China Is Tightening Its Grip on Big Tech
The country’s regulatory measures range from vetting medical and financial influencers to algorithmic audits. What, if anything, can the West learn?Continue Reading
2022-06-29
The impact of Christian purity culture is still being felt – including in Britain
fizkes/Shutterstock In the 1990s and 2000s, a Christian movement now known as “purity culture” reached its height. Purity culture was most significant in America, and since the noughties, it has gradually faded from cultural prominence. Its impact, though, is global and ongoing. Purity culture was built on an established religiousContinue Reading
2022-06-28
Roe v Wade: the religious right has long influenced law in the US – here’s how abortion rights could be challenged elsewhere
The US Supreme Court. flysnowfly/Shutterstock The US Supreme Court has formally announced its decision in the case of Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This has overturned the 1973 case Roe v Wade, which enshrined access to abortion as a constitutional right in the US. The threat to Roe hasContinue Reading
2022-06-28
I watched hundreds of flat-Earth videos to learn how conspiracy theories spread – and what it could mean for fighting disinformation
Darryl Fonseka / Shutterstock Around the world, and against all scientific evidence, a segment of the population believes that Earth’s round shape is either an unproven theory or an elaborate hoax. Polls by YouGov America in 2018 and FDU in 2022 found that as many as 11% of Americans believeContinue Reading
2022-06-28
Five ways you can get involved in fighting for women’s reproductive rights
Participants on a Women's March rally in front of San Francisco's City Hall in 2019. Sundry Photography | Shutterstock Since 2021, hard-won women’s reproductive rights and bodily autonomy have been rolled back in the US in an alarming fashion. With state bans on abortion past as little as six weeksContinue Reading
2022-06-27
Taoiseach rejects Johnson’s claim that protocol breach will not see major diplomatic row
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has rejected British prime minister Boris Johnson’s claim that he does not see a major diplomatic row erupting over the Northern Ireland Protocol. Mr Johnson is attending the G7 summit in Germany alongside EU leaders, and indicated that the controversial topic is not making priority conversation. HeContinue Reading
2022-06-27
Ukraine and Moldova gain EU candidate status but face a long road to full membership
For four months, Ukraine has been fighting for its very existence. Having successfully forced Russia to shift focus from a four-fronted offensive to concentrating on the Donbas region in the east of the country, Ukraine is now fighting a bitter war of attrition – losing, depending on whose figures youContinue Reading
2022-06-27
Forget Lasers. The Hot New Tool for Physicists Is Sound
From acoustic tweezers to holograms, engineers are taking inspiration from the field of optics—and riding the sound wave.Continue Reading
2022-06-27
Half a million job-hunters taken off benefits and into work in less than six months
NEARLY half a million job-hunters have been taken off benefits and into work in less than six months. A drive launched in January has broken all records and astounded employers and ministers. UK Parliament official portraits Therese Coffey ordered the ‘Way to Work’ crusade to fill the soaring number ofContinue Reading
2022-06-26
Expect more bitter Dáil rows like Varadkar and Doherty, says politics professor
The bitter and personal Dáil exchange between Leo Varadkar and Pearse Doherty last week grabbed plenty of headlines and similar rows are likely in the immediate future, according to a politics professor. The debate started last week during leaders’ questions, when Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson accused the Tánaiste of beingContinue Reading
2022-06-25