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Jane Austen’s world ran on gossip – and she revelled in it

Jane Austen’s Paper Trail is a podcast from The Conversation celebrating 250 years since Jane Austen’s birth. In each episode, we’ll be...

yesterday 10

Anna Walker

Dick Cheney dies: giant of the US conservative movement whose legacy was defined by the Iraq war

Dick Cheney, one of the most important figures in America’s neo-conservative movement, has died at the age of 84. Cheney had a long career in...

yesterday 1

Natasha Lindstaedt

The case for a cancer warning on your bacon butty

A group of scientists in the UK recently demanded that bacon and ham products carry health warnings similar to those on cigarettes. These experts...

yesterday 1

Justin Stebbing

Tax rises and benefit cuts are on the horizon as Reeves prepares the UK for a bad-news budget

The UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has made it clear that taxes will go up, and more cuts to welfare spending are on the horizon. The moves will be...

yesterday 1

Steve Schifferes

From nail bars to firefighting foams: how chemicals are deemed safe enough or too harmful

If you’ve sat in a nail salon recently, you may well have encountered TPO or trimethylbenzoyl diphenylphosphine oxide to give it its full chemical...

yesterday 1

Mark Lorch

In The Eleventh Hour, Salman Rushdie writes like he’s running out of time

Salman Rushdie’s new collection of short stories urgently recollects his literary legacy. It’s as though time is increasingly uncertain so the...

yesterday 1

Jenni Ramone

Is it ok for politicians to use AI? Survey shows where the public draws the line

New survey evidence from the UK and Japan shows people are open to MPs using AI as a tool, but deeply resistant to handing over democratic...

yesterday 1

Steven David Pickering

How wars ravage the environment – and what international law is doing about it

People across the Gaza Strip have been returning to towns and cities badly damaged by the war after a fragile ceasefire took effect in October....

yesterday 1

Benjamin Neimark

Brazil’s upcoming UN climate summit highlights how tricky climate pledges are to keep

For two weeks during November, countries are coming together in the city of Belém in Brazil to negotiate their responses to climate change. This...

yesterday 1

Hannah Hughes

How the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard predicted today’s AI 30 years before ChatGPT

Some writers appear so accurate in their assessment of where society and technology is taking us that they have attracted the label “prophet”....

yesterday 1

Bran Nicol

Artificial developments weaken coastal resilience – here’s how mapping them can help

The coastlines I trace resemble logos and luxury icons: palms, crescents, pixelated grids, surreal ornaments etched into shallow seas. The...

yesterday 1

Dhritiraj Sengupta

University still pays off – even in lower-wage Britain

In the upcoming budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to raise the minimum wage to £12.70 an hour: £26,416 annually for a full-time job....

yesterday 1

Sean Brophy

Maps reveal the greater risk to the world’s artificial coastlines from sea-level rise

The coastlines I trace resemble logos and luxury icons: palms, crescents, pixelated grids, surreal ornaments etched into shallow seas. The...

yesterday 2

Dhritiraj Sengupta

Rape culture is a problem for everyone – here are three ways to tackle it

Rape, as a crime, is widely deplored. Society and media condemn rapists, and rape and other sexually-related crimes carry potentially heavy prison...

yesterday 1

Alexandra Fanghanel

Can you treat a narcissist?

Perhaps you know someone who always deflects blame onto you. Someone who smirks when caught in a lie, who twists your words until you’re...

yesterday 1

Jodie Raybould

Scary stories for kids: I made my dad take me to see Ghostbusters three times

“Three parapsychologists lose their university funding” sounds like the beginning of a terrible joke, rather than a premise for one of the most...

yesterday 1

Diane A. Rodgers

How China spreads authoritarian practices beyond its borders

Protests erupted in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, in October 2020 following disputed parliamentary elections. Only four political parties out...

yesterday 1

Giulia Sciorati

Problems regulating emotions during pregnancy linked with perinatal depression – new research

Around one in five mothers experience perinatal depression. This condition involves depressive episodes during pregnancy or just after birth –...

yesterday 1

Franziska Weinmar

Bonfire Night: why it’s never a good idea to mess around with fireworks

Around 2,000 people visit A&E every year due to injuries caused by fireworks. Although fireworks are an essential part of Bonfire Night...

previous day 2

Adam Taylor

Why some humans grow horns

Equids, members of the horse family including horses, donkeys and zebras, share curious features called chestnuts. Found on every horse, they...

previous day 4

Dan Baumgardt

Milei’s win should lock in financial backing from Trump. But at what cost to Argentinians?

