By Paul A Taylor. According to recent studies, the majority of British and American academics are to be found on the left wing of the political landscape. It is estimated that up to 80% of professional academics are left-liberals, leading to warnings of the dangers of groupthink in universities. More...

By Rebecca Gould. We are living in strange times. The US has elected the most authoritarian ruler in the country’s history, while the EU has been split by the Brexit vote. More...

By Nicola K Gale and Nicki Ward. If you don’t identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, asexual, pansexual, queer or questioning, the chances are you almost certainly know someone who does – it might be a friend, a cousin, a niece, an uncle or a colleague. And you might even consider yourself an “ally” to the LGBTQ community – someone who speaks out if they witness discrimination or derogatory remarks. More...

By Richard Watermeyer and Jamie Lewis. Universities and their academic members benefit from significant sums of money from the UK taxpayer. It seems only right then, that academics should engage the public in what they do. More...

By Debbie Haski-Leventhal and Mehrdokht Pournader. More than 90% of business students in a study on corporate social responsibility said they would be willing to sacrifice some percentage of their future salary to work for a responsible employer. A surprising number of 14% are willing to sacrifice more than 40% of their future income to do so. More...

By Quanda Zhang and Alberto Posso. An increase in the proportion of women accessing microfinance services by just 15% could potentially reduce gender inequality, as measured by the Gender Inequality Index, by half in the average developing nation. The finding comes from a recent study published in Applied Economics Letters that also found that cultural characteristics can influence this relationship. More...

By Patrick Bond. After investigating the “massacre” (as termed by both the opposition Democratic Alliance and African National Congress Youth League) of more than 100 mental health patients under the guise of cutting costs, South Africa’s Health Ombudsman Malegapuru Makgoba advised that a “sufficient budget should be allocated for the implementation” of proper care. More...

By Peter Neal Peregrine. Part of what I do as an archaeologist is judge between competing claims to truth. Indeed, you could say this is the entire purpose of science. Before we make a judgment about what is true, there are facts that have to be examined and weighed against one another. More...