What an ancient volcanic eruption teaches us about resilience today
Mike Fuchslocher/Shutterstock When a massive environmental disaster strikes, do societies simply collapse and disappear? Or do people find a way to adapt, rebuild and recover? As a researcher studying ancient societies and their environments, these aren’t just academic questions to me – they can also offer useful perspectives on our own climate-threatened future. To understand […]
A record-breaking El Niño is still developing – likely bringing a cold winter to the UK
The UK could be in for a wet and stormy autumn followed by a colder, calmer winter – and an unusually powerful El Niño may be partly responsible. El Niño is a natural climate pattern in the tropical Pacific, but its effects can be felt around the world. This year’s event is already the strongest […]
Her Son’s Wife by Dorothy Canfield Fisher finds profound meaning and emotion in domestic life
UK publisher Persephone Books are continuing to reintroduce “lost” 20th century novels by women to the 21st century, featuring what they term “domestic feminism”. Coined by Persephone founder Nicola Beauman, domestic feminism acknowledges how significant the home is to human life while rejecting the assumption that it “justified a woman’s whole existence”. In her 1983 […]
A drug can make children with the most common form of dwarfism taller – but height isn’t the same as a better life
pixelaway/Shutterstock A drug that helps children with the most common form of dwarfism grow taller has sparked an ethical debate within the dwarfism community. Some parents hope that as well as increasing size, it will prevent serious health complications and improve their children’s independence. But critics worry that a treatment focused on increasing height sends […]
A crackdown on online shopping tricks is welcome, but doesn’t go far enough
ViDI Studio/Shutterstock Hurry! Only two left! Fourteen people bought this in the last hour! Fifty people are looking at this item! Anyone who shops online will be familiar with these kinds of messages popping up on their screen. The online equivalent of a pushy salesperson, they are designed to create a sense of urgency around […]
Doing a short cardio session after weight training probably won’t boost your gains – here’s why
Ljupco Smokovski/ Shutterstock Spend long enough on fitness social media and you’ll see the same tip. Finish every weight training session with about 15 minutes of cardio to boost your “gains”. But does it actually work? Probably not as much as you’d think. Doing cardio and weight training in the same exercise programme is known […]
Can AI help ‘humanise’ museums? New report reminds us why art matters in a changing world
The cover of a new report on AI from a US museum thinktank restyles the Sistine Chapel’s Creation of Adam, with the hand of God replaced by a Terminator-style robotic one. So far so obvious. In Remuseum’s Five Ways AI Can Humanise Museums, AI has presumably replaced God as the enabler of all things. But […]
Winter of the Crow: this taut escape thriller explores life under martial law in cold war Poland
It’s surely no surprise that amid today’s geopolitical turmoil, filmmakers are turning to the events of the cold war for inspiration. A flurry of productions set in the 1980s have been released just this year. See, for instance, The Brink of War, a political drama focused on the 1986 summit at Reykjavik between Ronald Reagan […]
French school protests: a rite of passage – and the result of genuine concerns
Students protest in Paris, October 6 2026. Pierre Laborde/Shutterstock Across France, school students have taken to the streets to protest about teacher shortages, dilapidated school buildings and long school days. While the tradition of student protest has long roots in France, the country’s current fiscal crisis combined with entrenched structural problems with teacher recruitment, sickness […]
Early flu season: why you should get your jab sooner this year
Studio Romantic/Shutterstock.com Data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows more flu activity in September than in the same month of the past four years. However, flu is still circulating at relatively low levels in the community. If cases continue to rise over the coming weeks, this would suggest the flu season is starting […]