In late October Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, won a decisive victory in the country’s midterm elections. The scale of the result caught most...

previous day 3

Matt Barlow

Secret Maps at the British Library reconsiders the lines that shape our world

Maps do more than show us where we are or help us find where we need to go. They are powerful cultural documents, reflecting – and often shaping –...

previous day 2

Doug Specht

Is it healthier to only eat until you’re 80% full? The Japanese philosophy of hara hachi bu

Some of the world’s healthiest and longest-living people follow the practice of “hara hachi bu” — an eating philosophy rooted in moderation. This...

previous day 2

Aisling Pigott

Why do some of us love AI, while others hate it? The answer is in how our brains perceive risk and trust

From ChatGPT crafting emails, to AI systems recommending TV shows and even helping diagnose disease, the presence of machine intelligence in...

previous day 2

Paul Jones

The Samurai Detectives by Shōtarō Ikenami: a tale of honour, desire and mystery in Edo Japan

An upright young samurai, a cross-dressing sword-wielding maiden, a retired warrior, honour killings, killings not-so-honourable, and lovers of all...

previous day 3

Hui-Ying Kerr

Why national parks and nature reserves don’t always safeguard ecosystems as expected

Setting aside land for nature is one of the main global strategies to conserve biodiversity. From national parks to local reserves, these areas are...

previous day 2

Miguel Lurgi

How narcissism ruins teamwork – and why it matters in the workplace

Teamwork can bring out both the best and the worst in people. Working together means sharing ideas and coordinating actions. But sometimes, it can...

previous day 2

Claire Hart

How 18th-century politician Charles Fox mastered personality politics long before Trump and Farage

It’s hard to think about politics today without immediately picturing the face of a party’s leader, charismatic or otherwise. Whether delivering a...

previous day 2

Callum Smith

Earthshot prize’s request for a vegan menu for Prince William leaves a bitter taste in the Amazon

Saulo Jennings, an acclaimed Amazonian chef and UN gastronomy tourism ambassador, was reportedly outraged when organisers of Prince William’s...

previous day 2

Belinda Zakrzewska

Seven albums to listen to during a breakup – from Lily Allen to Marvin Gaye

Lily Allen’s bombshell new album, West-End Girl, has caused a sensation for its depiction of a marriage torn apart. Though the singer has described...

previous day 3

Charlotte Curran

Involving women in peace deals reduces chance of a conflict restarting by up to 37%

Twenty-five years ago, on October 31, 2000, the United Nations unanimously adopted its landmark security council resolution 1325 (WPS 1325). The...

previous day 2

Giuditta Fontana

Design and technology’s practical and creative skills should see it revived in the school curriculum

Studying design and technology (D&T) at school gives children the opportunity to get up from behind a desk and learn practical skills. It’s the...

previous day 2

Matt Mclain

The planet wants you to eat more offal – here’s how to increase consumption

Meat has a large environmental impact, but could consuming more of it be part of the answer? Meat-eaters in western countries today typically focus...

previous day 3

Tennessee Randall

Trump-Xi meeting: the key takeaways

This newsletter was first published in The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email. Sign up to receive weekly analysis of the latest...

31.10.2025 1

Jonathan Este

Why was it ‘necessary’ for King Charles to take action on Andrew – and why now?

The man formerly known as Prince Andrew will now simply be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor after he was stripped of all his official titles. In...

31.10.2025 1

Francesca Jackson

J.D. Vance calls himself a ‘post-liberal ’: here’s what that means for US government

The US vice-president, J. D. Vance, has identified himself as being “of the post-liberal right”. Vance is generally thought of as more influential...

31.10.2025 1

Matt Sleat

New Nasa lunar contest could pit Elon Musk against Jeff Bezos, as US fears China will win race to Moon

The United States and China are locked in a contest to be the first country to send humans to the lunar surface in half a century. But there’s a...

31.10.2025 1

Ian Whittaker

Scary stories for kids: Monster House is a kid’s film for serious and budding horror buffs alike

In Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), Marion Crane looks up at the house looming in the night sky behind the Bates Motel, its hybrid New England/...

31.10.2025 5

Matt Jacobsen

Benedict Cumberbatch, John Grisham and Ursula K. Le Guin’s fantasy maps: what to watch, read and see this week

The more I see Benedict Cumberbatch on screen the more I marvel at his talent as an actor. Recently I have watched him in Eric on Netflix, as an...

31.10.2025 1

Jane Wright

Why men need more exercise than women to see the same heart benefits

Exercise is like medicine for the heart, and just like with medication, you need the right “dose” for it to be effective. But a recent study...

31.10.2025 2

Jack Mcnamara

How your brain keeps falling for the latest beauty fads – and what you can do about it

Beauty standards have always evolved, but in today’s social media age, they shift at lightning speed. From “clean girl” minimalism to the “quiet...

31.10.2025 1

Laura Elin Pigott

‘You can’t eat electricity’: how rural solar farms became the latest battlefront in Britain’s culture war

Sean Matthews, the Reform UK leader of Lincolnshire County Council, has said he’ll “lie down in front of bulldozers” to stop Britain’s largest...

31.10.2025 1

Alex Heffron

Girlbands Forever: BBC documentary charts the highs and lows of British girl groups – with one glaring ommission

There can be no doubt that any conversation about British girlbands of the last 30 years would be dominated by Spice Girls. In whichever corner of...

31.10.2025 1

Joel Gray

Why are so few environmental criminals on Interpol’s ‘most wanted’ list?

Environmental crime is big business, often listed among the world’s top five criminal activities, just behind counterfeiting and drug crime. So it...

