Nuclear weapons might save the world from an asteroid strike – but we need to change the law first

Apr 27, 2019 06:21 am UTC| Insights & Views Science

The schlocky 1998 Bruce Willis movie Armageddon was the highest grossing film of that year. The blockbuster saw a master oil driller (Willis) and an unlikely crew of misfits place a nuclear bomb inside a giant asteroid...

Personalities are like traditions – unique patterns of behaviour that build over a lifetime of improvisation

Apr 27, 2019 06:20 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

The question of whether personality is the result of nature or nurture has plagued researchers and the general public for decades. What we do know is that we are all unique, each with a distinctive pattern of speech,...

Identicide: How demographic shifts can rip a country apart

Apr 27, 2019 06:20 am UTC| Insights & Views

What happens to a country when its core national identity its preferred image of itself in terms of race or religion doesnt match its demographic reality? Say a Sunni-dominated Arab country is actually a majority Shia...

What's on the far side of the Moon?

Apr 27, 2019 06:19 am UTC| Insights & Views Science

Looking up at the silvery orb of the Moon, you might recognize familiar shadows and shapes on its face from one night to the next. You see the same view of the Moon our early ancestors did as it lighted their way after...

It's 2019 – where's my supersuit?

Apr 27, 2019 06:19 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology

I loved the Thundercats cartoon as a child, watching cat-like humanoids fighting the forces of evil. Whenever their leader was in trouble, hed unleash the Sword of Omens to gain sight beyond sight, the ability to see...

Striving for happiness could be making you unhappy – here’s how to find your own path

Apr 27, 2019 06:17 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

Happiness is big business, with sales of self-help books in the UK reaching record levels in the past year. Perhaps thats because happiness is no longer the birthright of the elite. Just half a century ago, psychologist...

Confrontational and nonconformist: how UK journalists compare with their German counterparts – new research

Apr 27, 2019 06:17 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

The British press is regarded by the rest of the world as notoriously raucous. If you need an example of how raucous, the way British newspapers have reported Brexit is only one recent, if much-discussed, example....