By Martin Waehlisch, Associate Professor, University of Birmingham
Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham
What do Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Volodymyr Zelensky and Mojtaba Khamenei have in common? The military power that they can all command is far easier to use than to convert into political success.
They command vastly different resources and pursue different goals. Trump and Putin lead nuclear powers (it’s generally accepted that Netanyahu does too, but Israel has never acknowledged this). Trump, Putin…
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By David C. Gaze, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Pathology, University of Westminster
A healthy heart can still hide a fatal electrical fault. Genetic testing is helping families uncover the hidden risk behind sudden adult death syndrome.
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By Jonatan Sodergren, Lecturer in Marketing, Bristol University Business School, University of Bristol
Retro is booming. Nintendo keeps bringing back old games. Hollywood can’t stop making sequels and remakes. Netflix fills our screens with shows inspired by the 1980s. Spotify recommends songs we loved as teenagers. Even Facebook reminds us what we were doing “On This Day” ten years ago.
For businesses, the past has become big. The market for retro entertainment has never been stronger. Companies know that looking backwards can help sell products today. A familiar logo, an old game or a favourite song can create an instant emotional connection with customers.
For years, researchers…
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By Niamh Thornton, Professor in Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool
In a summer with much discourse about a Greek mythical figure (Odysseus), here is the translation of a book that uses another, Medea. In this instance Medea is relocated to contemporary Mexico. A powerful presence who rolls up in a custom-painted modified car, dressed in black with snake tattoos, Medea is an “iconic, queen of the barrio” there to motivate, impel, and facilitate characters who find themselves at major turning points.
Medea Sang Me a Corrido by Mexican writer Dahlia de la Cerda is translated by…
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By Paul Hunter, Professor of Medicine, University of East Anglia
An Ebola vaccine designed for a different species is now being trialled against the outbreak in the DRC and Uganda.
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By Phil Wiseman, Ernest Rutherford Fellow, University of Southampton
Mark Sullivan, Professor, University of Southampton
A 2025 study by South Korean researchers caught the attention of the astronomy community when it suggested that the evidence behind dark energy could be wrong. Dark energy makes up about 70% of the universe but nobody knows what it is. This makes it a frequent target for scepticism.
Scientists had long known that the universe was expanding. But in the late 1990s, researchers discovered that this expansion was accelerating. Astrophysicists concluded that something must be driving the acceleration. They named this unknown quantity “dark energy”.
The…
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By Mona Nikidehaghani, Senior Lecturer in Accounting, University of Wollongong
The government wants to cut $37.8 billion from the NDIS over 4 years. Much of this will come from tightening access to the scheme and reducing participants’ plans.
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By Ghazaal Habibyar, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Social Sciences, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
The author was banned from school by the Taliban as a girl in 1996. Years after the Taliban returned to power in 2021, she asks why the international community’s response has fallen so short.
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By Stephen Coleman, Emeritus Professor of Political Communication, University of Leeds
The people of Clacton have spoken. Well, 44% of them have, with the majority of eligible voters staying at home rather than cast their ballot in the byelection. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, the winning candidate, also stayed away – snubbing the count at Clacton leisure centre after claiming police had warned him of an organised campaign to disrupt proceedings.
In the end, Farage received 63% of the vote, amounting to an endorsement…
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By Jean-Michel Fustin, Senior Research Fellow, University of Manchester
I teach a university course called Hormones and Behaviour. What surprises students is that biological sex is not produced by a single switch. What surprises me is that many students have never been taught this before. It is basic biology, but it helps explain life.
Sex emerges through a sequence of events before birth and continues at puberty. Chromosomes help direct the formation of gonads, the body parts that usually become ovaries or testes. Gonads make hormones. The body then has to respond to those hormones. In most people, these steps flow in the same direction. But in rare cases,…
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