When students in China returned to classrooms in September 2021, they were provided with a new series of textbooks outlining China’s president Xi Jinping, or “Grandpa Xi’s”, political philosophy. Each textbook on “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era”, as Xi’s political philosophy is officially called, is tailored to students at primary, secondary, […] … learn more→

Scientists have often invited the public to see what they see, using everything from engraved woodblocks to electron microscopes to explore the complexity of the scientific enterprise and the beauty of life. Sharing these visions through illustrations, photography and videos has allowed laypeople to explore a range of discoveries, from new bird species to the inner workings of the human cell. […] … learn more→

Project leadership is a complex, tricky beast. My first experience of leading a funded research project took place in 1989, in the UK. Since that time, I have been principal investigator (PI) on four projects funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and co-investigator on two others, as well as […] … learn more→

Older people may be more vulnerable to COVID, but in the UK it’s the young that are now driving the pandemic. Last month, school-age children in Britain were 15 times more likely than people over 80 to have the coronavirus. Leaving young people unvaccinated partly explains why cases have been so high in this group. This is […] … learn more→

We are continually bombarded with messages that warn that we are making excessive use of screens that directly affects our vision. There are many advertisements that urge us to use filters to block the blue light from these screens before it is too late. “It will improve your rest”, “It will reduce visual fatigue caused by electronic […] … learn more→

Passive voice. Put simply, the active voice is when the actor, the person doing the action, is named. The writer does not name the actor when using passive voice. Ironically, the first sentence above does not name the actor – it is as if action of writing in the active voice just magically happens. However, […] … learn more→

Out of all subjects students come across during their studies, chemistry seems to be the most dreadful. Studying the different elements and compounds from the periodic table and their chemical reactions can be challenging, so learners often seek aid from chemistry experts to help them understand this subject better. Generally, chemistry is used by everyone […] … learn more→

If the ways of becoming an adult are never exactly the same from one society to another, there are nonetheless some invariants. Separation experiences are one of the essentials of the human condition  : to succeed as adults, children must face situations in which they no longer evolve under the protective gaze of their parents. In contemporary societies, separation […] … learn more→

Algorithms are becoming commonplace. They can determine employment prospects, financial security and more. The use of algorithms can be controversial – for example, robodebt, as the Australian government’s flawed online welfare compliance system came to be known. Algorithms are increasingly being used to make decisions that have a lasting impact on our current and future lives. Some of […] … learn more→

Children have been spending more time online. A May 2020 study found that U.S. teenagers spent around seven hours a day, on average, using screens. Even before the pandemic, U.S. teens were indicating in surveys that they were “almost constantly online.” As with any venue, parents might be concerned about what dangers lurk on the internet – […] … learn more→