The Conversation

No need to say goodbye to the print book. Amy Johansson/ShutterstockBy Andrew Prescott, King's College London“Analog” and “digital” are the two polar opposites of our modern world. The word “analog” has become our catch-all term for what we see as slow, one-way and limited in functional possibilities; while “digital” is our synonym for the dynamic, interactive and fluid.Analog is old; digital new. Paper has always been the epitome of the analogue: a physical medium which can receive, present and preserve information but otherwise remains static and fixed.

As both a word and an idea, 'medieval' carries centuries of connotation of a murky and brutal pre-scientific age. Swanson Scott/US Fish&Wildlife Service By Louise D'Arcens, University of Wollongong and Clare Monagle, Monash University

Dalibor Levíček, CC BY-NC-SABy Mick Reed, University of New EnglandThe Jack the Ripper murders are the most potent cold case ever. More than a century on from the first killing in 1888 they are still attracting global attention.

Air pollution is harming India's wheat farmers. EPABy Zongbo Shi, University of BirminghamResearchers have long known that man-made climate change will harm yields of important crops, possibly causing problems for the world’s food security. But new research shows air pollution doesn’t just harm crops indirectly through climate change; it seems to harm them directly.

Abraham Lincoln. WikipediaBy Joanna Cohen, Queen Mary University of London

Villa Bajo Flores in Buenos Aires. Roy Maconachie, CC BY-SABy Séverine Deneulin, University of Bath and Roy Maconachie, University of Bath

The IPCC is clear on the dangers of fossil fuels. Pete Markham, CC BY-SABy Simon Buckle, Imperial College London

We should know by now - don't click that link. Bill Buchanan, Author providedBy Bill Buchanan, Edinburgh Napier University A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Computer security relies on a great number of links, hardware, software and something else altogether: you. The greatest threat to information security is actually people. Why strive to defeat encrypted passwords stored in computers, when those computers' human users will turn them over willingly?

Ready, set, type! Maksim Kabakou/ShutterstockBy Sally O'Reilly, The Open University

It's not all bad news for older brains. Credit: ShutterstockBy Angela Gutchess, Brandeis University

When Australian singer and TV personality Mark Holden appeared as a clown recently on Channel 7’s "Dancing with the Stars", his supposedly “bizarre” behavior sparked furious debate and complaints to the network, demonstrating the problematic nature of the clown figure today.The clown has a long history, ranging from the court clowns of ancient Egypt and imperial China, and trickster figures of Native American cultures, through the “sanctioned fool” of Renaissance drama and zanni of the commedia dell arte, to mainstay of the circus in the 19th century.