The Inquiry

How secure is Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership?

11 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Six months into Israel’s war in Gaza and with no sign of a ceasefire or breakthrough in securing the release of the 130 hostages, as yet unaccounte...

Are we close to a breakthrough for Multiple Sclerosis?

04 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease which can lead to loss of mobility and vision. Almost 3 million people worldwide are affected by it....

Is climate change impacting chocolate production?

28 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For centuries chocolate has had a global appeal, the key ingredient of this confectionery is derived from the dried and fully fermented seed of the Th...

Will neighbouring countries follow El Salvador's lead on crime?

21 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In February this year, El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele won re-election with nearly 85% of the vote. His flagship policy after he came to power in...

Is our future underground?

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

More than half of the world’s population currently lives in cities, and by 2050, the UN estimates that figure will rise to nearly 7 in 10 people. Th...

Can Mexico win its battle with US gun companies?

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Mexican government has won its appeal to bring a civil lawsuit against a number of American gun companies. Mexico, which has extremely restrictive...

What’s going on with the pyramids?

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most famous of Egypt’s pyramids, Menkaure’s pyramid on the Giza plateau, is the subject of controversy after the Egyptian authorities a...

Can Europe reverse its falling fertility rates?

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Across the world fertility rates are falling and for the first time Europe is experiencing a sustained population decline. The average fertility rat...

Who will be next to walk on the moon?

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the next two or three years America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA - plans to send a mission into space that will land pe...

Are Ethiopians losing faith in their Orthodox Church?

08 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church - once a powerful marker of nationhood - is deeply split as result of the recent civil war in Tigray which exac...

Can the Vatican stop Nicaragua’s Catholic crackdown?

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After serving nearly a year of his 26 year sentence for treason in a Nicaraguan jail, Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa was flown to Rome in Januar...

What does Iran want?

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After months of tension and hostility in the Middle East over the Gaza-Israel conflict, Iran has publicly stated its desire to avoid a regional confli...

Can Indonesia pull off relocating its capital?

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Indonesia’s ambitious plan to move the administrative headquarters of its capital city from Jakarta to a new location on the island of Borneo, in th...

Why is the US Army struggling to recruit new soldiers?

11 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1973 America ended a draft that had been in effect since before it entered the second World War, and for the last fifty years the US Army, Navy, Ai...

Are orcas OK?

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Something strange started happening in early 2023 in the waters off south-western Europe, where the Mediterranean sea meets the Atlantic ocean. Orcas ...

What’s going on with sargassum seaweed?

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sargassum seaweed was recorded as far back as the 15th century when Christopher Columbus wrote in his expedition diaries about miles and miles and mil...

Has Toyota solved the electric car battery problem?

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Toyota has unveiled a revolutionary electric car battery, able to travel 1,200 kilometres in one go and can be charged in just ten minutes.Toyota’s ...

Is Venezuela about to invade its neighbour?

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tensions between South American neighbours Venezuela and Guyana have ratcheted up a notch in recent weeks over the disputed oil rich region of Essequi...

Is Paris ready for the 2024 Olympics?

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In less than a year, France will play host to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The opening ceremony will be played out along the River Seine in the n...

Have we reached a turning point with migraine medication?

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Around 1 billion people around the world suffer from a mysterious neurological condition called migraine. Far more than just a headache, migraine is a...

Why is Bangladesh in turmoil?

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Bangladesh is set to hold parliamentary elections next January. But only time will tell whether there will be real change at the top or whether the cu...

Is the war in Ukraine at a stalemate?

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The head of Ukraine’s armed forces, General Zaluzhny, has a frank take on his country’s conflict with Russia: "Just like in the First World War, w...

What went wrong with Australia’s Indigenous call for a voice?

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When the Referendum to give Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders greater political rights was first announced, it was well received, w...

What is the Human Cell Atlas?

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Human Cell Atlas is a project that has 3000 researchers in over 94 countries working to collect samples of every single cell in the human body.The...

What can US diplomacy achieve in the Middle East?

