South African accountancy students struggle to overcome disadvantages: what lecturers can do differently: Accounting educators must take students' context and backgrounds into account. Kobus Louw In recent decades, student numbers have risen at higher education institutions in many parts of the world. This has opened doors for students who might have been excluded before. These …
Inflation has affected the UK, US and Europe differently – here’s what this means for interest rates: The Bank of England’s governor has repeatedly warned that it will not cut UK interest rates any time soon, even with a recent sharp fall in consumer price inflation. Like central banks in the US and eurozone, the …
Good Jew, Bad Jew: new book explores why the west views brutality against Ukrainians and Palestinians differently: In a recently published book Steven Friedman, who has written extensively on the political and social aspects of apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, explores the racist underpinnings of the west’s responses to Israel’s war in Gaza. This is …
Greta Thunberg is far from the only neurodivergent climate activist – many who see the world differently also want to change it: Liv Oeian/Shutterstock Amid her calls for governments to act on climate change, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has spoken openly about her Asperger’s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder. She is not the only environmental campaigner …
ChatGPT isn’t the death of homework – just an opportunity for schools to do things differently: Daisy Daisy/Shutterstock ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence (AI) platform launched by research company Open AI, can write an essay in response to a short prompt. It can perform mathematical equations – and show its working. ChatGPT is a generative AI …
Ofsted inspections cause teachers stress and aren’t backed up by strong evidence – things could be done differently: Tijana Simic/Shutterstock The school inspectorate in England, Ofsted, has faced criticism recently following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry. According to her family, Perry’s death was a “direct result” of the pressure resulting from the Ofsted inspection …
State capture in South Africa: time to think differently about redress and recovering the stolen loot: Matshela Koko, former acting group CEO of Eskom, testifies at the state capture commission in 2021. Luba Lesolle/ Gallo Images via Getty Images South Africans are plunged into darkness daily by rolling power cuts. These are a stark reminder …
Children lost one-third of a year’s learning to COVID, new study shows – but we need to think about the problem differently: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock Children’s learning progress has slowed substantially during the pandemic, roughly equating to a loss of around 35% of the typical learning in a school year, according to a new study. …
Energy transitions: why countries respond differently to the same problem: A country’s ability to pursue major energy reforms hinges on the government’s capacity to defuse political opposition. WilfriedB/Shutterstock Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended global energy markets. Sanctions on Russian exports and the suspension of gas deliveries to several European countries sent oil and gas prices …
Just Stop Oil: research shows how activists and politicians talk differently about climate change: The environmental activist group Just Stop Oil has grasped public attention with a series of “art action” stunts targeting famous paintings and buildings with cans of soup and paint. They have climbed motorway gantries, blocking drivers on the M25. Their message …
Elon Musk: how being autistic may make him think differently: Daniel Oberhaus (2018)/Flickr, CC BY-SA The business magnate and new owner of Twitter Elon Musk revealed a while ago that he is autistic. Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, is autistic. Musk, a fellow of the prestigious Royal Society and Time’s 2021 Person of …
The magic of touch: how deafblind people taught us to ‘see’ the world differently during COVID: Toeizuza Thailand/Shutterstock As someone who is severely deaf and completely blind, I felt overnight I had lost a third sense, my sense of touch. To make matters worse, people around me faded away – voices had become so quiet …
Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults – new research: Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock While mask-wearing is no longer required in many locations, it remains in use as a way to limit the spread of COVID-19. One of the criticisms of masks has been that they make communication more difficult. A recent report by …
Ukraine: survey shows British people, and especially Tory voters, feel very differently about some refugees than others: As of late May, in the three months since Russia invaded Ukraine, 6.8 million refugees had fled the war into other countries. The majority, some 3.6 million people, headed to Poland, while another million went to Romania. European …
Socially isolated people have differently wired brains and poorer cognition – new research: People who are isolated from others do worse on cognitive tests. sfam_photo/Shutterstock Why do we get a buzz from being in large groups at festivals, jubilees and other public events? According to the social brain hypothesis, it’s because the human brain specifically …
South Africa in the news: Fourth prestigious award for Corby fruit firm that does things differently: From the outside, Blue Skies looks like any other Corby food production warehouse. But inside, things are done differently. The wellbeing and happiness of the company’s global workforce is at the …: “South Africa” – BingNews New travel changes: …
Heart health: design cities differently and it can help us live longer: By 2050, it is projected that almost 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities, up from 55% today. The fastest urban growth is happening in Asia and Africa, which is also where we’re seeing a rapid rise in people suffering …
Racism in football: new research shows media treats black men differently to white men: On BBC Sport, Match of the Day pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer recently had a conversation about racism in football. Shearer, the white ex-England international striker asked his black ex-teammate Wright: “Do you believe a black guy gets treated differently …