You are what you eat. Or is your immune system what you eat? [infographic]
From a recent Animal Frontiers article, we look at the interactions between the immune system and metabolism and how what you eat changes your immune response.
Which book matches your New Year’s resolution? [Quiz]
Are you setting goals for 2023? Check out our quiz for book recommendations based on your resolutions for the new year!
What do we know about the effect of gut microbiome in diet and exercise on brain health?
The gastrointestinal tract is one of the most densely populated microbial habitats on earth, containing more cells than those that make up the human body and 150 times the number of genes than exist within the human genome. An unhealthy gut environment is characterized by a reduction in the diversity of bacteria, leading to gut barrier permeability and the release of endotoxins into the blood stream that negatively impacts the brain.
Social media at a glance: for academics
There are dozens of social media platforms, each with a distinct personality and purpose, so it can be difficult to know which social media platforms are the most useful for academics to engage with. That’s why we’ve put together this how-to guide to help you decide which social media platforms are the best fit for […]
A Winter Breviary: Q&A with poet Rebecca Gayle Howell
A Winter Breviary is a triptych of carols that tells the story of a person walking in the woods on solstice night. This pilgrim—she, he, they—searches for hope, the hope they cannot name, or hear or see. And still, they walk deeper and deeper into the dark.
What’s next for China? Sustainability, technology, and the world’s future
We must re-envision our thinking about China’s rise and its role in the world in terms of two newer issue areas, sustainability and emerging technology.
The predictably grievous harms of Effective Altruism
Over the past decade the philanthropic ideology of Effective Altruism has grown massively both in attracting funds and in influencing young people to try to make as much money as they can and give most of it away. But a series of catastrophic financial hustles in the world of cryptocurrency has brought EA heightened attention and started to expose its dangers.
Funny how it ain’t so funny: casting, Funny Girl, and Broadway’s body issues
Sometimes the meeting of an actor and a role produces a rare kind of alchemy that forever bonds the two… and sometimes the opposite happens. The former occurred when twenty-one-year-old Barbra Streisand was cast as famed comedienne Fanny Brice in the 1964 musical Funny Girl.
Weird Moby-Dick
There are a lot of peculiar phrases in Moby-Dick. My new introduction to the second Oxford World’s Classics edition of Herman Melville’s novel highlights the startling weirdness of the book, both in its literary form and its language.
Inside the genome of the world’s weirdest octopus
The greater argonaut, Argonauta argo, has a reputation for being the world’s weirdest octopus and indeed may be one of the most unusual and mysterious creatures to roam the ocean.
How to identify a scientific fact
When do we have a scientific fact? Scientists, policymakers, and laypersons could all use an answer to this question. But despite its obvious importance, humanity lacks a good answer.
Looking into space: how astronomy and astrophysics are teaching us more than ever before [podcast]
On today’s episode of The Oxford Comment, we’re looking at what these recent discoveries mean to our understanding of the universe. Why should we all know about distant galaxies? How will this learning impact us? And what role will artificial intelligence and machine-learning play in the wider astronomy field in the coming years…
Big, wonderful, difficult questions (and answers) about life in Proust [interactive]
For the 100th anniversary of Marcel Proust’s death, Joshua Landy explores the existential questions posed by “In Search of Lost Time” to show how Proust’s novel connects to our contemporary lives.
A new OUP journal connecting health and infrastructure
This week sees the launch of our new journal, Infrastructure and Health: Big Connections for Wellbeing, or OOIH for short. Humanity strives to and achieves progress through infrastructure. Infrastructure provides the hardware, tools, and services for a connected and functioning planet. Those connections are not just for humans but whole ecosystems. But the world faces challenges […]
Defining “democracy”
One week before the 2022 US midterm elections, President Joseph Biden delivered a prime-time address at Union Station in Washington, DC. Biden suggested that something foundational, fundamental, was at stake. He reminded listeners of the definition of democracy.
Five tips to improve your research culture
With principal investigators facing work, life, mental health and career challenges, time is often a limiting factor. But creating a healthy environment helps all achieve and feel well. A typical principal investigator (PI) must overcome many challenges and has a great deal to learn. The experience was accurately portrayed in a recent Twitter post with the caption […]