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After violence erupted between Hamas and Israel, President Biden flew to Tel Aviv to offer his ‘staunch’ ally US support. In a very public embrace...

Is peace in the Arctic melting?

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Climate change and the war in Ukraine is transforming the geopolitics of the Arctic. Melting ice opens up the possibility of new trade routes making ...

Can Europe solve its migrant crisis?

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Europe’s migration crisis began back in 2015, with the arrival of over a million refugees, the majority from the war in Syria. Many thousands more...

Why can’t Germany build enough homes?

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The German government was elected with a plan to build 400,000 new homes a year – but it fell short last year by over 100,000. The country’s hous...

Can China and India fix their relationship?

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

At the recent BRICS economic summit in South Africa, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping had a rare face-to-face...

Why is life expectancy falling in America?

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The life expectancy of Americans has fallen in recent years after a long period when it had been increasing. There are a number of factors which cont...

What’s next for Palestinian leadership?

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is ageing and his ruling Fatah party is deeply unpopular. There have been protests against him and the Palest...

What’s wrong with our guts?

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How much do you think about your gut? Are you taking a probiotic or prebiotic? If so, you’re not alone as globally we spend billions of dollars on...

Are we alone in the universe?

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In July 2023 a group of lawmakers in the US held a session to explore evidence of extra-terrestrial life. The evidence included the famous Tic Tac vid...

Is work from home working?

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Working from home became the norm for millions of us around the globe during the Covid-19 pandemic, but now three years on some major employers are in...

Can Brazil’s indigenous population save the Amazon?

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

About 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil and it is home to more than 300 indigenous groups. But for centuries both the rainforest and i...

Can we stop oil?

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Environmental activists in the UK have disrupted high profile sporting events in an effort to persuade the government to stop oil development. How wo...

Why is South Africa collapsing?

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

South Africa once had the most abundant and cheap electricity on the continent. Now, it is experiencing power blackouts. It’s called loadshedding, t...

Are weight loss drugs the answer to obesity?

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In June 2023 the British government announced a £40 million pound pilot scheme to increase access to specialist weight management services in England...

Is Venezuela a failed state?

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Venezuela is the country with the largest oil deposits, yet 3 in every 4 Venezuelan lives in extreme poverty. More than 7 million people are recorde...

How can we stop wildfires?

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Canada is in the grip of the worst wildfires in recorded history. Blazes are devouring millions of acres of forest, forcing more than a hundred thous...

Is the global nuclear threat level rising?

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Following the Wagner mutiny in Russia, and with fighting intensifying as Ukraine presses on with its counter-offensive, there’s concern about increa...

Can seawater save Venice from flooding?

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The medieval city of Venice is situated in the heart of a lagoon on the coast of northeast Italy. It was built on a large area of low-lying marshland...

Who will be the next Prime Minister of Thailand?

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Thailand’s recent elections produced a shock result. A popular progressive party called Move Forward won the most seats. But the leader of the gov...

Is it Endgame for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2009 Disney bought Marvel studios and helped transform the company into a movie making powerhouse that brought a new world of superhero stories to ...

Will hydrogen solve our energy needs?

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A fifteen minute test flight of a plane fuelled only by hydrogen was successfully completed over recent months. Trucks are already running on the fuel...

Can Ron DeSantis win the White House?

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ron DeSantis, the governor of the US State of Florida has now declared his republican nomination for the 2024 Presidential Election. He’s the late...

Why are there millions of empty houses in Japan?

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Official figures report that there are more than eight million houses standing empty across Japan, the reality could be even higher. One of the highe...

Is Africa’s Great Green Wall failing?

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Great Green Wall is one of the most ambitious environmental projects ever conceived, creating a vast belt of vegetation spanning Africa by 2030; f...

What does this presidential election mean for Turkey’s future?

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time in his 20 years in power Erdogan is facing serious pressure - and the choice voters make in this month’s presidential election co...

Why is Israel in turmoil?

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last November Israel elected its most far right government in its 75 year history. Months of protests followed over its plans for reform of the judici...

Will AI decide America’s next president?

