Jonathan Ridley, Head of Engineering, Warsash School of Maritime Science and Engineering, Solent University Sailing used to be considered as a rather sedate pastime. But in the past few years, the world of yacht racing has been revolutionised by the arrival of hydrofoil-supported catamarans, known as “foilers”. These vessels, more akin to high-performance aircraft than […]

Ashvanti Valji, PhD researcher, Cardiff University and Matthias Gruber, Sir Henry Dale Fellow & Principal Investigator of the Motivation and Memory Lab, Cardiff University 14 September 2019 They say curiosity killed the cat for a reason. Being curious has many advantages, but it is also associated with risk taking. But what is curiosity exactly? Is […]

Justin Pearce, Teaching Associate in Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge The Mozambican government recently signed a peace deal with the Renamo opposition party, in time for elections in October. This is the most decisive step so far towards ending a low-intensity yet persistent conflict that began in 2013. But the peace deal is […]

Jos Barlow, Professor of Conservation Science, Lancaster University and Alexander C. Lees, Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology, Manchester Metropolitan University 24 August 2019 Imagine a rainforest at dawn – the tall canopy laden with dripping ferns and orchids, tree trunks covered in spongy mosses and lichens, and the morning mist only slowly burning away as […]

Don Pinnock, Research fellow, criminologist, University of Cape Town When the apartheid government decided to evict people it called Coloured from Cape Town’s inner city, it set off a chain reaction that now requires military intervention. More than 50 years on from the mass evictions that drove anyone who wasn’t white from the city centre, […]

Private military and security companies have been regular fixtures in conflicts across the globe. For Africa, these corporations became increasingly visible with their role in civil wars in Angola and Sierra Leone. More recently, reports in 2015 indicated the Nigerian government contracted a number of companies to aid in counterinsurgency efforts targeting Boko Haram. And […]

  To get out of the mess we’re in, we need a new story that explains the present and guides the future, says author George Monbiot. Drawing on findings from psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology, he offers a new vision for society built around our fundamental capacity for altruism and cooperation. This contagiously optimistic TED […]

Only a small proportion of households in the former homelands are full-time farmers. This number is declining, as is the area of land being cultivated. Charlie Shackleton, Professor & Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Science in Land and Natural Resource Use for Sustainable Livelihoods, Rhodes University Over half a million households in South Africa’s former homelands […]

This year, the People’s Republic of China turns 70. And Xi, its paramount leader, turned 66 last month. No other Chinese leader’s life so closely parallels the life of the PRC – and that explains a lot about Xi’s mindset and his ambitions for China. Bates Gill, Professor of Asia-Pacific Security Studies, Macquarie University Chinese […]