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Drivers and hand-held mobile phones: extending the ban won’t solve the problem – here’s why
Health, Sports & Psychology

Drivers and hand-held mobile phones: extending the ban won’t solve the problem – here’s why

...public has, apparently, noticed. In one survey, 54% of respondents felt they were unlikely to be caught or punished for using a hand-held mobile phone while driving. This combination of circumstances makes it very difficult to persuade drivers that they shouldn’t use their mobile phones behind the wheel. If a driver thinks they can safely multitask while also avoiding...
Revealing the surface of an asteroid using robotic telescopes
Science, Maths & Technology

Revealing the surface of an asteroid using robotic telescopes

...publication of this article, the observatories have undergone a significant upgrade. For an up-to-date list of technical details, please visit our specifications page here. Using these telescopes, we study the properties and compositions of asteroid surfaces to characterise them individually as well as looking at them as whole populations. Surface properties such as...
Charles Dickens, Race and Colonialism
History & The Arts

Charles Dickens, Race and Colonialism

...public monuments, even though their authors may have become celebrated national figures (or been subject to forms of revisionism in assessments of their personal lives). Fictional works can present incommensurable meanings or develop multiple perspectives, and their capacity to sustain different interpretation is what makes them so fascinating. Literary works are also...
The psychology of conspiracy theories
Health, Sports & Psychology

The psychology of conspiracy theories

...public domain, circulating as a set of ideas – on the basis of which movements are established, political projects forged and power relations challenged and sustained. A theory of conspiracy theories Where does this leave the psychology of conspiracy theories? Clearly, looking for stable psychological characteristics or cognitive biases that differentiate believers from...
Year of the Snake: Chinese Lunar New Year
Languages

Year of the Snake: Chinese Lunar New Year

...at any time, and they provide digital badges for completion. For further information, please visit the short courses page. The Online Confucius Institute at The Open University holds regular free online public talks in Chinese history, culture and society as well as regular online book club sessions on Modern Chinese Literature. Keep an eye on the Upcoming events page....
The Z Files: Chi Onwurah
Health, Sports & Psychology

The Z Files: Chi Onwurah

...public school. Whilst I wasn’t designing beautiful objects like this I was learning how to be an engineer - telecommunications that was my speciality. I mean this is something which I think is absolutely gorgeous still to this day. I mean you could put that on your mantelpiece couldn’t you? Benjamin Zephaniah You really see beauty in that? Chi Onwurah I do, I think...
Music as a Source of Unity: When Rory Gallagher Came to Belfast
History & The Arts

Music as a Source of Unity: When Rory Gallagher Came to Belfast

...public support. Comments on YouTube also show the high esteem in which he is still held in the city, with Belfastians frequently praising his ability to provide healing with his music. “RIP Rory, you brought our community together through the bad times,” reflected one fan poignantly. In November 2021, Belfast was declared a UNESCO City of Music in honour of its...
Selling Empire: Epilogue – the slow death of heroism?
History & The Arts

Selling Empire: Epilogue – the slow death of heroism?

...publication in 1964. By the latter date, illusions that Britain would be able to lead a united Commonwealth were disappearing. 1962 immigration legislation started a trend of increasing controls on Commonwealth citizens moving to Britain to work and settle. In November 1964 Ian Smith’s government of Rhodesia asked its mainly white electorate if they wanted independence,...