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In the days since Vladimir Putin ripped up the international playbook and invaded Ukraine, western leaders have been issuing sanctions with a zeal not seen in many years. Much of this has revolved around cutting Russia and its institutions out of the Swift international payments system, and you would be forgiven for thinking that this is why the rouble has crashed and Russia’s central bank has more than doubled interest rates.
In fact, says finance professor and Swift advisor Alistair Milne, what Swift is for and the extent to which it can be used as a weapon is widely misunderstood. While western sanctions have impacted Russia’s economy, the damage done
has little or nothing to do with Swift.
Elsewhere, we report on an institute at Oxford University that is building a genetic family tree of everyone that has ever lived. We also look at how, in future, we will be able to 3D-print cities – using concrete made from recycled
glass.
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Steven Vass
Business + Economy Editor
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The source of much confusion.
Sergei Elagin
Alistair Milne, Loughborough University
Most media coverage has tended to focus on the Swift payments messaging system as the crux of Russia sanctions, but it’s actually peripheral.
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Gorodenkoff/shutterstock
Yan Wong, University of Oxford; Anthony Wilder Wohns, Harvard University
How we’re linking together genetic material from thousands of people - modern and ancient - to trace our ancestors and the history of our evolution.
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Matjazz/Shutterstock
Seyed Ghaffar, Brunel University London; Mehdi Chougan, Brunel University London; Pawel Sikora
Glass is produced from sand, is easy to recycle, and can be used to make concrete without any complex processing.
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Ukraine invasion
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Steven Hamilton, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Denying Russia’s central bank access to its offshore reserves threatens hyperinflation, a recession and massive unemployment.
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T.J. Thomson, Queensland University of Technology; Daniel Angus, Queensland University of Technology; Paula Dootson, Queensland University of Technology
Footage claiming to document the situation in Ukraine may not necessarily be genuine. Here’s how to treat viral footage with the right level of scepticism before sharing it on social media.
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Tanya Ogilvie-White, Australian National University
Experts around the world have been warning nuclear weapons are increasingly being seen as ‘usable’ by the political and military leaders who wield them.
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Anastasiia Kudlenko, SOAS, University of London
Putin has said he wants a new regime in Ukraine. His inspiration may come from a surprising historical source.
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Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham; David Hastings Dunn, University of Birmingham
History tells us that neutrality rarely works as a mechanism for preventing conflict.
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Environment
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Ilan Kelman, UCL
Decades of research shows disasters are caused human vulnerabilities rather than the climate itself.
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Mark Howden, Australian National University; Joy Pereira, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (National University of Malaysia); Roberto Sánchez, Colegio de la Frontera Norte
The IPCC is the global authority on climate change. Their new report paints a worrying picture of climate impacts already affecting billions of people, economies and the environment.
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Jan Geert Hiddink, Bangor University
It involves a trade-off between seafood production and seabed conservation.
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Politics + Society
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Jeffrey Miller, Colorado State University
The recent US ban on avocado imports from Mexico underscores the risks of being so heavily reliant on a product that comes from one region in one country that’s rife with violence and corruption.
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Lee John Curley, The Open University; Itiel Dror, UCL; James Munro, The Open University
Finding out what goes on behind jury decisions and the biases that influence them is hugely important if the criminal justice system is to work properly.
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Science + Technology
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Andy Phippen, Bournemouth University
A recent BBC investigation into the app VRChat has prompted concerns about children’s safety in virtual spaces.
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Health
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Ian Hamilton, University of York; Harry Sumnall, Liverpool John Moores University
In 2001, the average age of death from a volatile substance was 28. By 2020, it had risen to 46.
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Featured events
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— Online, Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Southampton
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— Oxford Martin School, 34 Broad Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 3BD, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Oxford
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— Online, Cambridgeshire, CB1 1PT, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — Anglia Ruskin University
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— University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, AB24 3FX, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Aberdeen
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