The UK student population has doubled in the last twenty years to almost two million. During this time, higher tuition fees have placed increased pressure on students – with a recent survey finding that 75% of students who receive a maintenance loan feel stressed about their debt. It may not be a total surprise then […] … learn more→

I am now back from two weeks annual leave. Going on leave doesn’t mean leaving your research and teaching interests behind. As often happens, I had a thought or two during my ‘downtime’. In fact, we had hardly begun our drive through the Highlands when we came across a large group of motor cyclists outside a […] … learn more→

Americans want their higher education system to do more to help students fully realise their talents and develop the skills that will lead to lifelong success. We believe that the higher education regulatory system can be improved to help achieve these goals. While president Donald Trump and secretary of education Betsy DeVos seem poised to […] … learn more→

With more than 5 million articles in English and 30 million registered users, Wikipedia is the largest and most influential source of information in the world. But the online community-based encyclopedia is not a self-generating mass of neutral and reliable knowledge. It is created by people writing collaboratively all over the world. As a result, […] … learn more→

I wrote earlier of how we’re being bombarded with false “facts” so obviously wrong that there’s little choice but for rational people to start considering what the fake media refers to as “alternative facts.” What happened to us as a people that we no longer can agree on even the most basic of concepts, like […] … learn more→

Play has always been central to growing up, – whether it’s in the street or on a playing field – or in the structured formality of teachers’ quizzes. These days tablet computers are in nearly every pupil’s hands and children learn through computer games – both in the classroom and at home. Children’s coding initiatives […] … learn more→

So here’s the thing. What’s the difference between a bibliography and a reference list? I was always taught there was an important difference between a bibliography and a reference list. The reference list is the stuff you actually cite in the paper. The bibliography is all of the books you read, some/a lot of which […] … learn more→

In the 18th century, novels seemed scandalous to many because, above all, they were about subjective experience. Impressionable young men and women, sitting on newfangled sofas gripped by pages of sentimentalism, were moved with pity and pain. Empathising with the plight of so many of those sorry literary protagonists, readers called for social change. Worse […] … learn more→

You’ve probably used a microscope before: usually, the sort of low-power microscope that pervades grade schools and simple collegiate science labs put together just to fulfill the most basic of requirements to graduate. But these days, high-end microscopy is changing science, allowing researchers to see and study things never-before seen in new and fascinating ways. […] … learn more→

According to the textbooks, all humans living today descended from a population that lived in east Africa around 200,000 years ago. This is based on reliable evidence, including genetic analyses of people from around the globe and fossil finds from Ethiopia of human-like skeletal remains from 195,000–165,000 years ago. Now a large scientific team that […] … learn more→