news 2015

The Jaguari Reservoir in Brazil. The left side image shows the area on August 3, 2014; the right side image shows the same area on August 16, 2013, before the recent drought began. Credit: NASA. Human-induced climate change plays a clear and significant role in some extreme weather events but understanding the other risks at a local level is also important, say research studies just published.

Bilingual speakers have two minds in one body, new research has revealed. Speaking two languages literally changes the way we see the world, and bilingual speakers think differently to those who only use their native tongue. The new research by Panos Athanasopoulos, Professor of Linguistics and English language at Lancaster University, has found that bilinguals think and behave like two different people, depending on the language context they are operating in.

With the most unpredictable UK general election looming in modern times, how can big data be used to understand how elections are covered by the media? New research by the University of Bristol has for the first time analysed over 130,000 online news articles to find out how the 2012 US presidential election played out in the media.

New analysis of web search data from the run up to the Scottish independence referendum has shown that neither the Vow by the three main Westminster parties, which promised to devolve further powers to Scotland if it voted to stay part of the UK, nor the last TV debate, had any substantial impact on the final voting results.