By Alex Dryden, PhD Candidate in Economics, SOAS, University of London
The global bond markets are a sensitive lot. And they’ve been having a particularly tricky time lately.
Spooked by high inflation, high interest rates and high levels of government debt across the world, those markets have become less stable over the summer. The prices of government bonds – what governments sell to investors – have gone down. And yields – the amount of interest governments need to pay to those investors over a set period of time – have gone up.
This means it’s now more expensive…
(Full Story)
|
By Naomi Adam, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Literature, University of Liverpool
“It seems like all I ever do is change”, Taylor Swift writes in the prologue to the bestselling album 1989 (Taylor’s Version), released in 2014. In fact, change is a core part of the Swift marketing machine, which revolves around the evolution of her “eras”.
Since the release of her debut album in 2006, Swift has transformed from a ringleted country ingenue to a slick city dweller to (for her latest album cycle) a sequin-clad showgirl. That cycle has just been extended with the arrival of The Life of…
(Full Story)
|
By Sara Read, Senior Lecturer in English, Loughborough University
English food is often perceived as ancient and reassuringly unchanging. Podcast host Lewis Bassett’s new book The Full English: The Ways We Eat and Why makes that view harder to sustain.
Bassett’s sociological approach shows how urbanisation, empire, industry and even Brexit have influenced the way the nation eats. Take the now ubiquitous sausage roll. Such a meat dish was once the preserve of the upper classes, but as Bassett states, modern mass manufacturing has allowed “people in Britain to regularly eat meals that were once the preserve of the wealthy”.
(Full Story)
|
By Walid Omara, Senior Lecturer in molecular microbiology and microbial biotechnology, School Of Biosciences and Chemistry, Sheffield Hallam University
Sudden confusion needs urgent medical attention. A urinary infection is one possible cause, but a positive urine test may not give the whole picture.
(Full Story)
|
By Klaus Dodds, Senior Research Fellow, RAND Europe; Middlesex University
EU leaders gathered in northern Finland recently for a summit focused on reaffirming the importance of the Arctic region to European security. The meeting, which took place in the city of Rovaniemi, came a month before the EU is expected to release its updated Arctic policy.
This will be the first update since 2021, during which time the geopolitical climate has undergone considerable change. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, for example, the work of the Arctic Council was
(Full Story)
|
By Peter Jepsen, Clinical Professor, Department of Clinical Medicine Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Aarhus University
The countries make an interesting comparison because they both have a strong drinking culture, but their problems look slightly different.
(Full Story)
|
By Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam, Ph.D. Fellow, Center for Constitutional Democracy, Indiana University
The Pretoria peace deal in Ethiopia was an agreement to cease hostilities. It wasn’t a comprehensive political settlement. A political settlement is an enduring agreement among powerful groups that delivers some benefits to avert conflict.
The Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation…
(Full Story)
|
By Fabian Stephany, Economist in AI and Work, University of Oxford
Preparing for an uncertain future is less about predicting which jobs will survive than developing skills that allow people to adapt as work changes.
(Full Story)
|
By Thomas A. Püschel, Associate professor, University of Oxford
Reece Hammond, DPhil Student in Anthropology, University of Oxford
In 2003, in the deep forests of Bossou in Guinea, a chimpanzee mother did something that reshaped how we view animal minds. Jire carried the the lifeless body of her one-year-old infant Jimato for some 68 days. Even as the infant mummified before her, she gently swatted flies away, carefully placed it on branches while she ate, and cradled it as she moved through the canopy and forest ground.
Carrying a deceased infant is an extraordinary physical commitment. Imagine trying to go about your everyday life, navigating difficult terrain, securing food, and keeping up with your family in…
(Full Story)
|
By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
The company’s Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon will appear before the federal parliamentary committee on Artificial Intelligence’s hearing next week.
(Full Story)
|