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This episode of Speaking Out of Place is being recorded on May 15, 2025, the 77th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, which began the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land. We talk with Lara Elborno, Richard Falk, and Penny Green, three members of the Gaza Tribunal, which is set to convene in Saravejo in a few days. This will set in motion the process of creating an archive of Israel's genocide of the Palestinian people with an aim to give global civil society the tools and inspiration it needs to further delegitimize Israel, end its genocidal acts, help bring about liberation for the Palestinian people.Lara Elborno is a Palestinian-American lawyer specialized in international disputes, qualified to practice in the US and France. She has worked for over 10 years as counsel acting for individuals, private entities, and States in international commercial and investment arbitrations. She dedicates a large part of her legal practice to pro-bono work including the representation of asylum seekers in France and advising clients on matters related to IHRL and the business and human rights framework. She previously taught US and UK constitutional law at the Université de Paris II - Panthéon Assas. She currently serves as a board member of ARDD-Europe and sits on the Steering Committee of the Gaza Tribunal. She has moreover appeared as a commentator on Al Jazeera, TRTWorld, DoubleDown News, and George Galloway's MOAT speaking about the Palestinian liberation struggle, offering analysis and critiques of international law.Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University (1961-2001) and Chair of Global Law, Faculty of Law, Queen Mary University London. Since 2002 has been a Research Fellow at the Orfalea Center of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Between 2008 and 2014 he served as UN Special Rapporteur on Israeli Violations of Human Rights in Occupied Palestine.Falk has advocated and written widely about ‘nations' that are captive within existing states, including Palestine, Kashmir, Western Sahara, Catalonia, Dombas.He is Senior Vice President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, having served for seven years as Chair of its Board. He is Chair of the Board of Trustees of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. He is co-director of the Centre of Climate Crime, QMUL.Falk has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times since 2008.His recent books include (Re)Imagining Humane Global Governance (2014), Power Shift: The New Global Order (2016), Palestine Horizon: Toward a Just Peace (2017), Revisiting the Vietnam War (ed. Stefan Andersson, 2017), On Nuclear Weapons: Denuclearization, Demilitarization and Disarmament (ed. Stefan Andersson & Curt Dahlgren, 2019.Penny Green is Professor of Law and Globalisation at QMUL and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She has published extensively on state crime theory, resistance to state violence and the Rohingya genocide, (including with Tony Ward, State Crime: Governments, Violence and Corruption, 2004 and State Crime and Civil Activism 2019). She has a long track record of researching in hostile environments and has conducted fieldwork in the UK, Turkey, Kurdistan, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Israel, Tunisia, Myanmar and Bangladesh. In 2015 she and her colleagues published ‘Countdown to Annihilation: Genocide in Myanmar' and in March 2018
n this dialogue with Hunt Priest, we explore how psychedelics can support a rediscovery of the fire of the holy spirit, reconnection with God re-imagining of the symbolic depth of Christianity. We consider the perennial tensions between the alive spirit and the church as institution. Colonial mindsets and evangelism. The Church's relationship to indigenous cultures. Jesus as Shaman and the overlaps between Shamanism and Christianity in the work of Mircea Eliade. Hunt Priest is the Executive Director and Founder of Ligare - A Christian Psychedelic Society. Hunt is a former Episcopal priest who, after a profound mystical experience during a psilocybin research study at Johns Hopkins, founded Ligare to help Christians explore psychedelic healing within a religious context.https://www.ligare.org/Jacob Kishere is a professional dialogue facilitator, writer, rapper, and philosopher. The creator of Culturepilgrim, SENSESPACE Podcast & Studio and The Resonant Man. He began my research into the crisis of the modern west with my award winning BA thesis (History, QMUL) and MA (Terrorism, Security & Society, KCL). Over the last decade I've searched deeper answers to that crisis , journeying into the depths of the mystical and drawing out insights for deeper resonance, healing and clarity of values in our paths, relationships and communities.www.jacobkishere.com
Claire chatted to Kaspar Althoefer from Queen Mary University of London about soft robotic manipulators for healthcare and manufacturing. Kaspar Althoefer is Director of the Centre for Advanced Robotics at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). His research focuses on soft robotics, tactile perception, intelligent manipulation, and machine learning techniques for sensor signal interpretation. His research advancements have significant applications in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery, rehabilitation, assistive technologies, and human-robot interactions within a range of scenarios, including manufacturing. Before joining QMUL, he was a Professor at King's College London, where he also earned his PhD. Join the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher
In this special episode we are joined by Dr Angela Sherwood and Monika Sobiecki to talk about the role lawyers can play in achieving “Climate Justice”. We talk about what “Climate Justice” means, how both guests became so committed to working in this area, and the urgent need for all lawyers to consider the environmental impact of their work. Also, we discuss Angela's new (and unique) undergraduate law degree programme at QMUL, “Law and Climate Justice”. Monika and Angela talk about their respective pathways to the world of law and “Climate Justice”. Angela speaks about her role at the United Nations, and how her interest grew in the political and legal aspects of climate change, and also how this linked to her interests in human rights, social justice, and the individual impact which environmental challenges are having across the world. This led Angela to develop a new law degree programme at QMUL to ensure that the next generation of law students are keenly aware of the relevant issues and can understand how they, as future lawyers, can be change agents to help achieve “Climate Justice”. Monika talks about her work as a barrister, and how a client's case she was working on (‘Climategate') triggered a sense of needing to help more with the climate emergency – in particular making lawyers aware of the impact which their work is having globally. Monika discusses the work of the “Lawyers are Responsible” group, and explains how students equally passionate about this topic can become involved, and why she feels this is so important. Actions and resources for listeners: · Look at the topics covered in the new QMUL degree in “Law and Climate Justice”: which ones are you particularly passionate about? · Watch the Newsnight video on the Lawyers are Responsible website: what are your views on the “cab rank rule” for barristers and how should lawyers think about ethics in a climate crisis? · How are UK law students getting involved in challenging climate change? Have a look at the group Law Students for Climate Accountability and the critical demands they are making of the legal profession.
In this special episode we are joined by two final year QMUL Law students, Simran Patel and William Green, who took up the option of embedding a year of paid work experience into their law studies. We talk about how the opportunity to apply one's academic learning in the workplace is powerful, the skills they built, the different private practice and in-house work environments, and the career insights which a work placement offers to guide your development. For the in-house environment, Williams speaks about how working in the Corporate and Legal Operations teams at CHANEL led to feeling very close to the business units across the company. How he built his commercial awareness, giving him great insight into issues a lawyer needs to think about as part of their work in a world-leading luxury brand business. Also, William compares this experience with the private practice environment of ICB Law Firm in Kuwait, which was a fascinating insight into a law firm in a different region. Simran talks about how much insight her placement at BCLP gave into a career in private practice – especially how she built her confidence in dealing directly with clients, the need to be responsive, and build one's communication skills. Also Simran describes how the technologies which are now becoming a key part of a lawyer's daily tool-kit mean that attention to detail is even more critical – checking what the AI and other automation tools have created. Finally, Simran compares this private practice experience with her previous internships as part of an in-house legal team, and how all this experience has helped to shape her career thinking. Actions and resources for listeners: · Look at the QMUL placement degree student experience videos and statements here – what skills did the students develop? And how does this list of skills link to some skills you would like to develop? · Read this article about In-House career paths and how you can find a path toward them – and plan your answers for the interview questions listed there!
In this episode, we delve into the critical role of neuroprotection in pre-hospital care, particularly in pediatric head injuries. Through a real-life case study of a 13-year-old boy who suffered a traumatic brain injury after being hit by a car, we explore the steps taken by paramedics and critical care teams to stabilize him and prevent further neurological damage. From airway management to advanced interventions, this episode highlights the challenges of pre-hospital neuroprotection and the incredible teamwork that led to the patient's remarkable recovery. There is more detail on the full blogpost here. This podcast was recorded live at the Hope Church in Winchester as part of the PREMIER conference. We are grateful to the organizing team for hosting us and allowing us to use the audio. The PIER and PREMIER websites are full of amazing resources for anyone working in Paediatric Emergency Medicine, and we highly recommend them. The Speaker Ed is a Speciality Trainee in Emergency Medicine in Wessex and a trainee Critical Care Practitioner with Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance. Ed is also the co-founder and Managing Director of Enhanced Care Services, a Southampton-based company delivering enhanced and critical care to the event medical sector, providing frontline ambulance services across Hampshire and clinical education at all levels, employing over 200 clinicians. Ed holds the Diploma in Immediate Medical Care (RCSEd) and, having promised to not take on any more work, is currently undertaking a Masters in Resuscitation, Pre-hospital and Emergency Medicine at QMUL. Enhanced Care Services Enhanced Care Services' mission is to provide and influence excellent patient care, irrespective of injury, illness or location, through the delivery of high-quality clinical operations and education. Founded in 2015, ECS now provide frontline ambulance operations across the South, delivers extensive medical cover to some of the most prestigious events across the UK and provides education from its bespoke education centre in Southampton and beyond.
Charged by the United Nations General Assembly to ascertain the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on July 19th, 2024, the International Court of the Justice, the highest court in the world on matters of international law, determined that “The Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the regime associated with them have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law.” It called for the end of the Occupation, the dismantling of the apartheid structure that supports and maintains it, and the removal of Israeli settlers and settlements. All member states of the United Nations are obligated to support each of these actions. Israel's response to this comprehensive and devastating report has been to dismiss it and hold itself above international law. In so doing it has sealed its reputation as a pariah state in the global community of nations.In today's special episode of Speaking Out of Place, we are honored to have eminent legal scholars Diana Buttu and Richard Falk join us to explain the significance of this historic document.Diana Buttu Haifa-based analyst, former legal advisor to Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian negotiators, and Policy Advisor to Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. She was also recently a fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.After earning a law degree from Queen's University in Canada and a Masters of Law from Stanford University, Buttu moved to Palestine in 2000. Shortly after her arrival, the second Intifada began and she took a position with the Negotiations Support Unit of the PLO.Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University (1961-2001) and Chair of Global Law, Faculty of Law, Queen Mary University London. Since 2002 has been a Research Fellow at the Orfalea Center of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Between 2008 and 2014 he served as UN Special Rapporteur on Israeli Violations of Human Rights in Occupied Palestine.Falk has advocated and written widely about ‘nations' that are captive within existing states, including Palestine, Kashmir, Western Sahara, Catalonia, Dombas.He is Senior Vice President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, having served for seven years as Chair of its Board. He is Chair of the Board of Trustees of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. He is co-director of the Centre of Climate Crime, QMUL.Falk has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times since 2008.His recent books include (Re)Imagining Humane Global Governance (2014), Power Shift: The New Global Order (2016), Palestine Horizon: Toward a Just Peace (2017), Revisiting the Vietnam War (ed. Stefan Andersson, 2017), On Nuclear Weapons: Denuclearization, Demilitarization and Disarmament (ed. Stefan Andersson & Curt Dahlgren, 2019.
As a new exhibition opens in Liverpool exploring the survival of bees Start the Week takes stock of the life and times of this extraordinary insect. The artist Wolfgang Buttress uses a fusion of art, science and technology to create a sensory experience of the sights and sounds of bees. Bees: A Story of Survival is on at the World Museum, Liverpool until May 2025.They've been around for over 120 million years and Lars Chittka, Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology at Queen Mary University of London, says the thousands of different bee species have evolved a huge diversity of lifestyles and are some of the most intelligent animals on Earth. They not only use a symbolic language, can count, use tools and learn by observation, but are now believed to have an emotional hinterland.For millennia, bees have held a special significance in human culture. Claire Preston, Professor of Renaissance Literature at QMUL, traces the symbolism of bees through historical and literary records, from ancient political analogies to today's discussions about hive minds.While there are increasing fears about the future of bees as they battle exposure to pesticides, diseases and habitat destruction, Alison Benjamin is one of a growing number of people trying to raise awareness. She is the co-founder of Urban Bees and wants to shift the focus away from farmed hives of honey bees which are growing in popularity in cities, to the protection and survival of wild and solitary bees.Producer: Katy Hickman
This time on PING, Dr Mona Jaber from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), discusses her work exploring IoT, Digital Twins and Social Science led research in the field of networking and telecommunications. Dr Jaber is a senior lecturer in QMUL and is the founder and director of the Digital Twins for Sustainable Development Goals (DT4SDG) at QMUL. She was one of the invited Keynote speakers at the recent APRICOT/APNIC57 meeting held in Bangkok, and the podcast explores the three major themes explored in her keynote presentation. The role of deployed fibre optic communication systems in measurement for sustainable green goals Digital Twin Simulation platforms for exploring the problem space Social Sciences led research, an inter-disciplinary approach to formulating and exploring problems which has been applied to Sustainable Development-related research through technical innovation in IoT, AI, and Digital Twins. The Fibre Optic measurement method is Distributed Acoustic Sensor or DAS: "DAS reuses underground fibre optic cables as distributed strain sensing where the strain is caused by moving objects above ground. DAS is not affected by weather or light and the fibre optic cables are often readily available, offering a continuous source for sensing along the length of the cable. Unlike video cameras, DAS systems also offer a GDPR-compliant source of data." The DASMATE Project at theengineer.co.uk This Episode of PING was recorded live in the venue and is a bit noisy compared to the usual recordings, but it's well worth putting up with the background chatter!
