On Eid 2017, a peek into the lives of Puerto Rican Muslims

By Ken Chitwood

For Juan, Ramadan is a balancing act. On the one hand is his religious faith and practice. On the other is his land, his culture, his home Puerto Rico. Although he weaves these two elements of his identity together in...

University rankings: good intentions, image polishing and more bureaucracy

By Andre Spicer

Some UK universities will be cheering, some groaning, after the release of rankings under the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). My own university received a silver, so were shrugging. Despite all these reactions, we...

After years of destruction, Iraqis are rescuing their cultural identity

By Balsam Mustafa

Just after Iraqi forces declared they were closing in on the old city of Mosul, they announced that the so-called Islamic State (IS) had destroyed the 12th-century al-Nuri Mosque and its famed leaning minaret, known as...

New form of carbon discovered that is harder than diamond but flexible as rubber

By Elton Santos

Scientists have found a way to make carbon both very hard and very stretchy by heating it under high pressure. This compressed glassy carbon, developed by researchers in China and the US, is also lightweight and could...

Still too many holes in Theresa May's promise to EU citizens

By Anne Wesemann

A full year after the EU referendum, the British prime minister has finally issued a statement on the status of the 3m European citizens living in the UK. These people have spent the year lobbying governments, parliaments...

People keep voting in support of the death penalty. So how can we end it?

By Austin Sarat

Ending the death penalty in the United States wont be easy. After death penalty abolitionists slowly pushed toward its elimination for years, supporters of state killing have mounted a fierce effort in the courts and at...

#weakandwobbly: how Twitter revealed the mood that led to a hung parliament

By Amy Binns

The political events of recent few weeks in the UK have thrown up all sorts of interesting questions. Was Theresa May doomed as soon as she called an election? What drove the young people who voted Labour? How can we make...

Confidence can be a bad thing – here's why

By Tim Woodman Et Al

Have you ever felt 100% confident in your ability to complete a task, and then failed miserably? After losing in the first round at Queens Club for the first time since 2012, world number one tennis player, Andy Murray,...

How the duty to be beautiful is making young girls feel like failures

By Heather Widdows

From the daily application of high-tech lotions and potions to non-surgical procedures such as botox, fillers and peels, the beauty industry is booming like never before. With more products and treatments available...

US Supreme Court opens the floodgates for the trademarking of racist slurs

By Enrico Bonadio

You may not have heard of Asian-American dance-rock band, The Slants, but you may soon be very aware of a troubling precedent set after they won a contentious legal victory in the US Supreme Court. Founder and bass...

How to stop city breaks killing our cities

By Xavier Font

Cant wait to pack your bags and head off on holiday again? It used to be that people would look forward to a long break in summer, but now tourists have got used to regular short breaks through the year. We love to jet off...

Tasked with implementing Brexit, the British civil service faces immense change and uncertainty

By John Varano

Leaving the EU is one of the most intricate and transformative challenges that the UK has ever confronted. Brexit has significant implications for the British civil service and its capability to deliver on the governments...

Wonder Woman: feminist icon or symbol of oppression?

By Lina Abirafeh

Its been a busy and controversial year for Wonder Woman. In October 2016, the United Nations made a curious appointment: Wonder Woman would be the global organisations new Ambassador for Womens Empowerment, aligned...

Will Australians ever give up Uber?

By David Oliver Et Al

From the start, the ride-sharing service Uber offered app-based convenience and positioned itself as a saviour to beleaguered taxi customers. But the company, led by one-time chief executive Travis Kalanick, has now found...

Trump’s hawkish Cuba order will damage US influence in Latin America

By Rubrick Biegon

Donald Trump has issued a directive to tighten travel and business restrictions on Cuba. He is effectively reversing Barack Obamas efforts to normalise relations with the island; at a rally in Miami, he said that I am...

Will guilty verdict in teen texting suicide case lead to new laws on end-of-life issues?

By David Rossman

In Massachusetts, a 17-year-old girl named Michelle Carter repeatedly urged her boyfriend, who had a history of mental illness, to kill himself. And then, he did. As Conrad Roy III sat in his truck in 2014 and was...

Why there are costs to moral outrage

By Brandon Warmke Et Al

Many Americans are morally outraged that U.S. President Donald Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey, who had been investigating possible links between Trumps election campaign and the Russian government. Many others...

