How to give children the freedom to play all across the city – not just in playgrounds: Co-created play space with children and the community, Via Val Lagarina Milan. Milan municipality Children play everywhere. Yet their right to play – protected by a UN convention – is constantly challenged by adults. Play is crucial to …
Small towns are growing fast across Ghana – but environmental planning isn’t keeping up: Africa’s urban future will be shaped not only by large cities and capitals but also by its many small and medium-sized towns. Large capital cities are no longer the hotspots of rapid urban growth. According to the United Nations Human Settlements …
Lobbying in ‘forever chemicals’ industry is rife across Europe – the inside story of our investigation: Forever chemical or PFAS contamination is widespread, but so too are lobbying efforts. Melnikov Dmitriy/Shutterstock A team of academic researchers, lawyers and journalists from 16 European countries has exposed a huge lobbying campaign aimed at gutting a proposed EU-wide …
Microsoft-CrowdStrike outage: how a single software update was able to cause IT chaos across the globe: The world as we know it increasingly relies on digital connectivity that, for the most part, works quietly and invisibly in the background. So how did a single software update bring down half the internet? The global IT outage …
Climate change may be fuelling a resurgence of piracy across Africa: In the churning waters off Nigeria, armed pirates in small skiffs speed towards a cargo ship. They clamber aboard, seizing control of the vessel and its valuable cargo. This isn’t a scene from a swashbuckling film; it’s a stark reality for seafarers in many …
Can seabirds hear their way across the ocean? Our research suggests so: Wandering albatrosses can cover huge distances in a single trip. MZPhoto.cz/Shutterstock Animals cover astonishing distances when they are looking for food. While caribou, reindeer and wolves clock up impressive mileage on land, seabirds are unrivalled in their travelling distances. Arctic terns travel from …
Digital platforms like TikTok could help China extend its censorship regime across borders: Primakov / Shutterstock China’s drive to expand its influence through soft power mechanisms like censorship is coming into sharper focus, especially under Xi Jinping’s leadership. Recently, the social media app TikTok has become a prominent symbol of this global strategy. The platform …
Kherson one year on: a city bereft of its younger residents and still bombarded by Russian forces across the river: It is a year now since Ukrainian forces liberated Kherson. I knew it before the war as a polyglot and bustling port city (if still determinedly Soviet in feel) sitting largely on the western (right) …
Football fans fighting food poverty: how a ‘lifesaving’ mobile pantry scheme spread across the country: Volunteers load up a van with food for the next 'mobile pantry'. @SFoodbanks It’s 9am in December on Tiber Square, a community space at the centre of one of Liverpool’s most diverse postcodes. The temperature is -5°C. Braving the cold, …
How animal traits have shaped the journey of species across the globe: The devastating tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011 set off a series of events which have long fascinated scientists like me. It was so powerful that it caused 5 million tonnes of debris to wash into the Pacific – 1.5 million tonnes …
How weather ‘blocks’ have triggered more extreme heatwaves and floods across Europe: On several occasions this summer, Europe’s weather seemed to get itself stuck, leading to prolonged heatwaves and floods. In the UK, a long hot and dry spell throughout May and June gave way to a similarly persistent cool and wet period. In September, …
Greece’s record rainfall and flash floods are part of a trend – across the Mediterranean, the weather is becoming more dangerous: Recent images of the devastating flash floods caused by Storm Daniel in Greece hit close to home literally and figuratively. As a Greek who has completed a PhD and worked for the past eight …
Birmingham’s bankruptcy is only the tip of the iceberg – local authorities across England are at risk: The city of Birmingham has issued what is known as a section 114 notice. This signals that the council is unable to balance its budget, due to lack of financial resources. That the largest local authority in Europe …
Ukraine recap: bridgehead across the Dnipro river a key objective as Kyiv works to maintain solidarity among allies: Google the words “Ukraine counteroffensive” and the adverb you will most commonly find associated with them is “slowly”. The popular misconception in the months leading up to the launch of Ukraine’s summer push was that, like last …
Hip-hop at 50: how the sights, sounds and moves of the music spread across the world: Rapper's Delight was one of the first hip-hop tracks ever released. Granamour Weems Collection/Alamy On August 11 1973, DJ Kool Herc and his sister Cindy threw the now legendary Back To School jam in the recreation room of 1520 …
The Atlantic is at risk of circulation collapse – it would mean even greater climate chaos across Europe: andrejs polivanovs / shutterstock Amid news of lethal heatwaves across the Northern Hemisphere comes the daunting prospect of a climate disaster on an altogether grander scale. New findings published in Nature Communications suggest the Atlantic meridional overturning …
Kiswahili: how a standard version of the east African language was formed – and spread across the world: Jasmin Merdan/Getty Images Kiswahili originated in east Africa, spreading around the continent and the globe. It’s been adopted as a working language at the African Union and there’s a push for it to become Africa’s lingua franca …
Powering the Future: AATF highlights tech solutions across Africa: Powering the Future: AATF highlights tech solutions across Africa Noting a 17% increase in unique attendees compared to the previous Africa Automation Technology Fair (AATF) event, Carol Weaving, Managing Director at RX Africa says the theme “For Africa from Africa” with transformation of the electricity sector …