By Ed Turner, Reader in Politics, Co-Director, Aston Centre for Europe, Aston University
Germans in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt will go to the polls on September 7 to elect a new parliament.
With forecasts indicating that the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is on course to win around 40% of the vote, which would double its support there compared to five years ago, there is a real chance the far-right party could take over a state government for the first time.
Former East Germany,…
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By Matt Jacobsen, Senior Lecturer in Film History in the School of Society and Environment, Queen Mary University of London
You can imagine being a queer teen in a Christian fundamentalist community in rural Australia is not an easy ride. In his debut feature Leviticus, writer and director Adrian Chiarella imagines how much harder that would be if there were also supernatural forces conspiring against you.
The film centres on the burgeoning romance between 17-year-old Naim – played by Joe Bird, who recently impressed in the wonderful Australian horror film Talk to Me (2022) – and Ryan (Stacy Clausen). The pair are forced…
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By Lewis C. E. Mason, Lecturer in Microbiology, Kingston University
Cases of giardiasis, an intestinal infection that causes diarrhoea, bloating and gas, have reached their highest level in England since 2016 according to newly published data by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
The agency reported 6,069 lab-confirmed cases of giardiasis in 2025, an 11.4% rise from 2024. It is the highest yearly total in almost a decade.
This rise might sound…
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By Peter Crockford, Assistant Professor, Earth Sciences, Carleton University
We often think of microbes as organisms that live around us, like the salmonella bacteria and flu viruses that cause illness. But some of our most intimate relationships are actually with the microbes living inside of us.
Incredibly, about half of the cells in the human body are actually microbial inhabitants. Scientific attention to the microbiome has helped us understand how many of them support…
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By Jaafar Jotheri, Professor of Landscape Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Al-Qadisiyah; Durham University
Claudia Glatz, Professor of Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow
Daniel Calderbank, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, University of Glasgow
In recent years, archaeologists from around the world have marked the centenaries of some of Iraq’s most influential archaeological discoveries.
The excavation of the ancient city of Ur, for example, transformed understanding of early urban life, long-distance trade, royal tombs and burial customs. There has also been a century of research into the Jemdet Nasr period – pivotal in the development of some of the world’s earliest administrative systems…
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By Fenwick McKelvey, Professor in Information and Communication Technology Policy, Concordia University
We seem to be caught in a loop that AI will either save or ruin democracy.
At one extreme, politics scholar David Altman worries that artificial intelligence is leading the world toward an “AI-driven political system in which approval is manufactured, public debate is hollowed out and citizens have no meaningful voice.”
On the other hand, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his head of research, Andrew Sorota, dream that “we…
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By Jennifer Drake, Associate Professor, Associate Chair of Graduate Studies for Environmental Engineering, and Canada Research Chair in Stormwater and Low Impact Development (Tier II), Carleton University
Ali Zoghi, PhD Candidate, Environmental Engineering, Carleton University
The Canadian capital of Ottawa was bombarded with 167 millimetres of rain in five hours earlier this summer in what the city called a one-in-200-year event. Close to 5,800 basement-flooding reports followed, and the worst of it hit the…
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By Shane Cronin, Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Jose Carlos Borrero, Adjunct Assistant Research Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Southern California
Underwater sound signals created by 2022’s enormous Hunga eruption have pointed scientists to a new way to warn people of unpredictable volcanic tsunamis.
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By Paul Jones, Associate Dean for Education and Student Experience at Aston Business School, Aston University
More than a century ago, the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung made introversion and extraversion central to his theory of psychological types.
Today, we tend to use “introvert” and “extrovert” as shorthand for how sociable someone is. Jung’s preferred spelling was “extravert”, and his distinction went considerably further than whether someone enjoys a party or likes to be around others.
Jung’s original distinction raises a question in the age of generative AI. If people differ in how they naturally orientate themselves towards their inner and outer worlds, should they also…
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By Mirja Quante, Attending Neonatologist; Director, Pediatric Sleep Program, University of Tübingen
A child who snores loudly every night might seem like a funny sight. But if that snoring accompanies repeated narrowing or blockage of the airway, the effects can reach far beyond a noisy night.
Obstructive sleep apnoea is often associated with adults who snore and struggle to stay awake during the day. Children can develop it too. Its prevalence is difficult to pin down: a 2024 systematic review of 30 studies found that…
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