Why a 1,500-year-old monastic rulebook still challenges what it means to live a meaningful life
Saint Benedict delivering his rule to the monks of his order, Monastery of St. Gilles (from a manuscript made in 1129). WikiCommons What might a sixth-century monastic rulebook have to say about how we live today? Living by the Rule: Contemporary Meets Medieval, the centrepiece of this summer’s exhibitions at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, […]
Decarbonising everything is impossible – here’s why
MOLPIX/Shutterstock, CC BY-NC-ND Walk into any supermarket and you are surrounded by carbon. Not the kind measured in parts per million in climate reports, but carbon in its most tangible form: the polymer shell of a shampoo bottle, the insulation behind the ceiling tiles, the synthetic fibres in the bag hanging from your wrist. These […]
Teen self-harm: responses should focus on social context, not just mental health
Halfpoint/Shutterstock Around one in six adolescents worldwide report having self-harmed at some point in their lives. In England, an NHS mental health survey of 2,370 children and young people found that more than one in three young adults aged 17 to 24 had self-harmed. Typically, responses to self-harm focus on the individual – diagnosis, treatment […]
Prescriptions for ivermectin soar after Mel Gibson claims it cured friends of cancer
Manuela Durson/Shutterstock.com Prescriptions for two antiparasitic drugs, ivermectin and fenbendazole, have recently surged in the US, according to a new study. Originally developed to treat parasitic worms, the drugs are now being discussed online as possible cancer treatments. In January 2025, Mel Gibson appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast claiming that ivermectin and fenbendazole […]
Why talking like Yoda can help you to master British Sign Language
I’m not surprised that Talk Like Yoda Day exists. Over 40 years since his Star Wars debut (puppeteered and voiced by Frank Oz), Yoda remains a recognisable figure in pop culture. This is in part due to his distinctive and frequently imitated version of English. What stands out about Yoda’s speech is his unusual word […]
Xi and Putin tout ‘new type’ of world order in Beijing – but is their alliance really that strong?
Less than a week after hosting Donald Trump, China’s leader Xi Jinping welcomed his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to Beijing. Unlike Trump’s visit, this was a routine meeting. The Chinese and Russian presidents have met more than 40 times since 2013, with the latest meeting marking Putin’s 25th visit to China. The frequency of talks […]
The Silence of the Lambs introduced the world to forensic entomology – but how much has the science changed since?
In the early 1990s, crime-loving television audiences could choose mainly between cozy, fictional detective series such as Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. The US docuseries Unsolved Mysteries brought a few real cold-case investigations to light, but coverage of forensic science on screen was still relatively simple. Then, in May 1991, The Silence of the Lambs […]
Why managing expectations matters in chronic pain treatment
anut21ng Stock/Shutterstock In a 2026 study I conducted with colleagues on people with peripheral arterial disease, one participant described how leg pain had disrupted his golf for years. It forced him to stop mid-round, shake his leg and apologise to his playing partners while he waited for the pain to pass. He found it mortifying. […]
Vitiligo affects around 1 in 100 people worldwide – yet the skin condition remains misunderstood
Model Winnie Harlow has non-segmental vitiligo. Andrea Raffin/ Shutterstock Around one in every 100 people worldwide has vitiligo – a chronic, autoimmune skin condition that causes the skin to appear lighter in patches. The number of people affected by vitiligo makes it one of the most common skin disorders. Several studies also suggest that many […]
Should you embrace your inner stonemason? Why our constant desire for change needs a rethink
Cryptographer/Shutterstock When John, a stonemason working at Glasgow Cathedral, finishes repairing a section, the highest praise he can receive is that no one notices. “When we get things that come together you just see a couple of wee bits of stone”, he explains. “You don’t actually see the work that went into it. But it’s […]