Supporting ‘democracy’ is hard for many who feel government and the economy are failing them
By Matthew Wilson
Americans, it seems, can both value the idea of democracy and not support it in practice.
Since 2016, academics and journalists have expressed concerns that formerly secure democracies are becoming less democratic....
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at 200: Revolutionary work of art has spawned two centuries of joy, goodwill and propaganda
By Ted Olson
In early 1824, 30 members of Viennas music community sent a letter to Ludwig van Beethoven petitioning the great composer to reconsider his plans to premiere his latest work in Berlin and instead debut the symphony in...
Healthy teeth are wondrous and priceless – a dentist explains why and how best to protect them
By Samer Zaky
At an auction in England in 2011, one of John Lennons teeth sold for just over US$31,000.
How much are your teeth worth?
Teeth are amazing little miracles. They light up our smiles, we use them to speak and we chew...
Radical Optimism is Dua Lipa’s philosophy for dealing with life’s chaos – but radical openness is a better approach
By Joshua Forstenzer
In a teaser video for her third album, Radical Optimism, Dua Lipa explained that every track has that through-the-struggle-you-are-going-to-make-it optimistic feeling.
She has also said that the album taps into the pure...
Where is the legal line between celebrity worship and stalking?
By Alexandros Antoniou
Falling under the spell of a celebrity crush is a common part of adolescence. But in the age of social media and unprecedented access to our idols, admiration can morph into harm.
In April, a woman was jailed for...
What to expect from the next generation of chatbots: OpenAI’s GPT-5 and Meta’s Llama-3
By Abdul Sadka
Recently, there has been a flurry of publicity about the planned upgrades to OpenAIs ChatGPT AI-powered chatbot and Metas Llama system, which powers the companys chatbots across Facebook and Instagram.
The technology...
How much time should you spend sitting versus standing? New research reveals the perfect mix for optimal health
By Christian Brakenridge
People have a pretty intuitive sense of what is healthy standing is better than sitting, exercise is great for overall health and getting good sleep is imperative.
However, if exercise in the evening may disrupt our...
Will Solomon Islands’ new leader stay close to China?
By Priestley Habru Et Al
Former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele has been elected the next prime minister of Solomon Islands, defeating the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in a vote in parliament.
The result is a mixed bag for former prime...
Aggressive? Homophobic? Stoic? Here’s what thousands of Australian men told us about modern masculinity
By Michael Flood
Most young adult men in Australia reject traditional ideas of masculinity that endorse aggression, stoicism and homophobia. Nonetheless, the ongoing influence of those ideas continues to harm men and the people around...
Ensuring victims’ rights: The federal ombudsperson’s office is necessary but insufficient
By Alain-Guy Sipowo
Are victims rights well protected in Canada?
When the Act for the Recognition of Victims Rights, also known as the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights, was adopted in 2015, it raised expectations and hope among victims of...
High interest rates aren’t going away anytime soon – a business economist explains why
By Christopher Decker
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at its May 1, 2024, policy meeting, dashing the hopes of potential homebuyers and others who were hoping for a cut. Not only will rates remain at their current level a...
Trump-proofing Nato: why Europe’s current nuclear deterrents may not be enough to face biggest threats since WWII
By Natasha Lindstaedt
Though a second Trump presidency is not a foregone conclusion, Nato members are gearing up to Trump-proof the organisation and reviewing their defence strategies.
Natos concerns about Trumps re-election were heightened...
Why it takes so long to simulate the climate in a supercomputer
By Samar Khatiwala
Climate models are some of the most complex pieces of software ever written, able to simulate a vast number of different parts of the overall system, such as the atmosphere or ocean. Many have been developed by hundreds of...
US election: why it’s not the protesters’ votes that the Democrats should worry about
By Thomas Gift
As hundreds of New York police officers in riot gear were called in to clear away a student protest at Columbia University on Tuesday night, the university president Nemat Shafik was saying she had no choice but to take...
What the Supreme Court is doing right in considering Trump’s immunity case
By Claire B. Wofford
Following the nearly three-hour oral argument about presidential immunity in the Supreme Court on April 25, 2024, many commentators were aghast. The general theme, among legal and political experts alike, was a...
More price rises and empty shelves on the cards as UK brings in Brexit border checks
By Kamran Mahroof Et Al
New import checks on foods arriving from the EU could affect supplies at Britains local delis, high-street greengrocers or independent cafes. Worse, they could lead to shortages that affect the very viability of these...
