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Initially dismissed as a conspiracy theory, the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may have come from a laboratory accident has been gaining traction in recent weeks. While the World Health Organization has said the virus probably crossed into humans from animals, no definitive proof of any theory has yet been found. That’s why we need a proper investigation into the origin of the pandemic that definitively
establishes where the virus came from, write Virginie Courtier and Etienne Decroly.
We’ve known for a while that industrial chemicals can affect men’s sperm counts, but a new study of 60 pregnant women indicates that they could be leading to a decline in women’s fertility too. Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet found that women with higher levels of chemicals in their blood had fewer eggs left in their ovaries.
And if you’ve ever wondered if you could fool a bird with magic tricks, here’s your answer.
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Megan Clement
English language editor, The Conversation France
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Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli inside the P4 laboratory in Wuhan.
Johannes Eisele/AFP
Virginie Courtier, Université de Paris; Etienne Decroly, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)
The lab accident theory of the origins of Covid-19 has gained traction in recent months. We need a proper investigation to find out what really happened.
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This is the first study to investigate how chemical exposure impacts the number of eggs a woman has.
Peakstock/ Shutterstock
Jasmin Hassan, Karolinska Institutet; Pauliina Damdimopoulou, Karolinska Institutet; Richelle Duque Björvang, Karolinska Institutet
The higher the chemical levels found in a woman's blood, the fewer eggs they had left in their ovaries.
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Shutterstock/Piotr Krzeslak
Elias Garcia-Pelegrin, University of Cambridge
Testing whether the birds react to sleight of hand helps us understand if they see the world like we do.
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Politics + Society
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Melissa Conley Tyler, The University of Melbourne
Does it matter where COVID came from? In the ongoing war of words between the US and China, the answer is a resounding 'yes'.
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Reinhart Kössler, University of Freiburg; Henning Melber, University of Pretoria
German's commitment of €1.1bn for development projects in Namibia over 30 years is too cheap a price to pay for remorse.
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Kate Padgett Walsh, Iowa State University
Charles Schwab mistakenly transferred over $1.2 million to the account of a woman who then kept the money. Did she have a moral obligation to return it? An expert says the answer is not that simple.
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Patricia Canning, Utrecht University
Witnesses spent a surprising amount of time talking about what didn't happen that day – which is very significant.
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Health + Medicine
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Rachel M Gisselquist, United Nations University; Andrea Vaccaro, Sapienza University of Rome
More able and legitimate states should have handled the virus the best, but instead they've had the most cases and deaths.
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Agnessa Spanellis, Heriot-Watt University; Paula Andrea Zapata-Ramírez; Polina Golovátina-Mora
Researchers wanted to bridge the gap between traditional beliefs and Western understanding of the pandemic to provide strategies to reduce the risks.
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Education
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Stephen Gorard, Durham University
Academic progress seems to be the government's primary concern. But school pupils have experienced lockdown learning – and losses – in a myriad ways
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Business + Economy
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Maeve O'Sullivan, University College Cork
Ireland is looking at imposing a living wage on all employers.
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Arts + Culture
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David Reat, University of Strathclyde
All symmetrical lines and strict proportions, Enlightenment architecture believed that nature got in the way of reason.
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Environment + Energy
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Aled Jones, Anglia Ruskin University; Bradley Hiller, Anglia Ruskin University
They hold financial and political power, yet the climate movement is currently dominated by youngsters.
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Science + Technology
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Robert A Jackson, Keele University
The quasicrystals were 'accidentally' synthesised during the first test of a nuclear bomb in July 1945.
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