It's the research episode! As if I could miss out on the chance to nerd out on the concept of home! In this episode, I speak to Alison Blunt, Professor of Geography at Queen Mary University of London and founding co-director of the Centre for Studies of Home) and Sonia Solicari Director of the Museum of Home about the meaning of home, managing the ongoing partnership that QMUL has with Museum of the Home and a bit about universities as anchor institutions.---Music - Retrograde by Lunareh Centre for Studies of Home: https://www.centreforstudiesofhome.org.uk/Stay Home Stories: https://www.stayhomestories.co.uk/Museum of The Home: https://www.museumofthehome.org.uk/Get in touch and let me know what you think!Denean's Twitter (X): @shortsarky88Denean's Instagram: @shortsarky88 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Show notes for Episode 50 Here are the show notes for Episode 50, in which Jacky and Dan talk to Dr Jessica Aiston of QMUL about: Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Studies Why CDA/CDS are such useful approaches for A Level English Language students Some of the most useful elements of the CDA toolkit and why they're helpful The work that Jess has done on the representation of women by men in the manosphere Using critical discourse approaches with social media data The ethics of using social media data The work that Jess is currently doing on ‘autism in affinity spaces' Jess's QMUL page: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sllf/language-centre/people/academic/profiles/aiston.html Jess on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jessaiston.bsky.social Crompton's paper on the telephone game: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1362361320919286 Damian Milton on the double empathy problem:https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/double-empathy Autism in Affinity Spaces project website: https://autisminaffinityspaces.org/ Information about the survey: https://autisminaffinityspaces.org/our-survey-is-now-live/ - Contributors Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/englangblog.bsky.social Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewbutlerCA Music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys
Can home be a person? What happens when you live in a different country to that person? Tune in to find out and to hear about life as an British expat in July as well as some fierce defence of London!Can home be a person? What happens when you live in a different country to that person? Tune in to find out and to hear about life as an British expat in July as well as some fierce defence of London!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CreditsChandni's Instagram: www.instagram.com/ChanderssIntro and Outro Music: Music - Retrograde by Lunareh Denean's Instagram: @shortsarky88The Place You Call Home Instagram; @TPYCHpodDenean's Twitter: @shortsarky88-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tune in next Monday for the final episode with QMUL and The Museum of The Home Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The volatile situation in Gaza has been grossly distorted in the mainstream western press. By omission, selective editorializing, and misstatement of so-called “facts,” a particular caricature has emerged that has invisibilized the Palestinian people, the history and the nature of the Occupation, and the actual conditions of life in what many have called the world's largest open air prison. To get a better sense of all of these, we speak with two seasoned experts on Palestine.After our conversation with Diana Buttu and Richard Falk, we conclude this episode with statements of solidarity with the Palestinian people from activists, scholars, and cultural workers from around the world: the Birzeit University Union of Professors and Employees Occupied Palestine; activist and scholar Cynthia Franklin, a long-time champion for Palestinian and other Indigenous peoples' rights; renown Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer, and artist Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, who has been widely recognized as one of the most compelling Indigenous voices of her generation; celebrated feminist scholar, philosopher, and public intellectual Sara Ahmed; Michael Hardt, eminent political philosopher and writer; award-winning poet, scholar and long-time civil rights and anti-Zionist Hilton Obenzinger; legendary abolitionist feminist activist, writer, and scholar Angela Y. Davis. Following Angela Davis we have a statement from the Raha Iranian Feminist Collective read by scholar Manijeh Moradian, and then a statement from the Palestine Writes Literary Festival, read by executive director and celebrated novelist, Susan Albuhawa.We then solicited statements from others, and received several immediately, with more coming in daily. We will update this podcast and add contributions as they arrive and as we can process them. We invite you to listen to them as you can, and to join in our commitment to Palestinian life, freedom, and land.Diana Buttu is a Haifa-based analyst, former legal advisor to Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian negotiators, and Policy Advisor to Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. She was also recently a fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.After earning a law degree from Queen's University in Canada and a Masters of Law from Stanford University, Buttu moved to Palestine in 2000. Shortly after her arrival, the second Intifada began and she took a position with the Negotiations Support Unit of the PLO.Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University (1961-2001) and Chair of Global Law, Faculty of Law, Queen Mary University London. Since 2002 has been a Research Fellow at the Orfalea Center of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Between 2008 and 2014 he served as UN Special Rapporteur on Israeli Violations of Human Rights in Occupied Palestine.Falk has advocated and written widely about ‘nations' that are captive within existing states, including Palestine, Kashmir, Western Sahara, Catalonia, Dombas.He is Senior Vice President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, having served for seven years as Chair of its Board. He is Chair of the Board of Trustees of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. He is co-director of the Centre of Climate Crime, QMUL. Falk has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times since 2008.His recent books include (Re)Imagining Humane Global Governance (2014), Power Shift: The New Global Order (2016), Palestine Horizon: Toward a Just Peace (2017), Revisiting the Vietnam War (ed. Stefan Andersson, 2017), On Nuclear Weapons: Denuclearization, Demilitarization and Disarmament (ed. Stefan Andersson & Curt Dahlgren, 2019.
In this thought-provoking podcast episode, Dr. Theodora Christou a transnational law expert, and Soumya Snigdha Kundu a machine learning research student at QMUL engage in a discussion about emerging technologies and their impact on human rights, with a particular focus on facial recognition, the concept of fairness, use, and development of AI and transnational regulations. This episode explores the complexities of these issues and the potential implications for society as technology continues to evolve.
Show notes for Episode 41 Here are the show notes for Episode 41, in which Dan talks to Dr Johanna Gerwin, a sociolinguist at QMUL and DFG (German Research Foundation) post-doctoral researcher for the London Talks project about London English, including: The London Talks and Real Talk East projects What ‘enregisterment' means and how language styles and varieties become enregistered ‘Metalinguistic' discourses about London English - MLE, Cockney and Estuary The power of discourses around language Slang swag Johanna's QMUL staff page: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sllf/linguistics/people/research-staff/profiles/johanna-gerwin.html Johanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jo_gerw The London Talks project website: https://londontalksresearch.co.uk/ Real Talk on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealTalkEast In our regular Lang in the News segment, Lisa, Jacky and Dan talk about ‘cis' and how it's been termed a slur by Elon Musk. We discuss where ‘cis' comes from and all the related issues about language policing in a changing world. Elon Musk claims ‘cis' is a slur… Elon Musk sparks outrage with threat to ban ‘cisgender' as a ‘slur' on Twitter | The Independent Elon Musk claims use of 'cis' and 'cisgender' on Twitter is 'harassment', threatens to suspend users Researcher who coined term 'cisgender' hits back at Elon Musk Cisgender refers to people whose gender identity aligns with the one assigned at birth. The researcher who coined the term, Dana Defosse, first used the word in a 1994 post on an early internet forum, which Oxford English Dictionary cited when it added the term to the dictionary in 2015 No, Elon Musk, cis is not a slur | The Independent OED update December 2015: New words notes December 2015 | Oxford English Dictionary “Another sign of our increasingly complex understanding of personal identity in the twenty-first century is the inclusion of a cluster of words beginning with the prefix cis–: cis, cisgender, cisgendered, and cissexual. Derived from the Latin preposition cis, meaning ‘on this side of', until relatively recently this prefix was chiefly visible in English in the adjectives cisalpine and cismontane (‘on this side of the Alps/mountains'), and in the names of certain chemicals displaying a particular type of molecular symmetry. Since 1994 however, when the word cisgendered was used by an American academic appealing for help with a study of transgender issues, cis– has taken on a new lease of life in a group of words which provide a direct equivalent to identity terms such as transgender and transsexual when referring to people who are not trans, i.e., those whose sense of their own personal identity corresponds to their birth sex.” What does 'cisgender' mean? | Merriam-Webster Etymology of ‘cis': The Word “Cisgender” Has Scientific Roots | Office for Science and Society - McGill University And Jill is no longer part of the Lexis team - thanks to her for being involved and for all her contribution and insights! Contributors Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) BlueSky: @danc.bsky.social Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewbutlerCA Music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys
In today's show I speak with Richard Falk about his recent autobiography—Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim. Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University (1961-2001) and Chair of Global Law, Faculty of Law, Queen Mary University London. Since 2002 has been a Research Fellow at the Orfalea Center of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Between 2008 and 2014 he served as UN Special Rapporteur on Israeli Violations of Human Rights in Occupied Palestine.Falk has advocated and written widely about ‘nations' that are captive within existing states, including Palestine, Kashmir, Western Sahara, Catalonia, Dombas.He is Senior Vice President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, having served for seven years as Chair of its Board. He is Chair of the Board of Trustees of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. He is co-director of the Centre of Climate Crime, QMUL.Falk has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times since 2008.His recent books include (Re)Imagining Humane Global Governance (2014), Power Shift: The New Global Order (2016), Palestine Horizon: Toward a Just Peace (2017), Revisiting the Vietnam War (ed. Stefan Andersson, 2017), On Nuclear Weapons: Denuclearization, Demilitarization and Disarmament (ed. Stefan Andersson & Curt Dahlgren, 2019.Praise for his autobiography include:“This intimate and penetrating account of a remarkable life is rich in insights about topping ranging from the academic world to global affairs to prospects for livable society. A gripping story, with many lessons for a troubled world.”--Noam Chomsky“Richard Falk is one of the few great public intellectuals and citizen pilgrims who has preserved his integrity and consistency in our dark and deep content times period this wise and powerful memoir is a gift that bestows us with a tear-soaked truth and blood-stained hope.” --Cornel West “Richard Falk recounts a life well spent trying to bend the arc of international law toward global justice. A Don Quixote tilting nobly at real dragons. His culminating vision of a better and even livable future--a necessary utopia--evokes with urgent the slogan of Paris May 1968: ‘Be realistic: Demand the impossible'”--Daniel EllsbergWhile a visiting scholar at Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Falk wrote his prescient 1972 book, This Endangered Planet: Prospects and Proposals for Human Survival.
