Magnetism A layer of 'aerogel' could make Mars habitable and even enable life to develop there – but here's why we should waitThe Conversation UK - Andrew Coates Transforming the red planet to support life has long been a dream of science fiction. Mars is now too cold to support life. Its atmosphere is also …
Apps How tech firms make us feel like we own their apps – and how that benefits themThe Conversation UK - Melody Zou Possessions are going out of fashion. An endless stream of media reports claim millennials – that amorphous mass of people born in the 1980s and …
Afghanistan Afghanistan: how to widen access to justiceThe Conversation UK - Ali Wardak Getting justice in Afghanistan is a complicated business. Two main justice systems – state laws based on the civil law tradition and Islamic …
Boris Johnson Brexit: Boris Johnson would prorogue parliament at his peril – just ask Charles IThe Conversation UK - Imogen Peck Charles I is relevant again today – 370 years after his execution. Responding to the suggestion that Tory leadership hopeful Boris Johnson may be …
Sodium Salt: China’s deadly food habitThe Conversation UK - Monique Tan People in China have used salt to prepare and preserve food for thousands of years. But consuming lots of salt raises blood pressure, increasing the …
Hong Kong Hong Kong protests: why Chinese media reports focus on Britain's colonial pastThe Conversation UK - Qing Cao Over recent weeks, mass protests against proposed changes to extradition law in Hong Kong have escalated into a major crisis. In the latest round of …
Floods Flooding: Britain's coastal towns and villages face a design challenge to cope with climate emergencyThe Conversation UK - Carola Koenig and Philip Collins As an island nation, Britain has vulnerable communities that must be prepared for the impact of the climate emergency. And while much has been said …
Culture (UK) England win Men's Cricket World Cup in a last-ball thriller – now will the country see more matches on free TV?The Conversation UK - Richard Thomas To say, “cricket was the winner” doesn’t really cover it. England’s astonishing World Cup victory came off the last ball of a “super over” – a …
Health (UK) Food system needs a revolution, not tinkering around edges by the ultra-processed producersThe Conversation UK - Norah Campbell and Francis Finucane Eating ultra-processed food is definitely bad for you, a recent study has confirmed. In the experiment, people were fed either ultra-processed or …
UN Security Council Jair Bolsonaro wants to deforest the Amazon – what powers does the UN have to stop him?The Conversation UK - Ash Murphy Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil is at its highest rate in a decade, according to new satellite data. This comes after president Jair …
Franchising Avengers: Endgame and the relentless march of Hollywood franchise moviesThe Conversation UK - Daniel White Avengers: Endgame smashed box office records in the days following its release, becoming the quickest film ever to break the $2bn barrier and ranking …
Health (UK) Belly fat: gut bacteria checks could lead to personalised dietsThe Conversation UK - Caroline Le Roy and Jordana Bell Rates of obesity are rising across the globe; a third of the world’s population is now overweight and nearly a fifth is obese. Public health policy …
Interest Rates The 'yield curve' is one of the most accurate predictors of a future recession – and it's flashing warning signsThe Conversation UK - Julius Probst More than ten years on from the global financial crisis and economies around the world are still struggling to fully recover. The latest data is not …
Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank job cuts are tip of the iceberg for the finance industryThe Conversation UK - Arturo Bris Deutsche Bank caused a recent stir with the seemingly sudden announcement that it would cut 18,000 jobs – one fifth of its global staff. It is part …
Brexit Brexit: it’s not just where Britain's going that matters, but how it gets thereThe Conversation UK - Simon Usherwood We’re talking a lot about Brexit in Britain. Whether it’s our hopes or – more likely – our frustrations, it’s the subject that we never quite seem to …
Health (UK) How the brain prepares for movement and actionsThe Conversation UK - Myrto Mantziara Our behaviour is largely tied to how well we control, organise and carry out movements in the correct order. Take writing, for example. If we didn’t …
Blockchain Four ways blockchain could make the internet safer, fairer and more creativeThe Conversation UK - Hitesh Tewari The internet is unique in that it has no central control, administration or authority. It has given everyone with access to it a platform to express …
Reforestation Exaggerating how much CO₂ can be absorbed by tree planting risks deterring crucial climate actionThe Conversation UK - Duncan McLaren Planting almost a billion hectares of trees worldwide is the “biggest and cheapest tool” for tackling climate change, according to a new study. The …
Reforestation Exaggerating how much CO2 can be absorbed by tree planting risks deterring crucial climate actionThe Conversation UK - Duncan McLaren Planting almost a billion hectares of trees worldwide is the “biggest and cheapest tool” for tackling climate change, according to a new study. The …
UK News London to be as hot as Barcelona by 2050? I research urban heat, and I'm scepticalThe Conversation UK - Robert Wilby Barcelona just had a week of temperatures above 30℃. It’s a few degrees hotter than the long-term average, but no heatwave. In winter, Spain’s second …
Play buttonFood Waste Food waste: using sustainable innovation to cut down what we throw awayThe Conversation UK - Mehrnaz Tajmir and Baris Yalabik Our appetite for food is a serious problem. The huge amount of energy, land and water used to fill our supermarket shelves mean that modern …
Cyberbullying Anonymous apps risk fuelling cyberbullying but they also fill a vital roleThe Conversation UK - Killian O'Leary and Stephen Murphy When the anonymous social media app YOLO was launched in May 2019, it topped the iTunes downloads chart after just one week, despite the lack of a …
Play buttonFestivals The environmental cost of abandoning your tent at a music festivalThe Conversation UK - Aurore Julien After years of depressing images of huge fields strewn with abandoned tents and rubbish in the aftermath of music festivals, it was heartening to …
Aging The Victorians believed that women aged faster than men – a myth that persists todayThe Conversation UK - Sara Zadrozny The global anti-ageing market is worth at least $250 billion – an astonishing amount, and it’s growing. Anti-ageing treatments are supposedly used to …
Joy Division Joy Division: 40 years on from 'Unknown Pleasures', astronomers have revisited the pulsar from the iconic album coverThe Conversation UK - Patrick Weltevrede Forty years ago, the English rock band Joy Division released their debut studio album “Unknown Pleasures”. The front cover doesn’t feature any words, …
Same-sex Marriage How a Hong Kong tax assessment decision could influence attitudes towards LGBT+ rights across AsiaThe Conversation UK - Erich Hou Just days after same-sex marriage was legalised in neighbouring Taiwan, Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal handed down its own landmark decision. A …
Sri Lanka Modern Slavery Act is having unintended consequences for women's freedom in Sri LankaThe Conversation UK - Sandya Hewamanne The Modern Slavery Act was seen as a big achievement for combating the issue of forced labour. But since it was passed by the UK government in 2015, …
Play buttonJohanna Konta Wimbledon: Johanna Konta interview and the problems with viewing sports stars as public figuresThe Conversation UK - Kieran File After her loss to Barbora Strycova in the Wimbledon quarter finals, British tennis player Johanna Konta reacted somewhat angrily to a line of …
Heart Rates Our brain-computer interfacing technology uses music to make people happyThe Conversation UK - Ian Daly and Eduardo R. Miranda and Slawomir Nasuto Whether it’s the music that was playing on the radio when you met your partner or the first song your baby daughter smiled to, for many of us, music …
UK News Northern Ireland: as Marching season begins, a new political force is on the riseThe Conversation UK - Drew Mikhael and Timofey Agarin There was a worrying increase in violence during the Protestant Orange marches of July 2018, a traditional flashpoint between Northern Ireland’s …
