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Editor's note
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France was rocked by scenes of violence on the weekend as thousands of protestors wearing yellow vests once again took to the streets as part of ongoing “gilets jaunes” protests. In an article translated from The Conversation France, Claude Poissenot looks at the very personal feelings of anger that are driving the protests.
One of the main obstacles to a mission to Mars is the health impact on astronauts. During such a mission, crew members could lose up to 40% of their muscle mass, corresponding to a reduction in strength that comes from ageing from 40 to 80 years on Earth. Now a team of scientists have set out to study the molecular basis of muscle loss during spaceflight – by sending worms to the International Space Station. Christopher Gaffney and Bethan Phillips explain.
Reggae grew up in the backstreets and dance halls of Jamaica and rose to conquer the world. But, as Christopher Partridge notes, it’s not for music alone that UNESCO has added it to its list of important cultural artefacts. From its early days, reggae has had a religious and political significance as the music of the oppressed, a status that hit a high point in 1978 when Bob Marley brought Jamaica’s warring political leaders together on stage to hold hands in an act of reconciliation.
Three years on from the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change, the world is meeting for the 24th annual Conference of the Parties in Poland. Negotiators hope to agree on a set of rules for how greenhouse gas emissions will be regulated, but experts warn we may need more radical change to avert catastrophe – here’s a breakdown of all you need to know. And if you sent feedback to our special COP24 newsletter yesterday, there was an error with the reply email address, apologies. We’d still love to hear from you so please reply to this email instead.
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Gemma Ware
Society Editor
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Top stories
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AFP
Claude Poissenot, Université de Lorraine
The violence of the protests that have gripped France, known as the gilets jaunes, is rooted in personal passion and anger.
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Falcon 9 launch in 2014.
U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Natasha Dowridge
Christopher Gaffney, Lancaster University; Bethan Phillips, University of Nottingham
New experiment on the International Space Station could help us tackle muscle loss in astronauts.
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Paul Weinberg
Christopher Partridge, Lancaster University
More than just a musical accolade, UNESCO has recognised the social and political importance of Jamaican music.
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NicoElNino / shutterstock
Khalil A. Cassimally, The Conversation; Jack Marley, The Conversation
We may only have 12 years to stop climate change and the landmark Paris Agreement of 2015 seems more in doubt than ever. What can we hope to come out of COP24?
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Arts + Culture
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Brian Hoyle, University of Dundee
The 1939 classic has influenced more films than any other film before or since.
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Health + Medicine
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Rachael Thorneloe, University of Leeds; Samuel Smith, University of Leeds
Tamoxifen can reduce some women's risk of getting breast cancer, so why are so many reluctant to use it?
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Politics + Society
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Stephen Chan, SOAS, University of London
Nigeria's first serious female presidential candidate could soon make her mark. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe remains in the economic doldrums.
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Science + Technology
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Claire Jones, University of Liverpool
Uncovering forgotten history can help explain why science still has a masculine bias today.
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Kathryn Harriss, University of Kent
Osiris-REx will spend the next year looking for a good place to land on asteroid Bennu before it collects grains and brings them home.
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Paula Koelemeijer, UCL
The Earth's core is cooling down, and one day it will be completely solid – when that happens, Earth might look a lot like Mars.
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Jake Clark, University of Southern Queensland; Belinda Nicholson, University of Southern Queensland; Josh Calcino, The University of Queensland
Long ago in the distant past, our entire Universe was microscopic – just like an atom – and obeyed completely different rules of cause and effect.
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Environment + Energy
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Catriona McKinnon, University of Reading
The realities of climate change look bleak, but is relying on a climate engineering project like solar radiation management the answer?
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Elizabeth Kirk, Nottingham Trent University
While the world gathers to negotiate on climate change, governments must recognise the public desire for action on plastic pollution and work together to solve it.
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Tomaso Ferrando, University of Bristol
Private finance crashed the economy and is too consumed by the profit motive to be a reliable ally against climate change. We should not allow COP24 to be their board meeting.
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Hugh Hunt, University of Cambridge
Earth is fast approaching the red lines that scientists have urged temperatures cannot cross if we have any hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change. Here are the emergency measures we need.
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