Geometry, football and the World Cup final
Spain will play Argentina in the Fifa World Cup final on Sunday. The highly anticipated match takes place in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, with the teams vying for the most coveted prize in football. Attacking flair and physicality will no doubt play a role. But we could also see an underappreciated element of football come […]
Why AI’s environmental footprint won’t disappear into orbit
AI companies increasingly want to move their operations into space. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has applied to launch over a million AI data centre satellites and ultimately build them on the moon. Jeff Bezos, Google, OpenAI and others have similar plans. The idea is to harness 24/7 solar energy and, in Bezos’s vision at least, to […]
Worried about booking a holiday abroad? Here’s how travel operators can provide reassurance
Pawel Uchorczak/Shutterstock Flying abroad for a summer holiday is not as simple as it used to be. Geopolitical uncertainty has already disrupted flight schedules and fuel prices this year. For many, staying closer to home will seem like a sensible option. And in the UK, warmer summers could also make staycations much more appealing. But […]
Why the Hillsborough Law has finally been passed, 37 years on
berm_teerawat/Shutterstock A new law created in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster, which aims to prevent state cover-ups, has finally passed through the UK’s House of Commons. The Hillsborough Law has been championed by the campaign for truth and justice which emerged from the tragedy that unfolded on April 15 1989, during an FA cup […]
Mapping the Odyssey – what you should watch, read and listen to this week
I first read the Odyssey at university. I was surprised by how much I loved it considering how old and how blokey it was (blood, war, boys being boys) – not to mention the fact it is 12,109 lines of epic poetry. It’s a story about coming home (too soon?), following Odysseus and his men […]
Yes, Burnham’s Bee Network has transformed central Manchester. But that’s not the whole picture
As mayor of Greater Manchester, one of Andy Burnham’s most eye-catching policies was his agenda for public transport. This centred on the creation of a more integrated and inclusive “London-style” system, and the aim was that everybody should be able to access reliable, safe and affordable public transport across the region. The idea behind his […]
Andy Burnham is the Labour leader – third time lucky for the UK’s prime minister-in-waiting
Andy Burnham has won on his third attempt to be Labour’s leader. In a wide-ranging speech to Labour MPs at a special conference in London, a jubilant Burnham pledged to “bring back hope” and promised to be a leader for all nations of the UK. But it has taken him well over a decade to […]
Venezuela earthquakes create opening for military’s return to public life
Three weeks after Venezuela was struck by twin earthquakes on June 24, the scale of the devastation is still growing. The death toll is approaching 5,000 people, with 18,000 homeless and 21,000 more in shelters. The worst-hit state is La Guaira on the Caribbean coast – an area that had already been the site of […]
In hot water: what happens to marine life during heatwaves
Robert Harding Video/Shutterstock A dip in the sea can provide welcome relief after long stretches of hot weather – especially when the water is an inviting 20°C or more, as it has been recently across southern parts of the UK. But such sea temperatures are unusually warm, with UK waters being hit by the third […]
Do patients who suffer heart attack have more micro and nanoplastic in their blood? New study assessed
Microplastics are a big environmental issue. They’ve been found in oceans, drinking water, seafood, the air we breathe, and increasingly throughout the human body, from the placenta to the brain. A new study by researchers in Italy, published in the European Heart Journal, adds another organ to that growing list: the heart’s own blood supply. […]