Some pitfalls of OA discussions – an opinion piece

This is an attempt to vent some frustrations accumulated over 25 years of following – and participating in – OA debates.

Why for COVID but Not for Climate?

This chapter is a reproduction of a previously published opinion piece examining the similarities of the challenges the global community faced during the COVID-19 crisis and the dynamics faced by catastrophic climate change trends. The chapter considers why the global community acted so quickly to address COVID-19 but seems not so pressed to tackle an even greater problem, irreversible climate change. It provides insights on the characteristics of these crises and the reactions of society to them and compares and contrasts these different but similar existential crises. The chapter also contrasts the views of the two authors, who are aged 52 and 20, and their different approaches to the solutions, which may offer insight and clues about how future generations will tackle and strive to resolve the climate crisis.

More harm than good? Cannabis, harm and the misuse of drugs act

Purpose This paper aims to consider the nature of cannabis-related harms under the UK’s Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA). Written for the specific context of this four-paper special section on 50 years of the MDA, it argues that the MDA may cause more harm than it prevents. Design/methodology/approach An opinion piece offering a structured overview of cannabis-related harms under prohibition. It summarises existing evidence of the ways in which prohibition may exacerbate existing – and create new – harms related to the production, distribution, use and control of cannabis. Findings The paper argues that prohibition of cannabis under the MDA may cause more harm than it prevents. Originality/value It has long been argued that the MDA does not accurately or fairly reflect the harms of the substances it prohibits, and much existing research points to different ways in which drug prohibition can itself be harmful. The originality of this paper lies in bringing together these arguments and developing a framework for analysing the contribution of prohibition to drug-related harm.

An opinion on the interpretation of social release in rats

This commentary concerns a controversial animal model in rodent social release research wherein one rat releases another rat from entrapment in a plastic tube. Release from the plastic tube has been proposed as a model to study empathically motivated behaviour. However, empathic motivations have been contested by others who have provided evidence for social reinforcement motivating release behaviour. Furthermore, helping, or other forms of pro-social behaviour could exist independent of empathy or empathetic motivation and the stimuli occasioning this helping behaviour are not known. In addition, there is a dearth in the citations of published studies whose results fail to support this model. In other words, the controversial aspect of the rodent social release model is often overlooked. This controversy is described in the current opinion piece.

Analysing stereotypical food consumption behaviours: ‘This way up?’ Is there really a ‘right’ way to eat a biscuit?

Many of the mundane foods that we eat on an everyday basis are consumed in a manner that may be considered stereotypical, conventional, habitual or, on occasion, even a playful ritual. There are a number of reasons for such behaviours, and the potential benefits for the consumer are discussed in the case of vertically asymmetrical foods where the upper and lower surfaces differ. Maximizing the eye appeal of the food product, maximizing the multisensory flavour experience and the ubiquitous benefits of ritual to the enjoyment of consumption experiences are all put forward as possible explanations for such behaviours in this opinion piece. Ultimately, however, the paucity of empirical evidence concerning the influence of the manner of eating such ubiquitous foods (right way-up or upside-down) on the multisensory tasting experience is highlighted. This is a seemingly important lacuna in the food science literature, given the multiple competing explanations concerning how such experiences might be affected, if at all, that suggest themselves. Looking to the future, it would clearly be of great interest, given the growing global obesity crisis, to understand whether it might be possible to increase sensory enjoyment and/or satiety by the better/optimized design of foods and/or food consumption behaviours.

Homo Philosophicus: Reflections on the Nature and Function of Philosophical Thought

The philosopher is a fundamental mode of existence of the human being, yet it is experienced only by a minority, an elite. Those constitute, among themselves, a subspecies of Homo sapiens that is sometimes dubbed Homo philosophicus. Our goal here is to investigate, in depth, the philosophical foundations of this ontological-anthropological concept. We analyze the concept of the philosopher into three basic components: the thinker, the artist, and the mathematician, arguing that the three fundamentally participate in maintaining the operation of the philosopher machine. The following text can be considered a contribution to metaphilosophy, written as a structured opinion piece, encompassing a series of reflections drawn from the writer’s own experience as a philosopher. The mode of the presentation is a mixture of personal and experimental writing styles, intentionally avoiding the rigid form of overtly analytical and argumentative discussions. Although numerous philosophers will be discussed below, four key figures, Nietzsche, Russell, Heidegger, and Guattari, occupy a special position in our overall opinionated view on the nature of philosophy.

Circuits and Synapses: Hypothesis, Observation, Controversy and Serendipity – An Opinion Piece

More than a century of dedicated research has resulted in what we now know, and what we think we know, about synapses and neural circuits. This piece asks to what extent some of the major advances – both theoretical and practical – have resulted from carefully considered theory, or experimental design: endeavors that aim to address a question, or to refute an existing hypothesis. It also, however, addresses the important part that serendipity and chance have played. There are cases where hypothesis driven research has resulted in important progress. There are also examples where a hypothesis, a model, or even an experimental approach – particularly one that seems to provide welcome simplification – has become so popular that it becomes dogma and stifles advance in other directions. The nervous system rejoices in complexity, which should neither be ignored, nor run from. The emergence of testable “rules” that can simplify our understanding of neuronal circuits has required the collection of large amounts of data that were difficult to obtain. And although those collecting these data have been criticized for not advancing hypotheses while they were “collecting butterflies,” the beauty of the butterflies always enticed us toward further exploration.

A take on early child marriage in Iran

This is an opinion piece on the practice of early child marriage in Iran, with a brief review of the causes and consequences of this practice. This piece critically looks at the blanket policies, such as minimum age at marriage, that criminalise early child marriage and discusses why such policies may do more harm than good when they are not compatible with the social norms of the societies in which they are implemented.

The body healing phenomenon: learning, teaching and living through a pandemic

The COVID-19 lockdown restrictions will likely have had an impact on your daily rituals and routines. Reduced opportunities for much needed collaboration and socialisation may have left you feeling lethargic or overwhelmed (Lavie et al., 2021); it is widely recognised that the issues the pandemic has brought will heighten emotional distress as well as increase risk for psychiatric illness (Pfefferbaum and North, 2020). Whether you are an educator, student, or both, there will have been effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on your practice and performance. In this opinion piece, the phenomenon of body healing is discussed, prompting consideration of this ability to help take back control of our own minds, health and general wellbeing.