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National Gallery 200: Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo’s Mary Magdalene is a powerful piece of storytelling

Usually relegated to the sidelines, Mary Magdalene is depicted with passion and power in this painting by a north Italian master.

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The Conversation

Gabriele Neher

Did a worm really eat part of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s brain?

RFK Jr. has a dead tapeworm in his brain.

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The Conversation

Adam Taylor

Apple’s ‘crush’ advert annoys people across the generations – that’s why it misfired

Crushing pianos, video games and emojis doesn’t seem to have delivered the slick messaging the brand was aiming for.

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The Conversation

Kim Watts

The fossils being formed today will show how humankind disrupted life on Earth

Such massive disruptions have in the past been caused by volcanoes or meteorites. Only humans have done this with full awareness of their actions.

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The Conversation

Mark Williams

Gaza campus protests: what are students’ free speech rights and what can universities do?

Universities have a difficult balance to strike between protecting student speech rights and ensuring campus safety.

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The Conversation

Suzanne Whitten

Why you should never take nutrition advice from a centenarian

A daily glass of spirits is not the secret to living for a century or more. Here’s why.

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The Conversation

Bradley Elliott

Baby Reindeer: fans will always go sleuthing so real people must be better protected

Baby Reindeer, the autobiographical Netflix series about one comedian’s experience of stalking, has consistently been in the streamer’s top ten...

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The Conversation

Bethan Jones

Lassa fever case in Paris: what you need to know

A case of Lassa fever has been reported in Paris, France, sparking lurid warnings about the “horrific Ebola-like bug”. So what is Lassa fever and...

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The Conversation

Cheryl Walter

Mexico’s criminal gangs stir up political violence ahead of election season

It’s a season of political change in Mexico. On June 2, millions of Mexicans will head to the polls to elect a new president, state governors and...

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The Conversation

Amalendu Misra

AI system can predict the structures of life’s molecules with stunning accuracy – helping to solve one of biology’s biggest problems

AlphaFold 3, unveiled to the world on May 9, is the latest version of an algorithm designed to predict the structures of proteins – vital...

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The Conversation

Charlotte Dodson

Four of the most consequential political defections in British history

The hitherto Conservative MP for Dover, Natalie Elphicke, has sensationally defected to the Labour party. This has sent shockwaves through...

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The Conversation

Chris Smith

A new campaign wants to redefine the word ‘nature’ to include humans – here’s why this linguistic argument matters

What does the word nature mean to you? Does it conjure visions of wild places away from the hustle and bustle of people, or does it include humans...

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The Conversation

Tom Oliver

What should you do if you can’t pay your rent or mortgage?

The cost of living crisis is making it difficult for many people to pay their bills, including housing costs. Private sector rents have increased...

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The Conversation

Emma Laurie

National Gallery 200: an intriguing Victorian painting of the gallery by a little-known artist

A work of quite stunning obscurity, Giuseppe Gabrielli’s painting The National Gallery 1886, Interior of Room 32 is not currently on display. But...

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The Conversation

William Whyte

The UN has a ‘list of shame’ for those who harm children in war – but who is missing?

Children are the primary victims of war. They are routinely recruited, abducted, raped and buried under rubble. For children lucky enough to...

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The Conversation

Samantha Holmes

Nostalgia hasn’t always been a tool for manipulating our emotions – it was once a medical condition

Nostalgia has somewhat of a bad reputation – particularly for its recent influence on politics and society. The emotion is supposed to persuade,...

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The Conversation

Agnes Arnold-Forster

Small but mighty, plankton are some of the most powerful creatures on Earth

If you go to the beach and dip a bucket in the sea, you might at first think it contains lifeless water. But examine that water under a microscope...

