By David Sear, Professor in Physical Geography, University of Southampton
Manoj Joshi, Professor of Climate Dynamics, University of East Anglia
Mark Peaple, Research Fellow, Palaeoclimate, University of Southampton
The same question drives both the plot of Moana and decades of archaeological research: why, after centuries of relative stability, did Polynesian voyagers suddenly begin settling islands thousands of kilometres away across the Pacific?
The latest Moana movie is a live-action adaptation of a Disney animated movie of the same name. While the films are fictional, they draw inspiration from the rich seafaring heritage of Polynesian peoples,…
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By Frédéric Schmidt, Professeur, Planétologie, Université Paris-Saclay
Camille Thomas, Chercheur en géologie, University of Bern
Romain Vaucher, Senior Lecturer in Sedimentology, James Cook University
Publishing and having access to scientific articles is an expensive business for research institutions. Fortunately, there are content providers out there who deliver rigorous material that’s free of charge.
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By Jamie Thompson, Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology, University of Reading
High above the rainforest floor, tiny ponds form in the leaves of plants perched on tree branches. Frogs breed in these ponds, alongside insects, microbes and even tiny crustaceans, creating miniature ecosystems suspended high in the canopy. These are the bromeliads – the remarkable plant family that also gave us air plants, the towering 12-metre “Queen…
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By Duane Froese, Professor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
Hendrik Poinar, Professor of Anthropology and Biochemistry and the Micheal G. DeGroote Chair in Genetic Anthropology, McMaster University
Scott L. Cocker, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Paleogenetics, Stockholm University
Tyler J. Murchie, Scientist, Ancient DNA Lab (Biodiversity Genomics division) at the Hakai Institute and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Anthropology, McMaster University
Permafrost holds an extraordinary molecular record of ancient life — and we are only now learning to read it, just as warming begins to erase it.
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By Hermes Florez, Professor of Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina
Zeina Hannoush, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Miami
Two physicians discuss the ongoing earthquake relief efforts in their home country of Venezuela and explain what the healthcare system was like before the disaster.
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By Kevin Walby, Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Winnipeg
Raina DeGroot, Doctor of Law Candidate, University of Manitoba
Three provinces have passed laws that make it easier for governments to withhold, delay or dismiss requests for public records — and Ottawa may be next.
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Thursday, July 9, 2026
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group to cease hostilities as he deplored recent civilian deaths on Thursday.
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By Glyn Barrett, Lecturer in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Reading
If you visit the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, on the edge of London, you will see a brightly painted skeleton of a dead oak tree. The tree, known as the climate changed oak, succumbed in the heatwave of 2022. Instead of removing it, Kew left it in place as a reminder that climate change is already taking its toll on Britain’s trees.
The 2022 heatwave killed 400 of Kew’s trees and predictions show that up to 50% of Kew’s existing 11,000 trees could be vulnerable to climate…
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By Hokbi Tiunn, PhD Candidate, Law, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Taiwan pushes back every day against an authoritarian vision of international order that allows dictator regimes to decide who’s allowed to be seen, named and heard.
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By Marzieh Kouhi-Esfahani, Assistant Professor in Politics and International Relations of the Middle East, Durham University
Ali Khamenei, who served as Iran’s supreme leader until his assassination in a US-Israeli operation in February 2026, will finally be laid to rest today. His burial brings a week of public mourning ceremonies and processions to an end, and comes as hostilities between the US and Iran are escalating again.
Islamic tradition calls for the prompt burial of the deceased. Iran’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was buried within three days of his death in…
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