War in Ukraine and Climate Change Could Combine to Create a Food Crisis

Russia’s war in Ukraine is squeezing food supplies in countries that depend on those two nations for critical grains and cooking oils. The halt in agricultural shipments out of the Black Sea has sent the price of wheat and fertilizer soaring and prompted growing concerns of a global food crisis. In Turkey, people are scrambling … Read more

‘Stalin-esque’ attitudes hold back engineering powerhouse Ukraine, says American aerospace student in Kyiv

Ukraine could be a space technology superpower but the country is held back by “Stalin-esque” attitudes that treat experts like peasants, says American aerospace engineering student Aaron Harford who chose Ukrainian capital Kyiv for his Ph.D. studies four years ago.  A mid-life divorce prompted Harford, at that time a math professor at Henderson State University … Read more

IT Army of Ukraine: How a team of amateur hackers is striking at Russia

An amateur army of hackers formed by the Ukrainian government is bringing down the websites of Russian government departments and national banks Technology 15 March 2022 By Matthew Sparkes Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, requested help from amateurs to form the IT Army of Ukraine Ukrinform/Shutterstock Thousands of amateur hackers from countries around the … Read more

War in Ukraine Does Not Diminish NATO’s Need to Act on Climate, Report Says

NATO’s role in maintaining security in Europe has never been more critical following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That includes protecting member nations from climate change, according to new analysis from the German Marshall Fund of the United States. In the fund’s latest installment of a series of reports called “NATO in a New Era: Global … Read more

Russia Is Using ‘Digital Repression’ to Suppress Dissent

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, an information war is raging alongside the physical fighting. Russia’s recent attempts to spread disinformation have not yet found great success in the West. Within the country, however, President Vladimir Putin’s regime is controlling the narrative through censorship, state control of media and other forms of digital repression. … Read more

Ukrainians Face Lasting Psychological Wounds from Russian Invasion

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. “Polina came to our bedroom awakened by the sound of explosions. I didn’t know and still don’t know what to tell her. Her eyes today are full of fear and terror; eyes of all of us.” Alina, a … Read more

Food prices: Cutting biofuels could compensate for loss of Ukraine’s grain exports

By Michael Le Page A wheat field in Ukraine Maksym Belchenko/Getty Images The war in Ukraine has already caused food prices to shoot up as global markets anticipate a loss of wheat and maize exports from one of the world’s largest producers of these crops. But Europe and the US could more than compensate for … Read more

Disinformation: How organisations find and debunk fake news about the Ukraine invasion

The war in Ukraine is the subject of much online disinformation and propaganda but fact-checking organisations are tracking down how social media posts spread and debunking them Technology 14 March 2022 By Chris Stokel-Walker Firefighters try to extinguish a fire after a chemical warehouse was hit by Russian shelling near Kalynivka village in Ukraine on … Read more

Russian invasion of Ukraine: How it’s affecting Europe’s space plans

The European Space Agency (ESA) Council will meet on Wednesday and Thursday (March 16 and March 17) in Paris for its 306th session. On the agenda: “Implications of the current geopolitical situation on ESA’s activities.” That situation is the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, which could end up having a significant impact on spaceflight and … Read more

NASA astronaut returning to Earth on Russian spacecraft March 30 despite Ukraine invasion

Geopolitical tensions won’t keep an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts from returning to Earth together as planned this month. NASA’s Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov have long been scheduled to come home from the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on March 30. And that remains the … Read more