Lars Chittka is professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, where he founded a new Research Centre for Psychology in 2008 and was its scientific director until 2012. He is the author of The Mind of a Bee and is the coeditor of Cognitive Ecology of Pollination. He studied Biology in Berlin and completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Randolf Menzel in 1993. He has carried out extensive work on the behaviour, cognition and ecology of bumble bees and honey bees, and their interactions with flowers. His discoveries have made a substantial impact on the understanding of animal intelligence and its neural-computational underpinnings. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, and has been an editor of biology's foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004. He is an elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Royal Entomological Society, as well as the Royal Society of Biology."Most bees are quite short-lived, not all bees. So queen bees can live for many years, up to seven years, and some stingless bees, the queens can even live much longer than that, but their lives are less exciting in a sense that they are, most of their lives, cave animals, where most of what they do is egg laying.So when we're talking about intelligence tests and bees, these are mostly done with the worker bees, and they only live for a few weeks. And it might be surprising to many people that an animal this short-lived can learn anything at all because, of course, in humans, the process of acquiring crucial life skills takes much longer, many years typically. So when a bee first emerges from the pupa - bees spend their first few days as little grubs inside a wax pot. And this larval stage, of course, there isn't much learning going on. They have a very pampered and easy life in that they are basically immersed in the food that they're required to grow. And then they pupate and turn from what are formerly little helpless grubs into adult bees.Once the bee emerges from the pupa, they have a number of different tasks waiting for them, which in honey bees a fairly defined sequence where the bee might in her first few days simply be involved in the many duties inside the hive – to clean cells, to build wax comb, to feed the larva – and then to transition to their life as a forager.”http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.htmlhttps://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-beehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiologywww.oneplanetpodcast.orgwww.creativeprocess.infoPhoto credit: Markus Scholz / Leopoldina
"Most bees are quite short-lived, not all bees. So queen bees can live for many years, up to seven years, and some stingless bees, the queens can even live much longer than that, but their lives are less exciting in a sense that they are, most of their lives, cave animals, where most of what they do is egg laying.So when we're talking about intelligence tests and bees, these are mostly done with the worker bees, and they only live for a few weeks. And it might be surprising to many people that an animal this short-lived can learn anything at all because, of course, in humans, the process of acquiring crucial life skills takes much longer, many years typically. So when a bee first emerges from the pupa - bees spend their first few days as little grubs inside a wax pot. And this larval stage, of course, there isn't much learning going on. They have a very pampered and easy life in that they are basically immersed in the food that they're required to grow. And then they pupate and turn from what are formerly little helpless grubs into adult bees.Once the bee emerges from the pupa, they have a number of different tasks waiting for them, which in honey bees a fairly defined sequence where the bee might in her first few days simply be involved in the many duties inside the hive – to clean cells, to build wax comb, to feed the larva – and then to transition to their life as a forager.”Lars Chittka is professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, where he founded a new Research Centre for Psychology in 2008 and was its scientific director until 2012. He is the author of The Mind of a Bee and is the coeditor of Cognitive Ecology of Pollination. He studied Biology in Berlin and completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Randolf Menzel in 1993. He has carried out extensive work on the behaviour, cognition and ecology of bumble bees and honey bees, and their interactions with flowers. His discoveries have made a substantial impact on the understanding of animal intelligence and its neural-computational underpinnings. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, and has been an editor of biology's foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004. He is an elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Royal Entomological Society, as well as the Royal Society of Biology.http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.htmlhttps://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-beehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiologywww.oneplanetpodcast.orgwww.creativeprocess.info
Lars Chittka is professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, where he founded a new Research Centre for Psychology in 2008 and was its scientific director until 2012. He is the author of The Mind of a Bee and is the coeditor of Cognitive Ecology of Pollination. He studied Biology in Berlin and completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Randolf Menzel in 1993. He has carried out extensive work on the behaviour, cognition and ecology of bumble bees and honey bees, and their interactions with flowers. His discoveries have made a substantial impact on the understanding of animal intelligence and its neural-computational underpinnings. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, and has been an editor of biology's foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004. He is an elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Royal Entomological Society, as well as the Royal Society of Biology."The world of bees is under threat, and that is not because bees are singled out, but because bees live in the environment that we all share and they are a kind of a canary in the coal mine for what's going on more largely in destroying our environment. And in a sense they are, I think, a useful sort of mascot and icon to highlight these troubles, but they are only a signpost of other things that are also under threat. We need the bee for our own food because they pollinate our crops, and they pollinate the flowers that we enjoy, but I think their utility for us is not the only reason to support them and their environment. I think the growing appreciation that the world that surrounds us is full of sophisticated and unique minds places on us a kind of onus and obligation to preserve the diversity of these minds that are out there and make sure that they continue to thrive."http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.htmlhttps://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-beehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiologywww.oneplanetpodcast.orgwww.creativeprocess.infoPhoto credit: Markus Scholz / Leopoldina
"The world of bees is under threat, and that is not because bees are singled out, but because bees live in the environment that we all share and they are a kind of a canary in the coal mine for what's going on more largely in destroying our environment. And in a sense they are, I think, a useful sort of mascot and icon to highlight these troubles, but they are only a signpost of other things that are also under threat. We need the bee for our own food because they pollinate our crops, and they pollinate the flowers that we enjoy, but I think their utility for us is not the only reason to support them and their environment. I think the growing appreciation that the world that surrounds us is full of sophisticated and unique minds places on us a kind of onus and obligation to preserve the diversity of these minds that are out there and make sure that they continue to thrive."Lars Chittka is professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, where he founded a new Research Centre for Psychology in 2008 and was its scientific director until 2012. He is the author of The Mind of a Bee and is the coeditor of Cognitive Ecology of Pollination. He studied Biology in Berlin and completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Randolf Menzel in 1993. He has carried out extensive work on the behaviour, cognition and ecology of bumble bees and honey bees, and their interactions with flowers. His discoveries have made a substantial impact on the understanding of animal intelligence and its neural-computational underpinnings. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, and has been an editor of biology's foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004. He is an elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Royal Entomological Society, as well as the Royal Society of Biology.http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.htmlhttps://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-beehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiologywww.oneplanetpodcast.orgwww.creativeprocess.infoPhoto credit: Markus Scholz / Leopoldina
Lars Chittka is professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, where he founded a new Research Centre for Psychology in 2008 and was its scientific director until 2012. He is the author of The Mind of a Bee and is the coeditor of Cognitive Ecology of Pollination. He studied Biology in Berlin and completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Randolf Menzel in 1993. He has carried out extensive work on the behaviour, cognition and ecology of bumble bees and honey bees, and their interactions with flowers. His discoveries have made a substantial impact on the understanding of animal intelligence and its neural-computational underpinnings. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, and has been an editor of biology's foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004. He is an elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Royal Entomological Society, as well as the Royal Society of Biology."Most bees are quite short-lived, not all bees. So queen bees can live for many years, up to seven years, and some stingless bees, the queens can even live much longer than that, but their lives are less exciting in a sense that they are, most of their lives, cave animals, where most of what they do is egg laying.So when we're talking about intelligence tests and bees, these are mostly done with the worker bees, and they only live for a few weeks. And it might be surprising to many people that an animal this short-lived can learn anything at all because, of course, in humans, the process of acquiring crucial life skills takes much longer, many years typically. So when a bee first emerges from the pupa - bees spend their first few days as little grubs inside a wax pot. And this larval stage, of course, there isn't much learning going on. They have a very pampered and easy life in that they are basically immersed in the food that they're required to grow. And then they pupate and turn from what are formerly little helpless grubs into adult bees.Once the bee emerges from the pupa, they have a number of different tasks waiting for them, which in honey bees a fairly defined sequence where the bee might in her first few days simply be involved in the many duties inside the hive – to clean cells, to build wax comb, to feed the larva – and then to transition to their life as a forager.”http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.htmlhttps://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-beehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiologywww.oneplanetpodcast.orgwww.creativeprocess.infoPhoto credit: Markus Scholz / Leopoldina
"Most bees are quite short-lived, not all bees. So queen bees can live for many years, up to seven years, and some stingless bees, the queens can even live much longer than that, but their lives are less exciting in a sense that they are, most of their lives, cave animals, where most of what they do is egg laying.So when we're talking about intelligence tests and bees, these are mostly done with the worker bees, and they only live for a few weeks. And it might be surprising to many people that an animal this short-lived can learn anything at all because, of course, in humans, the process of acquiring crucial life skills takes much longer, many years typically. So when a bee first emerges from the pupa - bees spend their first few days as little grubs inside a wax pot. And this larval stage, of course, there isn't much learning going on. They have a very pampered and easy life in that they are basically immersed in the food that they're required to grow. And then they pupate and turn from what are formerly little helpless grubs into adult bees.Once the bee emerges from the pupa, they have a number of different tasks waiting for them, which in honey bees a fairly defined sequence where the bee might in her first few days simply be involved in the many duties inside the hive – to clean cells, to build wax comb, to feed the larva – and then to transition to their life as a forager.”Lars Chittka is professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, where he founded a new Research Centre for Psychology in 2008 and was its scientific director until 2012. He is the author of The Mind of a Bee and is the coeditor of Cognitive Ecology of Pollination. He studied Biology in Berlin and completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Randolf Menzel in 1993. He has carried out extensive work on the behaviour, cognition and ecology of bumble bees and honey bees, and their interactions with flowers. His discoveries have made a substantial impact on the understanding of animal intelligence and its neural-computational underpinnings. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, and has been an editor of biology's foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004. He is an elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Royal Entomological Society, as well as the Royal Society of Biology.http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.htmlhttps://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-beehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiologywww.oneplanetpodcast.orgwww.creativeprocess.info
Lars Chittka is professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, where he founded a new Research Centre for Psychology in 2008 and was its scientific director until 2012. He is the author of The Mind of a Bee and is the coeditor of Cognitive Ecology of Pollination. He studied Biology in Berlin and completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Randolf Menzel in 1993. He has carried out extensive work on the behaviour, cognition and ecology of bumble bees and honey bees, and their interactions with flowers. His discoveries have made a substantial impact on the understanding of animal intelligence and its neural-computational underpinnings. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, and has been an editor of biology's foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004. He is an elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Royal Entomological Society, as well as the Royal Society of Biology."Many of us are now aware that bees are in trouble due to manmade changes to the environment. Large-scale industrial agriculture, of course, means that often there are no floral resources over very large areas of farmland, and bees' flexibility in locating food sources of course can cope with that to some extent because they're very good at locating patches, but this ability only goes so far. Of course, if there are literally no flowers left or very few, then their learning ability won't help them very much.In addition, of course, there is very heavy usage of pesticides and herbicides in industrial agriculture. And these substances in many cases have been designed to be lethal or at least harmful to insects because they are meant to keep herbivores at bay. And of course often, even if insects don't eat the leaves, flower-visiting insects still get exposed to them in the contents of floral nectar or pollen. So they carry these poisons back to their hives, their nests, albeit perhaps in lower concentrations that they're available in the leaves, but they're still present at a level that's harmful to bees so that affects their navigation, that affects the health of their young. So these manmade changes have a huge impact on bees and this is typically measured in those bees that are least affected - that is honeybees.”http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.htmlhttps://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-beehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiologywww.oneplanetpodcast.orgwww.creativeprocess.infoPhoto credit: Markus Scholz / Leopoldina
"Many of us are now aware that bees are in trouble due to manmade changes to the environment. Large-scale industrial agriculture, of course, means that often there are no floral resources over very large areas of farmland, and bees' flexibility in locating food sources of course can cope with that to some extent because they're very good at locating patches, but this ability only goes so far. Of course, if there are literally no flowers left or very few, then their learning ability won't help them very much.In addition, of course, there is very heavy usage of pesticides and herbicides in industrial agriculture. And these substances in many cases have been designed to be lethal or at least harmful to insects because they are meant to keep herbivores at bay. And of course often, even if insects don't eat the leaves, flower-visiting insects still get exposed to them in the contents of floral nectar or pollen. So they carry these poisons back to their hives, their nests, albeit perhaps in lower concentrations that they're available in the leaves, but they're still present at a level that's harmful to bees so that affects their navigation, that affects the health of their young. So these manmade changes have a huge impact on bees and this is typically measured in those bees that are least affected - that is honeybees.”Lars Chittka is professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, where he founded a new Research Centre for Psychology in 2008 and was its scientific director until 2012. He is the author of The Mind of a Bee and is the coeditor of Cognitive Ecology of Pollination. He studied Biology in Berlin and completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Randolf Menzel in 1993. He has carried out extensive work on the behaviour, cognition and ecology of bumble bees and honey bees, and their interactions with flowers. His discoveries have made a substantial impact on the understanding of animal intelligence and its neural-computational underpinnings. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, and has been an editor of biology's foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004. He is an elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Royal Entomological Society, as well as the Royal Society of Biology.http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.htmlhttps://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-beehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiologywww.oneplanetpodcast.orgwww.creativeprocess.infoPhoto credit: Markus Scholz / Leopoldina
The Creative Process in 10 minutes or less · Arts, Culture & Society
"Most bees are quite short-lived, not all bees. So queen bees can live for many years, up to seven years, and some stingless bees, the queens can even live much longer than that, but their lives are less exciting in a sense that they are, most of their lives, cave animals, where most of what they do is egg laying.So when we're talking about intelligence tests and bees, these are mostly done with the worker bees, and they only live for a few weeks. And it might be surprising to many people that an animal this short-lived can learn anything at all because, of course, in humans, the process of acquiring crucial life skills takes much longer, many years typically. So when a bee first emerges from the pupa - bees spend their first few days as little grubs inside a wax pot. And this larval stage, of course, there isn't much learning going on. They have a very pampered and easy life in that they are basically immersed in the food that they're required to grow. And then they pupate and turn from what are formerly little helpless grubs into adult bees.Once the bee emerges from the pupa, they have a number of different tasks waiting for them, which in honey bees a fairly defined sequence where the bee might in her first few days simply be involved in the many duties inside the hive – to clean cells, to build wax comb, to feed the larva – and then to transition to their life as a forager.”Lars Chittka is professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, where he founded a new Research Centre for Psychology in 2008 and was its scientific director until 2012. He is the author of The Mind of a Bee and is the coeditor of Cognitive Ecology of Pollination. He studied Biology in Berlin and completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Randolf Menzel in 1993. He has carried out extensive work on the behaviour, cognition and ecology of bumble bees and honey bees, and their interactions with flowers. His discoveries have made a substantial impact on the understanding of animal intelligence and its neural-computational underpinnings. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, and has been an editor of biology's foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004. He is an elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Royal Entomological Society, as well as the Royal Society of Biology.http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.htmlhttps://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-beehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiologywww.oneplanetpodcast.orgwww.creativeprocess.info
Lars Chittka is professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, where he founded a new Research Centre for Psychology in 2008 and was its scientific director until 2012. He is the author of The Mind of a Bee and is the coeditor of Cognitive Ecology of Pollination. He studied Biology in Berlin and completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Randolf Menzel in 1993. He has carried out extensive work on the behaviour, cognition and ecology of bumble bees and honey bees, and their interactions with flowers. His discoveries have made a substantial impact on the understanding of animal intelligence and its neural-computational underpinnings. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, and has been an editor of biology's foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004. He is an elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Royal Entomological Society, as well as the Royal Society of Biology."If you really want to discover things and feel that excitement of finding new things that no one's found out before, the only way I think to do that is to go into a field that inspires you and to be - rather than being motivated by funding success and so on - is to be motivated by the kinds of things that you study and that you might find out.”http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.htmlhttps://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-beehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiologywww.oneplanetpodcast.orgwww.creativeprocess.infoPhoto credit: Markus Scholz / Leopoldina
"If you really want to discover things and feel that excitement of finding new things that no one's found out before, the only way I think to do that is to go into a field that inspires you and to be - rather than being motivated by funding success and so on - is to be motivated by the kinds of things that you study and that you might find out.”Lars Chittka is professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, where he founded a new Research Centre for Psychology in 2008 and was its scientific director until 2012. He is the author of The Mind of a Bee and is the coeditor of Cognitive Ecology of Pollination. He studied Biology in Berlin and completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Randolf Menzel in 1993. He has carried out extensive work on the behaviour, cognition and ecology of bumble bees and honey bees, and their interactions with flowers. His discoveries have made a substantial impact on the understanding of animal intelligence and its neural-computational underpinnings. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, and has been an editor of biology's foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004. He is an elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Royal Entomological Society, as well as the Royal Society of Biology.http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.htmlhttps://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180472/the-mind-of-a-beehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiologywww.oneplanetpodcast.orgwww.creativeprocess.info
In this episode we talk to Dr Sally Hull who is a GP and Honorary Reader in Primary Care Development at QMUL. Paper: Measuring continuity of care in general practice: a comparison of two methods using routinely collected data https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2022.0043 (https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2022.0043) Longitudinal continuity of care is associated with lower mortality, fewer hospital admissions, better care for chronic disease and greater patient satisfaction. In spite of these benefits few practices measure continuity and measurement is not supported by health policy. Using the UPC we report a strong correlation between patient measures of continuity and practice UPC scores. We illustrate GP continuity across a whole health economy, and demonstrate that patient age and practice size are the strongest predictors. Improving continuity will require incentivisation, and regular measurement to support change.
