By Erhan Kilincarslan, Reader in Accounting and Finance, University of Huddersfield
The UK’s trade deficit of goods is the widest it has ever been. In 2025, the country spent £248.3 billion more on things than it sold to the rest of the world.
This is not just some abstract number, of interest only to markets and economists. The UK’s trade deficit has practical consequences which help to explain why global events show up so quickly in people’s food and energy bills.
Nor is this a new situation. While the UK runs a strong surplus in services such as finance and professional…
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By Lee John Curley, Lecturer in Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University
Dominic Willmott, Associate Professor in Legal Psychology, Loughborough University
Kennath Widanaralalage, Lecturer in Psychology (Education), King's College London
Are juries really impartial? Or is it the beliefs and attitudes they bring to trial that leads them to vote guilty or not? These questions are particularly important when it comes to the influence that rape myths may have on juror and judicial decision-making in sexual offence trials.
Rape myths are widely held but misleading ideas about sexual violence:…
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By Ibrahim Al-Marashi, Adjunct Professor, IE School of Humanities, IE University; California State University San Marcos
It may seem that the US and the Middle East are currently embarking on yet another forever war. But the truth is that this is just the latest instalment of an undeclared military conflict between the two nations that has been ongoing since the 1980s.
For Americans, the war began in 1979, when Iranian students seized the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 diplomats hostage for 444 days. For Iranians, it began with US support for the Shah and its subsequent backing of Iraq throughout the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
The conflict has claimed many civilian lives. On July 3 1988, the…
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By Amnesty International
Responding to the deaths of at least 26 people during protests that erupted across Pakistan on 1 March following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, in US-Israeli attacks on Iran, Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, said: “The killing of protesters and reports of the use of lethal ammunition by security forces against these assemblies raises serious concerns about unlawful use of force. Protesters have a right to gather peacefully and express dissent, even in moments of heightened tension. During such crises, security forces must demonstrate their…
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By Angus Atkinson, Professor of Marine Ecology, Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Bob Brewin, Associate Professor, Earth & Environmental Science, University of Exeter
Victor Martinez Vicente, Principal Investigator, Bio-optical Oceanography, Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Melting ice is an emblem of climate change. For sea ice, the Arctic has been grabbing most of the headlines for its truly alarming rate of decline. But recently Antarctica has followed suit.
Around ten years ago everything changed. After decades of stability and within just a few years, an ocean area nearly the size of Greenland suddenly became sea-ice free. At first, scientists thought this could be a blip, but now it is described as a step change, with large ocean areas remaining ice free ever since.
This has dramatic consequences for the marine life of Antarctica. The…
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By Darius Wainwright, Lecturer in Modern History, University of Bristol
The joint US-Israeli combat operation against Iran, and the killing of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a watershed moment in the US-Iran relationship. Bilateral interactions have been tense since 1979 when a revolution ousted Iran’s pro-American Shah, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, and replaced him with an Islamic theocracy opposed to the US.
However, these tensions have now bubbled over into direct conflict. The US and Israel have bombed Iranian cities, which Tehran has responded to by launching strikes…
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By Chris Waiting, Chief Executive Officer, The Conversation
The Conversation UK is delighted to announce that Professor Paul Boyle, Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University, will be the new Chair of its Board of Trustees.
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By Anna Swartwood House, Associate Professor of Art History, University of South Carolina
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.
Why are so many statues naked? – Artie, age 12, Astoria, New York
We are all born naked, and sculptures of the human body in its natural state are as old as humankind.
In the history of art, nudity…
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By Susan E. Collins, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington
Many cities are considering involuntary substance use treatment as a solution to drug use among the homeless. But research doesn’t support this strategy.
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By Benjamin Kaveladze, Postdoctoral Fellow in Mental Health Resources, Dartmouth College
A well-designed 10-minute online exercise can spark small reductions in depression. That’s the key finding of my team’s paper, published in Nature Human Behaviour.
Many people believe that to start overcoming depression, they need a therapist, medication or a radical change in their environment. However, our study shows that taking small steps to learn practical skills can lead to measurable improvements in depressive symptoms.
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