By Skip York, Nonresident Fellow in Energy and Global Oil, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University
US oil companies have never stopped investing and operating in Venezuela’s petroleum industry, despite many changes in the terms of their engagement.
(Full Story)
|
By Narmin Nahidi, Assistant Professor in Finance, University of Exeter
When Hurricane Delta hit Mexico’s Caribbean coast in 2020, insurance payouts were released within days – not to rebuild hotels or roads, but to repair coral reefs.
In the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, reefs are insured and restoration is taken care of by a local trust. After storms, payouts fund rapid restoration so reefs can keep doing their job: breaking up waves so they don’t erode the shore, reducing…
(Full Story)
|
By Paul Hough, Lecturer Sport & Exercise Physiology , University of Westminster
Lack of time is often the main reason people don’t exercise regularly. But a type of interval workout recently popularised by actress Jessica Biel could be the solution – with research showing it can improve fitness faster than traditional, steady-pace workouts, such as jogging or cycling.
The Norwegian 4x4 workout has traditionally been used by athletes. It’s a form of high-intensity interval training (Hiit) that involves four-minute sets of very intense cardio exercise, followed by three minutes of very light exercise.…
(Full Story)
|
By Nathan Waddell, Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature, University of Birmingham
Like many of us, George Orwell saw January as a month to be endured rather than enjoyed. You can picture him steeling himself against its cold, gloom, rain, frost and wind.
And not only because of his ailing, vulnerable body, which was ravaged for so many years by respiratory malfunction. But also because grimacing defiance is the posture January tends to bring out in people. Orwell wasn’t an exception. His attitude to January is soothingly familiar yet peculiarly his own.
At one point in Orwell’s novel Keep…
(Full Story)
|
By Daisy Fancourt, Professor Psychobiology and Epidemiology, UCL
Vincent van Gogh sliced off his ear with a knife during a psychotic episode. Ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky developed schizophrenia and spent the last 30 years of his life in hospital. Virginia Woolf lived with bipolar disorder, eventually taking her own life as she felt another deep depression beginning.
Many famous creative artists have lived with severe mental illness. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mariah Carey, Demi Lovato, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mel Gibson have all reported diagnoses of bipolar disorder. Yayoi Kusama, Sylvia Plath, Kurt Cobain and Syd Barrett spoke about experiences…
(Full Story)
|
By Anna Grimaldi, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of Leeds
Eleonora Natale, Lecturer in Environmental Security, King's College London
The Cuban capital of Havana, where we are currently on a research trip, woke to an unfamiliar silence on January 5. As we drove through the city, no music drifted from open windows and shops and restaurants were shuttered. The streets were almost deserted.
It was the first day of national mourning for the 32 Cuban soldiers killed during the US operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas two days earlier.…
(Full Story)
|
By Kathy Kiely, Professor and Lee Hills Chair of Free Press Studies, University of Missouri-Columbia
Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky, Professor of Law, University of Florida
The president has sued multiple media companies. He may care less about winning in court than intimidating news outlets, suggest two media scholars.
(Full Story)
|
By Jeff Moersch, Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee
Which way is ‘down’ has a different answer depending on where you are on Earth, in the solar system, in our galaxy and beyond.
(Full Story)
|
By Caroline Levander, Vice President Global Strategy & Carlson Professor in the Humanities, Rice University
The cost of college is on the rise – but college grads still earn more than those without a degree.
(Full Story)
|
By Moul Dey, Professor of Nutrition Science, South Dakota State University
Older adults whose diets consisted of only 15% ultraprocessed foods – rather than the usual 50% – had lower weight, insulin and cholesterol.
(Full Story)
|