
Big data's 'streetlight effect': where and how we look affects what we see
May 17, 2016 16:23 pm UTC| Insights & Views Technology
Big data offers us a window on the world. But large and easily available datasets may not show us the world we live in. For instance, epidemiological models of the recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa using big data...

In a digital archive of fugitive slave ads, a new portrait of slavery emerges
May 17, 2016 16:19 pm UTC| Insights & Views
Among the millions of people enslaved in the United States before 1865, hundreds of thousands attempted to flee from those who held them in bondage. Some left temporarily to protest mistreatment. Others sought to...

How Panama almost forgot its decades of military dictatorship
May 17, 2016 16:13 pm UTC| Insights & Views
By Latin American standards, Panamas years under a military regime are something of a mystery. While the world is well aware of how it ended, not many know how it began or what it entailed for the people who lived under...

New competitive landscape for higher education confirmed in white paper
May 17, 2016 16:11 pm UTC| Life Insights & Views
The government has published detail of sweeping changes to the architecture of higher education and research in the UK in a new white paper. The document, Succeeding as a Knowledge Economy, takes forward most of the ideas...
Can't buy me love? The economics of gift giving
May 17, 2016 15:56 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life
Is 100 a generous enough wedding gift? Not according to one bride, who emailed her guest asking for a top up to their present of cash. The story prompted a lively discussion about how much one should spend on a present for...
Why is the academic consensus on the cost of Brexit being ignored?
May 17, 2016 15:53 pm UTC| Insights & Views
Two issues dominate the EU referendum debate: economics and immigration. When it comes to my field of economics, polling evidence suggests that if people became convinced that they would be worse off by leaving, even it...

IS is not in retreat – and Libya is just one front in this war
May 17, 2016 15:45 pm UTC| Insights & Views
Ever since NATO stepped in to help terminate the Gaddafi regime in 2011, Libya has been in an abject state of chaos and insecurity. It has been torn apart by an array militias and coalitions vying for local power, the...