By Helen Ringrow, Associate Professor in Contemporary Discourse, University of Portsmouth
Giorgia Riboni, Associate Professor of English Language, Translation and Linguistics, Università di Torino
There are few things a good influencer can’t turn into engaging content. Social media has made even the smallest aspects of our daily lives entertaining and “aesthetic”. Viral trends have developed around what we might consider boring, mundane tasks, such as restocking the refrigerator or cupboards.
In a recent paper, we explored the appeal…
(Full Story)
|
By Aparna Soni, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, Indiana University
Research shows that losing coverage, even temporarily, tends to make people less healthy, and it exposes them to financial losses.
(Full Story)
|
By Alan Shipman, Senior Lecturer in Economics, The Open University
The US economy is continuing to grow faster and generate more new jobs than Europe. Annual national income growth over the past five years has averaged 3.3% in the US against 2.6% in the EU. In the first quarter of 2026, the EU’s GDP was just 0.7% higher than a year before, while that of the US was up 2.6% on comparable measures.
These figures defy the widespread…
(Full Story)
|
By Juan Carlos Albarran, Senior Lecturer of Global and Intercultural Studies, Miami University
Cubans are living in a state of limbo, and it’s not clear that US military intervention would revitalize the Cuban economy.
(Full Story)
|
By Vahe Peroomian, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Venus and Earth share some atmospheric quirks – but how did Venus get so unbearably hot, while Earth is mild and temperate?
(Full Story)
|
By Martin Magidi, Researcher, University of Cape Town
Tariro Chivige, Economist
Running a business in South Africa has become increasingly difficult. The challenges range from the economic after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to limited access to finance, increased global competition, shifting…
(Full Story)
|
By Sam Jones, Senior Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations University
Ricardo Jorge Moreira Goulão Santos, Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations University
Each year, millions of young Africans enter the labour market in search of stable and fulfilling employment. In Mozambique alone, more than half a million young people join the workforce annually.
Many will find work in agriculture, but opportunities for formal employment remain limited. Even in urban areas, many jobs are informal, offering little security and falling short of the aspirations of an increasingly educated young population.
Since 2017, the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics…
(Full Story)
|
By Ramos Emmanuel Mabugu, Professor, Sol Plaatje University
Youth employment programmes need to be built around real jobs, capable institutions and the young people they are meant to serve.
(Full Story)
|
By Paolo Pozzilli, Honorary Professor of Diabetes and Clinical Research, Queen Mary University of London
Simonetta Vespucci is probably one of the most painted women of the Italian Renaissance. Sandro Botticelli is widely believed to have used her as his model for Venus, and she appears, transformed and idealised, across several of his most famous works.
She died in 1476, aged just 23. For centuries, historians have assumed tuberculosis was to blame – it was common, it was often fatal, and it fitted…
(Full Story)
|
By Junaid B. Jahangir, Associate Professor, Economics, MacEwan University
Recently, a group of high-profile economists wrote a piece for The Guardian about how growth is a doomed strategy.
The piece took a holistic look at global poverty, inequality, living wages, extraction of resources, debt servicing, Indigenous struggles and climate justice.
Such real-world issues are usually sidelined in introductory economics classes, which are typically concerned with building technical competencies…
(Full Story)
|