By Stuart Jones, Professor of Sedimentology & Geoenergy, Durham University
Andrew Crossland, Professor in Practice, Department of Engineering, Durham University
Jon Gluyas, Professor of Geoenergy, Carbon Capture and Storage, Durham University
The UK government is deciding whether to approve a licence for Jackdaw gasfield, around 250km east of Aberdeen, in the North Sea. This is being presented by supporters as part of the answer to Britain’s energy-security problem. The UK government has argued that if Britain still needs gas, then producing it domestically is preferable to imports.
But there is a fundamental problem with treating new gas production as an answer to long-term energy needs especially when there are other enduring ways to use the North Sea to reduce bills, increase energy security and create jobs in the emerging…
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By Adam Taylor, Professor of Anatomy, Lancaster University
There are very few downsides to exercise. But a recent viral story highlighted one of the more embarrassing – and potentially dangerous – issues that can occur when your body reaches it limit with exercise.
Joanna Wietrzyk, the winner of the recent women’s pro Hyrox race in Beijing (a challenging fitness race that blends running and strength), found herself in the spotlight not for her performance – but because she soiled…
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By Kenneth Armstrong, Emeritus Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge
In a speech to the European Parliament, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney declared that “Europe and Canada are stronger together”. He also backed an offer made by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, one day earlier for Canada to become the first “associate member” of the bloc.
“Canada welcomes this ambition,” he said. “An alliance for the future is a unique, positive approach that we will define together.” But what might associate membership look like, how significant is von der…
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By Mark Shanahan, Associate Professor of Political Engagement, Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences, University of Surrey
For the past decade, global diplomacy has been dictated by one man’s social media musings. Since Donald Trump first glided into the Trump Tower atrium on his golden escalator, he – and what he has to say – has been the story, throwing red meat to the media and shaping the affairs of the US and the wider world through reactions to his increasingly imperial pronouncements.
But the 47th US president has been off-key of late, and his outbursts on everything from tariffs to the war in Iran have sent his popularity…
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By Amy Louise Blaney, Knowledge Exchange Coordinator, University of Wolverhampton
With new adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility arriving on our screens this autumn, television’s long-running love affair with Jane Austen shows little sign of abating. But there are other 18th-century writers with whom TV could have a wonderful love affair, too.
One writes about a woman who disguises herself as four different people to pursue the same man. Another writes about a woman becomes so obsessed with romance novels that she struggles to distinguish fiction from reality.…
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By Sara Carta, PhD Candidate in Computer Science, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin
Giovanni Di Liberto, Assistant Professor in Intelligent Systems, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin
Trying to understand how the brain is so good at focusing on one conversation has kept auditory neuroscientists occupied since the 1950s.
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By Santosh Vijaykumar, Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow in Digital Health, Northumbria University, Newcastle
Michael Craig, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle
The problem wasn’t the volume of emergency information – it was who it came from, and how it was delivered.
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By Susie West, Lecturer in Architectural History, The Open University
Every generation discovers its own heroes. I found mine in 2026. He died in 1726 and his name is John Vanbrugh (1664-1726). I’m not the first to discover him, of course, and I am in stellar company. This year has seen the Vanbrugh300 tercentenary celebrations of Vanbrugh’s life and legacy, looking at him in the round as soldier, playwright, architect and all round fun person to know.
In the 18th century, John Soane acknowledged Vanbrugh as “the Shakespeare of architecture”. Soane was professor of architecture…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Demonstrators assemble on September 15, 2026, outside the Istanbul courthouse to protest the arrests of LGBT activists and raids on LGBT rights associations in cities across Türkiye. More than 100 demonstrators were also arrested and detained for more than 24 hours. © 2026 Güliz Sağlam (Istanbul, September 18, 2026) – The Turkish government’s major crackdown on groups and activists defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people threatens the rule of law and fundamental rights in Türkiye, Human Rights Watch said today. On…
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By Amnesty International
Reacting to the re-arrest of human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha just hours after they had been granted bail by the Supreme Court yesterday, Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, said: “Imaan and Hadi’s re-arrest dispels any pretence that the charges against them are anything other than […] The post Pakistan: Re-arrest of Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha is a terrible injustice appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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