It’s the end of May and summer is fast approaching, so whether you will be outside enjoying balmy days and long twilights or staying in air-conditioned comfort, consider reading some of our articles. These Top Picks have been selected by our journal editors from recently published issues and contain cutting-edge scientific research, fresh views on current scholarly debates, and new approaches to education. Enjoy…
Why is Learning Grammar so Stressful?
The English language is delightfully inconsistent. Every grammatical rule seems to be broken on a regular basis, and every helpful mnemonic rhyme has exceptions. Small wonder, then, that language students can find it a difficult language to learn and consider the prospect of speaking in English rather daunting. This article offers an unusual personal perspective of the anxieties facing English-language learners.
Learn more about the issues and stressors facing language students in Indonesia, here.
How is Climate Change Driving Technological Developments?
Climate change is a hugely hot topic at present, and almost every industry is responding with new measures to improve the environment, from the rising emphasis on recycling and carbon footprints to the adoption of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In Ecuador, engineers have been sought to address the issue of climate change by working on new techniques to improve the ozone production of high voltage generators. (Spanish language content)
Discover more about these techniques here.
What are the Effects of Diabetes?
Diabetes affects over 400mn people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and the disease can cause a host of other issues, including heart attacks, blindness, and kidney failure. It is no surprise, therefore, that scientists continue to focus on developing new methods to identify the disease and track the progression of its myriad symptoms. One such new study focuses on periodontitis (a gum infection which can lead to tooth loss) in women.
Read more about this interesting case study here.
How can Academic Writing be Improved?
There are lots of approaches to writing scholarly content. Some researchers want their work to be accessible and easily digestible by non-specialists, so cultivate an informal conversational style. Others adopt a more formal style, with a complex subject-specific lexicon, to give their work gravitas and signal their expertise. One recent study suggests that the use of relative clauses is crucial to giving an academic gloss to a piece of writing.
Find out more about how relative clauses can improve academic content here.
How do Contrast Ratios Impact our Vision?
Digital technologies are a major factor in modern lives, from computers and mobiles to car dashboards and card machines. In fact, it is almost impossible to get through the day without looking at some sort of screen, and these screens are only legible because of carefully calibrated colour contrasts and screen resolutions. Ophthalmologists therefore pay close attention to the impact of these factors on our vision.
Click here to learn more about one recent new study on the impact of colour on visual resolution.