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The Conversation

Abigail Mcquatters-Gollop

Why evolution often favours small animals and other organisms

Small really does seem to be beautiful in evolutionary terms. The largest dinosaurs, pterosaurs and mammals may look impressive but these giants...

yesterday 50

The Conversation

Matthew Wills

Why removing protections on social media – in the name of free speech – is bad for peacebuilding

On May 16 the world will mark the UN International Day of Living Together in Peace. It is a rallying call for people to listen respectfully to...

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Paul Reilly

Ukraine war: battlefield setbacks stir Kyiv’s European allies into taking a tougher line on Russia

Two weeks after the US president, Joe Biden, signed off on a US$60 billion (£50 billion) package of military aid to Kyiv, the impact on the...

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Stefan Wolff

Cancer: here’s the role exercise plays, from prevention to treatment

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. In Europe, almost three in every ten adults were diagnosed with a form of cancer in 2022....

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Sebastian Mora Hernandez

Falling house prices won’t open new doors – for buyers or renters

The revival of UK house prices since the peak of the pandemic has now halted, with sale prices falling in April according to the Nationwide...

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Alan Shipman

Billions are needed for climate adaptation – now some frontline communities are deciding how the money gets spent

As global temperatures continue to rise, the ramifications of climate change – from more frequent and severe extreme weather events to rising sea...

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Mend Mariwany

Do you feel like you belong at work? Here’s why it’s so important for your health, happiness and productivity

We all want to feel like we belong. Psychologists have known this for a long time, describing belonging as a fundamental human need that brings...

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Nilufar Ahmed

A new generation of Vietnamese migrants is protesting against their home government

More than 200 mostly young people gathered outside the Vietnamese embassy in London to protest against Vietnam’s ruling communist party, demanding...

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Seb Rumsby

Raymond Briggs: new exhibition reveals bloomin’ brilliant life and work of much-loved cartoonist

When he died in August 2022 at the age of 88, there was a great outpouring of affection for the British cartoonist and illustrator Raymond Briggs....

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Rebecca Palmer

New sickle cell disease drug approved for use in England – here’s how voxelotor works

A drug that can treat severe sickle cell disease has recently been given approval by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice)....

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Johan Flygare

Sex headaches: a pain in the neck or something more sinister?

The last thing anyone wants is for sex to be a headache. For some people, though, an increase in sexual excitement can be a real pain in the neck....

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Colin Davidson

Is dark matter’s main rival theory dead? There’s bad news from the Cassini spacecraft and other recent tests

One of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics today is that the forces in galaxies do not seem to add up. Galaxies rotate much faster than predicted...

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Indranil Banik

Doing a job you find meaningful is great – until it consumes your life

Securing a job that you find meaningful – work that you think is significant and value positively – may be one of your most important career...

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Andreana Drencheva

You Are Here by David Nicholls – a touching tale of finding love and connection in nature

Coming soon after the release of the Netflix version of One Day, David Nicholls’ latest novel is another bitter-sweet homage to skewed romance....

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Sally O&39Reilly

Swifts delayed by cold and wet springs face mounting problems as the climate changes

The weather is warmer and the nights are lighter. What are those black, curved silhouettes looping in the sky? Assuming you are looking at birds...

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Alexander C. Lees

Femicide: many countries around the world are making the killing of women a specific crime – here’s why it’s needed

In 1782, a judge in England gave husbands the right to use violence on their wives as long as any implement used was not thicker than their thumb....

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Madhumita Pandey

More than a third of urban Chinese live in sinking cities – here’s what they can do

Across the world, many cities are slowly sinking. Most are on the coast, including tropical megacities like Jakarta in Indonesia or Manila in the...

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Robert James Nicholls

Ukraine recap: Putin celebrates Victory Day with nuclear threats to UK and France

Vladimir Putin, newly elected as Russian president for a fifth term (and being hailed, apparently, by some ultra-nationalist supporters as...

yesterday 10

The Conversation

Jonathan Este

AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine withdrawn – right to the end it was the victim of misinformation

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was a critical part of the COVID-19 pandemic response. However, on May 7 2024, the European Commission announced the...

previous day 20

The Conversation

Michael Head

Germany lowers voting age to 16 for the European elections – but is it playing into the far right’s hands?

