By Nathan Butterworth, Associate Research Fellow in Insect Ecology, Deakin University
Keith M. Bayless, Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO
“Love makes fools of all of us,” wrote 19th-century novelist William Makepeace Thackeray. A moment spent watching the pigeons at your local park suggests he was right: males with puffed-up, shimmering necks hop, pirouette, coo, and bow to capture the attention of unimpressed females.
But why do male pigeons express themselves through the passion of dance? The concept of sexual selection, first proposed by Charles Darwin, suggests that through…
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By Judy Ingham, Newsletter Producer, The Conversation
Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at yoursay@theconversation.edu.au.
Monday June 15
Brushing your teeth in hospital
“I found it disconcerting to read that a special initiative was required to prevent hospital-acquired pneumonia. It reflects very badly on the nursing profession, or is this another impact factor…
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By Katarina Ost, PhD Student, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Manisha A. Kulkarni, Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Researchers placed woodchips along the side of two trails in the Ottawa Greenbelt and found that the woodchips notably lowered the number of ticks.
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By (Reva) Laurel Young, Professor of Music Therapy, Concordia University
Music has value in dementia care, but re-envisioning its role beyond treatment involves engaging individuals in music experiences that foster self-expression, identity and meaningful interactions.
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By Teresa Behrend Fletcher, Professor/Director of Sport and Human Performance program, Adler University
Team sports like soccer or hockey can include situational pressures on specific positions such as goalies or anyone taking a penalty shot.
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By Thomas M. Pitot, Chercheur postdoctoral en microbiologie, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)
Catherine Girard, Professeure-Chercheure en microbiologie, Université Laval
Viruses play a major role in the functioning of ecosystems. They profoundly influence the dynamics of microbial communities, flow of matter and global biogeochemical cycles. Yet despite their abundance and ecological importance, many of them have long remained invisible to science.
This gap is largely due to the methods environmental virologists have used —isolating viruses by filtering out larger organisms from natural samples.
This approach was effective for isolating most viruses we knew about.…
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By Xiaoying Wang, Assistant Professor of Strategic Management, Wilfrid Laurier University
Seok-Woo Kwon, Robson Professor in Entrepreneurship, University of Calgary
With entrepreneurial ambitions at an eight-year high in Canada, new research suggests the structure of a business matters more than the decision to start one.
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By Guest Contributor
A new 7amleh report finds Palestinians are systematically excluded from digital payments, e-commerce, and remote work — structural barriers that deepen economic strangulation under occupation
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By Gwen Ansell, Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria
Miriam Makeba sang a famous song about the 16 June 1976 uprising in her birthplace, South Africa. The protest was a pivotal point in the fight against apartheid and white minority rule in the country. The song was called Soweto Blues and its opening lines go:
…
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By Kobus Maree, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Pretoria
Thirty-two years after South Africa became a democratic state, the futures of millions of young people in the country are shaped to a large degree by uncertainty, exclusion, poverty and discouragement. As one lens on this scene, unemployment in the age group 15-34 borders on 46%.
I am an educational psychologist who has done 35 years of research on the career-life stories of young people growing…
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