What your local council can actually do to tackle the climate crisis
The UK’s local elections saw the Green Party gain 440 councillors across England and win its first two elected mayors. They will join many councillors from all parties who will have to confront the same question: what can any one local authority actually do about climate change? If they ask what they are required to […]
Can plants hear? Latest research offers new insights
DOERS/Shutterstock Researchers at MIT have suggested that rice seeds can hear the sound of rain, according to a new study. MIT calls it “the first direct evidence that plant seeds and seedlings can sense sounds in nature”. Perhaps surprisingly, the effects reported in this new study are not as radical as they may appear. Playing […]
Can the assisted dying bill be brought back? It’s possible – but supporters face four challenges
Despite MPs backing proposals last year to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales, the plan did not become law. The bill failed to complete its passage through the House of Lords – not because peers voted against it, but because a relatively small number proposed an unprecedentedly large list of amendments. As a result, […]
What happens when scientists trust AI more than colleagues?
Shutterstock/PeoplesImages Artificial intelligence has crossed a threshold in the modern workplace. It is being used for everything from helping employees manage schedules to supporting financial forecasts. A similar shift is now unfolding inside research laboratories. There is currently a boom in national initiatives to accelerate the integration of AI into science. These include the US […]
Screens are part of modern parenting – five tips for healthy use
airdone/Shutterstock Screens are everywhere in children’s lives. They use them at school and at home. They see screens used by their parents as they work on laptops, use phones to arrange playdates or look up outings or recipes on tablets. Managing screen time can be difficult when – as recent guidelines published by the Department […]
Nature restoration isn’t often top of the political agenda – here’s how Wales does it
Gwenffrwd and Dinas nature reserve in Wales. Andy Williams photos/Shutterstock Nature is critical for our national health, wellbeing and security. Most national leaders haven’t really taken this on board yet because it is just too big an issue to handle. But, as I explore in my new book, this happens partly because many western societies […]
Elegies for a changing land: how Ireland’s poets are responding to the climate crisis
The Naughton Gallery/Queen’s University Belfast, CC BY-SA Ireland has a unique relationship to climate change. The country has always relied on its pastoral landscapes for its national character, but the escalating climate crisis threatens this tradition because of rising temperatures and sea levels, and deforestation. Given Irish literature’s continued interest in nature, contemporary Irish poets […]
How World Cup filming has evolved since the last US tournament – from spider cameras to AI and drones
When players arrive in the US this year for their World Cup pre-tournament media shoot, they will each step into a scanning chamber to capture their precise body-part dimensions and create 3D, AI avatars. Why? Because even when you’re the biggest sport in the world, you can’t afford to stand still. This year’s Fifa World […]
After more than a century, Labour has lost Wales
After all the predictions, projections and polling permutations, Welsh Labour’s defeat has been confirmed. In 1985, Welsh historian Gwyn Alf Williams described Labour majorities standing “like Aneurin Bevan’s memorial stones”. Forty years on, the stones have finally been eroded. On the worst day for the party in its history in Wales, even its leader, Eluned […]
Antarctic sea ice defied global warming for decades – now, hidden ocean heat is breaking through
For decades, Antarctica seemed to defy global warming. Since satellites began monitoring the poles in the late 1970s, the seasonal growth and retreat of Antarctic sea ice – frozen seawater that expands around the continent each winter – appeared remarkably resilient. It was often described as the “heartbeat of the planet”. Unlike the Arctic, where […]