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Next year Americans will go to the polls to choose their next president. For many, the race has already begun. Digital electioneering in US elections ...

Will Europe’s young workers have to pay more for the old?

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Recent protests in France oppose plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The demonstrations stem from a government plan so people would work...

Will we ever run out of cloud storage?

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Recent cloud storage outages have exposed just how the modern world is reliant on remote servers to hold data that runs everything from websites, to d...

What is Mohammed bin Salman’s vision for Saudi Arabia?

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Saudi Arabia has entered into a new era of relations with its long time rival, Iran. It’s a deal that has the potential to be very significant for ...

Why are Warhol’s Prince works before the US Supreme Court?

30 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1981, the rock photographer Lynn Goldsmith did a photoshoot with an up-and-coming singer songwriter called Prince. A few years later, he became a s...

Will Putin be prosecuted for war crimes in Ukraine?

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. He is accused o...

Why are so many people dying on America’s roads?

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Deaths on American roads are at a 20 year high. More than 46,000 people lost their lives in vehicle collisions last year alone. That’s up a tenth ...

Can Peru sort out its political problems?

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On the 7th December 2022, President Pedro Castillo attempted to dissolve Peru's Congress. His attempted self-coup ended almost as quickly as it began,...

Will there be a united Ireland?

02 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Just over 100 years ago the island of Ireland was partitioned. It created an independent catholic free state in the South and a majority protestant o...

What is Putin’s plan now for Ukraine?

23 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a year since President Putin launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia currently holds areas in the South and East of Ukraine including...

Is everything okay at Facebook?

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The owner of Facebook - Meta - is reinstating Donald Trump’s account after a two-year suspension. The former US president was suspended from Faceboo...

Can Nigeria’s next president fix its problems?

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On 25 February, Nigerians go to the ballot box to vote for their next president. For the first time in a long time, the Incumbent president will not b...

Can the Taliban tackle Afghanistan’s terror problem?

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Following the exit of US forces in 2021, the Taliban rolled back into power almost immediately. They promised that they had learnt from previous mista...

Will international support for Ukraine last?

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Since the start of the war, Ukraine has received more than €115 billion in military, financial and humanitarian aid from countries around the world....

Are we running out of microchips?

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The world is becoming increasingly dependent on advanced microchips to power its high-end technology, However, they are made by just one company in Ta...

Can microbes feed the world?

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A campaign called “ReBoot Food” was launched at the COP27 climate change conference in Egypt, to ask world governments to support a technology cal...

Should other countries adopt Canada's immigration model?

05 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Canada is just one of a number of countries with an ageing population and shrinking workforce. The second largest in the world in terms of land mass, ...

Who is the true Zulu King?

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Misuzulu ka Zwelithini was officially crowned King of the Zulu Nation in October after the death of his father. King Zwelithini died of Covid complic...

Will rising sea levels wipe countries off the map?

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Small island nations are facing an existential threat. It’s predicted that by 2100, Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Maldives and many others will be underwate...

Can digital currency replace the cash system?

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We use digital currency every day whenever we use a credit card, bank online or shop for goods on the internet. We can use our phones as money and tr...

Is it too late to avoid famine in Somalia?

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Somalia is in a state of drought following four failed rainy seasons, and a fifth predicted, with aid agencies declaring the country is in a state of ...

Can a country live on renewable energy alone?

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The International Energy Agency says that the world is in the middle of the first global energy crisis. The price of natural gas has increased almost ...

Will computers put managers out of work?

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When we shop online, we don’t often think about what goes on behind the scenes. Clicking “pay now”, sets in motion a slick, computer-controlled ...

Is China’s economy in trouble?

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Xi Jinping has begun an unprecedented third term as Chinese president, after securing his position at the Communist Party Congress. But key economic d...

Is it time for Britain to return the Rosetta Stone?

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More than 200 years ago French soldiers uncovered a slab of granite in the Nile Delta which became the key to understanding the history of ancient Egy...

Will the protests in Iran bring change?

