By Alan McKay, Senior Research Assistant for the Centre for Football Research in Wales, University of South Wales
With Women’s Euro 2025 underway, attention is turning not just to the players hoping for glory, but to the head coaches tasked with leading them.
These include England’s Sarina Wiegman, who guided the Netherlands to Euro victory in 2017 and repeated the feat with England…
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By Katie Field, Professor in Plant-Soil Processes, University of Sheffield
Thomas Parker, Upland Ecologist, James Hutton Institute
If you walk through a forest and look down, you might think you’re stepping on dead leaves, twigs and soil. In reality, you’re walking over a vast underground patchwork of fungal filaments, supporting life above ground.
These are mycorrhizal fungi, which form partnerships with the roots of nearly all plants. Found everywhere from tropical rainforests to boreal forests and farmland, these underground fungi sustain life above ground, often without us realising they’re even there.
A recent…
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By Peter Matanle, Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies, University of Sheffield
Kei Uchida, Associate Professor, Conservation and Biodiversity Management, Tokyo City University
Masayoshi K. Hiraiwa, Postdoctoral Researcher, Ecology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kindai University
Since 1970, 73% of global wildlife has been lost, while the world’s population has doubled to 8 billion. Research shows this isn’t a coincidence but that population growth is causing a catastrophic decline in biodiversity.
Yet a turning point in human history is underway. According to UN projections, the number of people in 85 countries will be shrinking by 2050, mostly in Europe and Asia. By 2100, the human population is on course for global decline. Some…
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By Julia Haarhuis, PhD student - Food, Microbiomes and Health, Quadram Institute
Sport supplements are hard to get away from if you like to exercise regularly. Even if you’re not interested in them, there’s a good chance your gym will have posters extolling their virtues or your sporty friends will want to talk to you about them.
It can be hard to know what supplements to take as there is a lot of mixed…
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By Timothy Hearn, Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics, Anglia Ruskin University
Ebenezer Scrooge tried to wave away the ghost of Jacob Marley by blaming the apparition on “an undigested bit of beef … a crumb of cheese”. Charles Dickens might have been writing fiction, but the idea that late-night dairy can warp dreams has now gained scientific support.
Researchers in Canada surveyed 1,082 university students about their eating habits, sleep patterns…
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By Dr Lisa Knight, Head of External Engagement & Professional Programmes, Liverpool John Moores University
Long waiting times, burnt-out staff and rising inequality. Could a stronger focus on prevention, rather than just treatment, help save the NHS?
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By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor
This article was first published in The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email newsletter. Sign up to receive weekly analysis of the latest developments in international relations, direct to your…
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By Vivek Astvansh, Associate Professor of Quantitative Marketing and Analytics, McGill University
Companies are increasingly routing customers to chatbots. New research looks into whether customers prefer human or chatbots agents more, and under which circumstances.
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By Elizabeth Carlen, Living Earth Collaborative Postdoctoral Fellow, Washington University in St. Louis
Humans change the urban landscape with religious, cultural and political activities, which in turn can influence the evolution of urban animals and plants.
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By Timothy Welch, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
The Cook Strait ferry fiasco is just another symptom of a wider malaise: an inability to deliver, on time and at cost, the infrastructure that keeps the economy moving.
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