Category: Analysis
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Why do we agree to take off our shoes at the airport?
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – France – By Emmanuel Carré, Professeur, directeur de Excelia Communication School, chercheur associé au laboratoire CIMEOS (U. de Bourgogne) et CERIIM (Excelia), Excelia It is 7.30am at Terminal 2E at Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris, and in the line leading to the security gates, an executive is removing…
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I’m a physicist who studies fossils, and I recently discovered preserved blood vessels in the world’s largest T. rex
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jerit Leo Mitchell, Physics PhD Candidate, University of Regina Advanced technologies reveal new information about ancient fossils. (J. Mitchell), CC BY Despite the fact that much of the current research in paleontology focuses on trying to find traces of organic remains in fossils, dinosaur DNA has…
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Is AI coming for your creative job? Maybe not – with some human intervention
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Afsoon Soudi, Assistant Professor, RTA school of Media, Toronto Metropolitan University The AI robot, Ai-Da, at a United Nations summit with its paintings, which sold for US$1 million. 2025 © Ai-Da Robot Studios Many writers, actors and other creatives are currently experiencing a small wave of…
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Gene therapy can be less effective in women – and my research in mice brings us one step closer to understanding why
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Alison Clare, Senior Research Associate, Translational Health Sciences and Ophthalmology, University of Bristol Some gene therapies may be less effective in women. crystal light/ Shutterstock Gene therapies hold immense promise for treating sight loss. These therapies use a modified, harmless virus to deliver therapeutic genes directly…
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How microbes could help solve the world’s plastic pollution crisis
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Julianne Megaw, Lecturer in Microbiology, Queen’s University Belfast With conventional waste management systems falling short, many scientists are turning to nature for innovative solutions to the issue of plastic waste. One promising avenue is microbial degradation: harnessing the natural abilities of certain bacteria and fungi to…
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Love is Blind returns – but is there truth to the show’s ‘social experiment’? Here’s what the research says
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Martin Graff, Senior Lecturer in Psychology of Relationships, University of South Wales Love is Blind UK returns to Netflix on August 13. For those who haven’t seen it, the show describes itself as a “social experiment” in which single men and women look for love and…
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Freakier Friday: nostalgia-soaked sequel explores grief and blended families
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Harriet Fletcher, Lecturer in Media and Communication, Anglia Ruskin University Twenty-two years after Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis first swapped bodies in the teen classic Freaky Friday, the beloved duo returns. This time there’s twice the chaos in an ambitious four-person body swap comedy dripping…
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Where you think you are in society (not where you actually are) matters for how you think about inequality
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Giacomo Melli, PhD candidate in sociology, University of Oxford Where do you see yourself on the ladder? Cristina Conti/Shutterstock Imagine society as a ladder with ten rungs. Where would you place yourself? That answer reflects your subjective social status – where you see yourself in society.…
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How hot is your home? Nigerian study explores comfort levels in buildings
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Mak Okay-Ikenegbu, Researcher, University of Portsmouth Global standards for heating comfort are largely based on cooler, northern hemisphere climates. How relevant are these benchmarks in low-cost housing in warmer African regions? Mak Okay-Ikenegbu did his doctoral research on thermal comfort in low-cost housing for warm…
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Schools are looking for chaplains, but the understanding of who – and what – chaplains are varies widely
Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Wendy Cadge, Professor of Sociology and President, Bryn Mawr College Navy Chaplain Judy Malana sings during the funeral service for former first lady Rosalynn Carter on Nov. 29, 2023, in Plains, Ga. Photo by Alex Brandon – Pool/Getty Images There is an ongoing push to…