In 2018, the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium published a reference genome sequence for bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The landmark achievement was the culmination of a thirteen-year international effort focused on the production of a genome sequence linked to genotypic/phenotypic maps to advance understanding of traits an…
While scholars of hearsay, rumor and conspiracism would point to the history of its staying power (Olmsted, 2009), the spread of misinformation and other problematic information is said to be “supercharged” by contemporary social media (Bounegru et al., 2018; Daniels, 2018). The following examines that thesis through an analysis of the current state of what globally could be called the “m…
‘All right, so here we are in front of the elephants.’ This is the opening sentence of the first video ever uploaded to YouTube.1 What started in 2005 as an online platform for the upload of ‘homemade videos’ and the sharing of ‘ordinary people’s lives’ quickly became the nucleus of an intricate web of audiovisual interactions that reached through and beyond cyberspace. The year 2…
The court of Star Chamber remains notorious even now: commentators sometimes invoke its name to suggest that a judicial body or legal action is not quite lawful, something secretive and illegitimate. The court provoked concern in its own time, too, though its vilification deepened after its death. With roots in the mid fourteenth century, St…
There is a longstanding and well-established regional health divide in England: on average, people in the Northern region of England live two years less than those in the rest of the country. These geographical divides were exacerbated by austerity and feelings of being ‘left behind’ are considered to have contributed to the 2016 Brexit vote and spurred the Cons…
In his 1980 book Language: The Loaded Weapon, Dwight Bolinger decries the number of ‘shamans,’ as he calls them, who comment without authority (and usually without recourse to evidence) on the use of language. The problem, he says, is that ‘they are almost the only people who make the news when language begins to cause trouble, and someone must answer the …
Te Assistant District Attorney glanced down at the papers in his hand and then up at the well-dressed, stockily built man occupying the witness stand. His manner was conciliatory. "According to your testimony, Mr. Clymer, the prisoner, John Sylvester, was honest and reliable, and faithfully performed his duties as confidential clerk," he stated. "Just when was Sylvester in your employ?" "…