By Sarah Richmond, Honorary Associate Professor of Philosophy, UCL
With a few exceptions, philosophers have had little to say about clothes. Maybe this is because the topic seems frivolous, or feminine, unworthy of the attention of a predominantly male collection of thinkers.
Perhaps, too, the transience of fashion, and the fact that clothes belong – quite literally – to the domain of mere appearance, also has something to do with it. In A Philosopher Looks at Clothes, an engaging and informative book, Kate Moran, philosophy professor at Brandeis University in the US, urges…
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By Alastair Culham, Associate Professor of Botany, University of Reading
With hosepipe bans in force across several English regions and more restrictions likely to follow, gardeners face some tough choices. When every drop counts, which plants deserve your precious water from the water butt, and which should you leave to fend for themselves?
As someone who has researched how British gardeners need to adapt to respond to our changing climate, I can tell you that not all garden plants are created equal when it comes to water needs. Some plants will bounce back from a summer scorching,…
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By Hemamali Tennakoon, Senior Lecturer in Strategy and Management, Brunel University of London
With its natural beauty, wildlife and culture, Sri Lanka is known as the “pearl of the Indian Ocean”, and attracts millions of tourists every year.
But my research suggests that the country might not be so reliant on tourism…
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By Winnie Courtene-Jones, Lecturer in Marine Pollution, Bangor University
The talks in Geneva may be the world’s last chance to agree a strong treaty to tackle plastic pollution, scientists warn.
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By Majdi Faleh, Academic Fellow & Lecturer in Architecture and Cultural Heritage, Nottingham Trent University
Mehdi Elouati, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)
Nourchen Ben Fatma, Lecturer at the National School of Architecture and Urbanism, Université de Carthage
Nestled in the southern Mediterranean, off the south-east coast of Tunisia, lies the island of Djerba. With a rich cultural and religious history, it has been a crossroad of many civilisations, including the Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines and Arabs, and is home to many unique architectural sites. These include the Sedouikech underground mosque, St Joseph’s Church and the El Ghriba Synagogue.
But, for many years, Djerba’s cultural heritage has been…
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By Felicia Liu, Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Sustainability, University of York
Thomas Smith, Associate Professor in Environmental Geography, London School of Economics and Political Science
Throughout history, people have viewed seasons as relatively stable, recurrent blocks of time that neatly align farming, cultural celebrations and routines with nature’s cycles. But the seasons as we know them are changing. Human activity is rapidly transforming the Earth, and once reliable seasonal patterns are becoming unfamiliar.
In our recent study, we argue that new seasons are surfacing. These emergent seasons are entirely novel and anthropogenic (in other words, made by humans).
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By Arn Keeling, Professor, Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland
John Sandlos, Professor, Department of History, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Decades of gold mining at Giant Mine in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, has left a toxic legacy: 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide dust stored in underground chambers.
As a multi-billion government remediation effort to clean up the mine site and secure the underground arsenic ramps up, the Canadian government is promising to deal with the mine’s disastrous consequences for local Indigenous communities.
In March, the minister for Crown-Indigenous relations…
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By Amnesty International
For over 21 months, the world has been bearing witness to unfathomable levels of death and destruction in the occupied Gaza Strip. Israel’s brutal onslaught against Palestinians in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of people, wiped out entire families, flattened residential neighbourhoods, destroyed critical infrastructure and forcibly displaced nearly the entirety of Gaza’s residents., […] The post Gaza fieldworker: “We are torn apart watching our children suffer from hunger” appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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By Daniel Allen, Animal Geographer, Keele University
John Walliss, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Derby
Melanie Flynn, Senior lecturer in Criminology, Liverpool Hope University
Dog theft can be a devastating crime. During the COVID pandemic, newspapers suggested there was an epidemic of “dognapping” in the UK. If you have a dog, the reports may have alarmed you at a time when there were already many reasons to feel afraid.
There are mixed views on whether or not lockdown triggered an increase in dog ownership. Animal welfare charity…
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By Alice Martin, Head of Research, Work Foundation, Lancaster University
Plans to cut health-related benefits in the UK continue to give the government political grief – as well as being a huge worry for claimants. Underpinning the controversy are government plans to move more people into work with a long-term ambition of 80% employment.
But cutting welfare costs is a blunt and unhelpful way to face the challenge of increasing…
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