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Editor's note
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It is widely believed that we are the masters of our consciousness, deciding how we feel, think and experience the world. But the reality could be quite different. In a groundbreaking new paper, David A Oakley and Peter Halligan argue that we don’t consciously choose our thoughts or our feelings, we become aware of them.
Thunderstorms are some of nature’s most spectacular events. But despite the fact that they have inspired religious, artistic and scientific thinking for thousands of years, there’s still a lot we don’t know about them. Now, a study shows that lightning actually produces radioactivity by triggering nuclear reactions in the atmosphere. Jim Wild explains.
Our academic experts have run their eyes over a UK Budget that was overshadowed by some dramatic cuts in the growth forecast. Philip Hammond’s headline-grabbing cut to stamp duty for first-time buyers got a frosty reception, and although there were positive noises on innovation investment, it felt for some like a “neither-here-nor-there” effort. Simon Lee laments the budget’s failure to
abandon austerity and reset the UK economy at this crucial juncture.
And as Ratko Mladić is found guilty of heinous crimes following the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Kenneth Morrison revisits the siege of Sarajevo, the longest in modern European history, under Mladić. And Melanie Klinkner explains why evidence from mass graves such as those found in Srebrenica still plays such an important role in the fight for justice.
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Emily Lindsay Brown
Cities Editor
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Top story
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from www.shutterstock.com
David A Oakley, UCL; Peter Halligan, Cardiff University
See if you can get your head around this.
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Science + Technology
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Jim Wild, Lancaster University
Scientists have finally been able to prove that thunder and lightning drive nuclear reactions.
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Mariana Lopez, University of York
This is what it's like going to the cinema when you can’t see the screen.
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Business + Economy
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Chris Jones, Aston University; Donald Hirsch, Loughborough University; Ed Turner, Aston University; Geoff J Rodgers, Brunel University London; Gwilym Pryce, University of Sheffield; Jill Rubery, University of Manchester; Linda Bauld, University of Stirling; Michael Kitson, Cambridge Judge Business School; Paul Nieuwenhuis, Cardiff University; Peter Bloom, The Open University
Academics deliver their verdict on Philip Hammond.
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Simon Lee, University of Hull
There was token investment in driverless cars, but this was a pitiful budget by a rudderless government.
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Andrew White, University of Oxford
Worries about the loss of low-skilled labour risk obscuring a genuine flaw in the UK economy at the upper end of the scale.
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Politics + Society
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Kenneth Morrison, De Montfort University
Bosnian Serb general found guilty of genocide.
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Melanie Klinkner, Bournemouth University
Forensic science of the dead helps to convict the living responsible.
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Environment + Energy
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Claire Gwinnett, Staffordshire University
Taxing plastic takeaway boxes will help to reduce the massive amount of plastic which is dumped into the oceans.
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Mark Hirons, University of Oxford; Constance McDermott, University of Oxford; Victoria Maguire-Rajpaul, University of Oxford
A bold new commitment from the cocoa and chocolate industry to end deforestation is welcome. But we must avoid blaming the farmers.
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Rupert Read, University of East Anglia
An arcane principle is a key to our well-being and survival in an age of technological innovation.
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Eleanor Jew, University of Leeds
New research shows just how bad tobacco farming can be for the environment and for farmers.
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Arts + Culture
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Cary Cooper, University of Manchester
The moral failures of a creative artist shouldn't make their work any less valid.
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Leah Tether, University of Bristol
Is the Grail the chalice from the Last Supper – or the Crucifixion? Does it contain the elixir of life? Or is it Mary Magdalene's womb?
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Health + Medicine
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Robin Poole, University of Southampton
A new analysis shows that coffee is associated with a host of positive health effects.
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Paul Hanel, University of Bath; Richard Inman
People in countries that value autonomy highly drink more alcohol than people in countries that value tradition.
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Featured events
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51 Gordon Square, London, London, City of, WC1H 0PN, United Kingdom — UCL
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Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom — Royal Holloway
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Special Collections Seminar Room, Lower Ground Floor of The Sir Duncan Rice Library, Bedford Road, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, AB24 3AA, United Kingdom — University of Aberdeen
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Lecture Theatre A, University Place, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom — University of Manchester
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