By Ifeyinwa Ijeoma Obianyo, Lecturer and Researcher in Civil Engineering, Nile University of Nigeria
Nigeria doesn’t have enough roads, and it’s making life harder for people, especially in rural areas. The Nigerian government’s latest estimate is that the country needs another 200,000 kilometres of roads and this will cost a whopping N18 trillion (US$12.2 billion).
These new roads will help people get to schools, hospitals and markets, and boost the economy. But the high price of equipment, maintenance, labour and materials needed, like aggregates,…
(Full Story)
|
By Isla C. Duporge, British–French zoologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Princeton University
Daniel Rubenstein, Professor of Zoology and Director, Program in Environmental Studies, Princeton University
David Macdonald, Professor of Wildlife Conservation and Director of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, University of Oxford
Tiejun Wang, Associate Professor in Remote Sensing and Geospatial Ecology, University of Twente
Using satellites and AI, scientists have mapped wildebeest across the Serengeti-Mara, offering a new perspective on how this movement can be monitored from space.
(Full Story)
|
By Sarah Reid, Senior Business Editor, The Conversation
SIgn up now for our online pre-budget event featuring IFS director Helen Miller and other leading tax and business experts
(Full Story)
|
By Siobhan Mclernon, Senior Lecturer, Adult Nursing and co-lead, Ageing, Acute and Long Term Conditions. Member of Health and Well Being Research Center, London South Bank University
Stroke can happen to anyone, at any age and at any time. The number of strokes among younger adults under 55 is rising worldwide, and every day in the UK around 240 people experience the traumatic and life-changing effects of a stroke.
A stroke is sometimes described by doctors and stroke awareness campaigns as a “brain attack” to help people understand that a stroke is as urgent and life-threatening as a heart attack. Both happen…
(Full Story)
|
By Philip Murphy, Director of History & Policy at the Institute of Historical Research and Professor of British and Commonwealth History, School of Advanced Study, University of London
The collapse of the prosecutions of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry is a reminder that bringing charges for espionage can be an extremely risky business, particularly in western democracies. Cash and Berry were accused of spying for China, but the CPS dropped the case before it could go to trial. They deny the charges against them.
Read more: How Britain's weakened global position may have pulled it into a Chinese…
(Full Story)
|
By Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham
Tetyana Malyarenko, Professor of International Security, Jean Monnet Professor of European Security, National University Odesa Law Academy
It looked as if the US might supply Ukraine with game-changing new weapons. Then the Russian president phoned Donald Trump.
(Full Story)
|
By Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of the Space Economy Evolution Lab, Bocconi University
In the 1960s, Frank Sinatra’s song Fly Me to the Moon became closely associated with the Apollo missions. The optimistic track was recorded in 1964, when US success against the Soviet Union in the Moon race was not assured.
Nevertheless, when the crew of the Apollo 11 mission landed first on the lunar surface in 1969, the Sinatra song became an appropriate tune for an era when, in the West, anything seemed possible.
In the 21st century, the exploration of the Moon will take a different…
(Full Story)
|
By Nada Saadaoui, PhD Candidate in English Literature, University of Cumbria
Jane Austen’s novels are often remembered for their wit, romance and sharp social critique. Yet they are also profoundly geographical works: cities, seaside resorts, country estates and naval towns structure the possibilities and limitations of her heroines’ lives.
In Austen’s world, place equals power. Where a woman could walk, who she might encounter and how her movements were constrained often determined the course of her story. Tracing Austen’s fictional…
(Full Story)
|
By Oliver Gingrich, Programme Lead BA (Hons) Animation, University of Greenwich
Min Young Oh, Lecturer in Animation, University of Greenwich
A film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book The Twits has been promised for more than two decades. The Netflix animation plays to the strengths of the beloved classic, while adapting it to present times. Dark humour, many pranks, twists and turns ensure an enjoyable visual feast.
The film was written, directed and produced by the Oscar-nominated film-maker Phil Johnston, also known for his animated films Wreck-it Ralph (2012) and Zootopia (2016). The Twits…
(Full Story)
|
By Alice Vernon, Lecturer in Creative Writing and 19th-Century Literature, Aberystwyth University
In 1874, renowned chemist Sir William Crookes sat in a darkened room, eyes fixed on a curtain over an alcove. The curtain twitched, and out came a glowing ghost of a young woman, dressed in a white shroud. He was entranced.
But the ghost was fake, and his involvement in séances nearly ruined his career. The lesson wasn’t learned, however, and Crookes, like thousands after him, continued to search for evidence of spirits.
The popularity of the Victorian séance, and its associated pseudo-religion Spiritualism,…
(Full Story)
|