When – and why – did people first start using money?

By Chapurukha Kusimba

Sometimes you run across a grimy, tattered dollar bill that seems like its been around since the beginning of time. Assuredly it hasnt, but the history of human beings using cash currency does go back a long time 40,000...

We need to be cautious when assuming CCTV will prevent family violence

By Caitlin Overington

This years Victorian state budget included a A$1.9 billion package to tackle family violence. Part of this was a statewide Personal Safety Initiative, which expands a trial of installing technology such as CCTV, personal...

Qatar’s conflict with its neighbours can easily set the Horn of Africa alight

By Martin Plaut

It began as a squabble between Arab allies, but the standoff between Qatar and its neighbours is threatening to engulf the Horn of Africa. When Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and the Maldives...

Corrupt state owned enterprises lie at the heart of South Africa's economic woes

By Misheck Mutize Et Al

The prevailing economic crisis sweeping through South Africa is a direct result of economic mismanagement largely shaped by the looting of state owned enterprises. Many are in deep trouble. Sheer incompetence and...

Price hikes in Ether and Bitcoin aren't the signs of a bubble

By Jason Potts Et Al

When there is a rapid growth in any of the crypto-currencies and assets such as Bitcoin, Ether, Zcash and others, many will call it out as a bubble. Indeed, on a relatively short time scale it clearly looks like a...

What we know, don’t know and suspect about what causes motor neuron disease

By Viythia Katharesan Et Al

Since 2014, the ice bucket challenge, which involves people pouring a bucket of icy water over their heads, has raised awareness and much-needed research funds for motor neuron disease. While research for a cure is...

Why should the state wriggle out of providing public housing?

By Kate Shaw

The Victorian governments 2017 housing policy contains a bulk transfer of public housing to housing associations. Housing Minister Martin Foleys explanation is that the state is a terrible housing manager. A similar...

Brexit and weak government: a drama lesson from the Greece economy

By Alexander Tziamalis

The UK is not the first country to stand on the brink of leaving the EU. It may enjoy a far bigger and more productive economy than Greece, but there are alarming structural similarities between the two economies that cant...

Why did humans evolve such large brains? Because smarter people have more friends

By Mark Maslin

Humans are the only ultrasocial creature on the planet. We have outcompeted, interbred or even killed off all other hominin species. We cohabit in cities of tens of millions of people and, despite what the media tell us,...

We do nothing for missing people who come home – here's what should change

By Hester Parr

One prominent finalist on the recent ITV talent show Britains Got Talent was the Missing People Choir, whose haunting voices and accompanying images helped raise consciousness about those who disappear. After the grand...

How President Macron's parliament shapes up

By Paul Smith

After the first round of the French general election, on June 11, the order went out from the Elysée Palace to members of President Emmanuel Macrons La République en Marche (LRM): Pas de triomphalisme no...

Amazon dives into groceries with Whole Foods

By Roger Meiners

Editors note: Amazon became a major player in the supermarket business overnight after the online retailer said it was buying upscale grocery chain Whole Foods for US$13.7 billion, including debt, a premium of 27 percent...

Academics fear the value of knowledge for it's own sake is diminishing

By Jennifer Chubb

A climate of anti-intellectualism, faltering levels of trust in experts and an era of post-truth provides a rather dreary depiction of the state of academia today. Compound this with the reorganisation of higher...

How to build the perfect sandcastle – according to science

By Matthew Robert Bennett

Whether we prefer water sports or relaxing with a good book, the humble sandcastle is often a seaside must. But whats the secret to building a majestic sandcastle that will withstand the tide of time? Luckily, theres a...

Even though genetic information is available, doctors may be ignoring important clinical clues

By Greg Hall

With the availability of home genetic testing kits from companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry DNA, more people will be getting information about their genetic lineage and what races and ethnicities of the world are...

How US gun control compares to the rest of the world

By John Donohue

The shooting in Virginia that wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, as well as the shooting in a San Francisco UPS facility that left four dead on the very same day, have generated yet again the standard set of...

Do happy faces or sad faces raise more money? It depends

By Xiaoxia Cao

To encourage giving, many charities that serve people in need use photos depicting either happy people or sad ones in their pitches. These pictures symbolize the people who will benefit from donations made in response to...