31.10.2025 1

Diogo Veríssimo

A landfill tax could halt the vast amounts of healthy soil that are needlessly thrown away

UK government proposals to increase the cost of sending soil to landfill have received strong pushback from the construction industry. But there is...

31.10.2025 1

Jess Davies

Mission to Mars: how space exploration pushes the human body to its limits

On January 14 2004, the United States announced a new “Vision for Space Exploration”, promising that humans would not only visit space but live...

31.10.2025 1

Damian Bailey

Bugonia: a brilliant abduction thriller with Yorgos Lanthimos’s distinct absurdist stamp

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’s fourth film with actress Emma Stone finds the pair once again galvanising one another to extraordinary work. The...

31.10.2025 4

Matt Jacobsen

The psychological toll of hurricanes – major storms leave more than wreckage behind

When a hurricane strikes, the first images we see are of roofs ripped off, trees uprooted and streets turned into rivers. But the psychological...

31.10.2025 6

Gulnaz Anjum

The Children’s Booker prize will include works of translation – here are five expert recommendations to get your kids excited

The buzz around the newly announced Children’s Booker has focused on its potential to “tell kids they matter”, as they get their own version of...

31.10.2025 1

Sophie Heywood

Why is it so difficult for the UK to deport foreign criminals?

A convicted sex offender has been deported from Britain to Ethiopia after being accidentally released from prison. Following a national manhunt,...

31.10.2025 1

Categories

Sources

Newspaper Columnists

Jane Austen’s world ran on gossip – and she revelled in it

Anna Walker

Dick Cheney dies: giant of the US conservative movement whose legacy was defined by the Iraq war

Natasha Lindstaedt

The case for a cancer warning on your bacon butty

Justin Stebbing

Tax rises and benefit cuts are on the horizon as Reeves prepares the UK for a bad-news budget

Steve Schifferes

From nail bars to firefighting foams: how chemicals are deemed safe enough or too harmful

Mark Lorch

In The Eleventh Hour, Salman Rushdie writes like he’s running out of time

Jenni Ramone

Is it ok for politicians to use AI? Survey shows where the public draws the line

Steven David Pickering

How wars ravage the environment – and what international law is doing about it

Benjamin Neimark

Brazil’s upcoming UN climate summit highlights how tricky climate pledges are to keep

Hannah Hughes

How the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard predicted today’s AI 30 years before ChatGPT

Bran Nicol

Artificial developments weaken coastal resilience – here’s how mapping them can help

Dhritiraj Sengupta

University still pays off – even in lower-wage Britain

Sean Brophy

Maps reveal the greater risk to the world’s artificial coastlines from sea-level rise

Dhritiraj Sengupta

Rape culture is a problem for everyone – here are three ways to tackle it

Alexandra Fanghanel

Can you treat a narcissist?

Jodie Raybould

Scary stories for kids: I made my dad take me to see Ghostbusters three times

Diane A. Rodgers

How China spreads authoritarian practices beyond its borders

Giulia Sciorati

Problems regulating emotions during pregnancy linked with perinatal depression – new research

Franziska Weinmar

Bonfire Night: why it’s never a good idea to mess around with fireworks

Adam Taylor

Why some humans grow horns

Dan Baumgardt

Milei’s win should lock in financial backing from Trump. But at what cost to Argentinians?

Matt Barlow

Secret Maps at the British Library reconsiders the lines that shape our world

Doug Specht

Is it healthier to only eat until you’re 80% full? The Japanese philosophy of hara hachi bu

Aisling Pigott

Why do some of us love AI, while others hate it? The answer is in how our brains perceive risk and trust

Paul Jones

The Samurai Detectives by Shōtarō Ikenami: a tale of honour, desire and mystery in Edo Japan

Hui-Ying Kerr

Why national parks and nature reserves don’t always safeguard ecosystems as expected

Miguel Lurgi

How narcissism ruins teamwork – and why it matters in the workplace

Claire Hart

How 18th-century politician Charles Fox mastered personality politics long before Trump and Farage

Callum Smith

Earthshot prize’s request for a vegan menu for Prince William leaves a bitter taste in the Amazon

Belinda Zakrzewska

Seven albums to listen to during a breakup – from Lily Allen to Marvin Gaye

Charlotte Curran

Involving women in peace deals reduces chance of a conflict restarting by up to 37%

Giuditta Fontana

Design and technology’s practical and creative skills should see it revived in the school curriculum

Matt Mclain

The planet wants you to eat more offal – here’s how to increase consumption

Tennessee Randall

Trump-Xi meeting: the key takeaways

Jonathan Este

Why was it ‘necessary’ for King Charles to take action on Andrew – and why now?

Francesca Jackson

J.D. Vance calls himself a ‘post-liberal ’: here’s what that means for US government

Matt Sleat

New Nasa lunar contest could pit Elon Musk against Jeff Bezos, as US fears China will win race to Moon

Ian Whittaker

Scary stories for kids: Monster House is a kid’s film for serious and budding horror buffs alike

Matt Jacobsen

Benedict Cumberbatch, John Grisham and Ursula K. Le Guin’s fantasy maps: what to watch, read and see this week