China opens new Arctic trade route – but obstacles will prevent its wider use

A cargo ship at the Anadyr Sea Port in north-eastern Russia. Andrei Stepanov / Shutterstock Sea Legend, a Chinese shipping line, recently announced it was launching a regular container service between China and Europe via the Arctic. The announcement follows a trial crossing in 2025 that saw a container ship travel from the port of […]

Can baby monitors protect children without data security risks?

Miljan Zivkovic For parents, keeping children safe is not only instinctive but a priority. We babyproof the house, we check the car seat twice, we wake up in the middle of the night at the smallest sound. As technology has evolved, it also offered a promise to help parents watch over our kids even when […]

Classical music lovers can be as fanatical as Swifties – just read their letters

Composer and conducted Leonard Bernstein had a lot of ardent fans. Wikimedia/Canva There is nothing unusual about fans wanting to express their enthusiasm for the celebrities they adore. But there are always a few who take their devotion to unexpected extremes. The musician Taylor Swift received a turtle shell with her face painted on it. […]

The world’s biggest trees could hold the secret to coping with drought

Chui Wui Jing/Shutterstock Rising more than 70 metres above the rainforest canopy, a giant skyscraper of a tropical tree can seem almost invincible. Some have survived centuries of storms, droughts and competition. Large trees face a formidable engineering challenge, lifting water tens of metres from the soil to leaves high above the forest floor. A […]

Lymphatic walking: the social media trend explained

Any type of walking is good for you. Peopleimages/Shutterstock.com Walking is having a wellness makeover on social media. The latest trend, “lymphatic walking”, involves swinging your arms more, maintaining an upright posture and taking deeper breaths while you walk. These actions are said to help move lymph around the body. Its followers claim it can […]

Why the probe into Nigel Farage’s finances didn’t hurt him at the ballot box

Nigel Farage is the latest in a long line of politicians to face questions about his financial affairs. Despite this, the Reform UK leader comfortably avoided a binning by his constituents in the Clacton byelection – albeit in the absence of the main parties. This is perhaps unsurprising. The allegations against Farage include the claim […]

What three female figures in the Bayeux tapestry reveal about medieval women

The Bayeux tapestry is one of the most famous pieces of material culture produced in medieval England. The tapestry is fundamentally important for our understanding of the Norman conquest, telling us what happened and how it was remembered. The embroidery was most probably made by a group of English women, who were famed for their […]