On May 21, 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (the Tribunal) delivered a unanimous advisory opinion on the Request submitted to the Tribunal by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law. This was the first advisory opinion on climate change obligations issued by an international judicial body, and the first of three anticipated advisory opinions on climate change obligations from international judicial bodies. The request had been submitted on December 12, 2022 by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (COSIS). Two questions on obligations of states parties under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) were posed in the request: (1) what are the specific obligations to prevent, reduce, and control pollution of the marine environment in relation to the deleterious effects that result, or are likely to result, from climate change and ocean acidification, which are caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere; and (2) what are the specific obligations to protect and preserve the marine environment in relation to climate change impacts and ocean acidification. A total of 34 states parties to UNCLOS and nine intergovernmental organizations submitted statements, and 33 states parties and four intergovernmental organizations made statements during the oral proceedings.

Edition with translation of a Sumerian liturgical fragment kept today in Birmingham City Museum. Three such fragments were edited in a previous article (Iraq 85). The fourth fragment tells us a dramatic story of Dumuzi in the steppe, which, thanks to the help of loving women and of the gods Utu and Nanna, finds a happy end.

Portable MRI (pMRI) technology, which promises to transform brain imaging research by facilitating scanning in new geographic areas and the participation of new, diverse populations, raises many ethical, legal, and societal issues (ELSI). To understand this emerging pMRI ELSI landscape, we surveyed expert stakeholder views on ELSI challenges and solutions associated with pMRI research.

In his latest article, ‘African universities and the challenge of postcolonial development’, Jeremiah O. Arowosegbe argues convincingly that public universities in Africa are in crisis, and that this crisis reflects the failure of postcolonial states to build the societies promised by anti-colonial liberation. He is certainly correct that the political economy of higher education (HE) in postcolonial Africa is a much-neglected topic, and his article is even more welcome for that reason. As a scholar with an extensive career in Nigerian public universities, Arowosegbe has also undertaken research fellowships in Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa and the USA. Now he finds himself at the University of Leeds in the UK. He has experienced much from within and reflected deeply from afar on the state of universities in Nigeria and across the continent. His article is a serious work of reflection and scholarship, crafted and refined over years of engagement. Therefore, his serious charges on the state of the universities in Africa cannot be dismissed lightly.

In the mid-twentieth century, a contest played out between evangelicals and mainline Protestant denominations over which organizations would have access to the radio airwaves and whose message, including whose theology, would receive the widest hearing. While networks favored the mainline denominations, a host of independent evangelical stations and the National Association of Evangelicals’ broadcast arm countered the impression that network religion represented American religion more generally. Against this backdrop, the Atlanta-based Protestant Hour radio show, which began as one station in 1945 but boasted 600 participating stations by 1963, sounded a liberal theology that promoted the liberalization of Protestantism throughout its largely southern listening area. Building on Gary Dorrien’s characterization of liberal theology, this essay shows how the theology of three preachers who frequently appeared on the show—Methodist Robert E. Goodrich, Jr., Presbyterian John A. Redhead, and Lutheran Edmund Steimle—presented this liberalism and echoed such evangelical elements as a heightened Christocentricity, repeated reference to the Bible, and personal appeal. Despite the later decline of mainline Protestantism, a type of evangelical liberalism in the 1950s and early 1960s attracted numerous radio listeners in the south contrary to the stereotype of southerners as fundamentalists who embraced a conservative theology.

Investigations of stable carbon isotope composition in α-cellulose extracted from tree rings of pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) growing in the unpolluted Suwałki region, northeastern part of Poland, are undertaken. The presented carbon isotope record covers the period of 1931–2003. Values of δ13C measured in the tree ring α-cellulose are compared to meteorological data. These δ13C values in tree ring cellulose respond to summer temperature, insolation, relative humidity, and precipitation. The best correlation is observed between relative humidity and carbon isotope data. The August relative humidity is found more influential on δ13C values than relative humidity for any other month or combination of months (r = –0.65). Relations between isotopic and meteorological data demonstrate that precipitation influences the stable carbon isotopic ratios to a lower extent than humidity. The intensity and duration of summer rainfall events can determine this effect. The temporal stability of climate-proxy connections is an important issue in paleoclimatic reconstruction. Therefore, the temporal stability of climatic signals recorded by stable carbon isotopes is analyzed in this research using the moving correlation function for moving intervals with a 25-year window. Based on those investigations the highest time stability of correlation was found for the carbon isotope and the August relative humidity. More variability is observed for the correlation of δ13C values with precipitation.