The Conversation Media Bias

---

What Prince Harry's memoir Spare tells us about 'complicated grief' and the long-term impact of losing a mother so young

The thought of her, as always, gave me a jolt of hope, and a burst of energy. And a stab of sorrow. Prince Harry’s reflection on his mother Princess Diana, who died unexpectedly when he was just 12 years old, appears in his memoir Spare, released officially this week. In fact, the bestseller is marketed as a story about the “eternal power of love over grief”. The book’s revelations, retold in high-profile TV interviews and featuring in his Netflix series, are the subject of much media coverage. These revelations chart the prince’s experience of mourning the traumatic death of his mother in public, media intrusion, and its long-term impacts.
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023

Curious Kids: what are gravitational waves?

travel

3D visualisation of gravitational waves produced by two orbiting black holes. Henze/NASA What are gravitational waves? – Millie, age 10, Sydney What a great question Millie! To answer this we have to travel back in time, to the year 1916. This is the year famous physicist Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity. Einstein had figured out how to explain gravity within the Universe using maths. Gravity is the force that keeps us on Earth, and Earth orbiting around the Sun. Until 1916 there had been many theories to try and explain what gravity was and why it exists.
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023

'More potent than cyanide': how to stay safe from blue-ringed octopus this summer

Kris Mikael Krister/Unsplash, CC BYAs an octopus biologist, I get a call from the media every summer because someone has had an encounter with a blue-ringed octopus. Thankfully, everyone has been OK. Blue-ringed octopus are famed for being one of the most venomous animals on the planet, and the symptoms from a bite are the stuff of nightmares. But how worried do you need to be?
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023

South Korea to ban bear farming, but what to do about hundreds of captive animals that remain?

Joshua Powell, Author providedSouth Korea’s successful restoration of a wild Asiatic black bear population to Jirisan National Park is a huge conservation success story. But the fortune of this wild population stands in contrast to the plight of more than 300 captive bears that remain on bear farms across the country, often in extremely poor conditions. A series of major policy changes during the past year have included the announcement of a joint declaration between the South Korean government, bear farmers and NGOs to ban bear farming in the country by the start of 2026. After almost 30 years of policy deadlock over the fate of captive bears in South Korea, the joint declaration sets ...
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023

Why 2023 is a make-or-break year for Keir Starmer's Labour party

politics

Labour has understandably begun 2023 in an upbeat mood. Polls give the party around 45% of the vote and with the Conservatives on just 19%, power once again feels within reach. But the Labour party is a strange beast. It has an incredible capacity for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and is unique in demonising the only leader who led it to three consecutive victories. After over a decade of Conservative government and a succession of crises, 2023 really does mean breakthrough or bust for the Labour party. If prime minister Rishi Sunak walks back through the doors of No.10 after an election win in 2024 despite all his party has done, it would ...
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023

How Chaucer's medieval Wife of Bath was tamed and then liberated in the 21st century

Chaucer’s Wife of Bath is one of the most famous characters in English literature. Since appearing in the Canterbury tales in 1387, her tale has been rewritten and adapted by authors from the French philosopher Voltaire in the 18th century to the contemporary author Zadie Smith in 2021. As I write in my book, there is something about this fictional, five-times-married, medieval woman that has taken hold of so many writers’ imaginations. Before the Wife of Bath (whose name is Alison), women in literature were princesses, damsels-in distress, nuns and queens – or whores, witches and evil old crones. The principal source for the Wife of Bath is an old prostitute.
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023

The Kremlin and elites in times of war

politics

October 16, 2014: Russian President seen through the soldiers during the military parade March of the victorious in Belgrade. Dimitrije Ostojic / ShutterstockSince Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin’s political strategy has underlined that economic, military and political power is in his hands. The most obvious demonstration of Putin’s authoritarian rule has consisted of extended meetings with his government’s security council, whose members seem to merely approve the president’s decisions. Meanwhile, key regime elites within the law enforcement agencies, the Federal Security Service (FSB), oligarchs, the United Russia party, the National Guard and state-owned media are caught in the middle of a brutal war, economic pressures and societal discontent.
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023

How immortal jellyfish turn back time

travel

'Turritopsis dohrnii'. Author providedAchieving immortality is something that has driven human beings throughout much of their history. Many peculiar legends and fables have been told about the search for the elixirs of life. Medieval alchemists worked tirelessly to find the formula for the philosopher’s stone, which granted rejuvenating powers. Another well-known story is the travels of Juan Ponce de León, who, while conquering the New World, searched for the mysterious fountain of youth. But to this day no one has succeeded in discovering the keys to eternal life. There is, however, one exception – a creature no more than four millimetres in size Turritopsis dohrnii, also known as “the immortal jellyfish”.
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023

Is Europe's new carbon border tax fair for everyone?

The European Union’s carbon market has shown remarkable success in encouraging industries to green their production processes. Known as the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), it has helped reduce the EU’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 40% in covered sectors. The largest environmental-commodities market in history, it spans 31 countries (the 27 member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and more than 10,000 power plants and industrial installations. These include oil refineries, steel works, and production of iron, aluminium, metals, cement, glass, ceramics, pulp and paper, among others. Based on the “cap and trade” principle, it sets an absolute limit on the total amount of certain greenhouse gases that can be released each year by the ...
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023

Quantum computers threaten our whole cybersecurity infrastructure: here's how scientists can bulletproof it

science

Against quantum cyber attacks, one can use smarter softwares, or encrypt communications differently in terms of hardware. Salvatore Andrea Santacroce/Unsplash, CC BYThirteen, 53 and 433. That’s the size of quantum computers in terms of quantum bits, or qubits, which has significantly grown in the last years due to important public and private investments and initiatives. Obviously, it is not only a mere question of quantity: the quality of the prepared qubits is as important as their number for a quantum computer to beat our existing classical computers, that is, to attain what’s called the “quantum advantage”. Yet it is conceivable that soon quantum-computing devices delivering such an advantage will be available.
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023

Gender recognition certificates: self-identification and the row over it explained

Self-identification will relieve trans people of the (often distressing) medical scrutiny that has historically been required. slexp880 / ShutterstockThe UK’s equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, has announced a review of the list of countries whose gender recognition certificates are recognised by the UK. This could mean that transgender people from more than 40 countries may not have their legal gender recognised by the UK government. The move comes just weeks after Scotland became the first part of the UK to introduce a system of self-identification aimed at simplifying how a transgender person legally changes their gender. In this sense, the UK government’s actions represent the latest stage of a long and often unpleasant debate over attempts to ...
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023

What's in store for the UK in 2023? Here's one economist's view

HAKINMHAN/ShutterstockLast year was an eventful one for the UK which lost its longest-serving monarch, went through two prime ministers, and faced economic stagnation, financial turmoil, rampant inflation and a cost of living crisis. To kick off 2023, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak set out five priorities, leading with pledges to halve inflation, boost economic growth and cut national debt, as well as addressing NHS waiting lists and the issue of immigrants arriving to the UK in small boats. These pledges – if achieved – would be excellent news for the UK economy, particularly given recent forecasts for a UK recession later this year.
The Conversation     Jan 13, 2023