Napoleon can be partly blamed for Gen Z’s weightlifting obsession – here’s why
Lifting has been around long before Gen Z. Frances Benjamin Johnston/ Library of Congress/ public domain More than one quarter of young adults in Britain now say their gym memberships matter more to them than holidays or eating out. Sport England data shows that Gen Z has begun to turn away from running, swimming and […]
Young people need more than qualifications to prepare them for work
EF Stock/Shutterstock About a million young people aged 16 to 24 in the UK are not in education, employment or training, a group known as Neet. The UK government commissioned an independent review in November 2025 into why so many young people are becoming detached from work and education. The review is led by Alan […]
Hokusai’s Great Wave is one of 46 prints of Mount Fuji – seeing them together changes everything
When I first saw Katsushika Hokusai’s Clear Day with a Southern Breeze (also known as Red Fuji, 1830-1833), I was struck by its lustrous red resonating against the receding blue of the sky. Clouds align gently in an almost humorous formation. Near the peak of the mountain, are creases of snow. At its foot we […]
Women who changed science missing from GCSE and A-level courses – new study
Cast your mind back to your secondary school science classroom: the fiery glow of Bunsen burners, scratched safety goggles that never quite fit, and a giant periodic table pinned to the wall. When you learned about the breakthroughs that shaped our world and the people who made them, whose names were attached? From Newton’s laws […]
GLP-1 weight-loss drugs change how people eat, but nausea needs closer study
Goksi/Shutterstock Someone taking a weight-loss drug might leave half their dinner because they feel comfortably full. They might also stop because they feel nauseous. Measuring the leftovers would reveal the same result, but tell researchers little about why the person stopped eating. That distinction is important when studying how GLP-1-based medications, including semaglutide and tirzepatide, […]
How we mark our ballot paper can affect how we feel about voting. Here’s why
1000 Words/Shutterstock Have you ever left a polling station feeling that your mark on the ballot paper didn’t quite say what you wanted it to? Perhaps you liked two candidates but had to drop one, or backed the one who might actually win over the one you preferred. Our feelings about democracy are important. Who […]
Four ways cities can help protect democratic values
Cities can be places where people establish their democratic rights. I Wei Huang / Shutterstock When people think about democracy, they tend to think about national elections, parliaments or the policies of national governments. Even the recent byelection in Holborn and St Pancras showed that democratic events are often framed around what they mean for […]
What Fernando Botero’s exaggerated figures reveal about sex, power and violence
Opera Gallery London’s latest show is the first solo exhibition of the work of the Colombian artist Fernando Botero (1932-2023) in the city since 2015. Fernando Botero, in Praise of an Amplified World presents a range of paintings and sculptures from across the artist’s 70-year career. The earliest works included date from the 1960s. The […]
The psychology that can lead investors to make bad financial decisions
PeopleImages/Shutterstock Say you buy shares in a company. The price climbs and months later you sell for a healthy profit. Ask why it worked, and the answer is often some version of “I made a good call”. Now imagine the trade had lost money instead. Would you be as quick to blame your own judgment? […]
When climate data is transformed into visuals some people and places get overlooked
Warming stripes for Poland (1901-2021). Ed Hawkins/University of Reading, CC BY When a climate disaster happens, people thousands of miles away may encounter it through numbers: how many people died, how many were displaced, how many homes were destroyed and how much infrastructure was damaged. But for the people living through it, the disaster is […]