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Top stories
Note from Mike
As life for women and girls in Afghanistan becomes ever more restrictive and dangerous under Taliban rule, our latest Insights long read reveals the secret role played by some female American soldiers there in the post-9/11 war. While women were officially still banned from ground combat duty, the US military was covertly sending female soldiers into action, in part to gather intelligence that was inaccessible to their male counterparts.
Years later, these women describe the full emotional and physical toll of their deployments – from calming Afghan civilians after their doors had been broken down in the middle of the night, to dealing with repeated sexist abuse from male colleagues – while never having these roles officially acknowledged. Such revelations debunk any simplistic representations of them as trailblazers for equal rights in the US military, or as models of feminist liberation for Afghan women.
We also consider the legal and ethical implications of combining MRI imagery and AI chatbot technology to “read” someone’s thoughts as a continuous flow of text. Our expert in responsible AI says this recent development raises significant concerns for privacy, freedom of thought – and even the freedom to dream without interference.
And as the epic Succession finally draws to a close, a professor of music explains why hip hop has been the perfect soundtrack for this story of corporate intrigue, capitalist entitlement and white privilege.
Our Insights articles are unique, essay-length, investigative pieces that unearth fascinating insights from deep academic research. If you value these long reads, and any of our articles, please help fund their creation by donating to The Conversation today.
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Mike Herd
Investigations Editor, Insights
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US marines with a female engagement team in southern Helmand province, Afghanistan, in May 2012.
Cpl. Meghan Gonzales/DVIDS
Jennifer Greenburg, University of Sheffield
Women who served in unofficial combat and intelligence roles during the Afghanistan war offer brutally honest accounts of their experiences.
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Politics + Society
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Adrian Beaumont, The University of Melbourne
The Treasury has been taking extraordinary measures to delay a default, but these measures could fail as early as June 1.
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Arts + Culture
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Gaspard Pelurson, King's College London
The many visual errors in the latest Pokémon games have led to an unexpected glitch-chasing frenzy.
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Jonathan Peter Skinner, University of Surrey
Russian players will now compete as neutrals at Wimbledon, ending a yearlong stance against their participation.
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J. Griffith Rollefson, University College Cork
Hip hop’s swaggering braggadocio acts as a counterpoint to the Roy family’s rarefied worlds of high finance and plutocratic untouchability.
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Camilla Nelson, University of Notre Dame Australia
Martin Amis’s writing style was instantly recognisable: caustic and savagely funny with a sense of pathos. His death at 73 marks the end of an era.
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Business + Economy
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Elspeth Berry, Nottingham Trent University
The Economic Crime Bill is supposed to be riding to the rescue, but it won’t make much difference in its current form.
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Education
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Laura Nicholson, Edge Hill University
Positive messages and relaxation techniques can help.
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Ad Putter, University of Bristol
Hundreds of years ago, people spoke Old English – but it is very different to English today.
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Health
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Katie Gibbs, Swansea University; Andrew H Kemp, Swansea University; Zoe Fisher, Swansea University
Brain injury survivors report the sport can give constant opportunities for learning and a way to reevaulate emotions.
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Jacques Wels, UCL; Matthew Sparkes, University of Cambridge; Senhu Wang, National University of Singapore
Credit payment holidays were made available in the UK to help people manage the financial strain of the pandemic.
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Nisreen Alwan, University of Southampton; Daniel Ayoubkhani, University of Leicester
Studies from multiple countries have found that long COVID is linked to an increased likelihood of not working. Here’s what’s happened in the UK.
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Science + Technology
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Morgiane Noel, Trinity College Dublin
AI can help the legal system, but its use needs careful consideration.
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Joshua Krook, University of Southampton
Brain scans have been used to interpret thoughts, but how far can this technology go?
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Valerie van Mulukom, Coventry University
Occasional boredom at work is normal and healthy, but if you’re stuck in it long term it can damage your wellbeing.
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