By Garritt C. Van Dyk, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Waikato
Rice is the most popular food in the world, providing sustenance to more than 3.5 billion people each day.
Rice is deeply embedded in food, daily rituals, language and spirituality. It is easy to take it for granted.
But where did rice come from? And how did it spread to become the foundation of global food security?
Early origins in China and India
In the lower…
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By Hossein Asgari, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities, Adelaide University
Shida Bazyar’s novel, shortlisted for the International Booker, revives the voices of Iranians silenced by forces beyond their power and control.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image In Homestead, Florida, women and their children listen to an explanation of their legal rights and strategies for preparing their families if a parent is detained or deported, January 17, 2025. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed a policy change in June that would significantly limit employment authorization available for many immigrants. But for many, including survivors of domestic violence, the ability to work in the United States is crucial to being able to leave an abusive situation.Survivors of domestic…
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By Jack Shelbourn, Senior Lecturer and Director of Photography, University of Lincoln
When AI renders antiquity, it’s not reaching back into history, it’s reaching for the average of every image ever made about it.
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By Brendon Samuels, Research associate, Western University; Toronto Metropolitan University
Nina-Marie Lister, Professor of Urban Planning, Director of the Ecological Design Lab, Toronto Metropolitan University
Sabrina Careri, Lab Manager and Senior Research Analyst, Ecological Design Lab, Toronto Metropolitan University
Birds are facing a crisis — nearly three billion birds have been lost across North America since 1970 as a result of human activities impacting birds and their habitats.
Each year, billions of birds migrate across vast ranges spanning the Americas. For many, the journey is fatal. In Canada, tens of millions of birds are killed annually by crashing into glass on buildings,…
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By Kari Pahlman, Research Fellow, Sydney Health Ethics, University of Sydney
Diego S. Silva, Senior Lecturer, Sydney Health Ethics, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney
When we are mis- or disinformed, it is difficult to act with autonomy. We may make decisions that do not align with our beliefs, even when we seem to be acting voluntarily.
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By Ibrahim Al-Marashi, Adjunct Professor, IE University; California State University San Marcos
On Sunday, July 26, German police shot dead the suspected perpetrator of a car-ramming attack on Berlin’s Pride march, which had left one dead and 20 injured the day before. The suspect already had a police record due to his previous attempt to join the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS).
In the 2010s, ISIS claimed multiple attacks on cultural events, mostly concerts. Some of its deadliest attacks on European soil were the
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By Bernadette McBride, Lecturer in Creative Writing, Liverpool Hope University
As the smell of smoke and burning drifts around my neighbourhood from wildfires in nearby north Wales and Manchester, I worry that the consequences of this climate crisis are getting closer.
The decline of our planet is no longer just a physical threat; it is a mental health emergency. The Climate Cares Centre – the world’s first research hub dedicated to climate change and mental health – warns that the climate crisis is affecting the mental wellbeing of hundreds of millions of people around the world.
…
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By Lisa Sugiura, Professor of Cybercrime and Gender, University of Portsmouth
When the world learned about the horrors inflicted upon Gisèle Pelicot by her husband and his fellow rapists in 2024, it was presented as a shocking anomaly.
I participated in a documentary about the case, and during filming was asked: “Could this happen again?”. My response was: “It already is, and is an extension of the domestic…
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By Jane Adkins, PhD candidate, School of Computing, Dublin City University
Every ancient language that has ever been deciphered needed an anchor. Usually that’s a bilingual text, like the Rosetta Stone, or a known relative to compare it to. Linear A, the writing system of the Bronze Age Minoan civilisation on the Greek island of Crete, has neither.
Linear A is described as a “language isolate” because it has no confirmed link to any known language, living or dead. As such, it has posed a significant challenge for linguists…
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