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Editor's note
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Once a year, when the sun has set and the moonlight is just right, corals come together to produce one of nature’s most spectacular events. In near perfect synchrony, they release rising snowstorms of sperm and eggs in their billions, creating vividly coloured streaks in the sea visible from miles above.
Corals depend on this clockwork timing to survive. According to new research, some species are losing it. Instead of spawning in unison, coral colonies are now staggering the release of their reproductive cells over as many as a couple of months, leaving little chance for sperm and egg to find each other in the vast ocean.
The good news is that measuring how coral reefs are reproducing can identify endangered corals long before they die. The bad news is that we don’t yet know what’s throwing their spawning out of sync. If we can find out, there may be a glimmer of hope for these beautiful ecosystems, explains Heidi Burdett.
Elsewhere, we’ve been learning how immigration can make some people feel worse off – even if they aren’t.
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Jordan Raine
Commissioning Editor
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Top stories
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Corals release millions of sperm and eggs in synchrony to reproduce.
Rich Carey/Shutterstock
Heidi Burdett, Heriot-Watt University
The largest reproductive event on the planet is under threat.
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Demonstrations against the arrival of immigrants on England’s south coast.
Steve Parsons/PA Archive/PA Images
Peter Howley, University of Leeds
It's not all about the economics – people's sense of well-being may help explain anti-immigration attitudes.
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Shutterstock/Dezay
Steve Taylor, Leeds Beckett University
When seconds stretch into minutes.
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Science + Technology
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Jacob Beck, York University, Canada
Can we really know what animals think? A philosopher argues that we can't, not with any precision.
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Jason Gilchrist, Edinburgh Napier University
Scientists are left with two conclusions. Either Nessie is an eel, or she never existed at all.
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Ferran Giones, University of Southern Denmark
The EU's next research programme needs to change how universities and business work together.
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Alexandros Antoniou, University of Essex
The law is out of step with technology that means anyone can manipulate your images in hyper-realistic ways.
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Yunlong Zhao, University of Surrey
Researchers have developed implants small enough to fit inside brain cells.
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Politics + Society
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Aristotle Kallis, Keele University
Parliaments were and remain institutions of frustrating negotiation and very often unpalatable compromise. They also represent an imperfect but significant check on the abuse of power.
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Gwendolyn Sasse, University of Oxford; Félix Krawatzek, University of Oxford
A new survey looked at who young Russians trust.
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Environment + Energy
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Alf Hornborg, Lund University
The design of the global money game is the real antagonist in the fight against climate change. But the call to arms tends to be directed at the players who have had best luck with the dice.
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Arts + Culture
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Bettina Beinhoff, Anglia Ruskin University
From Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones, writers and linguists have invented an array of new languages.
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Cities
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Gavin Parker, University of Reading
The UK government has been trying to hand planning power over to local people for 50 years – but research reveals it has fallen far short of its goals.
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Featured events
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Berrill Lecture Theatre The Open University Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — The Open University
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Here East, Queen Elizabeth Park, London, London, City of, E15 2GW, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — UCL
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Cambridge Judge Business School, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 1AG, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Cambridge
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