Expanding awareness: Why we should change our idea of multilingualism
In 2005, Austrian Sign Language was recognised as a language in its own right. From the school year 26/27, it is also to be included in the curricula of grammar schools. It is high time, because children and young people who do not have a perfect command of spoken German are classified as problem cases. Anouschka Foltz from the Department of English Studies at the University of Graz explains why this is the case and how things could be done differently. She is a researcher in the focus area of multilingualism, migration and cultural transformation and co-investigator in research project "Deaf Health and Well-Being Wales" at the Bangor University in Wales, which is funded by the British Government.
Hunga eruption changes the atmosphere: researchers show effects
Less than a week ago, lava began to bubble up from the earth again in Iceland. In Sicily, Mount Etna does not come to rest. The eruption of a volcano can have massive consequences for a region. But its breath can also reach far beyond. During the eruption of Hunga in January 2022, the largest volcanic event of the 21st century to date, an unprecedented amount of water vapour was released into the upper atmosphere. Researchers from the Wegener Center at the University of Graz, in collaboration with colleagues from the USA, have investigated the changes in these high layers of air. They found an exceptional cooling of the stratosphere. This has far-reaching effects on the atmosphere and the climate. The study has recently been published in Communications Earth & Environment.