In depth Archives

What my 20 years in Afghanistan taught me about the Taliban – and how the west consistently underestimates them

The author has an evening cuppa while searching for a lost convoy of medical supplies – in remote Zibok district (1996). © Sippi Azarbaijani Moghaddam, Author provided Sippi Azarbaijani Moghaddam, University of St Andrews It was April 1995, and I was preparing to travel to Afghanistan for my first volunteer post with a UK charity. I had travelled to London …

Flesh-eating bugs: new research shows how carrion beetles turn death into life

A female burying beetle caring for her brood. Oliver Krueger Tancredi Caruso, University College Dublin It was Halloween and the discussion had inevitably turned to death – and flesh-eating zombies. I had just finished lunch at a “research away day” when I got caught up in a conversation about carrion beetles with a new colleague of mine, Sheena Cotter. The …

For a sustainable future, we need to reconnect with what we’re eating – and each other

Jakob Fischer/Shutterstock.com Anna Davies, Trinity College Dublin; Agnese Cretella, Trinity College Dublin; Monika Rut, Trinity College Dublin; Stephen Mackenzie, Trinity College Dublin, and Vivien Franck, Trinity College Dublin Eating alone, once considered an oddity, has become commonplace for many across the Western world. Fast food chains are promoting eating on the go or “al desko”. Why waste time in your …

Climate crisis: how museums could inspire radical action

The Gallery of Ecological Art (formerly China gallery) at the British Museum of Decolonised Nature. Image courtesy John Zhang and Studio JZ, Author provided Colin Sterling, UCL and Rodney Harrison, UCL When Victorian tea-merchant Frederick Horniman was looking to build a new home for his extensive collection of natural and cultural artefacts, his own back garden offered the perfect spot. …