Kipper cream or fish in custard? A century of magazine recipes reveals how Britain’s seafood tastes have narrowed
Walk into a British supermarket and you will see prawns from south-east Asia, salmon from Norway, lobster from Canada and tuna from the Indian Ocean. Seafood is among the most traded foods globally, yet around 80% of the seafood British consumers eat comes from just five species groups: cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns. It’s […]
The 17th-century British scientists who investigated hauntings
Death by Albert Chmielowski (1870) National Museum in Warsaw About 1671, parson Symonds, who officiated at Garsdon church in north Wiltshire in south west England, was riding home late one night when a spectre leapt up behind him. The spectre rode parallel to him until they came to the parsonage, where it jumped off. The […]
Digital natives are buying electric cars as if they were smartphones
Until recently, buying a car meant obsessing over horsepower, transmission types and brand heritage. But step into the market today and the showroom floor looks entirely different. With the aggressive expansion of electric vehicle production and the entry of smartphone giants like Xiaomi and Huawei into the car market, vehicles are rapidly transforming into rolling […]
Phoebe Giannisi’s eco-poetry challenges the idea that humans are separate from nature
For decades, data has told the story of our ecological crisis. Scientists track carbon emissions, map deforestation and log biodiversity loss. Yet data alone cannot make humanity feel the reality of a changing planet. True impact hinges on a shift in language – a vocabulary that dissolves the border between the human and the living […]
What recent polling suggests will happen in the US midterm elections
As the November midterm elections approach, many people in the US are feeling rather pessimistic about their futures. An Economist/YouGov survey in the US completed on October 12 asked how respondents felt about about their futures compared with ten years ago. Altogether, 23% said they were more optimistic, with 48% saying they were more pessimistic. […]
Cannabis is getting stronger, but doubling THC dose doesn’t get you twice as ‘high’ – new study
Wawrzeniecka/Shutterstock.com Cannabis products are getting more potent and easier to buy around the world. Yet little is known about how bigger doses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active ingredient in cannabis, change what people feel. Our new research found that larger doses generally make people feel more high, but not in a straight line. Doubling […]
What medical students learn from talking to care home residents
Care home visits can help medical students develop empathy by encouraging them to listen to older residents and learn about their lives beyond their medical needs. Ground Picture/Shutterstock I was very nervous at the start of the placement because I have always struggled with starting conversations. The idea of speaking with someone much older than […]
Shipwrecks can become thriving reefs, but may contain hidden toxic time bombs
Late last year, scientists in Germany published some remarkable findings on a second world war munitions dump in the Baltic Sea. Some may dismiss the dump as hazardous waste, but to marine biologists it was something far more exciting: a thriving ecosystem. Over the decades, the dump has become home to mussels, crustaceans, fish and […]
Earthly Paradise at the William Morris Museum asks how we can ‘live radically’ inside our homes
Long before Silicon Valley promised frictionless, universal solutions to how we live, people in the UK were re-imagining domestic life and the conditions of living from the ground up. These forms of radical living, whether individual choices or wider movements, were born of dissent, necessity and the desire to live in ways society otherwise sought […]
How Iran carries out violence abroad – from diplomats and assassins to criminal networks
Britain’s prime minister, Andy Burnham, has said the recent suspected terror plot targeting RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire was “almost certainly” directed by Iran. The allegation has centred attention on how Iran projects power beyond its borders. The case comes at a time of rising concern about Iranian-linked activities in the UK. In early October, two […]