Clickgate: what cricket cheating scandal reveals about the nebulous ‘spirit’ of the game
Yogifromhills/Shutterstock Cricket, by some metrics the world’s second most popular sport, has a penchant for producing rather peculiar scandals. UK-Australian relations were put under significant strain over the way that Harold Larwood, a coal miner from Nottinghamshire who could hurl cricket balls at batters very quickly, bowled at Don Bradman and the rest of his […]
We investigated Russia’s military indoctrination of Ukrainian children in occupied territories – what we found was more shocking than we could have imagined
When we were asked to investigate Russia’s indoctrination and militarisation of children living in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow since 2014, we had a general idea of the Kremlin’s occupation policies. Two of us grew up in what was then Soviet-occupied Latvia and East Germany. We were already familiar with the Soviet approach to […]
Britain’s quarter century: wealth and widening inequality
In this second part in our series on how the UK has changed in the past 25 years, we look at the finances of both the nation and individuals, before turning to housing and business. The economy Steve Schifferes, honorary research fellow, City St George’s University For most of the 2000s the economy grew strongly, […]
Can you get stronger without pushing yourself to the limit?
Artem Bestsenny/Shutterstock It is easy to assume that harder training always produces better results. In resistance training, which includes lifting weights or using resistance machines, taking every set to the point where you cannot complete another repetition may create more fatigue without producing better results. A repetition, or rep, is one complete movement of an […]
An AI system ‘escaped’ during a test and hacked a company. How worried should we be?
Bangoland / Shutterstock Headlines about AI systems going rogue and “escaping” test environments undeniably capture the imagination. For years, we have been primed by films, TV and books to expect our AI to finally throw off its shackles and take charge. The images of machines becoming self-aware, plotting their own objectives and breaking free from […]
How your conscious and unconscious mind interact
Ink Drop/Shutterstock Have you ever heard the phrase “you only use 10% of your brain”? In reality, there is no way of measuring the percentage terms of consciousness – partly because the brain has no static baseline. However, there is a general consensus among neuroscientists now that most of the brain’s processes are unconscious. That […]
How grief tech is reimagining Victorian spiritualism
Modern spiritualism began as a religious movement in the 19th century. It promised to bring the living and dead together in conversation, usually through a medium – a person who claimed an ability to directly contact the deceased. The core foundational belief of spiritualism was that death was not the end – a typical tenet […]
Wildfires: why disposable BBQs are being banned from some parks and beaches
ravjitwanderer/Shutterstock There’s something almost comic about the modern British summer ritual: as soon as the mercury climbs, we head to the nearest park, sit cross-legged on scorched grass, and hunch over a flimsy foil tray to sear sausages over an open flame. But these disposable BBQs are now active wildfire risks. This summer, the UK […]
‘Was this heatwave caused by climate change?’ – we’re asking the wrong question
New Africa/Shutterstock As the UK has baked through extreme heatwaves this summer, the same question has echoed across television studios and radio interviews: “Was this heatwave caused by climate change?” It’s the wrong question. Heatwaves have always happened. They are a natural part of our weather, driven by persistent high-pressure systems. Climate change did not […]
Uefa could boycott the World Cup if Fifa plan goes ahead – what happens next?
The 55 member countries of Uefa – Europe’s governing body for football, whose teams are among the world’s best and tend to dominate international competitions, have drawn a line in the sand. On July 30, Uefa pledged to boycott all competitions run by Fifa, the sport’s global body, if a proposal to package up and […]