Electricity from farm waste: how biogas could help Malawians with no power
By Ehiaze Ehimen Et Al
In sub-Saharan Africa, over 600 million people (more than 50% of the population) are without access to electricity. Malawi has one of the worlds lowest electricity access rates just 14.1% of the total population have...
The biblical character who goes ‘down the rabbit hole’ into an alternate reality − just like Alice in Wonderland
By Ryan M. Armstrong
The Bibles Book of Job opens on an ordinary day in the land of Uz, where a man carefully performs religious rituals to protect his children. This routine has never failed Job, who is described as the most righteous person...
Electric air taxis are on the way – quiet eVTOLs may be flying passengers as early as 2025
By Jamey Jacob
Imagine a future with nearly silent air taxis flying above traffic jams and navigating between skyscrapers and suburban droneports. Transportation arrives at the touch of your smartphone and with minimal environmental...
China set to blast off to the far side of the Moon – here’s what it could discover
By Ben Rider-Stokes
China is attempting to recover the first ever soil and rock samples from the lunar far side. The surface mission, Change 6, named after the Chinese Moon goddess Change, is a predecessor to the successful sample return...
Kenya’s devastating floods expose decades of poor urban planning and bad land management
By Sean Avery
Floods in Kenya killed at least 169 people between March and April 2024. The most catastrophic of these deaths occurred after a flash flood swept through a rural village killing 42 people. Death and destruction have also...
US sanctions on Iranian hackers highlight growing concern about the Islamic Republic’s cyberwarriors
By Vasileios Karagiannopoulos Et Al
A feature of the simmering tensions between the US, Israel and Iran has been not just the tit-for-tat missile and drone strikes and assassinations, but accusations of cyberwarfare waged by Iran.
On April 23, the US...
‘Britain could soon lose control of its defence industry’ – expert Q&A
By Keith Hartley
Miltary spending is surging in the face of heightened geopolitical tensions. The UK plans to hike its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030, amounting to 87 billion a year. This is an increase from around 2.3% today,...
Business and management graduates can become climate change and sustainability champions
By David Ssekamatte
There is no doubt about it: the world is in the grips of a climate crisis. The headlines are full of reports about extreme weather events and the negative effects of the fossil fuel industry.
This reality means that...
Gen Zers and millennials are still big fans of books – even if they don’t call themselves ‘readers’
By Kathi Inman Berens Et Al
Identifying with an activity is different from actually doing it.
For example, 49% of Americans play video games, but only 10% identify as gamers.
According to a recent survey we conducted, theres also a small gap...
Electric vehicles are usually safer for their occupants – but not necessarily for everyone else
By Jingwen Hu
The future of automobiles is electric, but many people worry about the safety of todays electric vehicles.
Public opinion about EV crash safety often hinges on a few high-profile fire incidents. Those safety concerns...
US long-term care costs are sky-high, but Washington state’s new way to help pay for them could be nixed
By Marc Cohen1
If you needed long-term care, could you afford it?
For many Americans, especially those with a middle-class income and little savings, the answer to that question is absolutely not.
Nursing homes charge somewhere...
For Europe to emulate Silicon Valley’s tech success, it should change its startup funding model
By Michaela Hruskova Et Al
Tech startups will be enthused by the news that Silicon Valley venture capital (VC) veteran General Catalyst is on the verge of raising US$6 billion (4.8 billion) for backing new companies. It comes hot on the heels of an...
The French identify as Europeans – and yet are also notoriously Eurosceptic
By Pierre Bréchon
In less than two months, more than 400 million people will be eligible to vote in the European elections. If the record turnout of 2019 elections is anything to go by, many will be seizing their voting rights, allowing...
What are heart rate zones, and how can you incorporate them into your exercise routine?
By Hunter Bennett
If you spend a lot of time exploring fitness content online, you might have come across the concept of heart rate zones. Heart rate zone training has become more popular in recent years partly because of the boom in...
Four myths about vertical farming debunked by an expert
By Zoe Harris
Vertical farms look hi-tech and sophisticated, but the premise is simple plants are grown without soil, with their roots in a solution containing nutrients. This innovative approach to agriculture is growing in global...
Young middle-class Nigerians are desperate to leave the country: insights into why
By Jing Jing Liu
Since the 1980s, migration has been a part of the Nigerian middle-class psyche, catalysed by the usual suspects: high unemployment, security concerns, infrastructure gaps, and poor governance. Migrants tends to be...