Its session one of the Two IPs in a Pod Pubcast! Coming to you from Ye Old Mitre in London, Lee and Gwilym are joined by Queen Mary lecturers, Duncan Matthews and Noam Shemtov. In a jam packed episode, Noam and Duncan talk about AI and IP, how the academic side of IP effects policy, the TRIPPS waiver and more!For more information on Noam and Duncan, take a look at their QMUL profiles.
In this episode we talk to Dr Rohini Mathur who is an associate professor of epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Dr Sally Hull who is a GP and a member of the Clinical Effectiveness Group at QMUL. Paper: Characterisation of type 2 diabetes subgroups and their association with ethnicity and clinical outcomes: a UK real-world data study using the East London Database https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2021.0508 (https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2021.0508) Previous studies of predominantly White European populations have identified four type 2 diabetes subgroups. In the UK the clinical measures necessary to replicate these subgroups are only available in secondary care data, limiting their usefulness for diabetes management in primary care settings. The current study demonstrated how clinically meaningful type 2 diabetes subgroups can be pragmatically generated using real-world primary care data. Furthermore, it highlighted important differences between type 2 diabetes subgroups with respect to vascular outcomes, treatment initiation, and glycated haemoglobin control. Diabetes subgroups are a useful heuristic for assisting decision making by clinicians that, in turn, can lead to a more personalised design of diabetes care focused on more intensive management of subgroups most at risk of complications, such as those with severe hyperglycaemia at time of diagnosis.
In this episode of the Mile End Institute Podcast (recorded before the latest industrial action at QMUL), Lyndsey Jenkins talks to Dr Emily Harmer (University of Liverpool) and Dr Sally Osei-Appiah (University of Leeds about Dr Harmer's new book, Women, Media, and Elections: Representation and Marginalization in British Politics. They discuss how women candidates, voters, activists and party leaders have been portrayed in the British Press since women's enfranchisement and how the roles of women in public life changed during the twentieth century.
Migration, autism, young Colombians escaping violence, Yorkshire farming and children born of war in Uganda are the topics highlighted in the winners of this year's AHRC Researcher in Film Awards. Naomi Paxton looks at the winning entries. The Best Animated Film of the Year winner Osbert Parker is a three-time BAFTA nominated director and an animation lecturer at the National Film and TV School. His winning film Timeline was produced in collaboration with the Migration Museum for an exhibition called Departures and Matthew Plowright from the museum joins him to talk to Naomi Paxton about condensing a history of migration into a ten minute animation built around the idea of lines connecting. https://www.migrationmuseum.org/ https://vimeo.com/496398115 The Best Doctoral or Early Career Film of the Year winner was Alex Widdowson's animated film Drawing on Autism. This forms part of his practice-based doctoral work with the Autism through Cinema project at Queen Mary, University of London. He talks to Naomi Paxton and the ethics of making a film about other people's experiences of autism. https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sllf/film-studies/research/autism-through-cinema/ You might also be interested in this Free Thinking conversation with novelist Michelle Gallen and Dr Bonnie Evans from QMUL about representations of autism https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000r3ly The Best Research Film of the Year was won by Birte Vogel for The Art of Peace, Medellín – a documentary exploring the impact of community-led arts initiatives that work with marginalised youth, and particularly young men, in Colombia who are at risk of becoming involved in ongoing violent conflict. Joining Naomi to talk about the film is Teresa Ó Brádaigh Bean, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester and part of The Art of Peace project team. https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/the-art-of-peace/home/about/research/ The Best Climate Emergency Film of the Year was given to Newland: New Vision for a Wilder Future which hears from a pair of farmers in York shire and focuses on the tensions between farming and conservation, looking at issues including public access, heritage, and sustainability. Suzie Cross is Artistic Director of the Land Lines Research Project at the University of Leeds – she made the film with Dave Lynch https://landlinesproject.wordpress.com/ You can find two Free Thinking conversations about the Land Lines project The episodes are called Nature Writing https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ktf4 featuring Pippa Marland and Connecting with Nature https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xthj hearing from Pippa Marland and Anita Roy about their anthology. The Inspiration Award winner was Dheeraj Akolkar. His film The Wound is Where the Light Enters was inspired by a docu-dance performance created by fifteen young people born of war rapes in Northern Uganda. Professor Sabine Lee from the University of Birmingham is part of a research network that explores the experiences of Children born of war https://www.chibow.org/ https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/publications/children-born-of-war-past-present-and-future You can find out more about the awards here https://ahrc.ukri.org/innovation/research-in-film-awards/ This New Thinking episode of the Arts and Ideas podcast was made in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UKRI You can find more episodes devoted to New Research in a playlist on BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking programme website. Producer: Paula McFarlane
Ms. Bayan Abusalameh is a 2020/2021 Chevening Scholar in Advanced Mechanical Engineering, at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), who just finished off her Master's Dissertation entitled “An Innovative Structural Design For a 1U CubeSat” (The Palestine-1) Ms. Abusalameh is also a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) team of QMUL. Ms. Abusalameh has her Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Birzeit University and her MSC in Advanced Mechanical Engineering from Queen Mary University of London.
Natural compound in basil may protect against Alzheimer's disease pathology University of South Florida, October 5, 2021 Fenchol, a natural compound abundant in some plants including basil, can help protect the brain against Alzheimer's disease pathology, a preclinical study led by University of South Florida Health (USF Health) researchers suggests. The new study published Oct. 5 in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, discovered a sensing mechanism associated with the gut microbiome that explains how fenchol reduces neurotoxicity in the Alzheimer's brain. Emerging evidence indicates that short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)– metabolites produced by beneficial gut bacteria and the primary source of nutrition for cells in your colon—contribute to brain health. The abundance of SCFAs is often reduced in older patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia. However, how this decline in SCFAs contributes to Alzheimer's disease progression remains largely unknown. Gut-derived SCFAs that travel through the blood to the brain can bind to and activate free fatty acid receptor 2 (FFAR2), a cell signaling molecule expressed on brain cellscalled neurons. "Our study is the first to discover that stimulation of the FFAR2 sensing mechanism by these microbial metabolites (SCFAs) can be beneficial in protecting brain cells against toxic accumulation of the amyloid-beta (Aβ) protein associated with Alzheimer's disease," said principal investigator Hariom Yadav, Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery and brain repair at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, where he directs the USF Center for Microbiome Research. One of the two hallmark pathologies of Alzheimer's disease is hardened deposits of Aβ that clump together between nerve cells to form amyloid protein plaques in the brain. The other is neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein inside brain cells. These pathologies contribute to the neuron loss and death that ultimately cause the onset of Alzheimer's, a neurodegenerative disease characterized by loss of memory, thinking skills and other cognitive abilities. Dr. Yadav and his collaborators delve into molecular mechanisms to explain how interactions between the gut microbiome and the brain might influence brain health and age-related cognitive decline. In this study, Dr. Yadav said, the research team set out to uncover the "previously unknown" function of FFAR2 in the brain. The researchers first showed that inhibiting the FFAR2 receptor (thus blocking its ability to "sense" SCFAs in the environment outside the neuronal cell and transmit signaling inside the cell) contributes to the abnormal buildup of the Aβ protein causing neurotoxicity linked to Alzheimer's disease. Then, they performed large-scale virtual screening of more than 144,000 natural compounds to find potential candidates that could mimic the same beneficial effect of microbiota produced SCFAs in activating FFAR2 signaling. Identifying a natural compound alternative to SCFAs to optimally target the FFAR2 receptor on neurons is important, because cells in the gut and other organs consume most of these microbial metabolites before they reach the brain through blood circulation, Dr. Yadav noted. Dr. Yadav's team narrowed 15 leading compound candidates to the most potent one. Fenchol, a plant-derived compound that gives basil its aromatic scent, was best at binding to the FFAR's active site to stimulate its signaling. Further experiments in human neuronal cell cultures, as well as Caenorhabditis (C.) elegans (worm) and mouse models of Alzheimer's disease demonstrated that fenchol significantly reduced excess Aβ accumulation and death of neurons by stimulating FFAR2 signaling, the microbiome sensing mechanism. When the researchers more closely examined how fenchol modulates Aβ-induced neurotoxicity, they found that the compound decreased senescent neuronal cells, also known as "zombie" cells, commonly found in brains with Alzheimer's disease pathology. Zombie cells stop replicating and die a slow death. Meanwhile, Dr. Yadav said, they build up in diseased and aging organs, create a damaging inflammatory environment, and send stress or death signals to neighboring healthy cells, which eventually also change into harmful zombie cells or die. "Fenchol actually affects the two related mechanisms of senescence and proteolysis," Dr. Yadav said of the intriguing preclinical study finding. "It reduces the formation of half-dead zombie neuronal cells and also increases the degradation of (nonfunctioning) Aβ, so that amyloid protein is cleared from the brain much faster." Before you start throwing lots of extra basil in your spaghetti sauce or anything else you eat to help stave off dementia, more research is needed—including in humans. In exploring fenchol as a possible approach for treating or preventing Alzheimer's pathology, the USF Health team will seek answers to several questions. A key one is whether fenchol consumed in basil itself would be more or less bioactive (effective) than isolating and administering the compound in a pill, Dr. Yadav said. "We also want to know whether a potent dose of either basil or fenchol would be a quicker way to get the compound into the brain." Researchers find sense of purpose associated with better memory Florida State University, October 6, 2021 Add an improved memory to the list of the many benefits that accompany having a sense of purpose in life. A new study led by Florida State University researchers showed a link between an individual's sense of purpose and their ability to recall vivid details. The researchers found that while both a sense of purpose and cognitive function made memories easier to recall, only a sense of purpose bestowed the benefits of vividness and coherence. The study, which focused on memories related to the COVID-19 pandemic, was published in the journal Memory. "Personal memories serve really important functions in everyday life," said Angelina Sutin, a professor in the College of Medicine and the paper's lead author. "They help us to set goals, control emotions and build intimacy with others. We also know people with a greater sense of purpose perform better on objective memory tests, like remembering a list of words. We were interested in whether purpose was also associated with the quality of memories of important personal experiences because such qualities may be one reason why purpose is associated with better mental and physical health." Nearly 800 study participants reported on their sense of purpose and completed tasks that measured their cognitive processing speed in January and February 2020, before the ongoing coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S. Researchers then measured participants' ability to retrieve and describe personal memories about the pandemic in July 2020, several months into the public health crisis. Participants with a stronger sense of purpose in life reported that their memories were more accessible, coherent and vivid than participants with less purpose. Those with a higher sense of purpose also reported many sensory details, spoke about their memories more from a first-person perspective and reported more positive feeling and less negative feeling when asked to retrieve a memory. The researchers also found that depressive symptoms had little effect on the ability to recall vivid details in memories, suggesting that the connection between life purpose and memory recall is not due to the fewer depressive symptoms among individuals higher in purpose. Purpose in life has been consistently associated with better episodic memory, such as the number of words retrieved correctly on a memory task. This latest research expands on those connections to memory by showing a correlation between purpose and the richness of personal memory. "We chose to measure the ability to recall memories associated with the COVID-19 pandemic because the pandemic is an event that touched everyone, but there has been a wide range of experiences and reactions to it that should be apparent in memories," said co-author Martina Luchetti, an assistant professor in the College of Medicine. Along with the association with better memory, previous research has found other numerous benefits connected with having a sense of purpose, from a lower risk of death to better physical and mental health. "Memories help people to sustain their well-being, social connections and cognitive health," said co-author Antonio Terracciano, a professor in the College of Medicine. "This research gives us more insight into the connections between a sense of purpose and the richness of personal memories. The vividness of those memories and how they fit into a coherent narrative may be one pathway through which purpose leads to these better outcomes. Vitamin D protects against severe asthma attacks Queen Mary University of London, October 3, 2021 Taking oral vitamin D supplements in addition to standard asthma medication could halve the risk of asthma attacks requiring hospital attendance, according to research led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). Asthma affects more than 300 million people worldwide and is estimated to cause almost 400,000 deaths annually. Asthma deaths arise primarily during episodes of acute worsening of symptoms, known as attacks or 'exacerbations', which are commonly triggered by viral upper respiratory infections. Vitamin D is thought to protect against such attacks by boosting immune responses to respiratory viruses and dampening down harmful airway inflammation. The new study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research, and published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, collated and analysed the individual data from 955 participants in seven randomised controlled trials, which tested the use of vitamin D supplements. Overall, the researchers found that vitamin D supplementation resulted in: a 30 per cent reduction in the rate of asthma attacks requiring treatment with steroid tablets or injections - from 0.43 events per person per year to 0.30. a 50 per cent reduction in the risk of experiencing at least one asthma attack requiring Accident and Emergency Department attendance and/or hospitalisation - from 6 per cent of people experiencing such an event to 3 per cent. Vitamin D supplementation was found to be safe at the doses administered. No instances of excessively high calcium levels or renal stones were seen, and serious adverse events were evenly distributed between participants taking vitamin D and those on placebo. Lead researcher Professor Adrian Martineau said: "These results add to the ever growing body of evidence that vitamin D can support immune function as well as bone health. On average, three people in the UK die from asthma attacks every day. Vitamin D is safe to take and relatively inexpensive so supplementation represents a potentially cost-effective strategy to reduce this problem." The team's use of individual participant data also allowed them to query the extent to which different groups respond to vitamin D supplementation, in more detail than previous studies. In particular, vitamin D supplementation was found to have a strong and statistically-significant protective effect in participants who had low vitamin D levels to start with. These participants saw a 55 per cent reduction in the rate of asthma exacerbations requiring treatment with steroid tablets or injections - from 0.42 events per person per year to 0.19. However, due to relatively small numbers of patients within sub-groups, the researchers caution that they did not find definitive evidence to show that effects of vitamin D supplementation differ according to baseline vitamin D status. Professor Hywel Williams, Director of the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme, said: "The results of this NIHR-funded study brings together evidence from several other studies from over the world and is an important contribution to reducing uncertainties on whether Vitamin D is helpful for asthma - a common condition that impacts on many thousands of people worldwide." Dr David Jolliffe from QMUL, first author on the paper, added: "Our results are largely based on data from adults with mild to moderate asthma: children and adults with severe asthma were relatively under-represented in the dataset, so our findings cannot necessarily be generalised to these patient groups at this stage. Further clinical trials are on-going internationally, and we hope to include data from them in a future analysis to determine whether the promise of today's results is confirmed in an even larger and more diverse group of patients." Study Shows Lifestyle Choices Have Significant Impact on Multiple Chronic Conditions, Significant Implications For Reducing Costs Yale University, October 05, 2021 In a study published in the Journal of Preventive Medicine, Adams and colleagues showed a linear association between a number of modifiable risk factors and multiple chronic conditions, making those modifications a key to health care cost savings and to preventing a wide range of conditions. The data analyzed for the study, https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1VpFeKt2pmc9H, were from the publicly available 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and included 483,865 non-institutionalized US adults ages 18 years old or older. Chronic conditions included asthma, arthritis, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cognitive impairment, cancer other than skin, and kidney disease. Risk factors included obesity, current smoking, sedentary lifestyle, inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption and sleeping other than seven to eight hours, while depression, hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes were considered in each category. Previous research by Thorpe and colleagues had estimated that the care of adults with four or more chronic conditions (17.1% of all adults in the study) is responsible for 77.6% of all health care costs in the U.S. today. The potential savings by reducing just two risk factors (diabetes and hypertension) and their related comorbidity was estimated previously by Ormond and colleagues at $9 billion annually over one to two years and closer to $25 billion a year after 5 years or more, factoring in possible complications. True Health Initiative founder, at Yale University Director and study co-author David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACLM, pointed out that in addition to costs, another implication of the study results is an individual's access to healthcare if they have one or more of the chronic conditions. "Although insurers decide what qualifies as a pre-existing condition, all the chronic conditions used in this study except cognitive impairment are commonly included," he said. "Individuals with a pre-existing condition could be denied coverage or face higher premiums. While having a pre-existing condition might not affect coverage for adults eligible for Medicare, over half of all adults with multiple chronic conditions are ages 18 to 64 years." American College of Lifestyle Medicine President George Guthrie, MD, MPH, FACLM, said the study confirms the necessity for addressing the root cause of chronic conditions. "The evidence shows that the risks for chronic disease are rooted in lifestyle choices," he said. "More than ever, it is important to emphasize lifestyle medicine as the first treatment option for preventing, treating, and in some cases, reversing the cause of chronic conditions. If we can help people with chronic conditions, we can add years to their life and life to their years, as well as lower the ever-increasing costs of healthcare for everyone." Physical athletes' visual skills prove sharper than action video game players University of Waterloo (Canada), October 7, 2021 Athletes still have the edge over action video gamers when it comes to dynamic visual skills, a new study from the University of Waterloo shows. For an athlete, having strong visual skills can be the difference between delivering a peak performance and achieving average results. "Athletes involved in sports with a high-level of movement—like soccer, football, or baseball—often score higher on dynamic visual acuity tests than non-athletes," said Dr. Kristine Dalton of Waterloo's School of Optometry & Vision Science. "Our research team wanted to investigate if action video gamers—who, like e-sport athletes, are regularly immersed in a dynamic, fast-paced 2D video environment for large periods of time—would also show superior levels of dynamic visual acuity on par with athletes competing in physical sport." While visual acuity (clarity or sharpness of vision) is most often measured under static conditions during annual check-ups with an optometrist, research shows that testing dynamic visual acuity is a more effective measure of a person's ability to see moving objects clearly—a baseline skill necessary for success in physical and e-sports alike. Using a dynamic visual acuity skills-test designed and validated at the University of Waterloo, researchers discovered that while physical athletes score highly on dynamic visual acuity tests as expected, action video game players tested closer to non-athletes. "Ultimately, athletes showed a stronger ability to identify smaller moving targets, which suggests visual processing differences exist between them and our video game players," said Alan Yee, a Ph.D. candidate in vision science. All participants were matched based on their level of static visual acuity and refractive error, distinguishing dynamic visual acuity as the varying factor on their test performance. These findings are also important for sports vision training centers that have been exploring the idea of developing video game-based training programs to help athletes elevate their performance. "Our findings show there is still a benefit to training in a 3D environment," said Dalton. "For athletes looking to develop stronger visual skills, the broader visual field and depth perception that come with physical training may be crucial to improving their dynamic visual acuity—and ultimately, their sport performance." The study, Athletes demonstrate superior visual dynamic visual acuity, authored by Waterloo's School of Optometry & Vision Science's Dalton, Yee, Dr. Elizabeth Irving and Dr. Ben Thompson, was recently published in the journal Optometry and Vision Science. Probiotic Akkermansia muciniphila and environmental enrichment reverse cognitive impairment associated with high-fat high-cholesterol consumption University of Oviedo (Spain), September 8, 2021 Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is one of the most prevalent diseases globally. A high-fat, high-cholesterol (HFHC) diet leads to an early NASH model. It has been suggested that gut microbiota mediates the effects of diet through the microbiota–gut–brain axis, modifying the host's brain metabolism and disrupting cognition. Here, we target NASH-induced cognitive damage by testing the impact of environmental enrichment (EE) and the administration of either Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) or Akkermansia muciniphila CIP107961 (AKK). EE and AKK, but not LGG, reverse the HFHC-induced cognitive dysfunction, including impaired spatial working memory and novel object recognition; however, whereas AKK restores brain metabolism, EE results in an overall decrease. Moreover, AKK and LGG did not induce major rearrangements in the intestinal microbiota, with only slight changes in bacterial composition and diversity, whereas EE led to an increase in Firmicutes and Verrucomicrobia members. Our findings illustrate the interplay between gut microbiota, the host's brain energy metabolism, and cognition. In addition, the findings suggest intervention strategies, such as the administration of AKK, for the management of the cognitive dysfunction related to NASH. In this study, we described cognitive, brain metabolism, and microbiota alterations associated with high-fat and high-cholesterol consumption. In addition, we clearly showed that environmental enrichment and A. muciniphila CIP107961 restore cognitive dysfunction. Furthermore, we revealed that cognitive improvement is associated with differential effects of environmental enrichment and this strain of A. muciniphila on brain metabolism and gut microbiota. Finally, we discovered that restored cognitive function was associated with the administration of A. muciniphila CIP107961, but not L. rhamnosus GG, which may be clinically relevant when selecting probiotics for treating HFHC-derived pathologies. In conclusion, the microbiota and cognition are intimately connected through the gut–brain axis, and in HFHC pathologies they can be influenced by environmental enrichment and A. muciniphila CIP107961 administration. Cognitive improvement was accompanied by changes in brain metabolic activity and gut microbial composition analysis, pointing to specific microbiota targets for intervention in diet-induced pathologies. However, some mechanisms other than major changes in microbiota composition and the combined effect of environmental enrichment and A. muciniphila administration, which we identified in this study, may also be biologically relevant and will need to be investigated in future studies due to their relative contributions to the selection of effective treatments for patients.
A big part of University life is about getting drunk and skipping a load of lectures, right? Well, we don't think so. And neither do sober student societies across the UK who, alongside our student-focused initiative, #BeRebelAF, support and empower students who want to take control of their alcohol intake. Who said sober was boring? With #BeRebelAF, you can take advantage of all the fun of Freshers Week and beyond, just without the hangover!If you're heading off to Uni with no intention of drinking then you're not alone! With one in four students choosing not to drink at all, sober societies allow students to make new sober friends right from the very first week of Uni. In this podcast, we speak to three student societies from the University of York, the University of Lancaster, and the Queen Mary University of London, and learn how they cater for sober and sober curious students.Welcoming our three Sober Student SocietiesWith plenty of experience in student activities, in-house Club Soda student Lauren takes the lead on this podcast. Lauren speaks to the founders of three sober student societies from across the UK. Amy, founder and chair of York Sober Society, Ophelia, the president of Lancaster Uni's sober society, and Leilani, the new president of the sober society at QMUL all discuss how they've created alcohol-free zones for those who choose not to drink to fit right in.Support the show (https://joinclubsoda.com/product/tip-jar-support-club-soda/)
Cranberry Powder Attenuates Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia University of Suwon (South Korea), June 21, 2021 Cranberry powder (CR) is reported to be effective against lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and recurrent urinary tract infections. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in men older than 50 years is a common cause of LUTS. Here, we attempted to evaluate if CR is also effective for treating BPH using a BPH-induced rat model, which was orally administered CR. Male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 200–250 g were randomly divided into the following six groups (n = 9): noncastration group; castration group; BPH group; BPH and cranberry for 8-week (CR8W) group; BPH and cranberry for 4-week (CR4W) group; and BPH and saw palmetto group (saw palmetto). Compared with the BPH group, the CR8W group showed a significant decrease in prostate weight (by 33%), dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels (by 18% in serum and 28% in prostate), 5-alpha reductase levels (18% reduction of type 1 and 35% of type 2), and histological changes. These results indicate that CR could attenuate BPH by inhibiting 5-alpha reductase and by reducing other biomarkers such as prostate weight and DHT levels. Thus, CR may be an effective candidate for the development of a functional food for BPH treatment. IACUC (USW-IACUC-R-2015-004). In our investigation, the administration of CP significantly prevented the progression of BPH by reducing the 5AR levels, and consequently reducing DHT levels in the serum and prostate, along with reduction of the prostate size. This study demonstrated that CR exerts positive effects against BPH, based on biochemical and histological changes in BPH-induced rats. Although further investigation and validation is required, our study provides evidence, for developing a potential treatment for BPH from natural products. Psychedelic spurs growth of neural connections lost in depression Yale University, July 5, 2021 The psychedelic drug psilocybin, a naturally occurring compound found in some mushrooms, has been studied as a potential treatment for depression for years. But exactly how it works in the brain and how long beneficial results might last is still unclear. In a new study, Yale researchers show that a single dose of psilocybin given to mice prompted an immediate and long-lasting increase in connections between neurons. The findings are published July 5 in the journal Neuron. "We not only saw a 10% increase in the number of neuronal connections, but also they were on average about 10% larger, so the connections were stronger as well," said Yale's Alex Kwan, associate professor of psychiatry and of neuroscience and senior author of the paper. Previous laboratory experiments had shown promise that psilocybin, as well as the anesthetic ketamine, can decrease depression. The new Yale research found that these compounds increase the density of dendritic spines, small protrusions found on nerve cells which aid in the transmission of information between neurons. Chronic stress and depression are known to reduce the number of these neuronal connections. Using a laser-scanning microscope, Kwan and first author Ling-Xiao Shao, a postdoctoral associate in the Yale School of Medicine, imaged dendritic spines in high resolution and tracked them for multiple days in living mice. They found increases in the number of dendritic spines and in their size within 24 hours of administration of psilocybin. These changes were still present a month later. Also, mice subjected to stress showed behavioral improvements and increased neurotransmitter activity after being given psilocybin. For some people, psilocybin, an active compound in "magic mushrooms," can produce a profound mystical experience. The psychedelic was a staple of religious ceremonies among indigenous populations of the New World and is also a popular recreational drug. It may be the novel psychological effects of psilocybin itself that spurs the growth of neuronal connections, Kwan said. "It was a real surprise to see such enduring changes from just one dose of psilocybin," he said. "These new connections may be the structural changes the brain uses to store new experiences." How long can a person live? The 21st century may see a record-breaker University of Washington, July 2, 2021 The number of people who live past the age of 100 has been on the rise for decades, up to nearly half a million people worldwide. There are, however, far fewer "supercentenarians," people who live to age 110 or even longer. The oldest living person, Jeanne Calment of France, was 122 when she died in 1997; currently, the world's oldest person is 118-year-old Kane Tanaka of Japan. Such extreme longevity, according to new research by the University of Washington, likely will continue to rise slowly by the end of this century, and estimates show that a lifespan of 125 years, or even 