Ear seeds: what are they and why have they been controversially linked to ME without scientific evidence?: Research into CFS has been chronically underfunded in the US and UK Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images When Giselle Boxer recently pitched her brand of a needle-free form of acupuncture known as “ear seeds” to the investors …
Why 150,000 public sector workers in Northern Ireland have been on strike: An estimated 150,000 public sector workers in Northern Ireland went on strike on January 16 as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. The strike, which involved workers from 16 trade unions, was the largest in more than 50 years. Official …
Young people took up smoking during the pandemic – how tobacco has been used for stress relief for more than a century: Lomb/Shutterstock In the UK and much of the west, smoking rates have consistently declined since the turn of the millennium. But during some of the most anxiety-ridden months of the COVID pandemic in …
Why Russia and China have been added to Republicans’ new ‘axis of evil’: Former US president George W Bush’s concept of an “axis of evil”, introduced in his 2002 State of the Union address, came to define the flawed foreign policy decisions of his years in power. He used it to legitimise both the invasion …
Grenfell should have been a wake-up call – but the UK still doesn’t take fire safety seriously because of who is most at risk: In March 2023, a fire in Tower Hamlets, east London, claimed the life of Mizanur Rahman, a 41-year-old father-of-two from Bangladesh. Five fire engines and 35 firefighters attended the call to …
Billions have been raised to restore forests, with little success. Here’s the missing ingredient: Yaroslav Astakhov/Shutterstock Protecting and restoring forests is one of the cheapest and most effective options for mitigating the carbon emissions heating Earth. Since the third UN climate change summit, held in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, different mechanisms have been trialled to …
Being child-free has been deemed ‘selfish’ for decades – the history of this misconception explained: Waiting By The Window by Carl Holsøe. Wiki Commons Choosing to be child-free is more common than ever before in some countries, including the US. Many people see not having children an ethical and ecological choice, made to protect the …
Honeybees cluster together when it’s cold – but we’ve been completely wrong about why: Smit/Shutterstock Honeybees in man-made hives may have been suffering the cold unnecessarily for over a century because commercial hive designs are based on erroneous science, my new research shows. For 119 years, a belief that the way honeybees cluster together gives …
Malaria: two groundbreaking vaccines have been developed, but access and rollout are still big stumbling blocks: The approval of two malaria vaccines – the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine in 2021 and the R21/Matrix-MTM vaccine in 2023 – will help control, and eventually help eradicate, a disease that causes more than 600,000 deaths annually. Nearly 2 million children …
China: why there has been a sudden ‘surge’ of antisemitism in the People’s Republic: During the conflict between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, many nations have tried to maintain a neutral stance by not explicitly supporting either side. But despite attempts at balanced commentaries at the top of business and politics, there has been evidence …
Mounjaro has been authorised for weight loss in the UK – here’s how it compares to Wegovy: Mounjaro has already been approved in the UK to manage type 2 diabetes. Mohammed_Al_Ali/ Shutterstock The type 2 diabetes drug tirzepatide (better known by its brand name Mounjaro) has recently been authorised by the UK’s medicines regulation authority …
‘Conversion therapy’: UK government kicks ban down the road – and there’s a major problem with what’s been proposed so far: Motortion Films/Shutterstock For the first time in four years, the king’s (or queen’s) speech has left out a promise to ban so-called “conversion therapy”. This widely discredited set of practices aims to “cure” LGBTQ+ …
Decontaminating Fukushima: have the billions spent been worth it?: The Chernobyl and (to a lesser extent) Fukushima nuclear accidents contaminated large areas of land with low-level radioactivity. After both accidents, huge efforts were taken to decontaminate the affected areas. But a recent study at Fukushima raises doubts about whether these decontamination efforts were worthwhile. Less …
Four reasons why western companies have been ‘trapped’ in Russia since it invaded Ukraine: Public pressure for greater sanctions on Russia also affects western companies that have not yet left the country. Sandor Szmutko/Shutterstock More than 600 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, over 1,400 international companies are still operating in Russia. Only a small percentage …
Only 1% of chemical compounds have been discovered – here’s how we search for others that could change the world: Garsya/Shutterstock The universe is flooded with billions of chemicals, each a tiny pinprick of potential. And we’ve only identified 1% of them. Scientists believe undiscovered chemical compounds could help remove greenhouse gases, or trigger a …
Gaza has been blockaded for 16 years – here’s what a ‘complete siege’ and invasion could mean for vital supplies: After 56 years of occupation and a 16-year blockade, the Gaza Strip (Gaza) is now subjected to what Israel’s defence minister described as a “complete siege”. Water, food, energy and fuel supplies have been severed …
Disney films have always been musical – even in the silent era: Disney is celebrating its 100th birthday this month. It’s hard to imagine the studio enjoying such longevity without its strong musical legacy. Songs from recent Disney films, such as We Don’t Talk About Bruno from Encanto (2021) or Let It Go from Frozen …
If the first solar entrepreneur hadn’t been kidnapped, would fossil fuels have dominated the 20th century the way they did?: George Cove stands next to his third solar array. Popular Electricity Magazine, April 1910 / Low Tech Magazine One argument put forward in defence of fossil fuels is that they were a historical necessity, because …