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Opinion
Columns, arguments and perspectives on the news.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Robert Ryman: The Real Thing at the Barbican – these mesmerising paintings must be seen in person
Robert Ryman: The Real Thing is the American artist’s first major retrospective in the UK for over 30 years.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Almost 300,000 people now live in flood-prone areas in the Nepalese Himalayas – new research
On August 26, a rock and ice avalanche triggered a huge flood that swept through a steep valley in Nepal, leaving thousands dead and missing. It was an extreme example of a growing problem across the Himalayas. As glaciers melt, glacial lakes expand, and mountain permafrost thaws, the risks from floods, landslides and other high-mountain hazards are increasing. At the same time, more people and infrastructure are moving into the valleys where these hazards are most likely to strike.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
What’s your apocalypse skill? Finding a future-proof hobby can bring fulfilment today
In online “prepper” communities – where people discuss ways to prepare for potential emergencies and disruptions – members often jokingly refer to their “zombie apocalypse” skills.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Three of the UK’s four nations are led by parties advocating a split. Which is most likely to go?
For the first time in its history three of the four nations of the UK are led by parties that advocate holding referendums on breaking away from the UK. Recently, the first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland signed an agreement to work together on this agenda.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Nobel laureate Karl Deisseroth on how light is changing what we know about the brain
When Karl Deisseroth was studying to be a doctor in the 1990s, he took a rotation working with psychiatric patients. It would start him down a path of discovery about how the brain works that would eventually lead him to become a Nobel laureate.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
The Social Reckoning is a true American horror story
In 2010, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network charted the birth of social media. Sixteen years later his sequel, The Social Reckoning, is tracing the mutation of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg in the first film and Jeremy Strong in this sequel) from an awkward nerd into a sinister billionaire.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Wildlife populations have declined 73% since 1970 – but many of the world’s animals still aren’t being counted
Wildlife populations around the world have declined by an average of 73% since 1970. That’s according to the WWF’s new 2026 Living Planet Index – a major estimate, updated every two years, of the changing state of nature. This does not mean that 73% of the world’s animals have disappeared. Rather, it is the average decline in the size of wildlife populations that is being monitored.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
School protests focus attention on the chequered history of public order policing in France
A placard held by a young man as school protests continued across France appeared to capture the mood on the streets. Young people, it said: “want the Bac (high school diploma), not the BAC”. The Brigade Anti-Criminalité (BAC) is a police unit widely known for its aggressive tactics in tackling street crime.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
‘Airport malaria’ is rare, but can be deadly when doctors don’t expect it
A few days after landing at Frankfurt Airport, several people who had never left Germany developed a fever. None had travelled anywhere near a malaria zone – but the mosquitoes that infected them had.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Florence Buchanan: the pioneering physiologist whose face was lost to history
For more than a century, we could see Florence Buchanan’s science but not Florence Buchanan. Her papers and electrical traces survived, and her work placed her alongside some of the most influential physiologists of the early 20th century. Yet until recently, no authenticated portrait of Buchanan was known.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Israel’s political rivals play the blame game as country marks years since October 7
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and leading opposition figure Gadi Eisenkot took to social media as their country marked three years since the devastating Hamas attacks of October 7. As the country mourned, the rival politicians played the blame game.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Anne Carson wins Nobel prize in literature – how she discovered new possibilities within language
For over four decades, Anne Carson has been quietly redrawing the map of contemporary literature. Poet, translator, classicist, essayist, performer and visual artist, she has produced a body of work that refuses easy categorisation.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
A biologist queries whether AI ‘borrowed’ his work to make major discovery – an expert explains the rules
AI company Anthropic recently announced that its popular system Claude had identified an unusual family of biological molecules. These molecules were enzymes, a type of protein that speeds up chemical reactions in living organisms.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Hospital appointments can make greener travel harder
The timing of a hospital appointment does more than tell you when to see a doctor. It can also shape how you get there. For some older patients, an early appointment can fall before their concessionary bus pass, which provides free bus travel, becomes valid. An unreliable bus service can mean having to leave much earlier than necessary. And an appointment at a specialist hospital rather than the one closest to home can turn a straightforward journey into one that involves several connections.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Social media provides valued community spaces for autistic young people
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition which influences how people communicate and process information. A significant proportion of autistic children do not speak, or only speak a few words. Many find it difficult to communicate face to face, especially when interaction is fast moving or dependent on interpreting bodily cues.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Andrew Garfield plays a ploughman in The Uprising – but the real medieval rebels weren’t all peasants
The Uprising is the first film inspired by the peasants’ revolt of the summer of 1381 – the largest popular rebellion in medieval England.
- Opinion | The Guardian Read
Stockpile food – and wash your hands: is that really how to prepare for environmental catastrophe? | George Monbiot
The UK state is dumping its responsibilities on our doorsteps, while green-lighting policies that lead us closer to crisis, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Kemi Badenoch is gearing up for a ‘battle of ideas’ with Labour
Kemi Badenoch’s closing conference speech to the Conservative party conference sought to galvanise the membership by framing the coming years as “a battle of ideas” over how Britain is governed.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
French student protests: comparisons with 1968 will only serve the political extremes
The student demonstrations that have spread across France in recent weeks are not unprecedented. Indeed, commentators have been quick to point to comparisons with the events of May and June 1968, where, at their peak, more than 10 million students and workers took to the streets.
- The Conversation (UK) Read
Russian plague scare: an expert explains what we know so far – and why there’s no need to panic
A laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia, Russia, has died just days after falling ill with an undisclosed illness.
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