Modern pentathlon is invoking a fictional Pierre de Coubertin to justify its controversial politics

By Jörg Krieger Et Al

The International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) recently published two articles involving the long-dead founder of the modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin. In one article, Coubertin is quoted several times as a...

Gym hygiene guide: the dangerous bacteria that lurk in dirty fitness equipment and clothes

By Dan Baumgardt

A friend of mine, on a recent trip to the gym, declined to use the machine for drying his trunks that gym equivalent of a salad spinner which removes excess water from your swimming costume. His reason? The amount of...

‘They don’t have enough’ – schools in England are running food banks for families

By Will Baker

The peak of the cost-of-living crisis may have passed, but millions of families are struggling to buy enough food to feed their children. Experiencing food insecurity can be deeply damaging for children and negatively...

EU enlargement: What does the future hold?

By Cesáreo Rodríguez-Aguilera de Prat

To widen or to deepen. This has been one of the longstanding dilemmas throughout European Union (EU) history, and a perennial sticking point in the unending process of European integration. In its time, the UK...

UK’s creative industries bring in more revenue than cars, oil and gas – so why is arts education facing cuts?

By Adam Behr

Recent guidance issued by the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, to the Office for Students reveals conflicting priorities in government and pours fuel on fires burning in an already troubled higher education...

Why doesn’t my digital music feel like ‘mine’? Three ways digital possessions reduce our sense of ownership

By Rebecca Mardon

Our possessions the things we view as mine play an important role in our lives. Beyond their functionality, they can serve as poignant reminders of cherished memories. They can symbolise not only who we are, but also who...

Ireland at the crossroads: Can the ancient Brehon laws guide the republic away from anti-immigrant sentiment

By Christine Kinealy

Irelands new prime minister is a relatively young man leading a comparatively young republic that is experiencing several unprecedented challenges. Simon Harris was confirmed as taoiseach, or prime minister, on April 9,...

Fermented foods sustain both microbiomes and cultural heritage

By Andrew Flachs Et Al

Many people around the world make and eat fermented foods. Millions in Korea alone make kimchi. The cultural heritage of these picklers shape not only what they eat every time they crack open a jar but also something much,...

Know thyself − all too well: Why Taylor Swift’s songs are philosophy

By Jessica Flanigan

Taylor Swift isnt just a billionaire songwriter and performer. Shes also a philosopher. As a Swiftie and a philosopher, Ive found that this claim surprises Swifties and philosophers alike. But once her fans learn a bit...

Why are blooper reels so funny?

By Shane Rogers

Blooper reels are very popular, with some videos on YouTube racking up tens of millions of views. Its a curious thing: why are videos of mistakes sometimes getting as much attention (or more!) as clips from the actual TV...

What if whales took us to court? A move to grant them legal personhood would include the right to sue

By Rachael Evans

In a groundbreaking declaration earlier this month, Indigenous leaders of New Zealand and the Cook Islands signed a treaty, He Whakaputanga Moana, to recognise whales as legal persons. Aotearoa New Zealand has already...

In a time of information overload, enigmatic philosopher Byung-Chul Han seeks the re-enchantment of the world

By Heather Blakey

Byung-Chul Han is the enigmatic philosopher and author of The Burnout Society and Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power. In his latest book The Crisis of Narration, he argues that despite the present...

An education in music makes you a better employee. Are recruiters in tune?

By Diana Tolmie

See the word musician on a resume and you might not immediately think stellar employee or exceptional leader. Perhaps the word evokes the image of a rock star, in trouble for chucking a television out of a hotel room...

Rogue waves in the ocean are much more common than anyone suspected, says new study

By Alessandro Toffoli

We used three-dimensional imaging of ocean waves to capture freakish seas that produce a notorious phenomenon known as rogue waves. Our results are now published in Physical Review Letters*. Rogue waves are giant...

The big dry: forests and shrublands are dying in parched Western Australia

By Joe Fontaine Et Al

Perth has just had its driest six months on record, while Western Australia sweltered through its hottest summer on record. Those records are remarkable in their own right. But these records are having real...

After Iran’s attack on Israel, is a devastating regional war next?

By James Devine

After almost two weeks of waiting, Tehran retaliated against Israel for the April 1 bombing of its consulate in Damascus, Syria, launching multiple waves of drones and cruise missiles at Israel. More than 300 weapons...

Is attachment theory actually important for romantic relationships?

By Marissa Nivison Et Al

There has been a recent surge of attention toward attachment theory: from TikTok videos to online quizzes that claim to assess your attachment style. Its become a hot topic, especially in the context of romantic...