Uganda’s tax system isn’t bringing in enough revenue but is targeting small business the answer?
By Maria Jouste
Uganda, with a fiscal deficit of 5.6% in 2023, has increasingly turned to local resources to make up for its revenue shortfall since the World Bank suspended its funding on 8 August 2023 over the countrys...
Teens see social media algorithms as accurate reflections of themselves, study finds
By Nora McDonald
Social media apps regularly present teens with algorithmically selected content often described as for you, suggesting, by implication, that the curated content is not just for you but also about you a mirror reflecting...
Greater Detroit is becoming more diverse and less segregated –
By Grigoris Argeros
The Detroit metropolitan area is one of the most segregated areas in the United States.
But that is slowly starting to change for some racial groups.
The slow change is driven by the fact that the region became more...
Japan’s diplomatic charm offensive in US aims to keep Washington in committed relationship
By Mary M. McCarthy
April 2024 proved to be a busy month in Japanese-U.S. diplomacy.
The month saw a state visit to the U.S. by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida that included a White House sit-down with President Joe Biden on April 10. The...
Ghosted, orbited, breadcrumbed? A psychotherapist breaks down some perils of digital dating and how to cope
By Danielle Sukenik
Buzzwords describing the digital dating scene are all over social media. Have you been ghosted? Is someone orbiting you? Are you being breadcrumbed? While these dating patterns may not be new, the words to describe them...
LVMH succession planning: keeping it in the family when you’re the world’s richest man
By Qing Wang
In the high end world of luxury and heritage, many brands are still owned and managed by the original founding family. The issue of succession planning, therefore, can be particularly important. This recently came to the...
Britain and France are forging a new alliance over backing for Ukraine
By Amelia Hadfield
One hundred and twenty years after the Entente Cordiale, Britain and France are forging a new alliance.
The original 1904 agreement paved the way for a stronger relationship between the two countries, but this time the...
How the Mandela myth helped win the battle for democracy in South Africa
By Jonny Steinberg
Political history scholar Jonny Steinbergs 2023 book Winnie Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage is a double biography of South Africas most famous political figures Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela Mandela and their role...
Why is China risking US sanctions by arming Russia?
By Chee Meng Tan
US secretary of state Antony Blinken fired a warning salvo towards China during a G7 foreign ministers meeting on the Italian island of Capri on April 20. The USs top diplomat said that China is a prime contributor of...
Why the potential for another Donald Trump presidency is making Iran very nervous
By Amin Naeni
Theres been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russias war in Ukraine, the Israel-Palestinian conflict and China. But theres one more...
The planetary orbit in Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’ is random and chaotic, but could it exist?
By Peter Watson
Note: The following article contains spoilers about the Netflix series 3 Body Problem.
I first encountered the three-body problem 60 years ago, in a short story called Placet is a Crazy Place by American science fiction...
China’s money only goes so far – Kokoda shows why history binds PNG and Australia in a far deeper way
By Ian Kemish
There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the gruelling Kokoda Track towards Isurava, high...
Granting legal ‘personhood’ to nature is a growing movement – can it stem biodiversity loss?
By Viktoria Kahui
Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing.
One emerging concept focuses on giving legal rights to...
How visas for social care workers may be exacerbating exploitation in the sector
By Caroline Emberson
The health and social care visa route was introduced in August 2020 as a response to labour shortages after Brexit and the COVID pandemic. Now, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration has found that the...
Nature conservation works, and we’re getting better at it – new study
By Joseph William Bull Et Al
To work in nature conservation is to battle a headwind of bad news. When the overwhelming picture indicates the natural world is in decline, is there any room for optimism? Well, our new global study has some good news: we...
What is meaningful work? A philosopher’s view
By Caleb Althorpe
Work is an inescapable feature of the modern world. Most of us, except for a lucky few, spend a significant portion of our lives working. If this is the case, we may as well try and make it meaningful. In a 2019 report,...
US drugs regulator gives LSD ‘breakthrough’ status for treating anxiety – why this is so significant
By Colin Davidson
LSD was accidentally discovered by Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz pharmaceutical company in Switzerland in 1938. It was apparently useless, but from 1947 it was marketed as a cure for everything from schizophrenia to...
Male baldness is often trivialised – our research shows it should be taken seriously
By Paul Hodkinson Et Al
Male pattern baldness, or hereditary hair loss, has not always been taken seriously. Celebrity hair loss and transplants are greeted with fascinated amusement while, in popular media, bald men have often been absent,...