By Ibrahim Al-Marashi, Adjunct Professor, IE School of Humanities, IE University; California State University San Marcos
2026 marks a century since the death of the visionary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. He died after being hit by a tram in central Barcelona in June 1926, not far from the Sagrada Famìlia, his towering basilica that – despite still being under construction today – dominates the city’s skyline, and recently became the world’s tallest church.
Next year, 2027, will mark the 10 year anniversary of another tragedy. On August 17, 2017, terrorists pledging their allegiance to the Islamic State rammed a vehicle…
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By Monika McAtarsney-Kovacs, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Cognitive Neuropsychology, Anglia Ruskin University
What if protecting your brain from dementia was as simple as wiggling your little fingers a few seconds each day? That’s the promise behind “pinky time”, a viral TikTok trend that claims a simple finger exercise can lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
Videos promoting this supposed brain-health hack have attracted millions of views, with some suggesting that difficulty performing the movement could be…
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By Hannah Cloke, Regius Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science, University of Reading
The science will tell us what is likely to happen. The harder question is whether that knowledge reaches people in a form they can feel and act on.
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By Marcus Collins, Professor of British History, Loughborough University
In 1970, gay campaigners in the UK were in something of a quandary. The 1967 Sexual Offences Act had lifted only some of the criminal sanctions against sex between men and left immense social stigma unchallenged. At the same time, the media reacted to partial decriminalisation by largely losing interest in homosexuality.
Just one non-fiction television programme and two radio programmes were devoted to the topic in the late 1960s. In these programmes, like those before 1967 explored in my current project Re-viewing…
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By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
A former Australian resident living in Iraq directed the attack on Melbourne Adass Israel Synagogue in December 2024, the head of ASIO Mike Burgess has revealed.
Burgess said Iran, which was behind the attack, recruited the man through a “complex web of Iraqi-based militia groups”.
“Valuing his high wealth and criminal connections, the IRGC (The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) protected him and supported his illegal enterprises.
"That changed dramatically after ASIO publicly named Iran’s involvement in the arsons.
"This person’s Iranian backers…
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By Manuel Vázquez Carrera, Catedrático de Farmacología, Universitat de Barcelona
Many patients with type 2 diabetes wonder how their blood sugar levels can be high when they have not eaten anything. The answer to this counterintuitive phenomenon lies in what is known as insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance prevents cells from taking up glucose properly, but it also causes the liver to continue producing it. Here, we will look at how this…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Since 2023, Maureen Kamatu, 28, has been self-employed at a mobile money cash-transfer booth in Lilongwe. When she first started the business, she faced open discrimination from customers and neighboring vendors. “Passersby often said derogatory things about me as a person with albinism. I heard things like, ‘Is she going to be able to see well? Is she going to be able to count the money? Are you sure she can do this job?’” © 2025 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch For years, efforts to protect the rights of people with albinism in Malawi have rightly focused on ending…
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By Gabriela Mesones Rojo
An interview with Venezuelan visual artist and photographer Santiago Méndez, who has exhaustively documente queerness and Pride in Caracas for the last three years.
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By Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University
The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has now been found in a second state, South Australia, after earlier being identified in Western Australia.
Authorities have confirmed three seabirds have died of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus. It is too early to know if H5N1 has spread beyond these animals to…
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By Isaac Gross, Lecturer in Economics, Monash University
The latest inflation figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics look, at first glance, like good news. The headline rate for May rose 4.0% over the past year, down from 4.2% in April.
After a long run of high inflation numbers and interest rate hikes, mortgage holders could be forgiven for hoping rate relief is on the way.
But don’t hold your breath. Look under the bonnet and the picture is far less comforting. The fall…
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