By Jay Silverstein, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Forensics, Nottingham Trent University
Jane Draycott, Lecturer, Classics, University of Glasgow
Lars Laamann, Lecturer on the History of China, SOAS, University of London
Tim Penn, Lecturer in Roman and Late Antique Material Culture, University of Reading
In four episodes, the BBC’s Civilisations series tells the story of the fall of the Romans, Aztecs, Egypt’s Ptolemies and Japan’s Edo Samurais. The show tells these stories through a combination of recreated dramatic scenes, explanation from experts and discussions of objects from the British Museum. Here, four experts in each period have reviewed the episodes and shared their recommendations for further reading.
The Collapse of the Roman Empire
The canonical date of the fall of the Western Roman Empire is 476, when the general Odoacer deposed the last emperor, Romulus…
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By Alexander C. Lees, Reader in Ecology and Conservation Biology, Manchester Metropolitan University
Joice Ferreira, Researcher in Ecology, Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA); Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa)
Jos Barlow, Professor of Conservation Science, Lancaster University
Extreme heat, fires and flooding – all hallmark consequences of climate change – directly influenced this year’s UN climate change conference Cop30 in Belém, Brazil.
For the first time, this annual climate summit was held in Amazonia, a place at the frontline of climate change. The pivot from the two previous conferences in petrostates Azerbaijan and UAE to a base in the world’s largest tropical forest (albeit in one the world’s largest oil producing countries) was jarring.
As Amazonian researchers, and past and present residents of the city, we saw the potential for
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By Felipe Tirado, PhD Candidate in Law, King's College London
Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, was taken into custody on November 22 after it was determined there was a “high risk” of him attempting to flee to a foreign embassy. The arrest took place as the Brazilian supreme court was analysing Bolsonaro’s final appeal against a 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup plot after losing the 2022 election.
Bolsonaro was…
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By Simon Mabon, Professor of International Relations, Lancaster University
Mohammed bin Salman wants to bring Saudi Arabia into the Abraham accords, the network of agreements to normalise relations between Israel with other countries in the Middle East and, increasingly, beyond. Donald Trump would have enjoyed hearing this when the Saudi crown prince visited the White House on November 18.
It was Trump’s first administration that brokered the initial agreements between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan in 2020. It’s an achievement that is often trumpeted by his supporters…
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By William Finnegan, Head of Programmes in Lifelong Learning in Social Sciences, University of Oxford
Anya Gleizer, DPhil candidate in Performance Art and Geography, University of Oxford
Tina Fawcett, Associate Professor, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
In 2023, a visit to a local state secondary school to discuss our project, The Museum of Climate Hope, led to an unexpected discussion. A few weeks earlier, an eminent climate scientist had presented a harrowing tale of climate apocalypse to the school’s sixth form. But the students told us the scientist’s presentation, intended as a wake-up call to apathetic teenagers, had backfired.
After that “doom and gloom” message, a teacher at the school told us some students who were already concerned…
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By Lewis Mattin, Senior Lecturer, Life Sciences, University of Westminster
Sleep is one of the essential physiological needs for human survival, alongside food, water and air. But sleep is socially driven, influenced by environmental and personal factors, and a recent study suggests it may be affected by fragments from bacteria.
Historically scientists have thought it unlikely that gut microbes affect physiological sleep regulation. The recent study, published…
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By Joseph Ford, Senior Lecturer in French Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London
The decline of languages education in England is a familiar and depressing story. Take-up of French at GCSE is down from 25% in 2009-10 to 18% in 2024-25. German has halved in the same period from 10% to 5%.
There is also a significant gap in take-up at GCSE by disadvantaged pupils (34%) compared with those from more privileged backgrounds (50%).
In March 2025, the interim…
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By Treena Orchard, Associate Professor, School of Health Studies, Western University
Younger generations are exploring non-traditional, non-hierarchical relationships as a way to cultivate authentic connections in a world where meaningful interactions are increasingly rare.
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By Aaron Gilbert, Professor of Finance, Auckland University of Technology
Asking people to find extra money to lock away in KiwiSaver during a cost-of-living crunch risks pushing them in the opposite direction.
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By Donald Heflin, Executive Director of the Edward R. Murrow Center and Senior Fellow of Diplomatic Practice, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
In a war that’s lasted almost four years, a former diplomat says it’s not realistic to say, ‘In the next week, come up with a very complicated peace deal, sign off on it and it’s going to stick.’
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