NYT Connections: Tips to improve your game through the science of semantic memory

By Emiko Muraki Et Al

Puzzle fans are hooked on Connections, the latest word game from the New York Times that launched in June 2023, following the success of Wordle. The premise of the Connections game is deceivingly simple: from a grid of 16...

The Alberta government is interfering in public sector bargaining on an unprecedented scale

By Jason Foster Et Al

In the coming months, over 200,000 public sector workers in Alberta will begin bargaining with their employers for new contracts. The most recent agreements expired in March and, after many years of high inflation and few...

Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel was a strategic miscalculation. Can all-out war now be averted?

By Ran Porat1

Close to midnight on April 13, hundreds of military drones were launched from both Iran and Iraq toward Israel. Subsequently, several waves of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and rockets followed, originating from...

Gaza war: Israel using AI to identify human targets raising fears that innocents are being caught in the net

By Elke Schwarz

A report by Jerusalem-based investigative journalists published in +972 magazine finds that AI targeting systems have played a key role in identifying and potentially misidentifying tens of thousands of targets in Gaza....

The idea that US interest rates will stay higher for longer is probably wrong

By Alan Shipman

The 0.4% rise in US consumer prices in March didnt look like headline news. It was the same as the February increase, and the year-on-year rise of 3.5% is still sharply down from 5% a year ago. All the same, this modest...

Elephant tourism often involves cruelty – here are steps toward more humane, animal-friendly excursions

By Michelle Szydlowski

Suju Kali is a 50-year-old elephant in Nepal who has been carrying tourists for over 30 years. Like many elephants I encounter through my research, Suju Kali exhibits anxiety and can be aggressive toward strangers. She...

Eye infections might seem like a minor complaint – but in some cases they can cause blindness and even death

By Adam Taylor2

When you think of eye infections, what comes to mind? Puffy, swollen bruised feeling eyelids that get glued together with gunk overnight? That feeling of having grit in your eye that cant be cleaned away? Eye infections...

Inside the global arms industry: what a secretive London trade fair reveals about international weapons sales

By Jill Gibbon

One of the worlds largest arms fairs, Defence and Security Exhibition International (DSEI), takes place every two years at the ExCeL centre, a vast exhibition space in London Docklands. The venue usually hosts food,...

Back to Black: Amy Winehouse biopic reviewed by an alcohol expert

By Sadie Boniface

Content warning: this article discusses mental health, addiction and eating disorders. Back to Black is a new biopic about the life of musician Amy Winehouse. It covers the time from when she gets her record deal aged...

Why Africa can be the beating heart of South Korea’s technology industry

By Bhavtik Vallabhjee Et Al

Tshepo Ncube, Head: International Coverage and Bhavtik Vallabhjee, Head: Power, Utilities Infrastructure at Absa CIB reflect on their recent visit to South Korea, examining why investors in the region have their eyes set...

Personalized cancer treatments based on testing drugs quickly leads to faster treatment, better outcomes

By Diana Azzam

Despite many efforts to find better, more effective ways to treat cancer, it remains a leading cause of death by disease among children in the U.S. Cancer patients are also getting younger. Cancer diagnoses among those...

Peter Higgs was one of the greats of particle physics. He transformed what we know about the building blocks of the universe

By Harald Fox

Peter Higgs, who gave his name to the subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson, has died aged 94. He was always a modest man, especially when considering that he was one of the greats of particle physics the area of...

How hybrid work is reinventing management

By Olga Kokshagina Et Al

When it arrived en masse for the Covid pandemic, remote working was hailed as an arrangement that boosted work-life balance and slashed commuter-related misery and pollution. But it would appear its golden days are...

Late Night with the Devil is a sly, gleefully horrifying Aussie hit that invites you to be hypnotised

By Erin Harrington

The 70s-throwback found-footage horror comedy, Late Night with the Devil, joins a long list of recent Australian horror success stories. Framed as a tabloid-style retrospective, the film invites us to watch the newly...

Israel accused of using AI to target thousands in Gaza, as killer algorithms outpace international law

By Natasha Karner

The Israeli army used a new artificial intelligence (AI) system to generate lists of tens of thousands of human targets for potential airstrikes in Gaza, according to a report published last week. The report comes from the...

Once enemies, Japan and US strengthen their alliance – and it goes beyond AUKUS

By Craig Mark

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishidas state visit to the White House has already resulted in one of the most ambitious boosts to the United States-Japan alliance. This alliance is now at the core of American strategy to...

Surgery won’t fix my chronic back pain, so what will?