Ahead of the European parliament elections in June, Germany has lowered the age limit on participation to 16. This makes it the largest of just a...

previous day 20

The Conversation

Gabriele Abels

A ‘sponge city’ may be your home in 2050

Your home was probably designed for a climate that no longer exists. As long as humanity continues to burn fossil fuel, padding the heat-trapping...

previous day 10

The Conversation

Jack Marley

Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala extreme corseting is as dangerous as it is spectacular

Kim Kardashian has served up controversial Met Gala looks for over a decade. Every year, her waist seems to shrink further in ever tightening...

previous day 20

The Conversation

Rebecca Shepherd

Dove’s latest ‘Real Beauty’ drive – and why AI will be harder to ditch than it thinks

Beauty brand Dove recently announced it would not use models generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in its advertising campaigns. But is this...

previous day 10

The Conversation

Francesca Sobande

Rising knife crime in London is linked to austerity cuts to youth services – here’s the evidence

New data released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows knife and gun crime in London rose sharply in the 12 months before December...

previous day 10

The Conversation

Erin Sanders-Mcdonagh

Silent disco: why dancing in sync brings us closer together

Silent discos started back in the 1970s as a convenient way to get around noise restrictions. In those days that meant everyone bringing their own...

previous day 10

The Conversation

Joshua S. Bamford

Lebanon: far-right group ‘Soldiers of God’ is exploiting the country’s unsettled past to stir sectarian tensions

Since the start of the war in Gaza, Israel, Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon have exchanged almost 5,000 attacks across the border....

previous day 10

The Conversation

Mohamad El Kari

The reconstruction of a 75,000-year -old Neanderthal woman’s face makes her look quite friendly – there’s a problem with that

From a flaky skull, found “as flat as a pizza” on a cave floor in northern Iraq, the face of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman named “Shanidar...

previous day 10

The Conversation

Fay Bound Alberti

New faith schools in England could soon allocate all their places on religious grounds – here’s why that’s a bad idea

The government has proposed dropping the cap on faith admissions for new and existing free faith schools in England. This would mean that...

previous day 20

The Conversation

Stephen Gorard

AI may be to blame for our failure to make contact with alien civilisations

Artificial intelligence (AI) has progressed at an astounding pace over the last few years. Some scientists are now looking towards the development...

previous day 20

The Conversation

Michael Garrett

OpenAI’s content deal with the FT is an attempt to avoid more legal challenges – and an AI ‘data apocalypse’

OpenAI’s new “strategic partnership” and licensing agreement with the Financial Times (FT) follows similar deals between the US tech company...

previous day 10

The Conversation

Mike Cook

India election: how Narendra Modi’s BJP uses and abuses religious minorities for political purposes

If the pre-election polls are to be believed, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), is set to return...

previous day 10

The Conversation

M. Sudhir Selvaraj

Why you should expect to pay more tourist taxes – even though the evidence for them is unclear

In April 2024, Venice began its controversial experiment to charge day trippers €5 (£4.30) to visit the city on some of the busiest days of the...

previous day 10

The Conversation

Rhys Ap Gwilym

Ukraine war: Putin is using Russian children to promote his version of history on Victory Day

On May 9, Russia celebrates Victory Day, commemorating the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. Few people who watch international...

previous day 40

The Conversation

Jennifer Mathers

Water cremation: sustainable body disposal is coming to Scotland – here are the benefits

Already a popular option in the US, and famously chosen by Archbishop Desmond Tutu who died in 2021, alkaline hydrolysis – a sustainable method...

previous day 20

The Conversation

Georgina Robinson

Flavoured vapes may produce many harmful chemicals when e-liquids are heated – new research

