Sussex is a leading research university, as reflected in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. Over 90 per cent of Sussex research activity was rated as world leading, internationally excellent or internationally recognised, confirming the University among the leading 30 research universities in the UK, on a simple average across all scores. 18 subjects rank in the top 20 for research in the UK, across the arts, sciences and social sciences, with American studies ranked number 1 in the UK, Politics number 2, and Art history number 3.
A row between a Conservative peer and Labour leader Ed Miliband is once again throwing up some inconsistent thinking about tax avoidance. Stanley Fink, the former treasurer of the Conservative party, and…
In a few billion years, the sun will become a red giant so large that it will engulf our planet. But the Earth will become uninhabitable much sooner than that. After about a billion years the sun will…
Ants have a reputation of being industrious hard-working animals, sacrificing their own benefit for the good of the colony. They live to serve their queen and take care of all essential tasks including…
The universe is such a big place that it is easy to get baffled by the measurements that astronomers make. The size of UY Scuti, possibly one of the largest stars we have observed to date, is certainly…
I am an astrophysicist. I run into a lot of people who are extremely curious about space, how it works, or what it is that I study in particular. Many of these questions begin with an apology: “Not to…
Diseases caused by genetic mutations in the mitochondria – the powerhouses of the cell – can be disabling, or even deadly. That is why mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), otherwise also known as three-person…
Apple has reported the largest quarterly profit ever made by a public company. This is largely thanks to record iPhone sales of 74.5m units over the Christmas period. With prices starting at US$649 for…
In his 1879 account of wanderings in the Orient, the travel writer James Hingston describes how, in West Java, he was treated to a bizarre experience: I am taken by my kind host around his garden, and…
Only a tenth of education reforms carried out around the world since 2008 have been analysed by governments for the impact they have on children’s education. A new report by the Organisation for Economic…
Revising for exams is a necessary evil. Ever since written university exams were first set in England by the Cambridge chemist William Farrish in about 1792, students have struggled to revise. And with…
At this time of the year, our mailboxes and inboxes get flooded with Christmas appeals. Many of them feature heart-wrenching and guilt-inducing images of people in need, the idea being that they tug at…
Mental illness runs in families. This is well known and uncontroversial. There is much that we could do to reduce this risk, but we currently do almost nothing. A parent with mental illness is several…
Of all the revelations made about the “enhanced interrogation methods” used by the CIA on detainees in the aftermath of 9/11, the use of waterboarding and rectal feeding have garnered the most attention…
Sometimes it may seem like your dog doesn’t want to listen. But in our study, however, we’ve found that he may understand more than he lets on. Human speech is complex, communicating not only words but…
As UKIP makes parliamentary gains at every turn, it no longer seems possible to dismiss the party as a group of anti-EU obsessives that has little in common with mainstream politics. The days of the swivel-eyed…
The UK is rarely seen as one of the world’s problem cases when it comes to corruption. It certainly talks a pretty good game. It has signed up, for example, to the major international anti-corruption treaties…
Every time we turn on a tap, switch on a light or drive to the shops we are relying on the infrastructures that make our modern economy work. These infrastructures are being developed to meet new challenges…
In 1982 I was toying with the idea of a career in teaching. That year a controversial film, Made in Britain, starring Tim Roth was released and I almost didn’t become a teacher. The film’s central character…
The world media cognoscenti have been on a crusade recently against a particular brand of misogyny. And their campaign has achieved some results. Controversial comedian Daniel O’Reilly just announced that…