news 2015

Religious relics are to become the subject of a new research initiative launching today at Keble College's Advanced Studies Centre (ASC). Ancient Christian relics are objects that survive from ancient times, often associated with a saint's body or their belongings, and usually kept as objects of historical interest or spiritual devotion.

Islamist insurgency has had a strong effect on where polio cases occur since 2011, potentially as a reaction to the use of counterinsurgency strategies, according to new research led by UCL. In research published today in the open access journal Globalization and Health, lead author Dr Jonathan Kennedy (UCL Political Science) and colleagues from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Cambridge University (Professor Lawrence King) analysed cross-national data for the period 2003-14.

A study has revealed that non-believers assume that people who go to church or other places of worship are 'close minded', and they would find this personality trait more off-putting in a partner than their religious views. In two studies researchers created a number of dating profiles for both religious and non-religious individuals and asked volunteers from a range of religious and non-religious backgrounds to rate them for attractiveness.

Analysis of a latrine in Jerusalem that dates back over 500 years finds human parasites common in northern Europe yet very rare in Middle East at the time, suggesting long-distance trade or pilgrimage routes and shedding light on prevalent infectious diseases of the age. Jerusalem's importance to Christians in medieval Europe made it a key destination for both pilgrimage and trade.

Headlines and policy initiatives need to move away from using 'religion' as a way of explaining many terrorist attacks, research has shown. A Senior Research Associate at Lancaster is proposing a new analytical model in the study of terrorism which gives more informed answers to the 'why' questions that surround terrorist attacks.