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Hajj 2015: Balancing pilgrimage with consumerism
History & The Arts

Hajj 2015: Balancing pilgrimage with consumerism

...out at the pilgrimage...Preparations for this year’s Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca undertaken by devout Muslims at least once in their life, have been marred by the collapse of a crane at the Grand Mosque, which killed more than 100 people. The tragedy came just over a week before the pilgrimage was set to get underway, and raised serious questions about the...
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Article 5 mins
Why the bands played on: Live music in the shadow of the Paris attacks
History & The Arts

Why the bands played on: Live music in the shadow of the Paris attacks

...out and drew international attention, but punks and metalheads across Asia, the Middle East and North Africa have also been subject to repression and censorship. The low-slung, sleazy aesthetic of the Eagles of Death Metal may have seemed a fitting avatar for the “prostitution and obscenity” of the decadent West, as IS would have it. It’s also possible that the...
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Article 5 mins
Becoming a superhero: what are the limits of human performance?
Health, Sports & Psychology

Becoming a superhero: what are the limits of human performance?

...out of walking. Forms of this technology are regularly seen in a sporting arena, consider the controversy that was created in 2007 over Oscar Pistorius' use of prosthetic ‘blades’. This led to the IAAF amending their rules to ban the use of "any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another...
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Article 15 mins
How do voters choose between two unappealing candidates?
Society, Politics & Law

How do voters choose between two unappealing candidates?

...out. In our research, we saw more deliberation in rejection decisions and less of a tendency to be swayed by emotional, in-your-face information. For example, one of these studies determined that people were less likely to vote based on party affiliation if they voted by rejection, rather than by choice. Respondents also took less time to make their decision in the choice...
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Article 5 mins
What's happening in Zimbabwe - and what might happen next?
Society, Politics & Law

What's happening in Zimbabwe - and what might happen next?

...out as a young secretary in Robert Mugabe’s typing pool. She became his mistress in the early 1990s and married him in 1996 in a lavish wedding ceremony. She began her formal rise to power in 2014, as head of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) party’s Women’s League. But where she really flexed her muscles was in a ruthless...
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Article 5 mins
Club, Country, Continent: Juggling fan identities at Euro 2020
Health, Sports & Psychology

Club, Country, Continent: Juggling fan identities at Euro 2020

...out from Brexit certainly seems to have put paid to any dramatic expansion of this cosmopolitan outlook, at least among its supporters who have so strongly rejected trans-national politics. It is worth remembering when discussing the influence of Brexit that 48% of those who voted in the 2016 UK/EU referendum sought to remain in Europe. For a considerable number of fans,...
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Article 10 mins
The Writer's Room: J.K. Rowling
History & The Arts

The Writer's Room: J.K. Rowling

...out onto the cornices and cupolas of the century-old roof, while a pair of round windows frame a stunning view of the Edinburgh skyline. Squint and you could almost imagine Hermione curled up with a spell book on the windowsill. It was in this room that J.K.Rowling finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in January. I sit at the modern desk where, presumably, she...
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Article 10 mins
The future of emojis
Languages

The future of emojis

...out more about The Open University's Language Studies qualification. Emojis are a product of the digital communications revolution. They were designed specifically to help with mobile and online communication, and are also generated by this new technology themselves. So will they adapt to new forms of communication technology on the horizon? Or will we soon be looking...
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Article 5 mins