Rebecca Ackermann, University of Cape Town; Lauren Schroeder, University of Toronto, and Robyn Pickering, University of Cape Town Here’s how the story of the Taung Child is usually told: In 1924 an Australian anthropologist and anatomist, Raymond Dart, acquired a block of calcified sediment from a limestone quarry in South Africa. He painstakingly
A large majority of Europeans believe in the benefits of science, according to the latest Eurobarometer survey on “European citizens’ knowledge and attitudes towards science and technology”. They want to see those benefits more equitably distributed and are cautious about any potential negative impacts of science. In the survey, conducted in 27 EU Member States,
Kulusuk village in East Greenland. Shutterstock/Muratart Gustav Agneman, Norwegian University of Science and Technology In 2018, a colleague and I, together with a team of Greenlandic research assistants, conducted one of the most comprehensive surveys to date on public opinion in Greenland. We travelled to 13 randomly selected towns and settlements across the
Jennifer Mathers, Aberystwyth University North Korea is believed to be preparing to send another group of soldiers to come to Vladimir Putin’s aid in the war in Ukraine, despite heavy combat losses already suffered by troops from the east Asian country. When Ukrainian forces crossed the border into the Kursk region of Russia
Elon Musk, right, has moved to take the reins of the U.S. government. Brandon Bell/Getty Images Allison Stanger, Middlebury Elon Musk’s role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, is on the surface a dramatic effort to overhaul the inefficiencies of federal bureaucracy. But beneath the rhetoric
Eric Storm, Leiden University Over the past few weeks the new US president, Donald Trump, has repeatedly claimed that the United States should “take back” the Panama Canal and that it should assume control of Greenland – one way or another. He has talked of Canada becoming America’s 51st state and now he
In the village of Lerești, in the centre of Romania, a bus with a purpose pulled up last August. Having already travelled through Lithuania and Poland, it was on the third of its five stops in Romania, on a mission to raise awareness of cancer – both ways to prevent it and options
Flawed thinking can lead us into a lifetime of pointless arguments and bad decisions. Fixing the problem won’t be easy — but we know how to do it. By Frederic Bertley This essay accompanies a separate interview with Frederic Bertley, in which he discusses his strategies for science communication with OpenMind co-editor Corey
Ph. Koshiro K/Shutterstock Daniele D’Alvia, Queen Mary University of London The AI revolution is well under way and two companies – DeepSeek and Nvidia – stand out among those competing to lead it. Outside the financial world, the story might seem distant – but it really does have consequences for everyone. It comes
Ed Turner, Aston University A vote in Germany’s national parliament (Bundestag) has led to fears that the firewall supposedly separating mainstream political parties and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been blown apart. Until now, Germany’s largest parties, including the union of Christian democratic parties the CDU and CSU, and the social