The Conversation

A protest against the killing of journalists by the Islamic State. Credit: Mast Irham/EPABy Kevin McDonald, Middlesex University

Dora grows up. Credit: Lisa West Photography, CC BY-NC-NDBy Bruce Fuller, University of California, Berkeley

Ideally lollipops, cookies, sugar-sweetened drinks, potato chips and processed meats will never appear in your shopping cart.  Want to stack the nutrition odds in your favor? The key is good food so here are five things to never let into your shopping trolley: candies, cookies, sugar-sweetened drinks, potato chips and processed meats.Known as discretionary foods, all five are high in either added sugars, saturated fat or salt. Discretionary foods provide calories but not many nutrients.

Critical mass of editors could help solve the puzzle.Credit: bastique, CC BY-SABy Mark Graham, University of Oxford

Eyes – windows on the soul?Credit: Ángelo González, CC BY-SABy Tracy Long-Sutehall, University of Southampton

Soon to be grown for ornamental use only.Credit: Mark Nesbitt and Samuel Delwen, CC BYBy Luc Henry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne

Feeling comfortable in our own skin when it comes to clothes is more complicated than just “being yourself”. Image: Flickr, Maria MorriBy Rosie Findlay, University of Sydney.

The word morality makes people uneasy – but not ethics. What is the basis of a moral education? Credit: Flood G/Flickr, CC BY-NC-NDBy Patrick Stokes, Deakin University

Scientists can be victims of sexual abuse from their peers just as in any institution. Credit: Minerva StudioBy Margaret C. Hardy, The University of QueenslandThe life sciences have come under fire recently with a study published in PLOS ONE that investigated the level of sexual harassment and sexual assault of trainees in academic fieldwork environments.

Different kind of chocolate factory. Credit: Cklaighe/Conversation compositeBy Jordan Gaines Lewis, Penn State College of Medicine

The critical links between water, sanitation, and our global consumption of energy – the “energy-water nexus” are more obvious than ever before. But how many of us will take direct action at the most basic level of all?It turns out that the way we use the toilet has a profound impact not only on our water resources, but is implicated in global energy security and perhaps the future of industrial agriculture as we know it. Flushing a standard WC accounts for around 30% of daily domestic water consumption in developed countries. This water must then be decontaminated before it is released back to the environment – an increasingly vital process of recycling as water stress grows globally.