By Thendo Mutshekwa, Research associate, Rhodes University
Lubabalo Mofu, Instrument Scientist Freshwater Field and Lab Ecologist, National Research Foundation
Samuel N. Motitsoe, Senior Lecturer in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand
Even South Africa’s remote sacred springs are not untouched: research found microplastics in all nine tested, including waters used for healing and drinking.
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By Scott Creel, Professor of Conservation Biology & Ecology, Montana State University
New GPS tracking on African wild dogs found they could travel long distances to find mates, but more than half did not survive the journey.
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By Negar Valizadeh, Geography, Environment and Geomatics, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Canada’s shifting study permit caps, post-graduation work permit rules and closure of graduate-focused immigration streams are reshaping pathways to permanent residence for international graduates. Policy reform can address these dynamics and provide clearer, more stable pathways that retain their talent and support their sense of belonging.
Canada advertises itself as a place where international students can build a life, not just buy a university degree.…
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By Lilach Marom, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University
In 2025, Jewish people were the target of 70 per cent of all police-reported hate crimes in Canada targeting a religious group. Jews make up about one per cent of the Canadian population.
Research indicates that higher education often increases tolerance. A 2026 national survey by sociologists Robert Brym and Rhonda Lenton found that Canadian university students have…
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By Jenny Lawson, Lecturer in Contemporary Performance, University of Leeds
Since her cookbook Domestic Goddess, Nigella has cultivated a distinct feminine cooking brand that aligns with the sensibilities of Bake Off.
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By Louise Ashley, Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Work, Queen Mary University of London
Eve Worth, Lecturer, Department of Archaeology and History, University of Exeter
Inequality has been debated in British politics for decades, often with a reluctance to address class issues. Bridget Phillipson, the minister for women and equalities, thinks this needs to change. Announcing the government’s new class unit, she argued that Britain has been “squeamish about class for too long”.
Class has, of course, never disappeared…
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By Vincent Durac, Associate Professor, School Of Politics & International Relations, University College Dublin
The dormant conflict in Yemen has erupted once more, with the Houthi rebel group seizing control of the Red Sea port city of Mocha and a number of islands from Yemeni government forces in recent weeks. This has given the Houthis a foothold close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key trade gateway linking Asia and Europe.
The advance of the Houthis has alarmed Yemen’s northern neighbour, Saudi Arabia, for three main reasons. First, the Houthis’ drive down the coast constitutes a military setback for the…
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By Sarah A. Walker, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, Durham University
Belen Lopez-Perez, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Manchester
Some of us now use generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) to talk through difficult feelings. We may ask a chatbot to write an email or plan a holiday, but we also tell it that we have had a rotten day or feel anxious about a presentation.
A 2025 US survey of 1,058 people aged 12 to 21 found that 13% had sought advice from gen AI when feeling sad, angry or nervous. Among those aged 18 to 21, the figure was 22%. These…
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By Hannah Little, Lecturer in Communication and Media, University of Liverpool
When asked about the greatest innovation of humans, people will often say language or fire. A new paper suggests that these innovations may be more interlinked than we previously assumed.
Understanding how human language evolved is one of the hardest problems in science to unpick, since writing is a relatively…
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By Elizabeth den Hartog, Assistant Professor of Art and Architecture Before 1600, Leiden University
From Westminster Abbey to Mont St Michel, the Bayeux tapestry’s 33 buildings reveal its designer was familiar with monastic manuscripts and stonemasonry.
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