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When you don’t know someone that well, it is easy to jump to the wrong conclusions about something they do. For instance, when a colleague regularly turns up late to meetings with you, you might take offence without knowing the back story, or the trouble they faced getting there.
It's also easy to misunderstand the way foreign countries interact with the rest of the world. After teaching in China, researching its international relations decisions, and as a speaker of Mandarin Chinese, UEL’s Tom Harper is in a far better position than many outsiders to tell us five things that the west often gets wrong about China’s approach to foreign policy, and why understanding its “century of humiliation” is vital.
This year’s Nobel prize in medicine and physiology has been awarded to two pioneers of the technology behind the mRNA COVID vaccines. We learn how their work helped save millions of lives. Plus how glaciers can be used to predict when nearby volcanoes will erupt.
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Rachael Jolley
International Affairs Editor
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China’s leader Xi Jinping at the 2023 Brics meeting.
Newscom/Alamy
Tom Harper, University of East London
Understanding China’s history could help western observers see its foreign policy more clearly.
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Karikó and Weissman first began working together in 1985.
Jessica Gow/ EPA
Alice Godden, University of East Anglia
The prestigious prize was awarded to Dr Katalin Karikó and Dr Drew Weissman from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Mayumi.K.Photography/Shutterstock
Matteo Spagnolo, University of Aberdeen; Brice Rea, University of Aberdeen; Iestyn Barr, Manchester Metropolitan University
Like icy thermometers, glaciers overlying volcanoes shift according to temperature changes below.
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Politics + Society
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Tirion Havard, London South Bank University
Mobile phones have extended the reach and control of abusive partners.
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Alex Prior, London South Bank University; Clara Eroukhmanoff, London South Bank University
The prime minister has acknowledged that a narrative of national decline is setting in – but he has been unable to disentangle himself from it.
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Paul Whiteley, University of Essex
The pressure to ‘have a good conference’ is immense for a party hoping to win an election. But the anxiety isn’t really evidence-based.
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Arts + Culture
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Yunis Alam, University of Bradford
Passionate, greedy and violent, Michael Gambon was electric as the gangster Albert Spica.
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Dominic Janes, Keele University
In my experience of university teaching, the title of the course seems to strongly influence the gender balance of the class.
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Ankhi Mukherjee, University of Oxford
This adaptation is set in Bengal in 1899, where rumours that the British Empire’s plans for partition have spread.
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Business + Economy
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Matt Barlow, University of Glasgow
The IMF’s US57 billion bailout to Argentina in 2018 was the biggest loan it has ever extended.
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John Hawkins, University of Canberra
This is why no one is buying your cartoon ape.
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Environment
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Antaya March, University of Portsmouth; Cressida Bowyer, University of Portsmouth; Keiron Roberts, University of Portsmouth
The new ban will raise awareness about the plastic crisis. But failing to provide viable alternatives may simply displace the problem, instead of addressing it
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Gisa Weszkalnys, London School of Economics and Political Science; Gavin Bridge, Durham University
The regulator’s guiding principle is still to ‘maximise economic recovery’.
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Tom Major, Bournemouth University; Axel Barlow, Bangor University; Wolfgang Wüster, Bangor University
The Nyanga rinkhals can tell us about our own evolution.
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Health
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Betty Raman, University of Oxford
People who were hospitalised with COVID are 14 times more likely to have lung abnormalities than people who have never had COVID.
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Science + Technology
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Daniel Walker, University of Bradford
Accepting that you are envious of someone is the first step to adopting a healthier response.
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David Rothery, The Open University
Mercury has shrunk by7 km. Most of this happened long ago, but now we have evidence that it continues.
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