130 years, is possible. "People are fascinated by the extremes of humanity, whether it's going to the moon, how fast someone can run in the Olympics, or even how long someone can live," said lead author Michael Pearce, a UW doctoral student in statistics. "With this work, we quantify how likely we believe it is that some individual will reach various extreme ages this century." Longevity has ramifications for government and economic policies, as well as individuals' own health care and lifestyle decisions, rendering what's probable, or even possible, relevant at all levels of society. The new study, published June 30 in Demographic Research, uses statistical modeling to examine the extremes of human life. With ongoing research into aging, the prospects of future medical and scientific discoveries and the relatively small number of people to have verifiably reached age 110 or older, experts have debated the possible limits to what is referred to as the maximum reported age at death. While some scientists argue that disease and basic cell deterioration lead to a natural limit on human lifespan, others maintain there is no cap, as evidenced by record-breaking supercentenarians. Pearce and Adrian Raftery, a professor of sociology and of statistics at the UW, took a different approach. They asked what the longest individual human lifespan could be anywhere in the world by the year 2100. Using Bayesian statistics, a common tool in modern statistics, the researchers estimated that the world record of 122 years almost certainly will be broken, with a strong likelihood of at least one person living to anywhere between 125 and 132 years. To calculate the probability of living past 110 -- and to what age -- Raftery and Pearce turned to the most recent iteration of the International Database on Longevity, created by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. That database tracks supercentenarians from 10 European countries, plus Canada, Japan and the United States. Using a Bayesian approach to estimate probability, the UW team created projections for the maximum reported age at death in all 13 countries from 2020 through 2100. Among their findings: Researchers estimated near 100% probability that the current record of maximum reported age at death -- Calment's 122 years, 164 days -- will be broken; The probability remains strong of a person living longer, to 124 years old (99% probability) and even to 127 years old (68% probability); An even longer lifespan is possible but much less likely, with a 13% probability of someone living to age 130; It is "extremely unlikely" that someone would live to 135 in this century. As it is, supercentenarians are outliers, and the likelihood of breaking the current age record increases only if the number of supercentenarians grows significantly. With a continually expanding global population, that's not impossible, researchers say. People who achieve extreme longevity are still rare enough that they represent a select population, Raftery said. Even with population growth and advances in health care, there is a flattening of the mortality rate after a certain age. In other words, someone who lives to be 110 has about the same probability of living another year as, say, someone who lives to 114, which is about one-half. "It doesn't matter how old they are, once they reach 110, they still die at the same rate," Raftery said. "They've gotten past all the various things life throws at you, such as disease. They die for reasons that are somewhat independent of what affects younger people. "This is a very select group of very robust people." Dried Plum Consumption Improves Total Cholesterol and Antioxidant Capacity and Reduces Inflammation in Healthy Postmenopausal Women San Diego State University, June 27, 2021 Dried plums contain bioactive components that have demonstrated antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The objective of this study was to determine if dried plum consumption reduces the risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in postmenopausal women, specifically examining lipid profiles, oxidative stress, antioxidant capacity, and inflammation in a dose-dependent manner. We conducted a 6-month, parallel-design controlled clinical trial, where 48 postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to consume 0, 50, or 100 g of dried plum each day. After 6 months of intervention, total cholesterol (TC) in the 100 g/day treatment group (P = .002) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the 50 g/day treatment group (P = .005) improved significantly compared to baseline. Inflammatory biomarkers interleukin-6 (P = .044) and tumor necrosis factor-α (P = .040) were significantly lower after 6 months within the 50 g/day dried plum group compared to baseline. Moreover, total antioxidant capacity increased significantly within the 50 g/day group (P = .046), and superoxide dismutase activity increased significantly within both 50 and 100 g/day groups (P = .044 and P = .027, respectively) after 6 months compared to baseline. In addition, plasma activities of alanine transaminase (P = .046), lactate dehydrogenase (P = .039), and creatine kinase (P = .030) were significantly lower after 6 months in the 50 g/day dried plum group. These findings suggest that daily consumption of 50–100 g dried plum improves CVD risk factors in postmenopausal women as exhibited by lower TC, oxidative stress, and inflammatory markers with no clear dose dependence. Regular physical activity linked to more 'fit' preteen brains Childrens Hospital Boston, July 2, 2021 We know exercise has many health benefits. A new study from Boston Children's Hospital adds another benefit: Physical activity appears to help organize children's developing brains. The study, led by Dr. Caterina Stamoulis, analyzed brain imaging data from nearly 6,000 9- and 10-year-olds. It found that physical activity was associated with more efficiently organized, robust, and flexible brain networks. The more physical activity, the more "fit" the brain. "It didn't matter what kind of physical activity children were involved in," says Dr. Stamoulis, who directs the Computational Neuroscience Laboratory at Boston Children's. "It only mattered that they were active." Crunching the data Dr. Stamoulis and her trainees, Skylar Brooks and Sean Parks, tapped brain imaging data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, a long-running study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to estimate the strength and organizational properties of the children's brain circuits. These measures determine how efficiently the brain functions and how readily it can adapt to changes in the environment. "The preteen years are a very important time in brain development," notes Dr. Stamoulis. "They are associated with a lot of changes in the brain's functional circuits, particularly those supporting higher-level thought processes. Unhealthy changes in these areas can lead to risky behaviors and long-lasting deficits in the skills needed for learning and reasoning." The team combined these data with information on the children's physical activity and sports involvement, supplied by the families, as well as body mass index (BMI). Finally, they adjusted the data for other factors that might affect brain development, such as being born before 40 weeks of gestation, puberty status, sex, and family income. Healthy brain networks Being active multiple times per week for at least 60 minutes had a widespread positive effect on brain circuitry. Children who engaged in high levels of physical activity showed beneficial effects on brain circuits in multiple areas essential to learning and reasoning. These included attention, sensory and motor processing, memory, decision making, and executive control (the ability to plan, coordinate, and control actions and behaviors). In contrast, increased BMI tended to have detrimental effects on the same brain circuitry. However, regular physical activity reduced these negative effects. "We think physical activity affects brain organization directly, but also indirectly by reducing BMI," Dr. Stamoulis says. Analyzing brain effects In the analyses, the brain was represented mathematically as a network of "nodes": a set of brain regions linked by connections of varying strength. Physical activity had two kinds of positive effects: on the efficiency and robustness of the network as a whole, and on more local properties such as the number and clustering of node connections. "Highly connected local brain networks that communicate with each other through relatively few but strong long-range connections optimizes information processing and transmission in the brain," explains Dr. Stamoulis. "In preteens, a number of brain functions are still developing, and they can be altered by a number of risk factors. Our results suggest that physical activity has a positive protective effect across brain regions." Could Sumac Be Effective on COVID-19 Treatment? Fırat University Medicine Faculty (Turkey), June 11, 2021 Sumac is an herbal product, commonly consumed as a spice and was used for medical treatment for centuries. The phytochemical structure of Sumac was studied extensively, and it was established that the herb contained tannins, polyphenols, flavonoids, organic acids, and essential oils. Various scientific studies demonstrated that Sumac had a free oxygen radical-scavenging effect, a protective effect against liver damage, antihemolytic, leukopenia, and antifibrogenic effects, along with its antiviral, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. Recently, several scientific studies described the pathophysiology, clinical course, and the treatment of COVID-19 infection. The examination of the characteristics of COVID-19 infection revealed via the clinical studies suggests that Sumac extract could be useful in the treatment of COVID-19. Given the scientific studies focusing on the beneficial effects of Sumac, the present review aims to provide an encouraging viewpoint to investigate whether Sumac is effective in treating COVID-19 infection. Antiviral Effect SARS-CoV2 virus, which causes COVID-19 infection, is a highly infectious RNA virus. There are no scientific studies on whether Sumac is effective against the SARS-CoV2 virus. On the contrary, the medications currently being used for treatment were directly administered in clinics, without scrutinizing whether they were effective against the novel coronavirus. Subsequently, several medications were identified to be useful during the clinical course of the disease. Yet, there are scientific in vitro and in vivo studies that investigated the antiviral effects of Sumac against several viruses. In a study, bioflavonoids isolated from Sumac were evaluated for their antiviral activities. Sumac presented inhibitory activities against respiratory viruses (influenza A, influenza B, and measles) and herpes viruses (HSV-1, HSV-2, and varicella zoster virus [VZV]).2 Another study found that Sumac extract exhibited significant antiviral activity against fish pathogenic infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus, and viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus. Furthermore, it was considered that Sumac was a potential antiviral therapeutic against fish viral diseases.3 In a study conducted in 2015, it was established that urushiol obtained from Sumac exhibited reverse transcriptase inhibitory activity for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). It was specified that Sumac could be used as a biological resource due to such inhibitory activity.4 Another study focusing on HIV found that Sumac extracts exhibited anti-HIV activity due to inhibiting the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and protease activity. It was also demonstrated that Sumac inhibited the viral load in HIV-infected CEM-GFP (a CD4+ T-lymphocytic reporter cell line expressing green fluorescent protein [GFP] under HIV-1 LTR promoter) cells and human peripheral blood lymphocytes.5 Another study reported that Sumac extract presented strong antiviral activity against HSV-1 and HSV-2. The study also revealed that Sumac extract did not only interact with the viral envelope but also interacted with the surface of the host cells of the viruses, thus, disrupted the ability of the virus to adsorb and penetrate the host cells.6 The above-mentioned studies indicated the antiviral effects of Sumac extracts. The review of the viruses, on which Sumac is effective, such as influenza, HSV-1, HSV-2, VZV, and HIV-1 demonstrated that the common point between these viruses was the fact that they are all enveloped viruses, contain dense lipids in their envelopes, and are sensitive to ether.7 Coronaviruses share the same common features.7 Sumac is likely to affect the lipid layer in the virus envelope, disrupting the adsorption to the host cell and preventing the virus from penetrating the host cell, positively contributing to the infection. Naturally, this hypothesis should be evidenced in future studies. However, its effectiveness on the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) should be clarified first through animal testing and subsequently should be tested through human subjects. Conclusion An evaluation of the up to date knowledge, revealed by the clinical studies, on the characteristics of COVID-19 infection, its pathophysiology, clinic, and treatment, suggests that the use of Sumac extracts could be beneficial. Based on the beneficial effects indicated by the scientific studies on Sumac extracts, the present review could be encouraging to investigate its effectiveness for COVID-19 treatment. The authors of the present study believe that the benefits of Sumac extract can be tested by adding the adverse-effect-free Sumac extract to treatment and protecting the existing treatment protocols. Sugar intake during pregnancy is associated with allergy and allergic asthma in children University of Bristol (UK), July 5, 2021 High maternal sugar intake during pregnancy may increase the risk of allergy and allergic asthma in the offspring, according to an early study led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) involving almost 9,000 mother-child pairs. While some research has reported an association between a high consumption of sugar-containing beverages and asthma in children, the relation between maternal sugar intake during pregnancy and allergy and asthma in the offspring has been little studied. The team, which included researchers from University of Bristol, used data from a world-leading birth cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as 'Children of the 90s'. The cohort recruited mothers who were pregnant in the 1990s and has been following up their offspring ever since. The current study, which is published in the European Respiratory Journal, analysed associations between maternal intake of free sugars in pregnancy and allergy (defined by positive skin tests to common allergens, namely dust mite, cat and grass) and asthma at seven years of age. While there was only weak evidence for a link between free sugar intake in pregnancy and asthma overall, there were strong positive associations with allergy and allergic asthma (where the child was diagnosed with asthma and had positive skin tests to allergens). When comparing the 20 per cent of mothers with the highest sugar intake versus the 20 per cent of mothers with the lowest sugar intake, there was an increased risk of 38 per cent for allergy in the offspring (73 per cent for allergy to two or more allergens) and 101 per cent for allergic asthma. The team found no association with eczema or hay fever. Lead researcher Professor Seif Shaheen from QMUL said: "We cannot say on the basis of these observations that a high intake of sugar by mothers in pregnancy is definitely causing allergy and allergic asthma in their offspring. However, given the extremely high consumption of sugar in the West, we will certainly be investigating this hypothesis further with some urgency. "The first step is to see whether we can replicate these findings in a different cohort of mothers and children. If we can, then we will design a trial to test whether we can prevent childhood allergy and allergic asthma by reducing the consumption of sugar by mothers during pregnancy. In the meantime, we would recommend that pregnant women follow current guidelines and avoid excessive sugar consumption." The team speculate that the associations may be explained by a high maternal intake of fructose causing a persistent postnatal allergic immune response leading to allergic inflammation in the developing lung. The researchers controlled for numerous potential confounders in their analyses, such as background maternal characteristics, social factors and other aspects of maternal diet, including foods and nutrients that have been previously linked to childhood asthma and allergy. Importantly, the offspring's free sugar intake in early childhood was found to have no association with the outcomes seen in the analysis. As the study is observational, it does not prove a causal link between maternal sugar intake and allergies or asthma. A randomised controlled trial would be needed to definitively test causality.
