The dramatic impacts of climate change presage an inevitable surge in mass migration; however, advanced democracies are ill-equipped for this impending crisis. Moreover, we know very little about how publics evaluate this group of prospective migrants, who are estimated to increase from 100 million to 200 million worldwide within decades. This study investigates American attitudes toward climate-related migrants in a conjoint experiment of more than 1,000 US adults, in which respondents evaluated fictional refugee profiles that varied across multiple attributes. Findings reveal that Americans (1) prefer political refugees over climate-related refugees; and (2) prefer climate-related and economic migrants to a similar extent, and that these preferences are not driven by concerns over climate-related refugees’ integration into American society. Subgroup analyses indicate that younger individuals, those with high climate-change anxiety, and those who previously engaged in climate-related political activities discriminated less against climate-related migrants. Analyses of open-ended responses reveal that climate anxiety is a driver of positive evaluations of climate-related migrants.

Roy D. Kotansky* argues in ‘The Star of the Magi: Lore and Science in Ancient Zoroastrianism, the Greek Magical Papyri and St. Matthew’s Gospel’ that the pericope in the M Source regarding the star of Bethlehem reflects Zoroastrian traditions about Magi who divine from a star seen falling to Earth the birth of a coming saviour, who will deliver the world from bondage and inaugurate the blessing of a new millennium. Following Nikos Kokkinos’ chronology for Jesus’ birth, Kotansky argues that the star of Bethlehem is not part of a midrash fulfilling the prophecy that ‘a star shall come forth out of Jacob’ (Num 24.17), but Halley’s comet, which appeared twice (perihelion) in the sky in 12 bce during the rulership of Herod the Great. According to Kotansky, the author of the Gospel of Matthew integrated Zoroastrian interpretations of this astronomical phenomenon with Jewish messianic and Bethlehemic segments such as Mic 5.2 (Matt 2.6). As Kotansky acknowledges, his interpretation results in two Synoptic dates for Jesus’ birth – (1) 12 bce with the appearance of the comet (Matt 2.2, 9, 10), and (2) 6/7 ce at the time of the census by Quirinius (Luke 2.2). This essay explores whether the messianic and Bethlehemic segments of Matthew 2 refer to a lost tradition of the birth of John the Baptist that took place in 12 bce at the time of Halley’s comet, suggesting a separate tradition of Jesus’ birth in 6 ce at the time of the ‘first census’.

There is no scholarly consensus on whether Paul’s mandates on head coverings were directed solely to married women or to all women in the Corinthian community. I suggest the discussion can be tentatively advanced by considering two factors that have not received the attention they warrant in conjunction with this passage: first, the presence of slaves in the community, and second, that the Genesis material which Paul alludes to in these verses was understood in some ancient thought as addressing the institution of marriage rather than creation. I propose that, in view of these considerations, it is more likely that Paul directed his exhortations towards free(d) married women.

This article argues that the current approach of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to evaluating scientific evidence is lacking and hampers its ability to properly handle cases involving questions of science, and particularly environmental cases which are replete with them. It identifies three problem areas in relation to the ECtHR's adjudication of such cases: the evaluation of evidence proving the causation of harm; the extent of the Court's deference to the determinations made by national authorities; and the Court's evaluation of evidence adduced by the respondent State in justifying its conduct as being in line with the standard of due diligence. Several cases that illustrate the recurring problem of the lack of science-based reasoning in the Court's judgments are then identified, highlighting the shortcomings of its approach. Such issues have an impact upon the legitimacy of the ECtHR, and it is therefore imperative that it engages more robustly with scientific evidence. The article suggests the best way to do this would be for the ECtHR to make more use of its power to seek assistance from independent scientific experts in environmental cases.

How do opinion diversity and belief polarisation affect epistemic group decision-making, particularly if decisions must be made without delay and on the basis of permissive evidence? In an agent-based model, we track the consistency of group opinions aggregated through sentence-wise majority voting. Simulations on the model reveal that high opinion diversity, but not polarisation, incurs a significant inconsistency risk. These results indicate that epistemic group decisions based on permissive evidence can be particularly difficult for diverse groups. The results also improve our understanding of what can reasonably be expected of expert groups, and where expert advice might have limits.

Are the existence of God and evil logically compatible? Philosophers have been dwelling on this question since the era of Ancient Greek philosophy. Most responses to this philosophical problem have come from a Western viewpoint. This article aims to answer this question by considering an African cosmological and ethical groundwork. Working conceptually within this cosmology and ethic, we argue that if the evil in the world is understood as a lesser evil, then a good God can plausibly allow evil to happen. This is the case because God preventing evil will lead to a worse state of affairs which will result in a worse world. Allowing a lesser evil is the best possible outcome. We assert that this view offers a better theory than the theodicy defended by some mainstream Western philosophers according to which a greater good is achieved through evil.

