By Patrick E. Shea, Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Global Governance, University of Glasgow
Combining diplomacy with deals has long been a feature of US foreign policy, but Donald Trump seems to have taken that to a new level.
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By Perla Maiolino, Associate Professor of Engineering Science, member of the Oxford Robotics Institute, University of Oxford
Robots now see the world with an ease that once belonged only to science fiction. They can recognise objects, navigate cluttered spaces and sort thousands of parcels an hour. But ask a robot to touch something gently, safely or meaningfully, and the limits appear instantly.
As a researcher in soft robotics working on artificial skin and sensorised bodies, I’ve found that trying to give robots a sense of touch forces us to confront just how astonishingly sophisticated human touch really is.
My work began…
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By Martha Shaw, Associate Professor in Education, London South Bank University
Alexis Stones, Subject Lead, Religious Education PGCE, UCL
If you’re thinking about buying Christmas presents for children, chances are a Lego set isn’t too far from your mind. The endless creativity that Lego bricks present means they can be used for far more than following instructions to build the model on the front of the box. They are even used in academic research.
Our research uses Lego to get young people talking to each other about identity, belonging and participation in society. We help young people engage with one another to think critically about…
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By Tony Milligan, Teaching Associate in Philosophy, University of Sheffield
Eternity is not truly about a love that could last forever. It is about the way that love, real ordinary love, involves more than happiness.
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By James Poulter, Associate Professor of Genomic Medicine, University of Leeds
In a little over ten years, organoid models – miniature, lab-grown clusters of cells that imitate real organs – have transformed how we study human development and disease while accelerating drug discovery. As a bonus, they’ve reduced our reliance on animal testing.
Among these models, brain organoids – 3D, brain-like structures grown from stem cells – have progressed from simple cell clusters to sophisticated models that mimic important aspects of brain development and function.
Recent breakthroughs have made them more complex: some organoids now show electrical activity…
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By Ines Branco-Illodo, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Stirling
Teresa Pereira Heath, Associate Professor, Marketing, University of Minho
This year’s Christmas advert from UK department store John Lewis is notable for its emotional impact and captivating storytelling. In it, a middle-aged former raver is gifted a vintage vinyl record by his son. The focus is on this fairly modest gift, which quietly speaks a language of love amid the noise and excess of the festivities.
The gift, seemingly secondhand, carries meaning far beyond its monetary value, illustrating that the social benefits of gifting are available without heavy environmental…
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By Muhammad Wakil Shahzad, Associate Professor and Head of Subject, Mechanical and Construction Engineering, Northumbria University, Newcastle
Plastic bottled water is popular despite health risks and environmental costs but decentralised technologies could cut plastic waste while improving water safety.
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By Elena Mainer Pardos, Profesora e Investigadora Universidad San Jorge. Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte., Universidad San Jorge
Rafael Albalad Aiguabella, Personal Docente e Investigador - Ciencias de la Salud y del Deporte, Universidad San Jorge
Teenagers’ bodies change fast. Bones grow, muscles develop, and balance is altered. Adolescence can be a time of high energy, but it is also a delicate period for movement control.
Many teenagers lose coordination as they grow. They trip easily or lose accuracy in tasks they once mastered, but this is a question of biology rather than clumsiness. Their bodies change faster than their brains can…
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By Laurence Grondin-Robillard, Professeure associée à l'École des médias et doctorante en communication, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
‘Rage bait’ is the Oxford Word of the Year which makes sense as anger, indignation and violence have become the raw materials of the internet.
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By Alicia Bartolomé, Investigadora Doctora en Etología y Bienestar Animal, Universitat de València
Reptiles get a bad rap. As symbols of evil or villainy in Western culture, they are often linked to sin and betrayal, an association that dates all the way back to the origins of Judeochristian theology. This is not the case in all cultures though. Many other traditions see crocodiles, snakes and turtles as gods, guardians or symbols of transformation.
Despite this rich cultural history, a lot of popular belief surrounding reptiles is still negative. It is difficult to specify how much of this stems solely from folklore, as our aversion to reptiles is rooted in a mix of social and evolutionary…
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