This feature-length episode launches the final part of the trilogy, 'Irish Political Prisoners from 1848 to 2000', by QMUL's Professor Seán McConville. In conversation with Dr Maggie Scull (Syracuse University London) and Dr Martyn Frampton (QMUL), Seán discusses his latest book, 'Irish Political Prisoners 1960-2000, Braiding Rage and Sorrow'. The broad discussion, peppered with fascinating anecdotes, covers topics such as British and Irish state penal policy, internment, the role of the Catholic Church and Protestant Churches in Northern Ireland, and lessons for how states handle politically motivated offenders.
Peter, Eli and Tom, students at Durham, Cambridge and QMUL respectively, discuss various aspects of the higher education system in the UK. Does it prepare students for the real world? Is the tax payer's money being spent wisely? What adjustments could be made to improve the state of higher/further education?
Welcome to the first episode of the BC Platforms podcast! BC Platforms is the global leader in providing a powerful data discovery and analytics platform, as well as data science solutions for personalized health care. BC Platforms enables cross-functional collaboration with our global federated network of data partners. In today's episode we are discussing shaping a data access framework for population health. We will shed light on industry challenges and expectations, as well as innovative approaches to collaboration. This episode is hosted by Tõnu Esko, BC Patforms SAB Chairman and Vice Director at the Institute of Genomics at the University of Tartu. He also holds a Professor of Human Genomics Position, and is the Head of the Estonian Biobank Innovation Center focusing on public-private partnerships and innovation transfer. Dr. Esko is a research scientist at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. He acts as one of the senior leaders of the Estonian Personalized Medicine Program, and served as a scientific advisor for several companies. Our guest today is Gerry Reilly, Chief Technology Officer at Health Data Research UK. Having joined HDR UK in 2018, Gerry is now a Technologist in Residence focusing on the development of HDR UK's international work and long term technology strategy. Gerry is a fellow of the British Computer Society, Chartered Engineer and Chartered IT professional. He's an academic assessor for the British Computer Society, and a member of the industrial advisory board for the School of Electronic, Engineering and Computer Science at QMUL. What Is Covered: - The burning problems and the obstacles for data sharing in the global health data research community - The three key areas HDR UK focuses on and the role of HDR UK Innovation Gateway - How the health data research ecosystem currently works in the UK - The cultural shifts needed in order to harmonise data access management across the health sector - How the COVID pandemic has accelerated the work on data access and data quality harmonisation - The steps towards a broad international collaboration in health data research Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: - Health Data Research UK https://www.hdruk.ac.uk/ - Health Data Research Innovation Gateway https://www.healthdatagateway.org/ - UK Health Data Research Alliance https://ukhealthdata.org/ - UK Biobank https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/ - Genomics England https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/ - Dublin Core Metadata Initiative https://dublincore.org/ - International COVID-19 Data Alliance https://icoda-research.org/ - The Estonian Biobank https://genomics.ut.ee/en Connect with Gerry Reilly: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerry-reilly-7290681/ Connect with Dr. Tõnu Esko: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tõnu-esko-24511524/ Connect with BC Platforms: - https://www.bcplatforms.com - https://www.linkedin.com/company/bc-platforms/ - sales@bcplatforms.com
Covid-19 has changed how doctors and nurses communicate with their patients, Graham Easton is Professor of Communication Skills at Barts and QMUL , and he tells James about how doctors and nurses can ensure they communicate effectively with their patients. Giving bad news is never easy but how do you explain to a relative about end of life decisions via an iPad? Professor Monica Lakhanpaul reviews the latest evidence around BAME and Covid-19 and with Jo Hudson-Lett from Revoluton Arts looks at projects for young people adversely effected by Covid-19. Plus Margaret McCartney on Covid passports - will they ever happen?
John shares his story, from being a devout Pentecostalist Sunday School Teacher in Nigeria to being a Sentientist, atheist, vegan academic and author. Video version here. John is Strategic Lecturer in the School of Law and a Fellow of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Queen Mary University of London. He is a cellist and dancer. We discuss: John growing up in Nigeria, then Italy in an evangelical, pentecostal family (both parents are missionaries and reverends) and community Being a sunday school teacher and devout believer Challenging those beliefs as a teenager, both re: evidence and ethics (e.g. rejecting religious homophobia) The rich integration of Nigerian culture, racial identity and religion and how that made leaving religion behind a difficult struggle Finding the courage to be open with parents who are very deeply involved with the church How some religious communities accept non-believing, “cultural” community members while others reject those who drop their supernatural beliefs Veganism being seen as a rejection of a culture rather than an individual moral choice How having freedom, time and distance from our culture can help us assess and improve our worldview Value as the foundation of ethics, not religion. Value comes first A pluralistic conception of value from the perspective of each individual: community, family, friendship, relationships, experiences Sentience as a sufficient ground for considering a being valuable because they have a perspective. Things can go better or worse for them. Morality is caring about that perspective of others Whether non-sentient beings have intrinsic or just instrumental value Is beauty of value even if no sentient ever experiences it? Let’s not destroy the Mona Lisa just to be safe The danger of bio/eco centrism and environmentalism neglecting or even harming sentient beings while trying to protect non-sentient things The full richness of sentient experience. Not just pleasure and pain – but aethetics, awe, wonder, connectedness and love The importance of setting a philosophical baseline of moral consideration for all sentients. But how even that baseline is the product of deep philosophical thinking by intellectual giants (e.g. Bentham) Why most of the 8 billion people on the planet disagree with Sentientism The importance of ensuring that our confidence in naturalism doesn’t lead to our own dogma or closed-mindedness or arrogance The importance of humility and receptiveness and open-mindedness and constructive conversation Compassion even for people you disagree with Basing our ethics on a naturalistic understanding of sentience and sentient beings How to get to a Sentientist future. Facts and logic won’t be enough… our emotional reactions come first, philosophy follows Empathy as a way to engage people emotionally Helping people be more ready change by setting a good, “normal” example Making better ethics the easier choice Once people have taken easier, better ethical choices they might upgrade their ethics Freedom of belief, but not freedom to use those beliefs to harm When you see something as more important than suffering and death, you tend to get quite a lot of suffering and death Law is there to restrict freedom to protect others We already grant rights to corporations and rivers, why not extend them to non-human animals? How the law and rights fields can help drive positive change. John at QMUL. @JohnAdenitire. sentientism.info. FBook.
The subject of this special episode, recorded live on the day after the 2020 USA elections, is the urgent question of ‘Constitutional Futures?'. Are we inevitably facing a series of - national, global - constitutional crises? Or can we turn our constitutional futures into something to look forward to? Join our panellists, drawn from the worlds of politics, law, business and academia, in thinking through the future of constitutionalism from the local to the global, via nation-state structures and beyond.Discussants are Malik Dahlan (Principal of Institution Quraysh for Law & Policy and Professor of International Law and Public Policy, QMUL); Jim Gallagher (former Civil Servant, who headed the Scottish justice department and was the UK government’s most senior adviser on devolution and other constitutional issues); Stephen Gethins (former MP at Westminster and currently Professor of Practice in International Relations at the University of St Andrews); and Catherine Stihler (former Labour member of the European Parliament and Chief Executive Officer of Creative Commons). The panel is chaired by John Hudson (Professor of Legal History, University of St Andrews).
This week on our Legally Speaking Podcast Miniseries, powered by Kissoon Carr, our host Harrison Wilde is joined by guest feature, Shannon Tong. Shannon studied her LLB at QMUL followed by her LLM in Medical Law. She has recently finished her LPC gaining a distinction.Shannon has worked at Irwin Mitchell as a Paralegal for the last two years and currently works as a Legal Advisor for the Firm.She has recently accepted her Training Contract offer with Irwin Mitchell, which she will commence in February 2020 in their London Office.Shannon is also very interested in legal blogging and has recently started a platform to document her journey.
Timestamps 1. What was the highlight of your course? 1:29 2. How did you decide on Queen Mary's 8:35 3. So then what would a typical semester for a masters in Business Law at QMUL look like? 11:04 4. What's the best thing about QMUL, what would you say? 15:10 - use for trailer 17th minute 5. What's the application process like to study in the UK for international students and what was the visa process like? 18:32 6. How easy was it for you to make friends on your course and in your accommodation? 22:47 7. What would you say is the parts of Goa that people should definitely have on their bucket list? 27:17 8. What would you consider some of your best memories from uni so far? 30:44 Welcome to a new episode of the Shoot The Shot Podcast. This is the next instalment of the new series on the podcast where we are gonna be breaking down different uni experiences across both the UK and internationally. Host: Mark De Monte Furtado IG: https://www.instagram.com/shoot_the_shot_podcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/shot_podcast Guest: Ishani Angle Guest IG: https://www.instagram.com/ishaniangle94/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/shoot-the-shot-podcast/message
Show notes for Episode 3 Here are the show notes for Episode 3, where Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk about - the language of subtitles: turning non-standard into Standard English? - the changing meanings and interpretations of gestures: taking a knee and what it might mean - and talk to Professor Devyani Sharma of QMUL about accents, identity and how to deal with accent bias… among other things! You can find the links to the stories and research we've mentioned in this programme, below. Accent Bias in Britain project (QMUL) website: https://accentbiasbritain.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/accentbias Teach Real English! (QMUL) http://www.teachrealenglish.org/ Devyani Sharma's staff page: Devyani Sharma - School of Languages, Linguistics and Film A Level English numbers up for first time in 7 years: Provisional Entries for GCSE, AS and A level: Summer 2020 exam series Professor Dick Hudson's site has mapped the trends in A Level English over the years: https://dickhudson.com/trends-english/ Marcus Rashford interview with the BBC: Marcus Rashford talks food poverty, his childhood and campaigning for free school meals A Twitter thread on the potential ‘linguicism' of ‘correcting' subtitles: https://twitter.com/DrVanjaK/status/1272603255932170245 BBC subtitling guidelines: https://bbc.github.io/subtitle-guidelines/ Dominic Raab on ‘taking a knee': Dominic Raab's obliviousness to taking a knee feels eerily like a government ploy to enrage black people Changing meaning of OK gesture https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48293817 Trolling, hoax or attempt to disguise hate symbol? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48293817 Contact us @LexisPodcast. Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify Contributors Matthew Butler Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy Lisa Casey blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates) Dan Clayton blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog) Jacky Glancey Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey Music: Freenotes
In this Mile End Institute podcast, our expert panel will discuss the new leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer. This will include reflections on his successful leadership campaign and thoughts on what sort of leader he will be in the current unprecedented circumstances. Panel: Dr. Patrick Diamond (Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, QMUL) Councillor Farah Khanum Hussain (Cabinet Member for Housing & Homelessness, Valentines Ward and PhD Candidate, QMUL) Dr. Karl Pike (ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow, QMUL)
In this podcast we talk we talk to three panellists, to reflect on what they discovered at the ‘Prediction and Prevention in Neurodegenerative Disease Symposium’ held on the 29th November and organised by the Preventative Neurology Unit (PNU) at Queen Mary University London. Recorded on location from QMU - Dr Megan O’Hare is join by PhD students Phazha Bothongo and Isabelle Foote from Queen Mary University and Dr Harri Sivasathiaseelan from University College London. The Symposium focused on the fascinating issues around early detection and prevention of neurodegenerative diseases, and included a star studded lined-up of speakers, including Anette Schrag, Rimona Weil and Jonathan Schott from UCL. Dennis Chan, Carol Brayne and Richard Milne from the University of Cambridge and others from QMUL, Oxford and Maastricht. The PNU is a new group set up as part of the School of Medicine & Dentistry at Queen Mary University, London. Funded by Bart's Charity to try to prevent diseases that affect the nervous system, like dementia, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. Researching people's risk of getting these diseases, and how we can spot them before there are any obvious signs. This will help us to come up with ways to try to slow down or even stop the progress of these conditions, and keep people's brains healthy for longer. You can find out more about our panellists, and their work on our website www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk. A transcript of this podcast is also available on our website at https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/podcast-prediction-and-prevention-in-neurodegenerative-diseases Special thanks to Charles Marshal @charl_marshall for allowing us to record this podcast. Like what you hear? Please review, like, and share our podcast - and don't forget to subscribe to ensure you never miss an episode. _________________________ If you would like to share your own experiences or discuss your research in a blog or on a podcast, drop us a line to adam.smith@nihr.ac.uk or find us on twitter @dem_researcher _________________________
Historian William Dalrymple, Wasafiri editor Susheila Nasta and novelist Romesh Gunesekera join Rana Mitter for a conversation looking at the East India company, the socialist economic policies and language battles in Ceylon in the 1960s before it became Sri Lanka and the way writing from around the world has reflected changes of attitude to post colonial history. Sri Lankan-born British author Romesh Gunesekera has just published his ninth novel, Suncatcher, depicting two boys, Jay and Kairo, growing up in 1964, who overcome their different backgrounds to become friends at a time when Ceylon is on the brink of change. Wasafiri, the magazine of international contemporary writing, has just published its 100th edition, which includes an interview with Romesh Gunesekera. The publication derives its name from a KiSwahili word meaning "travellers" that is etymologically linked with the Arabic word "safari". Susheila Nasta, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literatures at QMUL, was the founding editor, the recipient of the 2019 Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature and is now handing over the reins to Malachi McIntosh. She has just edited a collection of essays called Brave New Words: The Power of Writing Now and has completed compiling, with Mark Stein, The Cambridge History of Black and Asian British Writing, due out in 2020. William Dalrymple has published The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company which you can find as a Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000b4pz He has curated an exhibition at the Wallace Collection in London, Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company, which runs from Dec 4th to April 19th 2020 Producer: Torquil MacLeod
This week, Mark explores the factors that increase motivation so you can become more productive in your work and find time and energy to generate more impact. This is based on an excerpt from his forthcoming book, The Productive Researcher. In the research tip this week, Mark shares some of his favorite tools from QMUL's forthcoming Public Engagement Evaluation Toolkit.
