By Renaud Foucart, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University
The UK government makes a lot of money from cars. It taxes car ownership, it taxes the fuel, and it is about to charge drivers of electric vehicles by the distance they travel.
But Britons’ reliance on their 34 million cars also comes at great expense to the economy. Heavy traffic and congestion costs £7.5 billion a year in wasted time. An
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By Sven Batke, Associate Head of Research and Knowledge Exchange - Reader in Plant Science, Edge Hill University
If you walked into a supermarket during a supply hiccup, storm, fuel protest, or even the early days of the COVID pandemic, you will remember the sight of empty shelves. For most people in the UK, these moments are surprising, even unsettling, precisely because they are rare. We are a generation largely spared the rationing, shortages and hunger our grandparents and great-grandparents once endured.
But that rarity is exactly why we must not become complacent. Food security (the reliable availability,…
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By Manal Mohammed, Senior Lecturer, Medical Microbiology, University of Westminster
You might think good sleep happens in your brain, but restorative sleep actually begins much lower in the body: in the gut.
The community of trillions of microbes living in your digestive tract, known as the gut microbiome, plays a powerful role in regulating sleep quality, mood and overall wellbeing. When the gut microbiome is balanced and healthy, sleep tends to follow.…
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By Abi Lafbery, PhD Candidate, Sociology, Lancaster University
Centuries after the upper class flocked to the coast for therapeutic sea bathing, outdoor swimming is having a renaissance. Swimmers enter cold water for the many physical and mental health benefits it offers.
Despite the dangers – hypothermia, cardiac-related death and drowning – for many women, outdoor swimming feels like a safe space. My PhD research, which…
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By Ivis García, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University
Picture this: You’re looking to buy a place to live, and you have two options.
Option A is a beautiful home in California near good schools and job opportunities. But it goes for nearly a million dollars – the median California home sells for US$906,500 – and you’d be paying a mortgage that’s risen 82% since January 2020.
Option B is a similar home in Texas, where the median home costs…
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By Graeme Mack, Visiting Assistant Professor of History, University of Richmond
Americans have looked to the Declaration of Independence when they sought to remedy contemporary problems and create new visions for the country’s future.
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By Stuart Soroka, Professor, Communications and Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles
Accounts of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for New York City mayor have highlighted both his online presence and his ground game.
Mamdani won the general election with 50.4% of the vote, a larger share than was predicted by most polls,…
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By Eric Lob, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University
Iran has sought to bolster its economic and security relationships on the continent after a punishing year both at home and in the Middle East.
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By Giovanni Luca Cascio Rizzo, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Southern California
Your hands aren’t just accessories to your words. They’re one of the most powerful tools you have to make your ideas resonate.
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By Tiziano Piccardi, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University
Reducing the visibility of polarizing content in social media feeds can measurably lower partisan animosity. To come up with this finding, my colleagues and I developed a method that let us alter the ranking of people’s feeds, previously something only the social media companies could do.
Reranking social media feeds to reduce exposure to posts expressing anti-democratic attitudes and partisan animosity affected people’s emotions and their views of people with opposing political views.
I’m a
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