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Women in Iran have been at the forefront of protests that have swept the country for weeks.More than 200 people have lost their lives, and hundreds of...

Is Putin’s war in Ukraine at a turning point?

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Kerch bridge, a vital supply route for Russian forces in Crimea, has been partially destroyed in a huge blast. It was a symbol of Russia’s annex...

What’s the future of the Commonwealth under King Charles III?

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In his first speech as King, Charles III said he would endeavour to serve his subjects, wherever they live “in the UK, the realms and territories ac...

How can Brazil’s next president unite the country?

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Brazil is voting to elect a new president. On the ballot is the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known almost universally as ...

How close did Iraq come to civil war?

22 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

August 2022. Political tensions in Iraq boil over, and peaceful demonstrations outside the country’s parliament turn violent. The sounds of gun and ...

Why did the French leave Mali?

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Relations between France and Mali have hit a low point, with both countries trading hostile comments in public about what the other is doing. Mali’s...

What next for Imran Khan?

08 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The former Pakistani prime minister, Imran Khan, is facing terrorism charges in Islamabad. He was charged under Pakistan's stringent anti-terrorism la...

Are nations doing enough to combat monkeypox?

01 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Monkeypox is a virus that was first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria in the 1970s. Since then it has appeared around the wo...

Will nuclear fusion solve our energy problems forever?

25 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s nearly a century since it was discovered that the sun and other stars are powered by nuclear fusion. It’s when hydrogen atoms merge to form h...

Can we control the weather?

18 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This summer, countries across the world have experienced extreme weather events. Flash floods have killed people in South Korea, Uganda, Australia an...

Will the US and China go to war over Taiwan?

11 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A recent visit to Taiwan by Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has heightened tensions between the US and China. Their relatio...

Will air travel ever return to normal?

04 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Images of queues, huge piles of luggage and even pilots loading their planes with cargo have plagued the media throughout the world. Airports have bee...

Why did Tunisia turn its back on democracy?

28 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tunisian President Kais Saied has drafted a new constitution for Tunisia that gives him new sweeping powers, including authority over the judiciary an...

What impact has Brexit had on the UK’s economy?

21 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 2016 Britain voted to leave the European Union. There were warnings that pulling away from the largest trade bloc in the world would be damaging t...

Did organic farming cause Sri Lanka’s collapse?

14 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sri Lanka is now in the worst economic crisis they have seen in decades, schools are closed, fuel is in short supply, there are power cuts and a shor...

Has AI developed consciousness?

07 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A software engineer called Blake Lemoine has been suspended from Google after claiming an AI chatbot called LaMDA is a person with wishes and rights t...

Is India becoming too hot to live in?

30 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This year India has experienced its worst heatwave since records began. The heatwave is estimated to have led to dozens of deaths across the region a...

Has the war in Ukraine sparked a global food crisis?

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Each year, Ukraine exports enough food to feed 400 million people around the world. But the Russian invasion has disrupted vital trade routes, trappin...

Is Spotify killing the music industry?

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Not so long ago the music industry was threatened like it had never been before as online piracy tore into the profit margins of record labels the wor...

How do you live to be 100?

09 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There was a time when living to 100 seemed impossible, but not any longer. Can the process of ageing be slowed or even reversed? Do those who have a...

Why did China ban Spider-Man?

02 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ever since Hollywood entered the Chinese market in the early '90s, the importance of Chinese audiences was apparent. Over recent years the Chinese mar...

Is inflation out of control?

26 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Covid-19 pandemic forced countries all over the world to close entire industries and force the majority of people to stay in their own homes where...

How do pandemics end?

19 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After two really difficult years living in the grip of Covid-19, restrictions are winding down and international borders are opening up in countries a...

Will abortion be banned in America?

12 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A leaked document from America’s highest court suggests that it is ready to strike down a 1973 landmark case that made abortion legal across the US....

What’s the truth about Hunter Biden’s laptop?

05 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Three weeks before the 2020 US presidential election a newspaper published contents of a laptop they said belonged to Hunter Biden, son of Joe Biden, ...