Vaping has become widely adopted as an alternative to traditional smoking. The latest figures show 4.5 million people in the UK regularly use e-...

previous day 10

The Conversation

Donal O&39Shea

Rishi Sunak claims the UK is heading for a hung a parliament – let’s check his maths

By common consent, the local elections on May 2 were a disaster for the Conservatives. The party lost a total of 478 councillors in the 107...

tuesday 30

The Conversation

Paul Whiteley

Reducing energy demand and improving efficiency will help prevent the next gas crisis

Gas prices have relaxed, Europe has come out of the winter with record gas storage levels and a surfeit of liquefied natural gas is set to reach...

tuesday 20

The Conversation

Louis Fletcher

Gaza war: as ceasefire talks break down the humanitarian crisis continues to escalate

As Gaza ceasefire talks hang in the balance, Israel has launched its assault on Rafah in the south of the strip, despite the remaining presence of...

tuesday 20

The Conversation

Sarah Schiffling

We’ve researched trans inclusion for nearly a decade – how we do our work has changed

We’ve researched the experiences of transgender and non-binary people, particularly in the workplace, for much of the last ten years. Our...

tuesday 10

The Conversation

Rosa Marvell

Gaza campus protests: why understanding 1960s’ student demonstrations and police reaction is relevant today

For anybody interested in the history of the 1960s, the ongoing protests at US universities have a peculiar resonance. In the past weeks, riot...

tuesday 20

The Conversation

Sinead Mceneaney

Most Gypsy and Traveller sites in Great Britain are located within 100 metres of major pollutants, shows research

Gypsy and Traveller communities are among the more socially excluded groups in the UK. There is a long history of government failures in meeting...

tuesday 10

The Conversation

Alice Bloch

Latin America: several countries look to combat gang violence by fighting fire with fire

Gangs have an enduring presence in Latin America. They have existed as power brokers, illicit economic actors and spoilers in the developmental...

tuesday 20

The Conversation

Amalendu Misra

Novelist J.G. Ballard was experimenting with computer-generated poetry 50 years before ChatGPT was invented

The novelist and short story writer J.G. Ballard, is known for conjuring warped and reimagined versions of the world he occupied. Dealing with...

tuesday 20

The Conversation

David Beer

Assisted dying: why Scotland should be wary of changing the law

Scotland took the first step towards legalising assisted dying on March 27 with the publication of the assisted dying for terminally ill adults (...

tuesday 10

The Conversation

Mary Neal

If using LinkedIn makes you feel like an imposter at work, here’s how to cope

When it comes to professional social media, LinkedIn, with its billion-plus members, stands unrivalled. The platform for career updates, networking...

tuesday 10

The Conversation

Sebastian Oliver

War in Gaza has plunged Israel’s tourism industry into a crisis it will struggle to recover from

On a warm evening in April 2023, I sat outside a café in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City and enjoyed a drink with friends. An...

tuesday 20

The Conversation

Samuel Scanlon

Africa dramatically dried out 5,500 years ago – our new study may warn us of future climate tipping points

Around five and half millenia ago, northern Africa went through a dramatic transformation. The Sahara desert expanded and grasslands, forests and...

tuesday 10

The Conversation

Martin H. Trauth

How 2-Tone brought new ideas about race and culture to young people beyond the inner cities

This Town, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight’s latest drama for the BBC, brings to life a defining – if short-lived – era in the history of...

tuesday 10

The Conversation

Ian Gwinn

Our new vaccine could protect against coronaviruses that haven’t even emerged yet – new study

The rapid development of vaccines that protect against COVID was a remarkable scientific achievement that saved millions of lives. The vaccines...

tuesday 20

The Conversation

Rory Hills

What is energy made of? The Conversation’s Curious Kids podcast

Have you seen that scene from Star Wars where Yoda uses the force to lift the spaceship out of a swamp? Its energy is so powerful, but what exactly...

05.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Eloise Stevens

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