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Editor's note
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Most people probably want to believe they would stand up against an authoritarian regime like Margaret Atwood’s Gilead, but who actually would and why? That’s a question my friend and I kept coming back to when we recently discussed the author’s new novel, The Testaments.
Whether we are talking about the submissive inhabitants of Gilead or the people who failed to stand up to Hitler in the 1930s, it is easy dismiss those who are complicit in maintaining a monstrous regime as evil or morally inferior. But the chances that you or I would behave any differently are slim, according to behavioural psychologist Nick Chater.
That’s because most of us are eager to conform to unwritten rules of appropriateness and would struggle to shake the feeling that the way things are done in the regime is the right way. Luckily, though, there will always be a few rebels – and they may have a few things in common.
Kicking against rulers is a dangerous business, however, as young Iraqis, who recently took to the streets in protests that left more than 100 people dead after a brutal suppression, tragically experienced.
And in health news, scientists are beginning to understand the food preferences of our gut microbes.
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Miriam Frankel
Science Editor
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Top stories
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Jasper Savage/Hulu/Channel 4
Nick Chater, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
We all like to think of ourselves as heroes. But according to science, the vast majority of us wouldn't be prepared to rebel against totalitarian rulers.
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Anger on the streets: protesters in al-Tayaran square in central Baghdad on October 4.
Murtaja Lateef/EPA
Balsam Mustafa, University of Birmingham
Why young Iraqis to took the streets in protests that left more than 100 people dead after a brutal suppression.
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TL Furrer/Shutterstock
Tim Spector, King's College London
Scientists are beginning to understand the food preferences of our gut microbes.
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Politics + Society
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Simon Usherwood, University of Surrey
The deal put forward might win the prime minister support at home but Brussels also has to get on board.
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Cynthia Hooper, College of the Holy Cross
The pro-Kremlin Russian political and media establishment have grown increasingly skilled at spinning stories to highlight US political weaknesses.
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Fiona Barclay, University of Stirling
As the gilets noirs seek the right to remain in France, there is an echo from history regarding the challenge they face.
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Environment + Energy
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Deirdre McKay, Keele University
The fossil fuel industry plans to compensate for declining demand for gasoline by flooding the world with more plastic.
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Melanie Flynn, University of Huddersfield
A green criminologist weighs up the evidence.
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Cities
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Arturo Bris, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)
According to a new smart cities index, the real test for smart cities is whether citizens feel the benefits.
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Arts + Culture
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Enrico Bonadio, City, University of London
Forced into selling his own merchandise to stop others doing the same, the artist could end up facing other similar challenges because he trademarks rather than copyrights his artworks.
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Featured events
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Bonar Hall University of Dundee, Dundee, Dundee City, DD1 4HN, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — The Conversation
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Bonar Hall University of Dundee, Dundee, Dundee City, DD1 4HN, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — The Conversation
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East Road, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB11PT, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — Anglia Ruskin University
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Portland Building, Portland Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 3AH, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Portsmouth
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