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The UK’s 18-year-olds can’t catch a break. Only weeks after the A-level furore, students are now being asked to self-isolate in university halls in cities from Manchester to Glasgow. Reduced face-to-face teaching and limited opportunities to socialise or even leave accommodation is not the university experience they were expecting until recent months. And satisfaction scores may suffer.
Helen Higson, professor of higher education and deputy vice chancellor at Aston University, explains how universities can seek to deliver a positive experience for students, even in the current circumstances.
Students aren’t the only people at the rough end of the pandemic. New research shows that breastfeeding rates tumbled as a result of lockdown, while the rise of working from home is likely to mean more
people putting in shifts while sick – with negative effects in the long term.
Further afield, researchers have discovered a new possible location for life on Mars: subglacial lakes deep below the planet’s south pole.
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Grace Allen
Cities and Young People Editor
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Kzenon/Shutterstock
Helen Higson, Aston University
Students can still have a good experience at university this year – if universities take their needs and concerns seriously.
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Researchers asked over 1,200 women about their experiences with breastfeeding during lockdown.
Prostock-studio/ Shutterstock
Amy Brown, Swansea University; Natalie Shenker, Imperial College London
New research finds that while some women thrived during lockdown, others found breastfeeding to be difficult and overwhelming.
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Easily done when working from home.
Prostock-studio / Shutterstock.com
Alison Collins, Manchester Metropolitan University
If you can work from home you're less likely to take a sick day, and that could be a problem.
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There seems to be a network of underground bodies of liquid water at Mars’ south pole.
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
David Rothery, The Open University
New findings boost chances of finding life on Mars, but there are better candidates in the solar system.
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Politics + Society
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Pieter Vanhuysse, University of Southern Denmark
Knowing precisely how society rewards effort is key for how voters think about taxes. Only brute luck is seen as an undeserved reason for riches.
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Michelle McManus, Liverpool John Moores University; Emma Ball, Liverpool John Moores University
It's not just children designated as being 'at risk' who are vulnerable. There are thousands of others who have not been assessed and who need the 'safe haven' of school.
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Tatsiana Kulakevich, University of South Florida
Has Europe's last dictator finally gone too far?
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Yohannes Gedamu, Georgia Gwinnett College
America has historically been a strong Ethiopia ally, but this latest move to withhold foreign direct assistance has thrown its loyalty into question.
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Arts + Culture
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Alexandre P. Bédard, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM); Caroline Coulombe, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM); François Audet, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
Cambodia found the strength to rebuild itself
through art after the 1979 genocide. While the context is different, this example suggests the importance of art in navigating COVID-19.
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Adrian York, University of Westminster
Kate Bush follows Joan Armatrading as the second female singer-songwriter to receive this honour in 2020.
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Health + Medicine
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Dipesh Gopal, Queen Mary University of London
Decolonising medicine will create a fairer healthcare system for all.
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Environment + Energy
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Tanya Wyatt, Northumbria University, Newcastle
Environmental activists have been advocating for piecemeal legal change for decades. But a more fundamental rewrite of the law is needed.
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Featured events
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Lecture Theatre 1, Richmond Building, Portland Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 3DE, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Portsmouth
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Blavatnik School of Government, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX2 6GG, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Oxford
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