By Polly Rippon, University Teacher in Journalism, University of Sheffield
When someone is arrested and under police investigation, we usually don’t know their names. Police reveal only their gender, age and the crime for which they are under suspicion, and the media reports it.
The arrests of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson were a striking exception to this practice. When the police said they had “arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk” on February…
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By Christopher Terrell Nield, Lecturer, Chemistry and Forensic Science, Nottingham Trent University
British gardeners and farmers may remember 2024 with a shudder – it was widely referred to as “the year of the slug”. Vast numbers of slimy slitherers chomped their way through raspberries, laid waste to lettuce and toppled tomato plants.
Directly sown crops were demolished, early carrots did not germinate and main crop potatoes were damaged.
Will we see a repeat of the slugageddon in…
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By Tom Garner, Senior Lecturer of Human Computer Interaction, Department of Computing, Sheffield Hallam University
In 1997 I was 13 and decidedly not a gamer. I liked film, music and Stephen King novels – but I had been “blessed” with two parents who believed video games rotted your brain. They did, however, invest in a home PC, seemingly under the impression I would be drawn only to its educational functions.
Their faith was misplaced when I discovered Blade Runner (1997), an adventure game based on the 1982 Ridley Scott film that I had not seen. Before, I had understood games as “collect coins, jump on enemies,…
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By Luiz Leomil, PhD candidate, Political Science, Carleton University
The United States government recently announced it will allow companies to resell Venezuelan oil to Cuba amid a severe fuel shortage on the island. Earlier this year, the U.S. cut off oil shipments to Cuba from its main supplier, Venezuela, after American forces abducted that country’s president.
Cuba’s ambassador to Canada,…
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By Hugh Gusterson, Professor of Anthropology & Public Policy, University of British Columbia
The Epstein files, where the global elite are talking to each other in private — or so they thought — open a peephole into their twisted world of gifts and favours.
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By Christy Zhou Koval, Professor, Smith School of Business, Queen's University, Ontario
Self-control is a valuable trait, but when we assume it comes effortlessly to those who demonstrate it, we risk burning out the people we depend on most.
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By Amnesty International
Not so long ago, in 2020, the European Union was funding mine relief efforts in Lebanon and hoping to see an anti-personnel mine-free world within five years. HALO Ukraine, an EU-supported organization, had already been making tangible change, removing explosives from Ukrainian soil since 2016. In Chad, the EU-funded project PRODECO, was reintegrating anti-personnel mine […] The post The ghost of a century past. Anti-personnel mines are back in Europe appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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Thursday, February 26, 2026
UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Thursday appealed for dialogue between Afghanistan and Pakistan amid border clashes and deadly airstrikes, while condemning ever harsher “apartheid” edicts issued by the Afghan de facto authorities that continue to severely impact women and girls.
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By Christopher Wiley, Head of Music and Media; School of Arts, Humanities and Creative Industries, University of Surrey
Like a voice from the grave, an important part of Surrey’s cultural heritage has sounded again. It is a short ceremonial brass fanfare by Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944).
Fanfares are short, rousing pieces for brass instruments. Late last year I was asked to find one to open the installation ceremony for the University of Surrey’s new vice chancellor, Professor Stephen Jarvis. As this was going to be a high-profile…
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By Primrose Freestone, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Microbiology, University of Leicester
Sweat rarely smells on its own. Body odour develops when bacteria on the skin break down compounds in sweat and release volatile chemicals that evaporate into the air.
This interaction between sweat and microbes explains why some areas of the body smell more strongly than others, why odour varies between people and how deodorants and antiperspirants reduce it.
Sweat is a clear, salty liquid produced by glands across almost the entire surface of the skin. Its production is controlled by the autonomic…
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