Articles
Inclusion at a crossroads: Special education in Ireland
Special education in Ireland has changed dramatically in recent years, as policymakers and educators have sought to improve learning for students with additional learning needs and/or disabilities. Following Ireland’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), inclusive education experts Joanne Banks and Michael Shevlin of Trinity College, Dublin, argue that inclusion is at a […]
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Korea’s clean energy shift: Drivers, obstacles, and outcomes
In the wake of the UN’s COP 26 Climate Change Conference, the devastating economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the global energy crisis, governments of varying political persuasions are hoping for a green-led economic recovery – investment in renewable and clean technologies to both create jobs and address climate change. For a case study they should consider South Korea. […]
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The uses of social power in early childhood
Dr Sandra Della Porta from Brock University in Ontario, Canada, investigates the use of social power in early childhood. Her most recent research demonstrates how children’s use and effectiveness of power strategies develops over time, but can also be influenced by birth order. The study involved analysis of naturally occurring family conflict, to ensure complex family dynamics such as parent–child […]
Stem cell-based cartilage regeneration technology
Harnessing the regeneration ability of stem cells, researchers are making strides in the treatment of large cartilage defects of the knee. A collaborative team including Dr Khay-Yong Saw, Dr Reza Ng, Dr Caroline Jee (Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Centre, Malaysia), and Dr Adam Anz (Andrews Research and Education Foundation, Florida, USA) demonstrate the safety and efficacy of peripheral blood stem […]
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Taste and place: How cuisine affects geographical identity
Junfan Lin is a postdoctoral researcher at the Sun Yat-sen University, China. His research interests lie in Chinese cuisine and culinary tourism, where he has helped to rethink Chinese food through a geographical lens. In his research paper, Taste and place of Nanxiong cuisine in South China, he specifically explores the identity of the city, Nanxiong. Through interviews and observation, […]
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Shape-shifting materials: Extreme deformation of particle rafts
How can we bend matter to our will? Folding patterns, as employed in origami, imply severely limited shape-shifting possibilities. These soft materials also need to have the right shape-morphing properties to be useful for their desired application. Professor Ho-Young Kim at Seoul National University has been building and modelling particle rafts – new soft composite interfaces with superior deformability, that […]
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The M-Factor: An experiential learning student competition
How might the format of reality TV shows be adapted to the academic environment to help engineering students develop management skills? That was the aim of a research project devised by Professor Theomary Karamanis, from Cornell University in New York in the United States, and Professor Allan MacKenzie, from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. The findings show that not only […]
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The Story Collider: Communicating the stories of science
The Story Collider is an organisation with a simple yet vital task: to collect and relay stories about science. This task is fundamentally collaborative, involving an assortment of global voices from across every demographic. There are very few lives, after all, which have not been touched in some inexplicable way by the capabilities of modern science. Research Outreach were privileged […]
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Optimisation of truck-drone parcel delivery using GRASP
Parcel delivery has traditionally been handled by trucks, but rapid technological developments in autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles means that drones are now being used to support parcel delivery. Professor Sarab AlMuhaideb and the research team at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, have developed an algorithm that minimises the total delivery time for combined truck and drone delivery. The researchers have […]
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Blood–brain communication: Essential for regulation of autonomic nervous system and optimal health?
Professor Alastair V Ferguson leads an interdisciplinary neuroscience research group at Queens University in Canada, studying the central nervous system with a specific focus on understanding changes in brain function associated with hypertension and obesity. More specifically, the group’s recent studies have focused on understanding how our brain controls many critical variables – including glucose, oxygen, blood pressure and electrolytes […]