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Do you ever feel like your phone is listening to you? Targeted advertising has made it easy for businesses and influencers to use your data – the accounts you follow or brands you “like” on social media, your location, language and search history – to sell you things.
Governments are getting in on the game too. But instead of selling you the perfect jumper or a pair of shoes you were just thinking about, it’s selling its own policy.
Ben Collier has spent years researching how the UK government, and the Home Office in particular, uses targeted advertising to influence people. One £35,000 ad campaign showed images of dangerous small boat journeys to Arabic-speaking fans of the Afghanistan national football team living in Calais, in an effort to deter Channel crossings. Now, there are proposals to involve influencers too. This fascinating read will make you think twice about what you post (and click on) online.
One online trend you probably don’t want to follow is “budget Ozempic”. Laxatives and stool softeners are being peddled as an affordable “alternative” to the type 2 diabetes drug, which has also been shown to cause weight loss. In this piece, a nutrition expert points out that taking these products to lose weight can cause a number of health issues, from dehydration, to poor nutrient intake, to more serious eating disorders.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused so much environmental damage that Ukrainian law now recognises ecocide as a crime. A new Ukrainian animation, Mavka: The Forest Song, echoes this context. Our reviewer, who grew up in Ukraine, reflects on the film’s unexpected success, its parallels with real life, and its haunting, yet hopeful, message for humanity.
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icsnaps/Shutterstock
Ben Collier, The University of Edinburgh
The Home Office has proposed paying influencers to discourage migrants from coming to the UK.
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‘Budget Ozempic’ usually refers to laxatives or stool softeners.
goffkein.pro/ Shutterstock
Swrajit Sarkar, City, University of London
Laxatives and stool softeners are not designed to be used for weight loss.
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Mavka in Mavka: The Forest Song.
Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo
Viktoriia Grivina, University of St Andrews
Sometimes I feel that after Chernobyl our land is cursed. Hearing about French children watching Mavka in a Parisian cinema, I felt hope.
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Politics + Society
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Chris Allen, University of Leicester
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has suspended the MP over his comments about Sadiq Khan but has conspicuously failed to acknowledge the Islamophobia at the heart of the scandal.
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Maitrayee Deka, University of Essex
Contemporary characterisations of squatters and street vendors as a “nuisance” reproduces colonial urbanism ideas of hygiene and order.
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Kenton White, University of Reading
Sending ground troops to Ukraine could provoke a wider and vastly more dangerous war with Russia,
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Stephen Gethins, University of St Andrews
Europe should not ignore the importance of Serbia as a Russian ally.
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Lester Munson, University of Sydney
Here’s what to understand about Trump’s world view and what to expect, should he be elected president again.
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Arts + Culture
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S. James Reynolds, University of Birmingham
A group of determined women founded the RSPB, but they had great support behind the scenes by a little-known Argentinean naturalist.
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Mike Duggan, King's College London
Cartography has become one of the most successful technologies for understanding the world around us. But like the world itself, maps and map-making are constantly evolving.
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Business + Economy
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Vincenzo Bove, University of Warwick; Jessica Di Salvatore, University of Warwick; Roberto Nisticò, University of Naples Federico II
The effects on other countries can be both negative and positive.
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Environment
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Frank Hailer, Cardiff University; Elizabeth Chadwick, Cardiff University; Sarah du Plessis, Cardiff University
Research has revealed how British otters may have been able to recover from species loss in the 1950s with the help of otters from Asia.
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Chiara Longoni, Bocconi University; Kimberly Doell, Universität Wien
Insight from one of the largest experiments ever conducted in climate change psychology sheds light on how people could make more effective decisions about their lifestyle and also wider policies.
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Health
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Ash Cox, University of Manchester
Low awareness of how arthritis affects young people leaves thousands of children without appropriate support.
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Muhammad Umair Khan, Aston University
Fully 97% of people with ADHD in the UK have had difficulty getting their medication due to supply issues.
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Science + Technology
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Robin Smith, Sheffield Hallam University
The discovery raises big questions about widely accepted models of galaxy formation.
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