Conversation press releases

Stylised graphic of Tokyo station with train in the background

Is the shine coming off Japan’s bullet trains?

Just ten days before the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, Japan opened its Tōkaidō Shinkansen, a high-speed rail line connecting Tokyo with Osaka. Shinkansen bullet trains showcased the high quality of Japanese railway technology to the world, with trains travelling at up to 285 km/h (177 mph).
A pair of reading glasses on a table in front of an eye test chart

How your vision can predict dementia 12 years before it is diagnosed – new study

The eyes can reveal a lot about the health of our brain. Indeed, problems with the eyes can be one of the earliest signs of cognitive decline. Our latest study shows that a loss of visual sensitivity can predict dementia 12 years before it is diagnosed.
A mobile phone with the words Fake News on the screen

Election disinformation: how AI-powered bots work and how you can protect yourself from their influence

Social media platforms have become more than mere tools for communication. They’ve evolved into bustling arenas where truth and falsehood collide.
German flag surrounded by cannabis plants

Germany decriminalised cannabis: why the UK should consider doing the same

The German government has approved new legislation which decriminalises cannabis.
busy scene in a train station

How cuts to marginal income tax could boost the UK’s stagnant economic growth

The British prime minister recently claimed the UK economy has “turned a corner”. Rishi Sunak said inflation figures were encouraging, and proclaimed that 2024 would be the year Britain “bounces back”.
An image of Baltimore Key Bridge before its collapse.

Baltimore Key Bridge: how a domino effect brought it down in seconds

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on 26 March was a shocking and tragic event. Six people remain unaccounted for in the disaster, which saw the world’s third largest continuous truss bridge fall into the Patapsco river.
Medieval women chatting

Medieval women used informal social networks to share health problems and medical advice – just as we do today

In the medieval period, medical science was still dominated by the ancient writings of Hippocrates from the fifth century and Galen of Pergamon from the second century. Research has shown that women were increasingly being taken seriously as healers and as bearers of wisdom about women’s bodies and health. But despite this, men were preferred while women faced restrictions.
Outline of a group of oil rigs

State-owned energy companies are among the world’s most polluting – putting a price on carbon could help

Existing measures to cajole companies to decarbonise, with subsidies for renewable energy and carbon taxes, have failed to prevent global emissions rising. Does state ownership, particularly in the energy sector, make this process easier?
Someone doing some embroidery

Letters and embroidery allowed medieval women to express their ‘forbidden’ emotions

Medieval Europe was a place of great emotional incontinence. So much so that historian Johan Huizinga claimed: “Modern man has no idea of the unrestrained extravagance of the medieval heart.”

Why the teenagers who murdered Brianna Ghey should have remained anonymous

The two teenagers convicted of the horrific murder of Brianna Ghey have received life sentences. The judge, Justice Yip, also made the decision to lift their anonymity, which is automatically applied to all children (defined as those under 18) involved in criminal proceedings.

Masters of the Air: Apple’s Air Force drama is imperfect, but powerful

Apple TV’s new Second World War series, Masters of the Air, tells the story of the 100th Bomb Group of the US 8th Air Force, which operated B-17 “Flying Fortress” bombers from an airfield at Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk. The series is based on Donald L. Miller’s history book of the same name and is produced by Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks.

A single person on universal credit now receives 20% less than what it costs just to eat and keep warm

The UK’s income safety net is in tatters.
an aerial image of the lake district

How simple changes can open up Britain’s green spaces so everyone can benefit from them

A typical British countryside walk may conjure up images of vast green fields, heather-topped moorlands, and of course, countless stiles providing access throughout the right-of-way network. However, while stiles connect trails and public pathways, they are a physical barrier to accessible green spaces for all.

