Category: Academic Reportage

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Billie Anderson, Lecturer, Disability Studies, King’s University College, Western University In Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, the true horror lies in scientist Victor Frankenstein’s hubris and refusal to care for The Creature he creates. Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein gave The Creature an eloquent voice — but…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Gordon A. Gow, Director, Media & Technology Studies, University of Alberta Earlier this year, a band called The Velvet Sundown racked up hundreds of thousands of streams on Spotify with retro-pop tracks, generating a million monthly listeners on Spotify. But the band wasn’t real. Every song,…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Fatma Ozdogan, PhD Candidate & Researcher, Université de Montréal In December 1989, the United Nations declared Oct. 13 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. At the time, the aim was to make disaster-risk reduction part of everyday thinking worldwide. Today, this mission is more urgent than…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By James Horncastle, Assistant Professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Simon Fraser University There’s recently been a significant uptick in Russian incursions into Europe. They started in mid-September with Russian drones violating Polish airspace, resulting in Poland being forced to deploy its air…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Alexandra A Phillips, Assistant Teaching Professor in Environmental Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara Meltwater runs across the Greenland ice sheet in rivers. The ice sheet is already losing mass and could soon reach a tipping point. Maria-José Viñas/NASA As the planet warms, it risks…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa – By James Boafo, Lecturer in Sustainability and Fellow of Indo Pacific Research Centre, Murdoch University Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, rare earth elements, and platinum group metals are essential for modern technologies. They are key to industries ranging from electronics and telecommunications to renewable…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jessica Beaudette, Visiting Scholar, Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, Arizona State University A herd of antelope graze near a giraffe in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Murat Ozgur Guvendik/Anadolu via Getty Images Botswana’s fertile Okavango Delta is one of the last remaining high-biodiversity ecosystems in the world, home…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Brian Strzempkowski, Assistant Director, Center for Aviation Studies, The Ohio State University The government shutdown has exacerbated the air traffic controller shortage, leading to delays at airports across the country, including in Burbank, Calif. Mario Tama/Getty Images Airports across the United States have been experiencing significant…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By James Horncastle, Assistant Professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Simon Fraser University The Nobel Committee has ended months of speculation over the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner in selecting Venezuelan politician and activist María Corina Machado. With no obvious candidate this year,…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Zhixin Wang, Postdoctoral Researcher in Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara This illustration shows, from left to right: John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach, CC BY-NC The 2025 Nobel Prize in physics honors three quantum physicists – John Clarke,…