Alpesh Bhudia, Royal Holloway University of London; Anna Cartwright, Oxford Brookes University; Darren Hurley-Smith, Royal Holloway University of London, and Edward Cartwright, De Montfort University
In May 2023, the Dallas City Government was hugely disrupted by a ransomware attack. Ransomware attacks are so-called because the hackers behind them encrypt vital data and demand a ransom in order to get the information decrypted.
Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham
Two months after challenging Vladimir Putin’s leadership in an apparent but abortive “mutiny”, Yevgeny Prigozhin – the former owner of the mercenary private military company Wagner Group – has joined a long list of prominent Russians to die in mysterious circumstances.
Jenny Bulstrode, UCL and Sheray Warmington, UCL
In a speech to mark Unesco’s campaign for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, UN secretary-general António Guterres told the United Nations general assembly earlier this year that the inequalities created by 400 years of the transatlantic chattel trade persist to this day. “We can draw a straight line from the centuries of colonial exploitation to the social and economic inequalities of today,” he said.
Christina Philippou, University of Portsmouth
A long-awaited official review of women’s football in England sets out ten recommendations designed to transform and develop the sport at every level. The review, which was chaired by former international player Karen Carney, covers everything from playing standards to diversity goals and equal access to sports for girls.
Adam de Paor-Evans, University of Plymouth
On August 11 1973, DJ Kool Herc and his sister Cindy threw the now legendary Back To School jam in the recreation room of 1520 Sedgewick Avenue in The Bronx, New York.
Herc’s party represented a coming together of music and the start of something new. The Bronx crowd did not want the dancehall sounds Herc had begun to play. They wanted soul and the tough percussion of funk. So, Herc changed up the sound and used the main switch for the lights like a strobe-light to add atmosphere. Little did they know, that his event would be commonly accepted by the hip-hop fraternity worldwide as the starting point of what was to become one of the most important creative movements of the last century.
Madeline Sprajcer, CQUniversity Australia and Sally Ferguson, CQUniversity Australia
After a long day, you flop onto the sofa and find yourself dozing off while watching TV. The room is nice and warm, the sofa is comfortable, and the background noise of the TV lulls you to sleep.
Then a loved one nudges you awake and reminds you to go sleep – in bed. But when you get there, you find to your frustration that you’re wide awake.
Why does sleep come so easily on the sofa but not always in bed?
Gabriel J. Chin, University of California, Davis
The Justice Department announced its second federal indictment of former president Donald J. Trump on Aug. 1, 2023. The charges are groundbreaking and not just because a former president is facing multiple criminal charges.
Leslie Hallam, Lancaster University
Alas, poor Twitter; we knew it well. Or, at least, we thought we did. Despite never occupying more than 10% of social media’s online presence, western audiences are very aware of the platform. That’s not least because of the way that the mass media echoes and amplifies the controversies and outrage born on Twitter.
Zara Molphy, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
Having dipped somewhat during the pandemic, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise again around the world. In England and Ireland in 2022, rates of chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis exceeded levels recorded before COVID. The number of gonorrhoea diagnoses recorded in England was in fact the highest since annual records began.
Sara Chica-Latorre, University of Canberra and Michael Pengelly, University of Canberra
During the Women’s FIFA World Cup, it has been wonderful to see the spotlight turn to female athletes.
There’s always been more research on male athletes compared to female athletes, but the gap is narrowing.
One thing we still don’t know enough about is the effect of the menstrual cycle on athletic performance.