Category: Academic Reportage

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Kevin James, Professor, History, University of Guelph Duff House, near Aberdeen in Scotland, in May 2011. (Wikimedia Commons), CC BY Between 1945 and 1974, Scotland lost a proportionally higher number of country houses than England — 175 of these stately formerly aristocratic homes (think Downton Abbey)…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Magali Nehemy, Assistant Professor, Department of Earth & Environmental Science, University of British Columbia The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical forest, home to unmatched biodiversity and one of the planet’s longest rivers. Besides the Amazon River, the Amazon rainforest also features “flying rivers:” invisible streams…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Danielle Halle, PhD Candidate, Glaciology, University of Waterloo In higher elevations, firn, frozen water that is something between snow and ice, covers the top of glaciers. Firn plays a critical role in regulating glacial meltwater and sea level rise. It does this by absorbing meltwater, the…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sue Mylde, Doctoral Student, EdD., Learning Sciences, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary With the rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), teachers have been thrust into a new and ever-shifting classroom reality. The public, including many students, now has widespread access to GenAI tools…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Leo S. Lo, Dean of Libraries; Advisor to the Provost for AI Literacy; Professor of Education, University of Virginia How many AI queries does it take to use up a regular plastic water bottle’s worth of water? kieferpix/iStock/Getty Images Plus Artificial intelligence systems are thirsty,…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Manu Lekunze, Lecturer, University of Aberdeen Cameroonians will vote in presidential elections on 12 October 2025. The incumbent, Paul Biya, who has been in office for nearly 43 years, will be a candidate. In 2025, as in the last election in 2018, and in all…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Stig Jarle Hansen, Professor of International Relations, Norwegian University of Life Sciences More than 100 civilians have perished in a spate of attacks by Islamic State-backed rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-2025. The Islamic State’s Central African Province – known locally as…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Indonesia – By Aniello Iannone, Indonesianists | Research Fellow at the research centre Geopolitica.info | Lecturer, Universitas Diponegoro Hashtag #PolisiMusuhBersama (Police are the common enemy) has gone viral among Indonesian social media users, as the Indonesian Police have, once again, sparked public anger due to a series of violent…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By David Kroll, Professor of Natural Products Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Kratom, an herbal supplement, is now being regulated in Colorado. AR30mm/iStock via Getty Images David Bregger had never heard of kratom before his son, Daniel, 33, died in Denver in…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jedediah Blanton, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, Recreation and Sport Studies, University of Tennessee Most coaches want to be able to do more than teach their athletes to win faceoffs and dodge defenders. Hannah Foslien/The Washington Post via Getty Images Coach Smith was an easy hire…