How learning a new language improves tolerance

Dec 12, 2016 09:53 am UTC| Life

There are many benefits to knowing more than one language. For example, it has been shown that aging adults who speak more than one language have less likelihood of developing dementia. Additionally, the bilingual brain...

Overconfident CEOs are less socially responsible

Dec 12, 2016 09:33 am UTC| Life

Overconfident CEOs tend to lead to less corporate social responsibility in a company, our research shows. The more confident the CEO, the less their firm invests in activity that has a positive impact on society. We...

The state has helped poor pupils into private schools before – did it work?

Dec 10, 2016 09:00 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

The Independent Schools Council, a body representing 1,200 private schools, is offering to provide 10,000 annual free places to low-income pupils. As we prepare for an extended debate over the benefits of getting deprived...

Does a free place at an independent school really trump going to a state school?

Dec 10, 2016 08:00 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

In her first statement as prime minister in July 2016, Theresa May said that if youre at a state school, youre less likely to reach the top professions than if youre educated privately. Such claims have often prompted...

How the Italian avant-garde survived the trenches of World War I

Dec 10, 2016 06:00 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

Milan, July 1915: 600 volunteer soldiers on bicycles make their way through the city streets, showered with sweets and cigarettes, as three planes overhead unfurl Italian tricolours. Among these soldiers was Filippo...

The Victorian origins of the Mannequin Challenge

Dec 10, 2016 05:00 am UTC| Life

If youve been on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram over the past month, youve probably come across a Mannequin Challenge video, in which people strike a frozen pose as Rae Sremmurds Black Beatles plays in the background. The...

Reflections on the idea of a common humanity

Dec 10, 2016 03:48 am UTC| Insights & Views Life Law

It is striking how often people now speak of a common humanity in ethically inflected registers, or ethically resonant tones that express a fellowship of all the peoples of the earth, or sometimes the hope for such a...