The number of clinical studies assessing the effects of time-restricted eating (TRE) has increased in recent years(1). The results of the studies conducted on humans demonstrate some health benefits, however, there is still a need to design larger and longer randomized clinical trials to prove the effectiveness and long-term benefits of these types of interventions(2). However, to ensure these health benefits, individuals need to be able to integrate its principles into their daily routines. This work aimed to associate daily habits with the potential adherence to different TRE protocols and to determine the factors that predict adherence to these protocols.

A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire based on a previous study(3), to assess the dietary and sleeping habits, daily routines and willingness to adhere to different windows of time-restricted eating in a sample of Portuguese adults. To analyze the associations between variables, the Spearman correlation coefficient and the Chi-Square test were calculated, and multiple linear regression was performed to identify the predictive factors. Statistical analysis was conducted on IBM SPSS Statistics version 29.0.

130 responses were obtained (26% men, 74% women) with a mean age of 37.9±13.59 years old. On workdays, 60.0% of participants reported a daily eating window (the period between the first and last caloric intake) of 12h-14h, while on free days the highest percentage (41.5%) was between 10h12h. An inverse correlation was observed between age and willingness to adhere to a TRE protocol if there were health benefits (r=-0.356, p<0.001). Moderate correlations were also found between the availability to follow a TRE protocol on work days (r=0.538) and free days (r=0.598) and the potential health benefits of this type of intervention (p<0.001)). Associations were found between sex and potential adherence to the TRE protocol (χ2=10.644, df=2, p=0.005), with a tendency for more men not to adhere to a TRE protocol. There was also an association between body weight management and reducing the eating window by 1h-2h (χ² =24.883, df=12, p=0.015) and 2h-3h (χ²=22.367, df=12, p=0.034). The living situation, motivation for change, income, weight management, cooking knowledge, and working schedule were among the main factors predicting the willingness to adhere to TRE protocols (p<0.05).

People’s willingness and motivation to adhere to TRE protocols outside the controlled environment of a clinical study depends on several factors. The results presented herein provide information that may be central when considering the translation of study results into nutritional practice and counselling.

World War I was the period during which decolonization dynamics fully played out in the Muslim world, and the postwar international settlement marked a milestone in nation–state formation in the Middle East. Despite the predominant role played by colonial empires, the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 witnessed many previously unrecognized and disempowered nations advancing their goals of independence, resulting in the creation of a radically new international order based on ideas of national sovereignty, self-determination, and global stability. Philip Grobien's Iran at the Paris Peace Conference is a welcome contribution to the scholarship on post–World War I international diplomacy that reassesses the Iranian diplomatic agency in the immediate aftermath of the Great War, reminding us of the importance of non-Western actors in the shaping of the contemporary Middle East.

In this article, I touch on some lexical and morphological aspects of Prasun historical linguistics. I propose six new etymologies for Prasun words that have not been etymologized at all (üžóg “resin”, ćəwā́ “rhubarb”, wulóg “footprint”, žíma “tent, camp”) or differently (wuzógrog, zógrog “knee”, wuẓnúg, wuẓéŋ “salt”), and add further remarks to three words (üzǖ́ etc. “ice; cold”, lümī́, lümǖ́ “tail”, wəs “day”) with whose traditional etymologizations I basically agree. Furthermore, it is argued that the common epenthetic wu- ~ ü- and the final (usually) -u ~ -ü have the same origin and largely go back to the acc.sg.m/n, nom.sg.n *-am of the Indo-Iranian a-stems. Additionally, while the *-ka-suffix is present in all Nuristani languages in various functions, there is a noticeable split between Prasun, where *-ka- is added to many nouns of the inherited basic vocabulary while it is absent in the cognates in the other Nuristani languages.

Insight in psychosis is associated with reduced psychotic symptom severity, less coercive treatment and better functioning. Controversially, it has been suggested that insight may lead to depression, higher suicide risk and worse self-perceived quality of life. Future clinical trials are warranted to address this ‘insight paradox’, particularly the direction of causality.

Angelology is in a renaissance. Yet the angels of new religious movements in general, and the Bahá’í Faith in particular, remain less examined. In response, I offer a typology of Bahá’í angels as avatars of the Holy Spirit, distinct celestial beings, spiritually evolved people, manifestations of God, and carriers and personifications of divine virtue. These five types respectively function to emphasize the authority of divinity, accentuate the mystery of spiritual reality, reconcile spirituality and materialism through the duality of human nature, position prophets as “manifestations” of God in the context of “progressive revelation,” and attempt to make the unknowable God knowable through the transformation of axiology to ontology. Collectively, Bahá’í angels illumine an understanding of religion as a dialogic relationship. Religion is reconceived as an interactional balance of divine will and human agential choice.