Masters of the Air: ten other films and TV shows about the ‘friendly invasion’ of the American Eighth Air Force

New Apple TV series Masters of the Air tells the story of the famed 100th Bomb Group. The “Bloody 100th” (as they became known), were a part of the United States Eighth Air Force, a huge organisation which operated out of around 70 airfields in eastern England from 1942 to 1945.
A pan of steaming food on the hob

Why traditional cooking isn’t always healthier: the case of Ghanaians in Manchester and in Accra

In popular discussions of healthy eating, including political rhetoric and nutrition counselling, women are often blamed for a lack of nutrition knowledge or cooking skills, leading to the assumption that a decline in cooking skills is connected with unhealthy diets and obesity. This has been called a “deficit approach” and my research with Ghanaian women set out to challenge some of its assumptions.
Outline drawing of a mother and child

Should I have children? Why society’s idealisation of motherhood benefits no one

Mothers – and non-mothers. Our language creates the falsehood that being with a child is a norm. Words like childless or childfree firmly place the person without a child as the one lacking. Women who decide not to have children are marked as outsiders by our social and cultural norms.
Ghana football fans look at the camera

Africa Cup of Nations showcases the continent’s finest footballers – and China’s economic clout

When the Africa Cup of Nations begins on January 13, the opening match between Guinea Bissau and the hosts, Ivory Coast, will be played at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan. The state-of-the-art venue is one of six stadiums being used during the football tournament.

How to survive being a guest at another family’s Christmas

Welcome to the holidays, a time for families coming together. It’s exciting to visit your partner’s family and experience new relationships and rituals – it’s also potentially mortifying. Holidays are a crucible for surfacing relational histories – and conflicts – as well as highlighting the eccentricities of others’ private lives. It can be challenging enough in our own families. But it’s a whole new set of challenges when we’re thrown into the midst of someone else’s family.
The Shepherd Disney movie

The Shepherd: Disney’s ghostly new Christmas tale evokes the eerie qualities of Britain’s abandoned Second World War airfields

From Charles Dickens to M.R. James, Christmas has a long association with ghost stories. In The Shepherd – part of Disney+’s festive fare for this year – we have an evocative addition to the genre.
A gold star featuring the name of actor Cary Grant

Archie: Cary Grant drama doesn’t shy away from the actor’s dark side

Towards the end of Archie, a new four-part ITV drama about the life of Cary Grant, the actor (played at this stage by Jason Isaacs) muses: “Leave the past in the past where it belongs. If you’re not careful, it becomes a trap.” Yet the series suggests that, even at the height of his Hollywood fame, Grant could never truly forget his deprived origins in Bristol as a boy called Archibald Leach.
myanmar police standing in a line

Myanmar’s military junta appears to be in terminal decline

Myint Swe, the acting president of Mynamar’s military government, has warned that the country “will be split into various parts” after his armed forces suffered huge territorial losses to resistance fighters recently. His response was to call on Mynamar’s people to support his military forces, a call that is likely, based on previous experience, to fall mainly on deaf ears.
The Kenyan and United Kingdom flags

King Charles in Kenya: despite past tensions, the visit is a sign of a strong relationship with Britain

King Charles’ visit to Kenya this week is the British monarch’s first to a Commonwealth nation since his coronation in September 2022. The visit comes during the country’s 60th anniversary of independence from Britain.

Doing laundry by hand sheds just as many microfibres as machine washing – new research

Between 6,500 and 87,000 tonnes of microfibres are shed during domestic laundering every year in the UK. Many of these minuscule fibres end up in rivers and oceans, with devastating consequences for aquatic animals and environments.
Man sat on the floor hiding his face in a book as a shadow-like ghost creeps across the wall behind him.

The book that haunts me – seven experts on the scariest thing they’ve ever read

A truly scary story never really leaves you. It lurks in long evening shadows, calls out through mysterious bumps in the night and blows down your neck whenever you feel a sudden shiver.
a man with a hot drink, smiling to the camera

The ‘male menopause’ – what you need to know

East Midlands Ambulance Service is reportedly giving men up to a year of paid leave for “andropause related issues”, which some are calling the “male menopause”.