Category: The Conversation

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jeremiah Stanley, Postdoctoral Researcher, Viral and Cancer Genes, University of Limerick PeopleImages/Shutterstock.com Serotonin is often described as the happiness chemical because of its well-known role in regulating mood. However, recent research suggests this familiar molecule may play an unexpected role in cancer development. Not through its…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor, The Conversation This newsletter was first published in The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email. Sign up to receive weekly analysis of the latest developments in international relations, direct to your inbox. It’s probably just as well that…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Jacqueline Peel, Professor of Law, The University of Melbourne The Amazonian city of Belém, Brazil Ricardo Lima/Getty Along with delegates from all over the world, I’ll be heading to the United Nations COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian Amazon city of Belém. Like many others,…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Ray Laurence, Professor of Ancient History, Macquarie University Rosario Lepore / Wikimedia, CC BY At its height, the Roman empire covered some 5 million square kilometres and was home to around 60 million people. This vast territory and huge population were held together via a…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Philipp Kastner, Senior Lecturer in International Law, The University of Western Australia Two years ago, a power struggle erupted between two factions of Sudan’s military. Today, this conflict is spiralling out of control, with thousands being killed in what a United Nations report has called…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eva Nieto McAvoy, Lecturer in Digital Media, King’s College London Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used to preserve the voices and stories of the dead. From text-based chatbots that mimic loved ones to voice avatars that let you “speak” with the deceased, a growing digital…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eef Hogervorst, Professor of Biological Psychology, Loughborough University AYO Production/Shutterstock.com A new study suggests that even low levels of physical activity could protect the brain from Alzheimer’s disease – but not in the way scientists expected. The researchers tracked almost 300 older adults with early brain…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rita Goyal, Assistant Professor, Centre for Resilient Business and Society, Coventry University Women are increasingly occupying top leadership roles across organisations, political parties and even nations. This may seem unequivocally like a good thing. Yet, many of these roles are undertaken in precarious circumstances, with inherent…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gustav Cederlöf, Associate Professor of Environmental Social Science, University of Gothenburg Hours before Hurricane Melissa roared towards Cuba’s second-largest city, Santiago de Cuba, the island’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, announced that 735,000 people had been evacuated – one in every 15 Cubans. The storm had already smashed…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – UK – By Amy Cano Prentice, Senior Research Officer, ODI Global PeopleImages/Shutterstock Global emissions need to peak this year to stay within 1.5°C of global temperature rise since pre-industrial levels. This means that starting now, countries need to emit less greenhouse gas. Emissions also need to be cut in…