Tag Archives: SHUTTERSTOCK

15Aug/22

How trauma survivors can harness spiritual contemplation to process stress – new research

Catrin Eames, Liverpool John Moores University

Trauma, such as surviving or witnessing road accidents, natural disasters and violence, can shake up our lives, challenging our core beliefs and views of the world.

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15Aug/22

Nearly 70% of Premier League footballers are abused on Twitter – we used an AI to sift through millions of tweets

Bertie Vidgen, Alan Turing Institute and Angus Redlarski Williams, Alan Turing Institute

As the new Premier League football season gets underway, a few things are certain. There will be goals, drama and excitement, and unfortunately, players will be subjected to vile abuse on social media.

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05Aug/22

UK interest rate rise: what the Bank of England’s historic hike means for your money

Jonquil Lowe, The Open University

The Bank of England has raised its base rate by 0.5 percentage points, the largest single upward jump in 27 years. It takes the base rate to 1.75%, its highest level since 2008. This latest interest rate hike will affect personal finances and reflects the Bank’s efforts to control rampant inflation amid the cost of living crisis in the UK.

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29Jul/22

James Lovelock: the scientist-inventor who transformed our view of life on Earth

Mark Maslin, UCL

James Lovelock, the maverick scientist and inventor, died surrounded by his family on July 27 2022 – his 103rd birthday. Jim led an extraordinary life. He is best known for his Gaia hypothesis, developed with the brilliant US biologist Lynn Margulis in the 1970s, which transformed the way we think of life on Earth.

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28Jul/22

Revealed: untold story of the CIA/Stasi double agent abandoned after 22 years of service

Eleni Braat, Utrecht University and Ben de Jong, Leiden University

I was naked, tied to a hard chair with handcuffs. Three or four burly fellows in uniform are standing around me, one of them behind me with a truncheon… ‘Sie sind ein Verräter! [You are a traitor!],’ they snap.

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20Jul/22

Depression is probably not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain – new study

Joanna Moncrieff, UCL and Mark Horowitz, UCL

For three decades, people have been deluged with information suggesting that depression is caused by a “chemical imbalance” in the brain – namely an imbalance of a brain chemical called serotonin. However, our latest research review shows that the evidence does not support it.

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04Jul/22

Higgs boson: ten years after its discovery, why this particle could unlock new physics beyond the standard model

Martin Bauer, Durham University and Stephen Jones, Durham University

Ten years ago, scientists announced the discovery of the Higgs boson, which helps explain why elementary particles (the smallest building blocks of nature) have mass. For particle physicists, this was the end of a decades-long and hugely difficult journey – and arguably the most important result in the history of the field. But this end also marked the beginning of a new era of experimental physics.

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01Jul/22

Four ways to stop thinking the worst will happen when you’re stressed

Patricia Riddell, University of Reading

Imagine you have an interview for a new job tomorrow. Some people might think about what kind of questions they will be asked so that they can prepare, or imagine the interview going well. For others, the thought of an interview will cause them to toss and turn all night thinking of every worst case scenario possible – no matter how outlandish these may be. If you’re someone who has a tendency to do the latter, you are prone to catastrophising.

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27Jun/22

Workers’ rights: how a landmark UN decision on safety and health will actually affect employees

Huw Thomas, University of Bristol

In what has been called the “biggest moment for workers’ rights in a quarter of a century”, the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted a safe and healthy work environment as one of its five fundamental principles and rights at work for all at its June 2022 international conference. This is the first extension of workers’ human rights in almost 25 years and it means governments must now commit to respect and promote the right to a safe and healthy working environment.

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