Category: The Conversation

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Adriana Marin, Lecturer in International Relations, Coventry University The US has “decertified” Colombia as an ally in the fight against drugs, adding it to a list of countries including Afghanistan, Myanmar and Venezuela. Behind the decision lie surging coca cultivation and a desire to signal that…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sarah Olive, Senior Lecturer in Literature, Aston University This year marks the 20th anniversary of Stephenie Meyer’s novel, Twilight. The book series of the same name has sold over 160 million copies, been translated into 38 languages and adapted into five blockbuster films. Vampires are perennially…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Chris Perry, Professor in Tropical Coastal Geoscience, University of Exeter Weedy corals colonise a dead reef structure in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Lauren T Toth, CC BY-NC-ND Caribbean coral reefs are sounding the alarm. These ecosystems, which protect millions of people and sustain billion-dollar industries,…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Alfred Wilson-Spencer, Research fellow of Mineral Physics, University of Leeds Alfred Wilson-Spencer, CC BY-SA The iron-rich core at the centre of our planet has been a crucial part of Earth’s evolution. The core not only powers the magnetic field which shields our atmosphere and oceans from…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nathan Abrams, Professor of Film Studies, Bangor University Robert Redford, who has died at the age of 89, was perhaps everybody’s idea of a classical Hollywood movie actor. His conventional good looks – his blond hair, boyish charm and chiselled chin – led him to be…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jean-Baptiste Burnet, Lead R&T Scientist, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) Microbes in water are like invisible travellers – and some carry disease with them. Keeping the water that flows through our treatment plants, rivers and taps healthy and safe from microbial infection is a…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Malak Benslama-Dabdoub, Lecturer in law, Royal Holloway University of London The UN’s independent international commission of inquiry has just released a report that may go down as one of the most significant documents in modern international law. After nearly two years of investigation, the commission has…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Roger Santer, Lecturer in Zoology, Aberystwyth University What do you look like to a house fly? Lee Hua Ming/Shutterstock Jakob von Uexküll was a Baltic German biologist ahead of his time, intrigued by the idea that animals inhabit unique perceptual worlds quite unlike our own. In…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rachel Woods, Senior Lecturer in Physiology, University of Lincoln Being a bit overweight later in life may have protective health effects. Niks Ads/Shutterstock.com Being slightly overweight might not shorten your life, but being very thin might. A large Danish study tracking more than 85,000 adults has…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Charlotte Lee, Research Fellow, Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford Rostislav Sedlacek/Shutterstock.com Being diagnosed with a serious mental illness like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder often brings an overlooked challenge: rapid and sustained weight gain. This side-effect can raise the risk of diabetes, heart disease and…