How often should you be working at the office? Here’s what the research suggests
IDA ROSLINA/Shutterstock Office attendance from Monday to Friday used to be a pretty standard requirement for many jobs. But plenty of employees have now developed a taste for working from home. And in response, some of their employers have started to tighten the rules on hybrid work. Barclays Bank is one of latest big companies […]
Imagine newsletter: the power of plankton
KyivCityUa/Shutterstock This roundup of The Conversation’s environment coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter, Imagine. In a world without plankton, I wouldn’t get stung by jellyfish when swimming in the sea. But my friend’s fish and chip shop would go bust. There’d be big climate implications too. Plankton, meaning “drifter” in […]
What the US midterms result means for the Ukraine war
The US midterm elections have shifted the balance of power in Congress, delivering a massive blow to Donald Trump and his Republican party. This has implications both at home and possibly abroad, including for US policy towards Ukraine; an issue that was hardly mentioned during the campaigns. But even if Ukraine did not figure much […]
It’s a bumper year for wild mushrooms – here’s what you could find in the woods today
This autumn looks like it could be a good year to spot large numbers of wild mushrooms. Already many can be seen covering tree roots and shady spots. Mushrooms are the part of certain fungi that you see above ground. The rest of it is either underground or within a tree trunk. All mushrooms are […]
Commotio cordis: how a blow to the chest can stop the heart
Automated external defibrillator. Kvava/Shutterstock.com A recent incident during a Spanish Segunda División match between CD Tenerife and FC Andorra resulted in the tragic death of Tenerife player Jesús de Miguel. Although no official statement has confirmed the cause of his death, some reports suggest it could have been commotio cordis. This is a rare but […]
Clothes on the bed, nothing feels right: the psychology behind your seasonal wardrobe meltdown
Have you had a wardrobe meltdown lately? Nicoleta Ionescu/Shutterstock The clocks have gone back, and suddenly getting dressed feels more difficult. The coat you wore constantly last winter is still hanging in the wardrobe, but it no longer looks quite how you remember. The boots you loved in February don’t seem to go with anything, […]
How private schools segregate students by class and strengthen social divisions
arrowsmith2/Shutterstock If you want to see how private schools in the UK can reinforce segregation between children of different social classes, the London Borough of Southwark provides a good example. It has three large private secondary schools, less than in other wealthier London boroughs. When we took a close look at these schools, we found […]
What makes music truly ‘Russian’? The forgotten debate between Tchaikovsky and his star pupil
The St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra brings the great Russian classics to audiences around the world. Quincena Musical-Iñigo Ibáñez / Wikipedia, CC BY What makes a piece of music Russian? A folk tune, a church melody, or simply the fact that the composer was born in Russia? For 19th-century composer Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915), the answer was […]
The Binance hack exploited familiar weaknesses – all organisations should learn from it
Hackers have stolen around US$6.3 billion (£4.7 billion) from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, most of which was taken in under an hour. According to Binance, the attack exploited systems and individuals with the authority to carry out transactions involving such large sums. Such vulnerabilities exist everywhere; statistics show that people and the systems they directly […]
From doctors and teachers to lawyers, every profession has a duty to align with climate goals
NStafeeva/Shutterstock A Dutch family doctor called Tibor Poelmann posted a petition on an online forum for GPs in 2021. He wanted their pension fund to stop investing in oil and gas. It quickly gathered 1,200 signatures. Three years later the fund, which looks after €10 billion (£8.4 billion) for 25,000 doctors, decided to sell all […]