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As the latest conflict betwen Israel and Hamas entered its second month yesterday, diplomats and world leaders were continuing to ask the two sides to halt the fighting. But many, including Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer and Joe Biden, aren’t backing calls for a ceasefire. Instead they’re arguing for a “humanitarian pause” to allow aid to reach those who need it.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has also vowed there will be no ceasefire until all the hostages taken by Hamas have been released, but has said the country might allow for some “little pauses”. Our expert in international law explores the difference between a ceasefire and a humanitarian pause, and why the latter might not be as effective as its proponents think.
We also have the details of recent research about a fold in the brain which develops in some people in the womb and can delay the onset of dementia. And AI-generated faces are now so realistic that people are worse at telling them apart from pictures of real faces than if they were guessing. But scientists have discovered that a part of our brain still knows something is up.
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Jonathan Este
Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor
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Xinhua/Alamy Live News
Malak Benslama-Dabdoub, Royal Holloway University of London
At present the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has ruled out a ceasefire but may allow ‘little pauses’.
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Bruce Willis’s frontotemporal diagnosis was revealed earlier this year.
Featureflash Photo Agency/ Shutterstock
Luke Harper, Lund University
Our study found that people born with a with a particular fold in their brain develop frontotemporal dementia symptoms on average two and a half years later than others.
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Can you tell which faces are real and which are synthetic? Answers are at the bottom of the article.
Robin Kramer
Robin Kramer, University of Lincoln
Scientists measured the brain activity of people trying to discern real from synthetic faces.
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Politics + Society
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Gillian Kennedy, University of Southampton
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has held Egypt in an iron grip for a decade, but his regime’s close relations with Israel might prove a problem with voters.
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Ilias Trispiotis, University of Leeds
Allowing people to consent to ‘conversion therapy’ would contradict UK and international law.
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Rebecca Foster, Edinburgh Napier University; Kirstin Anderson, Edinburgh Napier University
The UK imprisons more people than most of its western European neighbours and the conditions in its prisons are getting worse.
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Sean Lang, Anglia Ruskin University
The monarch has to read the speech whether he agrees with it or not.
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Arts + Culture
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Bethany Layne, De Montfort University
Queen Elizabeth II managed to claw back popular support after the PR disasters around her handing of Diana’s divorce from Prince Charles and her response when she died.
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Sam Edwards, Loughborough University
The film pays homage to the war generation, revels in forties nostalgia and stakes an assertive British claim to the memory of the Allied invasion.
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Business + Economy
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Andreana Drencheva, King's College London; Elisa Alt, King's College London
Watch out for ‘purpose-washing’: when companies promise more than profit maximisation but fail to deliver.
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Environment
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Harry Shepherd, King's College London
Non-native species tend to be better at exploiting the disturbance caused by storms, fires or droughts.
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Health
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Liz Breen, University of Bradford; Jonathan Silcock, University of Bradford
An increase in global demand for ADHD drugs is one reason for ongoing shortages.
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Science + Technology
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Mike Lockwood, University of Reading
Space junk and carbon emissions are just some of the problems with a boom in space travel.
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John Tasioulas, University of Oxford; Hélène Landemore, Yale University; Sir Nigel Shadbolt, University of Oxford
The summit brought together key players behind the development of AI, but more needs to be done.
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14 November 2023
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Glasgow
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7 November 2023
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Cambridge
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21 November 2023
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Oxford
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