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Academic Insights for the Thinking World

  • The Alexander Mosaic

Genomic insights into the past and future of the black rhinoceros

By Casey McGrath

The iconic African black rhinoceros faces an uncertain future after intense poaching caused a 98% decline in wild populations from 1960 to 1995. The species’ survival within its fragmented natural habitat now relies on dedicated conservation efforts. A study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution reshapes our understanding of the evolutionary and natural history of the black rhinoceros, opening a window into the species’ genetic past while urging us to forge a path toward its conservation.

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The Oxford Comment podcast

A spotlight on Native American language and religion [podcast]

By Steven Filippi and Rachel Havard

On today’s episode of The Oxford Comment, the last for 2023, inspired by the themes in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”, and in celebration of National Native American Heritage Month in the United States, we spotlight two aspects of Native American culture that transcend tribe and nation and have been the recent focus of OUP scholars: language and religious beliefs.

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Title cover of "Understanding Human Time", edited by Kasia M. Jaszczolt, published by Oxford University Press

Flow of time: reality or illusion?

By Kasia M. Jaszczolt

Real time of space-time is one of the dimensions on which we comprehend and describe reality. Time neither flows, nor flies, or drags on; it doesn’t run out and is not a commodity that can be wasted.

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Title cover of "American Tyrannies in the Long Age of Napoleon" by Elizabeth Duquette, part of the Oxford Studies in American Literary History series published by Oxford University Press

Napoleon’s cinematic empire: a fascination with film

By Elizabeth Duquette

Given his decided penchant for spectacle—he crowned himself emperor, after all—there is no reason to be surprised that Napoleon’s empire soon included the cinema, a medium his visual ubiquity made ripe for conquest. To prepare for our newest Napoleon, it is worth looking back on some of his prior celluloid incarnations, some great and others less so.

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Title cover of "The Use of Force against Individuals in War under International Law: A Social Ontological Approach" by Ka Lok Yip, published by Oxford University Press

Catch-22: exploring the escape routes for Gazans

By Ka Lok Yip

Ka Lok Yip examines how the current situation in Gaza powerfully illustrates the danger of relying solely on international humanitarian law to address problems without transforming the underlying structural conditions through jus contra bellum and international human rights law.

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Title cover of "Aesthetic Dimensions of Modern Philosophy" by Andrew Bowie, published by Oxford University Press

The art of philosophy

By Andrew Bowie

The “philosophy of art” in Anglo-American analytical philosophy has had barely any influence on the main epistemological, ethical, and metaphysical concerns of that philosophy.

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Five unexpected things about medical debt

By Luke Messac

100 million Americans hold medical debt which causes people to forgo or be denied necessary medical care. Luke Messac, a historian and physician, looks at five unexpected things about medical debt.

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