This is a recording of a May 2019 panel discussion at Queen Mary, University of London, on the question 'should universities teach well-being?' There is, apparently, a mental health crisis in higher education. Student referrals for counselling are soaring, and according to one study, 40% of PhDs are depressed or anxious. Students in Bristol took to the streets to demand better mental health services, while the universities minister declared the purpose of universities should no longer just be knowledge, but also well-being. What are universities' responsibilities in this area? What should students expect and demand? Can universities teach wellbeing, and what is the role of the arts and humanities in this endeavour? Panelists: Dr Tiffany Watt Smith, QMUL Drama (Chair) Shamima Akter, QMSU Vice President Welfare Prof Kam Bhui, QMUL Head of Centre for Psychiatry and Deputy Director of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine at Barts and The London Jules Evans, QMUL Centre for the History of Emotions Kevin Halon, QMUL Counselling Manager Niall Morrissey, QMUL Mental Health Co-ordinator Dr Ruth Fletcher, QMUL senior lecturer in medical law
#BungaLive. Debate on the future of Europe, held at Queen Mary, University of London on 21 March 2019. Europe After Brexit: Internationalism or Transnationalism? Until now, most debates about Brexit have only considered the question from the viewpoint of Britain itself and the shambolic process overseen by the Tory government. However, Brexit raises issues that go beyond the UK – and beyond the nation-state. How should Brexit be considered from the global vantage point, and what are its implications for Europe as a whole? Should left wing parties and progressive movements seek to remain in and reform the European Union, or is exit the better option? The path to internationalism always led through the nation-state, but European integration seems to open the prospect of transnational solidarity at the continental level, mediated by EU institutions. Does the EU provide the infrastructure for a better, progressive Europe that can be captured and reformed by the left? How viable is the EU as a long-term political project? And if it is not viable, should European lefts seek to exit EU institutions in each of their own countries? What might European solidarity look like in an EU that is cracking apart under the weight of its contradictions? Speakers:David Adler, writer and researcher; policy coordinator for European Spring. Based in Athens.Catarina Príncipe, political activist; contributing editor, Jacobin. Based in Porto.Lee Jones, reader in international politics, QMUL; co-founder, The Full Brexit. Based in London.
This week Dr Viji Draviam talks to us about why she studies cell division, what chromosomal stability is, why is it so important to understand this and some tips for starting your own lab! Following a PhD from Trinity College, University of Cambridge (with Prof. Pines, Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, UK, 1998-2001), and Post-doctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School (with Prof. Sorger, Cambridge, USA; 2002-07), Viji started her own research group as a Cancer Research UK Career Development Fellow at the Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge (2008-15). Viji’s group moved to the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, QMUL in August 2015. Her research group uses a combination of high-resolution microscopy and molecular biology techniques to understand the molecular mechanisms that ensure chromosomal and genomic stability in normal and cancerous human cells. For more information about her research follow the link: http://www.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/staff/vijidraviam.html
"Death to all daft and emotional neurotypicals who love soap operas!" Paul and Elizabeth Wady both have an autism diagnosis. In his book, Guerilla Aspies, and show of the same name, Paul Wady offers a conversion course for neurotypicals, inviting them to join the "new normal". In this podcast, one of a series of three about the idea of "normal" they talk to Natalie Steed about neurotypicals and neurodivergents, Blade Runner, religion and the tyranny of the normal. This series of podcasts was inspired by The Museum of the Normal and event organised by QMUL Centre for the History of the Emotions for the 2016 Being Human Festival. For the 2017 Being Human Festival, The Centre for the History of the Emotions is staging an event about Emotional Objects. We’ll be exploring the stuff of feeling. Talismans. Lost necklaces, found photos, fetishes and objects hidden under the floorboards. With talks, stalls and performances come and map your emotional London and bring your emotional talismans for our display. ‘Emotional Objects: From Lost Amulets to Found Photos’ 20 November, 2-5pm and 6-9pm Royal College of Nursing, 20 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0RN Free to attend but advance booking essential at https://beinghumanfestival.org/event/emotional-objects-from-lost-amulets-to-found-photos/
One evening in November 2016, as part of the Being Human Festival, David Saunders invited seventy-three individuals into a small room on the third floor of St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Once there, they disclosed their hopes, fears, and anxieties to a tape recorder. They were taking part in a restaging of a “revolutionary” therapeutic exercise called Psychic Driving. It was part of the Museum of the Normal, an event organised by QMUL Centre for the History of the Emotions. In this podcast, produced by Natalie Steed, you can hear an interview with David Saunders about Psychic Driving and the increasingly alarming experiments of Dr Donald Ewan Cameron which attracted both interest and finance from the CIA. For the 2017 Being Human Festival, The Centre for the History of Emotions is staging an event about Emotional Objects. On 20th November. We’ll be exploring the stuff of feeling. Talismans. Lost necklaces, found photos, fetishes and objects hidden under the floorboards. With talks, stalls and performances come and map your emotional London and bring your emotional talismans for our display. ‘Emotional Objects: From Lost Amulets to Found Photos’ 20 November, 2-5pm and 6-9pm Royal College of Nursing, 20 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0RN Free to attend but advance booking essential at beinghumanfestival.org/event/emotional-objects-from-lost-amulets-to-found-photos/
“I take things out of boxes, but need boxes to put them back in” A light dabble with a search engine on the subject of “tear bottles” will lead you to a world of assertions, often by online shops, about the historical use of “tear bottles” in the mourning rituals of Romans, Greeks and Victorians with stories of how tears were collected in small, stoppered, glass bottles as a sign of respect and grief. They’ve featured in opera designs and art installations and there are at least a couple of references to collected or collecting tears in the Bible including Psalm 56:8 where God is being addressed: Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? John Gill’s mid eighteenth century Exposition of Whole Bible unpicks this with another assertion about the “tear bottle” in the psalm being an allusion “to “lachrymatories”, or tear bottles, in which surviving relatives dropped their tears for their deceased friends, and buried them with their ashes, or in their urns; some of which tear bottles are still to be seen in the cabinets of the curious.” In other translations and versions it’s not a bottle into which God’s collecting tears but a wineskin. In others he’s just writing them down on his scroll. Nevertheless, the idea of the tear bottle remains a powerful one and a way of thinking about tears and emotion. One aspect of Clare Whistler’s residency was her interviews with academics and others at QMUL about tear-bottles. She asked people to imagine a receptacle for their tears and also to collect their tears in a small book. She created poems from their answers and I have used some of these poems in the podcast. I wanted to show how Clare’s project mixed the professional investigation with the more personal reflection. We also hear Jennifer Wallis, Chris Millard and Thomas Dixon, from the Centre for the History of Emotions talk about tears in their research: the internally liquefying inmates of a 19th Century Asylum; Neil Kessel’s social experiments in the 1960’s with sales of large quantities of aspirin to weeping women and Hogarth’s Enthusiasm Delineated. Alongside this, Paul Roberts, Head of the Roman Collections at the British Museum, shows me some beautiful, tear-shaped glass bottles from the British Museum’s stores and there are some specially commissioned musical tears created by the composer Jonathan Dove. Produced by Natalie Steed
In the middle of QMUL’s Mile End campus lies the remnants of the Novo Cemetery (Beth Chaim) which was awarded Grade II listed status in April 2014. The gravestones are laid flat in the Sephardic tradition to symbolise the equality of all in death. The site is only part of a much larger cemetery, which was opened in 1733, that was redeveloped by QMUL during the 1970’s and 1980’s. What remains is part of an 1855 extension to the original site, with around 2000 graves of the original 9500. What Near the middle of the cemetery, there is a circular enclosure, surrounded by a low stone wall, which marks the place a number of graves were damaged during a bomb blast in the second world war. Clare Whistler has worked with a dancer and filmmaker to create a short film inspired by the cemetery with the dancer acting as a “tear” finding her way to the central, circular enclosure. Alongside this, she commissioned a new setting of part of George Herbert’s poem Praise (III) from the composer and singer Kerry Andrew. In this podcast Clare talks about making the film and we hear some of George Herbert’s poem, read by Peter Marinker, and the new piece of music. Produced by Natalie Steed
Recorded as part of the "Museum of the Normal" event hosted by the "Living With Feeling" project of QMUL at the Barts Pathology Museum in November 2016. See: http://bit.ly/2jWQRdR
Sad at Thirty - produced for QMUL Centre for the History of Emotions by Natalie Steed There’s a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons – That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes – Heavenly Hurt, it gives us – We can find no scar, But internal difference – Where the Meanings, are – None may teach it – Any – ‘Tis the seal Despair – An imperial affliction Sent us of the Air – When it comes, the Landscape listens – Shadows – hold their breath – When it goes, ’tis like the Distance On the look of Death – Emily Dickinson This podcast was commissioned by Tilli Tansey, Professor of the History of Modern Medical Sciences at QMUL, and Thomas Dixon, Director of the QMUL Centre for the History of Emotions. The piece responds to the Witness Seminar, organised by Tilli Tansey, to mark the 30th anniversary of the first publication about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in 1984. I interviewed Norman Rosenthal, the researcher who first wrote about the disorder as well as Jennifer Eastwood and Helen Hanson who are both sufferers of the disorder and who are involved in SADA (Seasonal Affective Disorder Association). Thomas Dixon and Tilli Tansey discuss their collaboration on this Witness Seminar and reflect on some of the ideas it provoked. In this podcast I wanted to reflect the story of Seasonal Affective Disorder as told in the Witness Seminar but also to try and communicate something of what it might be like to experience the disorder. Helen Hanson, the current Chair of SADA, describes how she feels her experience of SAD has influenced her work as an artist and conjures an extraordinary image of experiencing the dwindling of light on winter afternoons as “the hour of the wolf”. Natalie Steed
Study undergraduate medicine in Malta with a top UK medical school
Internet Jurisdiction, Extraterritoriality and Law Enforcement: Unclaimed Territories in the Cloud - where are the Limits to Internet Jurisdiction? Speaker - Professor Julia Hörnle (Queen Mary, University of London) Discussant - Dr Findlay Stark (Faculty of Law, Cambridge) The Internet is a technology that continues to transform society, thereby inevitably shaping the extent to which the laws of countries can operate outside of their jurisdiction across the world. While there are those who regard the extraterritorial application of some laws positively as a mechanism for protecting the fundamental rights of individuals from threats outside the jurisdiction, it can be also be viewed as an improper intrusion of foreign states on domestic interests. As examined in a previous Technology and Democracy Project seminar, one such example would be the 2015 landmark decision of the highest court in the EU which clearly established that EU data protection law applies to US law governing State surveillance on the basis that the US must provide adequate protection for the processing of personal data that is transferred from the EU to the US. Hence, the significant but also novel implications posed to the rule of law, due process and privacy by the increasing levels of data processing across national borders by governments and the private sector in the cloud of the Internet makes this area of great interest to the Technology and Democracy Project. To address the challenges posed by this increasingly important and complex legal area for technology and democracy in the era of Big Data and the Internet of Things, we have brought together Professor of Internet Law Julia Hörnle (QMUL) who will present on this topic and Dr Findlay Stark (Cambridge University Lecturer in Criminal Law and Deputy Director, Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice), the seminar’s discussant and chair.
Speakers: Mandy Turner, Kenyon Institute (CBRL); Florian P. Kühn, Otto von Guericke University; Michael Pugh, University of Bradford; Caroline Hughes, University of Bradford; Christopher Phillips, QMUL; Toby Dodge, LSE Middle East Centre In this book launch, the authors of ‘The Politics of International Intervention: the Tyranny of Peace’ critically explore the practices of peacebuilding, and the politics of the communities experiencing intervention. The contributions to this volume have a dual focus. First, they analyse the practices of western intervention and peacebuilding, and the prejudices and politics that drive them. Second, they explore how communities experience and deal with this intervention, as well as an understanding of how their political and economic priorities can often diverge markedly from those of the intervener. From Cambodia to Afghanistan, Iraq to Mali, interventions in the pursuit of peace have not achieved the results desired by the interveners. But, rather, they have created further instability and violence. The contributors to this book explore why. Recorded on 23 March 2016.
On the busy Mile End Road is a Palace. Find out about who it's for and what it is now.
11:30 am – 1:00 pm Debt and Violence Chair: Valeria Graziano, Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) Peter Fleming, QMUL Stefano Harney, QMUL
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