NEW RELEASE

Why Should We Go Nuclear?

Laurence Williams Imperial College London

Nuclear energy is considered controversial, due to threats from large accidents, terrorist activity and nuclear waste storage. But nuclear power important role to combat climate change and move society away from fossil fuels.

ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES

Solving an age-old riddle: Can inertial confinement finally deliver fusion?

Edward Hill Imperial College London
With an ever-increasing energy demand, the world is in need of a powerful and inexhaustible energy source. Nuclear fusion, presenting the additional advantage of being a clean source of energy, is the ideal candidate. Inertial confinement could solve the remaining challenge of producing high enough temperatures and pressures to hold the fusion material together.

Keeping the Lights On

Raphael Heffron Queen Mary University of London
The possibility of the UK exiting the European Union, or Brexit, could have a significant impact on national energy policy and infrastructure. The EU referendum could define whether the UK will meet its Paris COP21 targets, and what energy resources are utilised.

From research leader to technology customer

Adrian Bull & Jon Hyde National Nuclear Laboratory
In the face of climate change, and dwindling, insecure access to fossil fuels, nuclear power is expected to play a key role in the UK's energy strategy over the coming decades. But does it have the skills and capabilities to sustain the development of the nuclear sector after decades of neglect from government and industry?

Brexit: the UK in the departure lounge

Eoin Gahan

If Brexit happens, the UK will not be in a strong position to face global challenges. Lagging in trade openness and innovation, and facing a divergent regulatory environment and declining foreign investment, the UK will struggle to re-negotiate trade deals with global partners. Conversely, as the influence of the EU moves east, increased political coherence could benefit the Euro and EU financial sector.

FRAGILE PLANET

Anthropocene: Rewriting Our Story

Owen Gaffney Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
From the Holocene epoch, a period where the planet was largely governed by the forces of nature, mankind entered the Anthropocene, a less predictable epoch driven by human activities. In this new era, humans are responsible for Earth’s life support system including core components such as biodiversity, the water cycle, and the ozone layer. With many systems flashing red, just recently mankind has started to step up to this challenge.

Why carbon pricing will not succeed

Peter Lang Member of Institution of Engineers Australia
Is ‪climate‬ modelling for carbon pricing based on theoretical assumptions that are unlikely to hold in the real world? The benefits of carbon pricing are highly uncertain, and hence it is likely not the most effective way to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

Fragile States

Caitlin E. Werrell & Francesco Femia Center for Climate and Security
The greatest migration since World War II is under way as refugees flow from Syria to both surrounding countries and Europe. Here we examine the role of climate change with regard to state fragility and migration, and propose three guiding principals for governments to follow when faced with complex and uncertain climate-related threats.

About Angle

Tackling global challenges, one issue at a time. From energy and the environment to economics, development and global health, our expert contributors look at all angles. ANGLE focuses on the intersection of science, policy and politics in an evolving and complex world.

Brought to you from the team at Imperial College's A Global Village.

Most Popular

  1. Bigger, Denser, Faster

    Luis M. A. Bettencourt Santa Fe Institute

  2. Coping with Air Pollution in an Age of Urbanisation

    Marguerite Nyhan Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  3. Fragile States

    Caitlin E. Werrell Center for Climate and Security

  4. Are Pro-Government Political Militias Evidence of a Strong State?

    Roudabeh Kishi University of Sussex

  5. Why Should We Go Nuclear?

    Laurence Williams Imperial College London

HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Research

Reading the Path of Antibiotic Decline in Bacterial DNA

Nicola J Fawcett & Louise J Pankhurst University of Oxford
DNA sequencing is an exciting modern technology, that has vastly improved our ability to treat infections. However antibiotic resistance is a growing problem and DNA sequencing is revealing the challenge we face as bacteria are rapidly evolving resistance to antibiotics.

Living above the Arctic Circle

Ilan Kelman University College London
Climate change affects everyone. For Arctic communities, the unpredictable nature of the changes is having a profound impact on health and entire livelihoods. The Arctic people know they’ll need to adapt to a rapidly changing landscape, one in which dependency on the seasons can no longer be relied upon.

Coping with Air Pollution in an Age of Urbanisation

Marguerite Nyhan Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In order to tackle exposure to air pollution emissions in urban environments, policies should aim to keep people away from the most polluted areas rather than focusing exclusively on containing the root of the pollution itself.

The debt humanity owes the environment

Paolo Vineis Imperial College London
The large extent of our debt with Nature is likely to have important repercussions on our health, including unforeseen impacts such as a rise in hypertension due to increased salinity of rivers and seas. Can synergies or 'co-benefits' arising from efforts to tackle climate change issues such as energy use and transportation also mitigate some of it's health effects?

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NEW RELEASE

The Digital Revolution: Why do you Google?

Andreas Ekström Sydsvenskan

Is there really such a thing as an unbiased search result? While the majority of us rely on Google to provide us with unbiased information, the reality is very different. Behind every algorithm is always a person, a person with a set of personal beliefs that no code can ever completely eradicate. As such, the idea of the unbiased, clean search result is, and is likely to remain, a myth.

A WORLD AT WAR

In the age of terror, are medical ethics a casualty of war?

Scott A. Allen University of California at Riverside School of Medicine, Leonard S. Rubenstein Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights & Phyllis A. Guze University of California at Riverside School of Medicine
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, physicians serving under the direction of United States defense and intelligence agencies have at times been directed to act in ways that explicitly violate established medical ethics. The question is, is it ever acceptable for national security interests to trump ethical obligations?

Are Pro-Government Political Militias Evidence of a Strong State?

Roudabeh Kishi University of Sussex, Ciara Aucoin ACLED & Clionadh Raleigh University of Sussex
The growth of pro-government political militias and unidentified armed groups has traditionally been associated with weak state capacity however, new research suggests this may be a method of institutional management and can be seen as evidence of a strong state rather than a fragile one.
Opinion

Providing Safe Havens for Academics at Risk

Stephen Wordsworth Council for At-Risk Academics
"Where higher education is destroyed and a country’s academics and scientists are killed or scattered, its intellectual capital will be lost and its devastated society will be much harder to re-build".

Videogames and the Future of Ideological Warfare

Marcus Schulzke Department of Politics, University of York
Videogames have emerged as one of the preeminent domains of ideological warfare, forming part of the media strategies of both state military forces and violent non-state actors, including Islamic State. Dr Marcus Schulzke emphasizes the need to understand the role of videogames during times of conflict and their ability to control the narratives surrounding wars.
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