.

Murderers would be forced to surrender their superannuation to victims' families under proposed law changes in Victoria. The pledge is part of an overhaul to the justice system announced by the Victorian Opposition, in response to a recent report on victims' rights. Victims of crime have welcomed the idea, but one legal expert says it could have further negative consequences for the criminal and for society.

The future of cash; does it have one? Certainly the Reserve Bank is optimistic. Last year it released a new bank note into circulation, a $5 bill that it spent millions redesigning. But this seems to run counter to the prediction from Australia's Assistant Treasurer last year that Australia is well on the way to becoming a cashless society, and we wouldn't be alone.