Ukraine war: five issues that could help kickstart peace talks as European leaders head to Kyiv: As the leaders of France, Germany and Italy arrive in Kyiv and the EU prepares to rule on Ukraine’s status as an EU candidate, there is renewed focus on what the country’s western neighbours see as the quickest and …
Five books to read while in the Derbyshire countryside: Lukasz Pajor/Shuttertsock The Derbyshire countryside, in England’s East Midlands, is a region that has inspired writers – both classic and contemporary. The juxtaposition of rolling hills, stark moorland and craggy summits play backdrop to numerous novels in a variety of genres. The area is easily reached …
Five of the world’s tiniest robots: The RoboFly University of Washington Allow me to take you on a trip down my memory lane. As a young lad, a film I saw captured my imagination: Fantastic Voyage, a 1966 release about people shrunk to microscopic size and sent into the body of an injured scientist to …
Grenfell Tower: finally, the worst type of cladding is to be banned, five years on: Residents have long bemoaned measures taken to make buildings look better, but not safer. Ajit Wick | Shutterstock Five years after 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire, which broke out on June 14, 2017, the UK …
Gaia mission: five insights astronomers could glean from its latest data: Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way. ESA/ATG medialab; background: ESO/S. Brunier, CC BY-NC The European Space Agency’s (Esa) Gaia mission has just released new data. The Gaia satellite was launched in 2013, with the aim of measuring the precise positions of a …
COVID vaccines for children under five: what parents need to know: Kamil Macniak/Shutterstock Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine became available for children aged five to 11 in the UK in April 2022. Those aged 12 and up had already been eligible since 2021. But if you have a child aged under five, you might be wondering, when …
Five lesbian expressions from the 19th century to remember when watching Gentleman Jack: BBC/Lookout Point/HBO/Jay Brooks Based on the writings of English diarist Anne Lister(1791-1840), Sally Wainwright’s immensely popular BBC television series Gentleman Jack has returned for a second season. In comparison to the first, the new episodes rely more heavily on the language of …
Five tips for discussing diversity at work with those who seem dismissive or resistant: Approach conversations with curiosity. Ground Picture | Shutterstock Diversity and inclusion initiatives are supposed to make a workplace more equal and welcoming. But not everyone agrees on quite what that looks like or whether it’s important. Indeed, some people can be …
‘Wine time Friday’ and invites for 200: five of the most interesting findings from Sue Gray’s partygate report: Boris Johnson takes questions from the press over partygate. Number 10/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA After months of delay and speculation, civil servant Sue Gray has published her report into Downing Street parties. It does not make for comfortable …
Five digital games to help your child’s development: fizkes/Shutterstock Recent research has linked playing video games in childhood with an increase in intelligence. While parents and carers may be pleasantly surprised by these findings, they are less unexpected for many researchers of children’s digital play. Studies have previously shown that playing digital games is associated …
Five facts about the gruesome beauty of solitary wasps: Malloscelis taiwanianus, a spider wasp, found in Sichuan, China. Shutterstock Most people recognise a wasp as those stripy insects who ruin our summer picnics. They live in huge societies, much the same as the honeybee; you might even have a nest in your loft or shed. …
Crystal Palace dinosaurs: how we rediscovered five missing sculptures from the famous park: The iconic _Iguanodon_ sculptures of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. Witton and Michel (2022), CC BY-SA This summer sees our love for dinosaurs manifest in two major releases: the David Attenborough documentary Prehistoric Planet, and Jurassic World: Dominion. Such multi-million dollar projects are …
Five tips for young people dealing with long COVID – from a GP: Basicdog/Shutterstock While we might not be hearing the daily COVID numbers anymore, the virus hasn’t gone away. In the UK alone, thousands of new cases continue to be recorded every day. Meanwhile, there’s a very large group of people for whom the …
Five ways to manage your doomscrolling habit: Akhenaton Images/Shutterstock Doomscrolling, according to Merriam-Webster, is “the tendency to continue to surf or scroll through bad news, even though that news is saddening, disheartening, or depressing”. For many it’s a habit born of the pandemic – and one that is likely to stay. Some health experts recommend …
Five things that economists know, but sound wrong to most other people: Should have been listening. Mijatmijatovich Economists have shaped the modern world in many ways. Governments make policy choices in response to the data that we produce about things like GDP and inflation. Social media companies use our insights about human behaviour to create …
Five ways the new sustainability and climate change strategy for schools in England doesn’t match up to what young people actually want: Youth protestors in London in 2019. Ben Gingell/Shutterstock The UK government has introduced a new sustainability and climate change strategy for schools. However, our research shows that it does not go far enough …
Nationality and Borders Act becomes law: five key changes explained: At almost the last minute before the parliamentary session ended, after months of pushback from the House of Lords and despite vehement protests from those supporting refugees and migrants, the UK government has succeed in introducing the Nationality and Borders Act. These are the five …
Reptiles: why one in five species face extinction: A yacare caiman (_Caiman yacare_) in the Pantanal wetlands of Bolivia. Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock Reptiles are cold-blooded and scaly animals, the majority of which are predators. They include some of the most deadly and venomous creatures on Earth, including the spitting cobra and saltwater crocodile. Many of these …