jorisvo/Shutterstock No one remembers the names of the soldiers who arrested Jesus, or the civil servants who organised his crucifixion. But Judas Iscariot has not been forgotten, and will forever be associated with treachery and betrayal. Part of what makes Judas stand out is his position as a disciple. There is only betrayal if there was some form of loyalty beforehand. And many of us will have felt the cruel sting of being let down by people we trusted – whether it was in politics, in the family, in a workplace, school playground or on a game show. But on a more positive note, plenty of res ..read more

In late 2023 the United States government released its Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA). The NCA is a semi-regular summation of the impacts of climate change upon the U.S. and the fifth assessment was notable for being the first to include a chapter on social systems and justice. Built on decades of social science research on climate change, the fifth NCA contends with two truths that are increasingly being reckoned with in U.S. popular and academic conversations. The first is that climate change has the potential to exacerbate health, social and economic outcomes for Black, Indigenous ..read more

On March 11, 2024, it will be four years since the World Health Organization characterized the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak as a pandemic. And while COVID-19 continues to impact people globally, it is only the most recent in a long history of pandemics with likely origins in animals. Examples include plague, which usually spreads from rodents to humans via infected fleas, and the 2009 H1N1 flu, also known as swine flu due to its origins in pigs. Microscopic view of Yersinia pestis bacteria, which causes bubonic plague, in a flea. (NIAID), CC BY Given the animal origins of past pandemics, as well as the ..read more

Getty Images The headline job loss figures from New Zealand’s university funding crisis are in the public domain: over 100 gone at Otago University, with as many as 250 potentially about to go from Te Herenga Waka–Victoria and Massey. But these are only the losses we know of. Behind the institutional veil, academic and administrative staff are quietly upping sticks for other, more secure working environments. The proffered reasons for the proposed cuts include the loss of international students during the COVID-19 years, a steep reduction in the value of the public subsidy for domestic studen ..read more

SETI has been listening for markers that may indicate alien life -- but is doing so ethical? Donald Giannati via Unsplash We’re only halfway through 2023, and it feels already like the year of alien contact. In February, President Joe Biden gave orders to shoot down three unidentified aerial phenomena – NASA’s title for UFOs. Then, the alleged leaked footage from a Navy pilot of a UFO, and then news of a whistleblower’s report on a possible U.S. government cover-up about UFO research. Most recently, an independent analysis published in June suggests that UFOs might have been collected by a cla ..read more

By training AI models, social scientists could more precisely simulate human behavioural responses in their research. (Shutterstock) With the emergence of advanced AI systems, the way social science research is conducted could change. Social sciences have historically relied on traditional research methods to gain a better understanding of individuals, groups, cultures and their dynamics. Large language models are becoming increasingly capable of imitating human-like responses. As my colleagues and I describe in a recent Science article, this opens up opportunities to test theories on a larger ..read more

It's more necessary than ever before to re-examine the fundamentals of our economic order. (Shutterstock) The economy keeps making headlines for all the wrong reasons — stories about rising prices, supply shortages and a looming recession have been frequently making the front page these days. The current economic crisis is deepening the long-standing issue of social inequality, widening the gap between the rich and poor — a problem that was already accelerated by the Great Recession of 2008 and the economic shock brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The richest country in the world, the U.S ..read more

Higher education did not figure prominently in the election campaign. The biggest issues facing the sector, in particular the arts, humanities and social sciences, could never be fully addressed in six weeks, but the Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASSH) urges the incoming Labor government to act on three issues as a priority. The first is the impacts in Australia’s universities of the former Coalition government’s Job-Ready Graduates Package announced in June 2020. The changes included enormous fee increases for humanities, arts and social science (HASS ..read more

Shutterstock Research is a means to an end. It produces new knowledge that helps to improve welfare. Social science research in particular connects directly to the challenges of less developed countries like Nigeria. It is generally aimed at strengthening policies and practices for economic growth, development and societal welfare. Good social science research has ultimate social relevance. In Nigeria, however, our study shows that research evidence and policies are disconnected. This is due to two main problems. It is evident from past research and our findings too corroborate this. First, th ..read more

Shutterstock What are the three biggest challenges Australia faces in the next five to ten years? What role will the social sciences play in resolving these challenges? The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia asked these questions in a discussion paper earlier this year. The backdrop to this review is cuts to social science disciplines around the country, with teaching taking priority over research. One Group of Eight university, for example, proposes to cut the number of anthropology and sociology staff from nine to one. Positions across the social sciences are to be reclassified from ..read more