How to protect 4.5m people from becoming Brexit bargaining chips

By Stijn Smismans

Both the EU and the UK have repeatedly stated that they want to secure the rights of the 3m EU citizens in the UK and the 1.5m British citizens in the EU as they negotiate their separation. But those rights have still...

Mexico's corruption problems are still among the world's deepest

By Costantino Grasso

Mexico has struggled with corruption for a long, long time, but recent events indicate that the situation is now at a truly intolerable pitch. This spring, two fugitive state governors were arrested in a joint operation...

Surprising ways to beat anxiety and become mentally strong – according to science

By Olivia Remes

Do you have anxiety? Have you tried just about everything to get over it, but it just keeps coming back? Perhaps you thought you had got over it, only for the symptoms to return with a vengeance? Whatever your...

Are heatwaves 'worsening' and have 'hot days' doubled in Australia in the last 50 years?

By Andrew King

The release of the Finkel report has refocused national attention on climate change, and how we know its happening. On a QA episode following the reports release, Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said that weve...

What can Europe expect from a Macron government

By Richard Maher

French President Emmanuel Macrons party, La République en Marche (Republic on the Move), captured a decisive majority on Sunday June 19 in elections for the National Assembly, Frances lower and more powerful...

Amazon poses a double threat to Australian retailers

By David Bond

E-commerce giant Amazon has struck a deal to acquire Whole Foods Market, an American supermarket chain with more than 400 stores. The move has put even more pressure on Australian retailers as Amazon sets up shop in...

Emergency doctors are using acupuncture to treat pain, now here's the evidence

By Marc Cohen

Emergency medicine is not all about life and death situations and high-tech solutions. Our study, the largest of its kind in the world, shows using acupuncture in the emergency department can relieve acute pain. The...

'The way they manipulate people is really saddening': study shows the trade-offs in gig work

By Sarah Kaine Et Al

Uber driver Michelle, thinks her job is fantastic when shes only after part-time hours. But shes given it a couple of months and she says shes not getting anywhere. To be able to earn A$800 she has to actually pull in...

Psychogeography: a way to delve into the soul of a city

By Siobhan Lyons

Psychogeography, as the term suggests, is the intersection of psychology and geography. It focuses on our psychological experiences of the city, and reveals or illuminates forgotten, discarded, or marginalised aspects of...

Zambia slides towards authoritarianism as IMF props up government

By Nic Cheeseman

The speaker of the Zambian National Assembly, Patrick Matibini, has suspended 48 opposition legislators for 30 days as a punishment for unauthorised absence from the parliament. Their offence? To have been missing for...

Social media is nothing like drugs, despite all the horror stories

By Amy C Orben Et Al

Letting your child use social media is like giving them cocaine, alcohol and cigarettes all at once, or so were told. If you have been following recent press reports about the effects of social media on young people, you...

Twenty years after the handover, Hong Kong proves itself a headache for China

By Nick Bisley

Hong Kong had suffered more than a century of vicissitudes. So declared Jiang Zemin on July 1, 1997, at the return of the colony to the motherland. Twenty years on from the handover of the British Crown colony, the people...

Once at the vanguard of national policy, California plays defense under Trump

By Char Miller

Xavier Becerra, Californias combative attorney general, has become the Golden States face of resistance to the Trump administrations domestic initiatives, the blunt voice rejecting the presidents attempts to roll back the...

Trump nods to Cuban exiles, rolls back ties: Experts react

By Brian Gendreau Et Al

Editors note: President Donald Trump announced on Friday a partial reversal of former President Barack Obamas policy of engagement with Cuba. Trump restored travel restrictions and prohibited financial transactions with...

How the spectre of Yugoslavia looms over EU's handling of the refugee crisis

By Irial Glynn

With peak season approaching for refugees making treacherous crossings to Europe, dont be surprised if we are told again that this is unprecedented. That would certainly be in keeping with what news organisations,...

It's all too easy to switch off from bad news – and it's dangerous too

By John Jewell

The full horror of the Grenfell Tower fire in west London is still to emerge. Like millions of others, I watched live as TV breakfast reports showed the blaze in its intensity and eyewitnesses told of their devastating...