There is a dog fight going on in Ireland. Four politicians from Fine Gael, the main party in government, have been dismissed from the party because they voted against a new bill that will permit abortion…
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On a weekend like this, tennis stars like Andy Murray are the nation’s biggest stars. In many ways, sportspeople are no different from any other celebrities - be they reality TV stars, rock stars or film…
The promise that hydrogen cars would help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the transport sector has been with us for a couple of decades. Readers may well have wondered what, like hoverboards, has…
The military coup in Egypt that ended the reign of the country’s first democratically elected president was, in part, triggered by increasingly large protests of Egyptians who were deeply dissatisfied…
In a memorandum of understanding signed this week, Imperial College London signed up to working with controversial communications technology firm Huawei. The two have set plans in motion to run a joint…
Cerebral malaria, or malaria of the brain, means being deeply unconscious with perpetual cycles of seizures and spasms. It can cause death, or often disability. About 600,000 people suffer this terrible…
The current political crisis in Portugal has surprised both local economists who know little about politics and international analysts who are ill-informed about the Portuguese economy. In May, I had the…
It appears the spectre of Falkirk will not go away for Ed Miliband. Despite claiming he has acted decisively by suspending the selection process, Miliband has failed to publish the Labour report about…
Brian Kobilka won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2012 for his work on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which are main targets for making new drugs. Akshat Rathi, science and technology editor, and…
Foundation essay: This article on the rise of massive open online courses by Martin Weller, Professor of Educational Technology at The Open University, is part of a series marking the launch of The Conversation…
The debate about whether Edward Snowden is a public interest whistleblower - the “Paul Revere” of the digital age, as his father and lawyer have dubbed him, or a “traitor”, as former vice-president Dick…
Over the past 25 years we have seen an explosion in top-level clinical trials in China. But only a tiny proportion of that research is available on the main databases used by doctors and researchers in…
In recent years, being able to engage the general public with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has become part of the job for many academics, who are increasingly required to show…
When I took a walk past Cairo University this morning, the tanks were still there, while the Islamist camp were continuing their sit-in, though with strongly reduced numbers. At around 5.30pm the night…
In a dramatic flourish of energy policy announcements over the past two weeks, the government’s spending review was merely the first act. Soon after, a British Geological Survey report revealed our huge…
Academics, politicians, international economists and central bankers alike talk and talk about the theoretical benefits of a European banking union. But these reflections go far beyond the current, real…
In his humorous novel Black Mischief, the 20th century English writer Evelyn Waugh wrote “Mahmud el Khali bin Sai'ud sat among his kinsmen, moodily browsing over his lapful of khat”. Of course, Waugh wasn’t…
Now the dust has settled on the government’s spending review and the publication of long-term infrastructure investment plans, where exactly are we with local growth policy? The coalition’s approach to…
The UK courts are to be dragged into the 21st century with a £160 million investment to help them go digital. Announcing its plans, the Ministry of Justice revealed that the courts get through a staggering…
Reforming the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy has never been easy, and that’s hardly surprising. It’s well established that when interests are concentrated together, such as those of farmers…
People from all walks of life and all corners of the world are becoming scientists. Citizen science empowers those with an interest in any area from ecology to astronomy to be a part of the scientific…
Since the 1940s our welfare state has been built around the assumption that it’s possible to distinguish between people who are “sick” and people who are merely “frail” or “disabled”. While we consider…
While Edward Snowden sits in a Russian airport, the repercussions of the NSA scandal are being felt far and wide. But while headlines warn us about personal data and privacy, an even more sinister threat…
The news that Yahoo! is to close down AltaVista on 8 July was greeted on the internet with shock. Shock because everyone over the age of 30 thought their original search engine of choice had ceased to…
“Egypt is split” is how many Egyptians describe the current crisis rippling through the country. Before Wednesday night’s apparent military coup, journalists had reported on pro and anti-Morsi demonstrations…