By Kevin Trenberth, University of Auckland | – There’s an old joke about the fellow who has his left foot in a bucket of ice water and the right in a bucket of hot water, so that his overall temperature is average. That seemed to apply to the climate during 2022’s northern summer of extremes. […]
Tantura: New documentary Supports Palestinian Narrative of Massacres during 1948 Nakba (Expulsions)
By Rudy Kisler, McGill University | – (The Conversation) – A new documentary, released earlier this year, is shining light on a violent and controversial episode in Israeli and Palestinian history. Tantura tells the story of the Palestinian village and the immediate events following its capturing in 1948. It has reopened the wound of the […]
African Odyssey: How Shiite Islam reached Tanzania, and Ashoura Processions became an Annual Tradition
By Mara Leichtman, Michigan State University | – (The Conversation) – Each year, the largest contemporary Muslim pilgrimage takes place in Iraq to remember Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. Before the pandemic, this event reportedly drew more than 30 million people, but in recent years participation declined to more than 14 million. This procession […]
Iran and the US appear unlikely to reach a new Nuclear Deal – leaving Everyone more Unsafe
By Nina Srinivasan Rathbun, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | – (The Conversation) – Iran’s standoff with the United States over its potential nuclear weapons program is unlikely to ease anytime soon. The U.S. and Iran launched talks in 2021 to renew a now-defunct political deal that would curb Iran’s nuclear program. […]
9/11 Survivors’ exposure to Toxic Dust and the chronic Health Conditions that followed offer Lessons that are still too often Unheeded
By Roberto Lucchini, Florida International University | – (The Conversation) – The 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York resulted in the loss of 2,753 people in the Twin Towers and surrounding area. After the attack, more than 100,000 responders and recovery workers from every U.S. state – along with some […]
As Climate Emergency unfolds, how can Pakistan combat future Mega-Floods and Droughts?
By Shahid Azam, University of Regina | – Pakistan is suffering from the aftermath of yet another massive flood covering about one-third of its landmass. This time it has affected more than 33 million people in the Indus River valley, with extensive damage to life, property, crops and livestock. The Indus River valley contains a […]
Climate Emergency’s Knock-on Effects: How Europe’s Drought is making Britain’s energy Crisis worse
Simon Waldman, University of Hull | – (The Conversation) – Along the River Elbe, in Germany and the Czech Republic, is a series of rocks that are submerged in all but the lowest water conditions. The locals call them “hunger stones” because they are warnings: if the stone is visible, then famine will follow. Carvings […]
Heat pumps can cut your energy costs by up to 90%. It’s not magic, just a smart use of the laws of physics
By Alan Pears, RMIT University | – (The Conversation) – Heat pumps are becoming all the rage around a world that has to slash carbon emissions rapidly while cutting energy costs. In buildings, they replace space heating and water heating – and provide cooling as a bonus. A heat pump extracts heat from outside, concentrates […]
A Syrian Academic at the Fringe: why I put on a Show to reclaim the Stories of Refugees like Me
By Lina Fadel, Heriot-Watt University | – This summer I performed my own one-woman show at the 75th Edinburgh Fringe – a sentence I never thought I would write in my 17 years of living in the UK. But there I was, a Syrian academic on stage in Edinburgh in front of a microphone, high […]