By Manoj Dora, Professor in Sustainable Production and Consumption, Anglia Ruskin University
This year’s drought has once again put farmers in the spotlight, with yields in some crops falling by as much as 50%. But behind the headlines of empty reservoirs and wilting fields lies a bigger problem: the way the UK’s food system is organised, managed and governed.
For generations, UK food policy has prioritised stable,…
(Full Story)
|
By Aisling Pigott, Lecturer, Dietetics, Cardiff Metropolitan University
If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you’ve probably been told that cooking your own meals is the way to go. This has been backed up by a recent study, which found that people who ate home-cooked, minimally processed foods lost twice the weight to those who ate mainly ultra-processed, ready-made foods.
The recent study, which was published in Nature Medicine, involved 50 adults who were randomly assigned to eat either a diet high in ultra-processed foods or one with mostly minimally-processed foods. Both…
(Full Story)
|
By Harsh Trivedi, Teaching Associate French, School of Languages, Arts and Societies., University of Sheffield
The 19th-century novelist Honoré de Balzac was Catholic, French to the core and obsessed with the material details of French society. Yet there is something profoundly Hindu in the way he sought to understand the world.
Balzac was born in the final year of the 18th century. As he began his career, European literature was turning away from the abstraction of the previous century’s Enlightenment and towards realism. Realist writers, including the French novelist Stendhal, insisted that to understand…
(Full Story)
|
By Peter William Walsh, Researcher, The Migration Observatory, University of Oxford
Rob McNeil, Researcher, Centre on Migration Policy and Society (COMPAS), Deputy Director, Migration Observatory, University of Oxford
Speaking to the press in an airport hangar near Oxford on August 26, the leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, unveiled his party’s new policy on mass deportations.
There are many elements to the policy, but fundamentally it is a decision to abandon the UK’s decades-long commitment not to send people to places where they may face torture or death.
At the heart of the global asylum system is one basic principle: countries must not send people to places where they face serious threats to their life or freedom. This rule – known as the principle of “non-refoulement” – derives…
(Full Story)
|
By Anastasiia Ogneva, Profesora ayudante doctora, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
An increasing amount of attention is being paid to dyslexia and autism. These neurodevelopmental disorders affect a large number of children, to the point where they have become household names for many families, caregivers and educators. However, there is another disorder that is just as common – if not more so – but it remains largely unknown: developmental language disorder (DLD).
DLD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that hinders…
(Full Story)
|
By Shari Edelson, Ph.D. Candidate in Recreation, Park and Tourism Management, Penn State
B. Derrick Taff, Associate Professor of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management, Penn State
Most people want to properly dispose of their waste, but they’re typically not prepared. Land managers can help users meet the moment.
(Full Story)
|
By David Kroll, Professor of Natural Products Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
David Bregger had never heard of kratom before his son, Daniel, 33, died in Denver in 2021 from using what he thought was a natural and safe remedy for anxiety.
By his father’s account, Daniel didn’t know that the herbal product could kill him. The product listed no ingredients or safe-dosing information on the label. And it had no warning that…
(Full Story)
|
By Jedediah Blanton, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, Recreation and Sport Studies, University of Tennessee
Scott Pierce, Professor of Kinesiology and Recreation, Illinois State University
High school sports associations want to mold better students and citizens through sport, but are coaches well equipped to deliver on that front?
(Full Story)
|
By David Benton, Professor Emeritus (Human & Health Sciences), Medicine Health and Life Science, Swansea University
When scientists cracked the human genome in 2003 – sequencing the entire genetic code of a human being – many expected it would unlock the secrets of disease. But genetics explained only about 10% of the risk. The other 90% lies in the environment – and diet plays a huge part.
Worldwide, poor diet is linked…
(Full Story)
|
By Rachel Lauwerijssen, Researcher in Green Infrastructure, University of Manchester
Look at the front gardens in a typical suburban street and you’re unlikely to be surprised by much. Tidy little lawns and hedges, a few prim flowers, perhaps a well-kept wooden fence. You probably barely notice unless it’s in a poor state – or there’s something eccentric like a stone fountain. “Why would anyone have that eyesore?” people probably tut as they walk by.
The other thing you’re very likely to see is the owners out doing the gardening. Many will surely be out as I write, doing some final manicuring before autumn sets in.
This is fun for gardening enthusiasts,…
(Full Story)
|