News

South Africa has chosen a risky approach to global politics: 3 steps it must take to succeed

South Africa’s response has been one of strategic autonomy. This involves taking independent and non-aligned positions on ...

Kids need soft skills in the age of AI, but what does this mean for schools?

As AI automates technical work, students and educators need to emphasize social skills and a high degree of self-awareness.

Sanctuary cities in the US were born in the 1980s as Central American refugees fled civil wars

The Sanctuary Movement emerged amid a restrictive US asylum process and as the Reagan administration refused to acknowledge ...

Grand Canyon’s Dragon Bravo megafire shows the growing wildfire threat to water systems

Water systems are vulnerable to melting plastic components, toxic contamination and failures that can leave firefighters ...

Why universities are hiring more chief marketing officers – even as budgets shrink

More and more universities are bringing in corporate-style marketing chiefs. New research shows what they’re gaining – and ...

Afghans in US face uncertainty after the cancellation of their humanitarian relief

Afghans who have lost US work permits and protections from deportation fear persecution by the Taliban if they return to ...

Many parents – mostly mothers – lose family payments from the first dollar they earn. Here’s how we could fix it

The system leads to high marginal effective tax rates on secondary earners, discouraging employment. When some parents return ...

Palestine Action arrests: what happens next, and what it tells us about the breadth of Britain’s counter-terrorism laws

The proscription of Palestine Action – banning membership or support for the organisation on the ground that the home ...

Japan’s shifting memory of the second world war is raising fears of renewed militarism

Eighty years have passed since Japan’s surrender ended the second world war. But the way Japan thinks about its wartime ...

The global plastics treaty process has fallen flat. Here’s what went wrong, and how you can help

International efforts to reach agreement on reducing plastic pollution are disappointing. But we don’t need to wait for a ...

The growing fad of ‘microdosing’ mushrooms is leading to an uptick in poison control center calls and emergency room visits

With little evidence or regulatory oversight, some mushroom products claim to improve cognitive function while posing a risk of serious side effects, including seizures and cardiovascular risk.