By Beth Johnson, Professor of Television & Media Studies, University of Leeds
Keeley Hawes’s new Channel 4 and Prime Video drama, The Assassin, introduces a premise that feels both bold and overdue. It follows Julie (Hawes), a menopausal woman, overlooked and emotionally stalled, who worked as a hitwoman in her youth and unexpectedly comes out of retirement to return to the profession.
It’s pulpy, stylised and laced with dark humour. But beneath the genre trappings lies something more striking – a cultural pivot in how menopause and midlife womanhood is being written and visualised on British television.
Historically, menopause has been television’s…
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By Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of Memphis
Unusual words or punctuation may serve as ‘tells’ that something has been written by a chatbot. But even with that knowledge, most people struggle to discern human writing from AI-generated text.
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By Berrin Tansel, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Florida International University
Yes, astronauts have to drink water that used to be pee – but their urine is treated extensively, until it is safer to drink than some tap water on Earth.
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By Olamilekan Joseph Ibukun, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis
Mustard gas exposure is dangerous and traumatic – scientists are coming up with ways to detect its presence in the environment.
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By Michel Hockx, Director of the Liu Institute for Asia & Asian Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame
Western media was quick to report on the subject of the latest “crackdown” in China: a writing genre known as “boys’ love.”
News articles in the U.K. and U.S. reported “mounting public anger” over the “stifling”…
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By Meredith Weiss, Professor of Political Science, University at Albany, State University of New York
President Donald Trump’s pick to be the United States’ next ambassador to Malaysia has raised more than a few eyebrows in the Southeast Asian nation. Right-wing influencer Nick Adams, a naturalized American born and raised in Australia, is, by his own account, a weightlifting, Bible-reading, “wildly successful” and “extremely charismatic” fan of Hooters…
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By Jeremy Singer, Assistant Professor of Education, Wayne State University
Sarah Lenhoff, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Wayne State University
Detroit has one of the highest chronic absenteeism rates in the nation, which can have devastating effects on student success.
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By Naomi Cahn, Professor of Law, University of Virginia
Reid Kress Weisbord, Distinguished Professor of Law and Judge Norma Shapiro Scholar, Rutgers University - Newark
The drama playing out over the late actor’s assets offers valuable lessons for anyone leaving an estate – large or small – to their loved ones or a favorite charity.
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By Shannon Gibson, Professor of Environmental Studies, Political Science and International Relations, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Trump’s efforts haven’t sunk global efforts to fight climate change – instead, new leaders are stepping up and working together, even within the US.
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By James (Jim) S. Cotton, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, McMaster University
Caleb Duffield, PhD Candidate in Political Science, McMaster University
In Canada, heat produced by data centres, grocery stores, laundromats, restaurants, sewage systems and hockey arenas could be captured and turned into energy.
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