According to one recent estimate, more than half of all vaccines against COVID-19 have been reserved for one-seventh of the world’s population. At the time of writing, the UK alone has reportedly secured enough vaccines to give each of its citizens five doses. If orders are met, the EU and US could jab their populations…

Some of the most successful people in history have done their best work in coffee shops. Pablo Picasso, JK Rowling, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, Bob Dylan – whether they’re painters, singer-songwriters, philosophers or writers, people across nations and centuries have tapped into their creativity working away at a table in a café. Of…

A reported spike in travel bookings from the over 70s shows that this demographic should not be overlooked when businesses make plans for recovery, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. Johanna Bonhill-Smith, Travel & Tourism Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Not only is this demographic one of the first to be vaccinated, they are…

As the Veganuary challenge draws to a close, leading data and analytics company GlobalData explores the implications a second record-breaking sign-up will have on categories outside of food and drinks – primarily, the personal and household care sectors. With nearly half (43%) of global consumers heavily influenced by a product’s ethical or sustainable credentials*, and…

According to OkCupid, the pandemic has led to some changes in the way we pursue relationships – including being less willing to date people who hold opposing political views

Michael Plank, University of Canterbury and Shaun Hendy, University of Auckland. With new, more infectious variants of COVID-19 detected around the world, and at New Zealand’s border, the risk of further level 3 or 4 lockdowns is increased if those viruses get into the community. These include a variant called B.1.1.7 that has spread very…

AS I PLAN my family’s holiday road trip in a few weeks’ time, my mind keeps turning to The Oregon Trail. Just like in the game (and the lives of actual early travelers), we’ll be traversing several Western states, dodging deadly illness, and rationing food. But if I’m honest, gamifying my thoughts has been an…

Despite more of the population staying at home as government policies on COVID-19 become stricter, a study has found that a person’s personality influences how likely they are to stay at home during the pandemic – and cannot be entirely overridden. Extroverts…were most likely to break lockdown rules, and stayed at home less than people…

The sociologist Michel Dubois expresses his views on the findings of a survey conducted in late May to assess the public’s perception of scientific research. In France and around the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically focused public attention on the sciences with the mobilisation of researchers playing a decisive role. Called upon by both…

Many feel the coronavirus pandemic has changed not just our everyday lives, but also our inner mental lives. There has been talk of a mental health pandemic, but also of lockdown brain fog when we are awake, as well as reports of more frequent, vivid, and bizarre dreams when we are asleep. We tend to…

We have been following more than 2,000 Queenslanders from their adolescence into adulthood. The aim of the Our Lives study is to investigate how young people think about their future and how they master their trajectories in a world of rapid change and uncertainty. In 2006, our research team began tracking more than 7,000 students…

The term “neutrophils” is little known to the general public, but in fact this family of white blood cells may play a key role in the body’s reaction to Covid-19. “Circulating neutrophils in the blood are the first cells to be recruited in the event of viral intrusion into a tissue. These cells from the…