By Scott Lucas, University College Dublin | – A helicopter carrying Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials crashed in the mountainous north-west reaches of Iran on Sunday May 19, sparking a rescue operation in thick fog and driving rain. On Monday, search and rescue teams reached the crash site and […]
“There is no Security:” Israel’s Invasion of Rafah will not Eliminate Hamas or End the War
By Ian Parmeter, Australian National University | – (The Conversation) – The Gaza war has now entered its eighth month and a resolution to the conflict still seems far off. Israel claims to have killed 13,000 Hamas militants so far. If that figure is correct, one can assume the number of wounded or incapacitated militants […]
Extreme Heatwaves in South and Southeast Asia are a Sign of Disasters to Come
By Neven S. Fučkar, University of Oxford | – (The Conversation) – Since April 2024, wide areas of south and south-east Asia, from Pakistan to the Philippines, have experienced prolonged extreme heat. Covering some of the most densely populated regions in the world, the series of heatwaves has affected everything from human health and wellbeing […]
Israel’s Assault on Rafah risks making Victory against Hamas more Elusive
By Ben Soodavar, King’s College London and Rhiannon Emm, King’s College London | – (The Conversation) – The prospect of a ceasefire agreement, which Hamas claimed it had been offered earlier this month, was a source of optimism for Gazans seeking respite from the war. That sense of jubilation was short-lived. According to mediators in […]
Israel is not giving Aid Groups what they need to to run operational Responses the Gaza Emergency
By Raymond Offenheiser, University of Notre Dame | – (The Conversation) – Amid persistent calls from the United States and other countries that Israel needs to make it easier for life-saving aid to reach Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military closed two of the region’s few operating border crossings in Rafah, a southern […]
Why are Algorithms called Algorithms? A brief History of the Persian Polymath you’ve likely never Heard of
By Debbie Passey, The University of Melbourne | – (The Conversation) – Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without algorithms. So, we’ve all heard of them, but where does the […]
Media Coverage of Campus Protests focuses on Spectacle, rather than Substance
By Danielle K. Brown, Michigan State University | – Protest movements can look very different depending on where you stand, both literally and figuratively. For protesters, demonstrations are usually the result of meticulous planning by advocacy groups and leaders aimed at getting a message out to a wider world or to specific institutional targets. To […]
Plastic is Climate Change in a Bottle – So let’s put a Cap on It
By Jack Marley, The Conversation | – (The Conversation) – Plastic pollution and climate change have common culprits – and similar solutions. The penultimate round of negotiations for a global pact on plastic ended yesterday in Ottawa. Nearly 200 countries have agreed that a treaty must tackle plastic pollution at every stage of its existence, […]
What Causes Famines? In Gaza and Elsewhere, Outside Pressure and Vulnerability can lead to Hunger and Death
By Paul Howe, Tufts University | – The United Nations’ latest report on hunger makes for grim reading. On April 24, 2024, the international body released its annual Global Report on Food Crises, showing that 281.6 million people faced acute hunger in 2023. And indications for 2024 suggest worse may be to come. In March, […]