By Tom Harper, Lecturer in International Relations, University of East London
Donald Trump’s campaign against Venezuela escalated recently with the US president announcing that the country’s airspace should be considered “closed”. This is a move that has preceded US military interventions in the past, perhaps most notably in Iraq in 2003.
It remains to be seen whether Trump’s declaration will be followed by military action or is just a means of raising the pressure on the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, in an attempt to force him from office. But regardless of what happens next, what has been notable is the reaction…
(Full Story)
|
By James Heydon, Associate Professor, Environmental Criminology, University of Nottingham
Wood-burning stoves are booming in the UK, a cosy response to high energy prices and cost of living pressures. But this comes with a hidden cost.
So-called domestic burning is now a leading source of one of the most harmful forms of air pollution, and the UK government’s new environment improvement plan acknowledges the scale of this problem. Yet the tools the UK relies on to control stove emissions were built for a different era – and…
(Full Story)
|
By Trang Dang, Visiting Lecturer in English Literature, Nottingham Trent University
For centuries, nature has been the backdrop to human drama: a stage humanity dominates, exploits, or saves. But what if the planet isn’t just a setting, but a character in its own right – sometimes collaborator, sometimes adversary, sometimes utterly indifferent?
This is the kind of question explored in New Weird fiction, a genre where ecosystems mutate, landscapes rebel and the line between human and nonhuman dissolves. It’s a form…
(Full Story)
|
By Victor (Vik) Perez, Associate Professor of Practice, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Despite countless programmes and initiatives, rates of entrepreneurial intention — a marker of how willing people are to start new ventures — remains stagnant. But what if the secrets to entrepreneurial success lie not in textbooks but within the brain itself?
Imagine an approach that doesn’t just teach the mechanics of entrepreneurship but actively enhances the skills that make aspiring entrepreneurs successful? We know
(Full Story)
|
By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Friedrich Merz during his official visit as Federal Chancellor at the Red Town Hall, Berlin, Germany, December 3, 2025. © 2025 Bernd Elmenthaler/Geisler-Fotopr/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Photo Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to visit Israel on 6th of December and meet, among others, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, including the deliberate starvation of the civilian population and attacks on civilians.Merz is putting Germany’s credibility…
(Full Story)
|
By Amy Brown, Professor of Child Public Health, Swansea University
Aimee Grant, Associate Professor in Public Health and Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow, Swansea University
If you’ve been celebrating the news that the government will save you £500 a year on baby formula, we’re sorry to be the bearer of bad news: that’s not what’s actually happening.
The UK government has just published its response to a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation into high baby formula prices, and media headlines…
(Full Story)
|
By Matthew Blanton, PhD Candidate, Sociology and Demography, The University of Texas at Austin
Protestant churches’ growth in Latin America gets lots of attention, but another important shift is happening, too: people leaving organized religion altogether.
(Full Story)
|
By Michelle Lynn Kahn, Associate Professor of History, University of Richmond
Neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists were early adopters of bulletin board systems, pioneering online recruiting and radicalization techniques long before the social media revolution.
(Full Story)
|
By Ellen T. Meiser, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Hawaii at Hilo
The season of gifting is in full swing – a time when people scour the internet and shops of all kinds for items that appropriately symbolize their relationships with their loved ones.
Gift givers hope that their gift will appropriately communicate their feelings and bring the recipient joy. But that’s not always the reality. Gifts can be tricky and rife with hidden hazards. Relationships…
(Full Story)
|
By Sarah Lubienski, Professor of Mathematics Education, Indiana University
Colleen Ganley, Professor of Developmental Psychology, Florida State University
Martha Makowski, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, University of Alabama
The reasons are not yet fully understood, but researchers consider societal influences that encourage greater compliance among girls as a potential cause.
(Full Story)
|