Do you want to stay up-to-date on the latest innovations and research in your field? Our Top Picks are curated by our journal editors to bring you the best in Open Access research, with this month’s carefully selected articles exploring issues around foreign and national policies, women’s reproductive health, digital communities, and the potentially healing powers of nature.
1. How Can Governments Make the Most of Foreign Direct Investment?
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has long been viewed as a controversial intergovernmental policy, as opposing sides debate its role in exacerbating hierarchies of dependence between the Global North and Global South. However, supporters of the fiscal policy often point to its wider benefits for the development of a nation’s infrastructure, social welfare systems, and economic health. These debates continue to be fueled by the fluctuating outcomes of FDI implementation across different countries, with some populations flourishing through these policies while others sink deeper in poverty, corruption, and social decline. In this article, scholars work to identify the potential causes of these inconsistent results by assessing the social, political, and fiscal prerequisites needed to support FDI policies in the ASEAN region.
Discover the findings based on data from 10 ASEAN countries here.
2. Can Orchid Root Help Cure PCOS?
Women’s reproductive health seems to have an air of mystery surrounding it. Many studies have recently begun to bring to light the relative neglect Western medical systems have historically demonstrated towards women’s health, as many ailments affecting women’s lifestyles continue to go untreated and widely misdiagnosed. One of the most common illnesses fitting this description is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal disorder that causes infertility, pain, and general discomfort, affecting the lives of women across the globe. Growing skepticism towards the reliability of some Western medical practices have pushed many women in the Global North to seek treatment through more traditional medical practices, relying on herbal and natural remedies to help cure their health issues and ease their symptoms.
This study explores the potential healing powers of one particular flower, the orchid, in curing the symptoms of PCOS in women.
3. Can The Sun Protect Us from COVID-19?
Although the worst of COVID-19’s legacy seems to be largely forgotten across mainstream media, many cases continue to impact the lives of people today. Researchers continue to work tirelessly to perfect vaccinations, mitigate the spread of mutated strains, and protect infected patients from the worst of its symptoms: death. Most recent studies have begun to explore the role vitamin D could play in supporting the recovery of patients in dire states.
Learn more about how vitamin D could help protect us from the worst of COVID-19’s outcomes here.
4. Can We Really Buy Our Happiness?
Happiness has always been one of life’s most subjective notions. Some believe that happiness is a mindset that one must simply tap into, while others believe that happiness can only be achieved by more tangible means, whether through our relationships with others, nature, or our wallets. While “money can’t buy happiness” is a saying that we often hear, many do question whether financial stability and prosperity does, in fact, play a major factor in a community’s overall emotional wellbeing. Social scientists in this article take this question further by delving into the ‘Economics of Happiness’, analysing the relationship between the national economic development of countries and the overall happiness of their populations.
Explore their findings and uncover the potential truth behind living a happy life here.
5. The Meme: How Did this Internet Phenomenon Come to Be?
With the development of social media and digital literacy came the generation of memes: images, videos, and ideas that are designed to relate to social and cultural phenomena. Memes are humourous in nature, often connecting members of different digital communities together through a shared relatable moment, situation, or emotion. While inherently lighthearted in nature, memes have become a major point of interest for researchers looking to understand social media literacy, digital communities, and youth culture. Scholars in this study seek to uncover the faces behind the memes, looking to identify the motivations behind creating a meme and the dynamics that govern its circulation.
Learn more about the personalities and ambitions of two ‘memeifiers’ in this qualitative study.
More from the KnE Blog