By Christine Lin Et Al

This weeks ABC Four Corners episode Pain Factory highlighted that our health system is failing Australians with chronic pain. Patients are receiving costly, ineffective and risky care instead of effective, low-risk...

If you squat in a vacant property, does the law give you the house for free? Well, sort of

By Cathy Sherry

Nothing excites law students like the idea of a free house. Or alternatively, enrages them. It depends on their politics. As a result, academics condemned to teaching property law find it hard to resist the doctrine of...

Loyalty programs may limit competition, and they could be pushing prices up for everyone

By Alexandru Nichifor Et Al

Loyalty programs enable firms to offer significantly lower prices to some of their customers. Youd think this would encourage strong competition. But that isnt always what actually happens. New research shows that...

AI will not revolutionize business management but it could make it worse

By Guillaume Desjardins

It is no exaggeration to say that the democratization of new forms of artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT (OpenAI), Gemini/Bard (Google) and Copilot (Microsoft), is a societal revolution of the digital...

As a child psychiatrist, I know it’s critical for kindergartens to embrace playful learning

By Jean Clinton

Think back to one of your fondest memories of play. Where were you, who were you with, what powers did you pretend to have? Would you like to go back there if you could, if only for a moment? Unfortunately, fewer and...

Putin’s Russia: first arrests under new anti-LGBT laws mark new era of repression

By Sergey Katsuba

Just over three decades after Russia decriminalised homosexuality in 1993, three people have been arrested and charged under the countrys harsh new anti-LGBT laws and could face ten years in prison for membership of an...

Tunisia’s El Kef city is rich in heritage: centuries of cultural mixing give it a distinct identity

By Majdi Faleh Et Al

El Kef is a city built into the southern face of Jebel Dyr mountain, which is linked to the High Atlas mountains in the north-western region of Tunisia that borders on Algeria. The breeze that sweeps off the mountain and...

The Art of Climbing: a brief history of photographing rock-climbing

By Simon Bainbridge

For nearly two centuries, rock-climbing and photography have been tightly intertwined, spectacularly roped together on knife-edge artes, vertiginous overhangs and seemingly sheer cliff faces. Simon Carters stunning...

Germany decriminalised cannabis: why the UK should consider doing the same

By Ian Hamilton Et Al

The German government has approved new legislation which decriminalises cannabis. This policy allows over-18s to possess a maximum of 25 grams of cannabis for personal use and grow up to three plants at home. From...

Why Sikhs celebrate the festival of Baisakhi

By Anshu Malhotra

On the festival of Baisakhi, celebrated usually on April 13, Sikhs the world over will joyously wear yellow saffron colors, symbolizing spring harvest and the solar new year, when the Sun enters the constellation...

Tesla’s innovation and resilience could see it through this rough patch

By Hamza Mudassir

Tesla has come up against some major bumps in the road so far in 2024. Having been a leader in the electric vehicle (EV) market for years, the company has faced unprecedented challenges this year. In a dramatic turn of...

US media coverage of new science less likely to mention researchers with African and East Asian names

By Hao Peng

When one Chinese national recently petitioned the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to become a permanent resident, he thought his chances were pretty good. As an accomplished biologist, he figured that news...

Could a telescope ever see the beginning of time? An astronomer explains

By Adi Foord

The James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST for short, is one of the most advanced telescopes ever built. Planning for JWST began over 25 years ago, and construction efforts spanned over a decade. It was launched into space on...

Young Kenyans are not finding work: how universities can do a better job of training entrepreneurs

By Renson Muchiri Mwangi Et Al

Kenyas long-term development blueprint, Vision 2030, envisions an empowered youth driving economic growth. The focus on its young population (aged 1534) is apt given that the median age of the countrys population of 55...

Biden steps up pressure on Israel − using the key levers available against an ally with strong domestic support

By Jordan Tama

The fraying relationship between the U.S. and Israel over the latter countrys conduct of its war in Gaza got even worse on April 4, 2024, several days after Israel killed seven aid workers in a drone strike. President Joe...

Scoop: Netflix depiction of Prince Andrew interview is a welcome addition to the journalism film canon

By Sarah Lonsdale

The car crash interview with Prince Andrew was indeed a scoop for then BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis. Its depiction in the new Netflix film Scoop is a reminder of the power of the one-to-one interview where, as in...

How the UK’s new rights around flexible working will affect employees and businesses

By Jane Parry Et Al

Employees in the UK have just received a new right to request flexible working arrangements from the first day of a new job. This is courtesy of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act and supporting secondary...