Why safer spaces matter for young people’s physical activity
Sabrina Bracher/Shutterstock The 2026 Commonwealth Games come to Scotland this summer, showcasing elite athletes at the top of their game. But for most of us, physical activity looks much more ordinary: walking to school, joining a PE lesson, dancing in the kitchen or going to the gym. Now think about how that kind of movement […]
The Enhanced Games set out to ‘transform sport’ but the results looked surprisingly ordinary
The Enhanced Games promised a revolution. Athletes on supervised drug regimens, unshackled from the anti-doping rules of the Olympics, were going to show us what the human body was truly capable of. The event was transhumanism in practice – a glimpse at humanity’s athletic future. What it actually delivered was a single world record, broken […]
The story of Pope Leo’s ‘landmark’ text on AI technology – by a member of its launch panel
For the last few years, I’ve been seconded to assist the Catholic Church’s unprecedented global grassroots listening initiative. Just as that process drew to a close, I received a surprise request: would I help Pope Leo XIV launch his first social encyclical, focused on what it means to be human in a time of artificial […]
Moss & Freud: this anodyne portrait of their artist-muse friendship lacks dramatic bite
Filmmakers have long found artistic creation both a compelling and a frustratingly elusive dramatic subject. In the right cinematic hands, artworks can be made to speak for themselves – think of the dazzling sequence of canvasses that concludes Vincente Minnelli’s 1956 biopic of van Gogh, Lust For Life. In the wrong hands, the artist’s character […]
Heatwaves: older people less likely to follow safety advice
Government advice is to stay in the shade if going out in very hot weather. hobiemarcgldi/Shutterstock Extreme heat is now considered the deadliest weather and climate-related hazard in Europe, causing more deaths than floods or storms. Research shows there are high levels of heat-related deaths in European countries. For instance, in 2022 Italy (18,010 deaths), […]
Unearthing Namibia’s forgotten genocide through forensic archaeology
The Namibian genocide was one of the first genocides of the 20th century. Between 1904 and 1908, tens of thousands of Ovaherero and Nama people were killed under German colonial rule. Despite the scale of these events, the material and human legacy of this genocide remains less understood than later atrocities. Historical accounts exist, but […]
Britain’s textile history told through 22 museums and archives
The Dales Countryside Museum. Hazel Plater/Shutterstock/Composite made with Canva. Textiles shape British life in ways we often overlook – the clothes we wear, the items we inherit, and the patterns that quietly signal where we come from. Yet behind these familiar objects lies a rich history of labour, skill and innovation. From the knitting frames […]
Psychopathy: some experts now say it doesn’t exist – here’s why we may be looking at it all wrong
New Africa/Shutterstock As an expert on personality disorders, people often ask me about psychopathy. It seems everybody has had an ex, a boss, a neighbour or a relative who they suspect has traits of it. People are curious about how to recognise psychopathy, and whether it can explain certain harmful behaviour. It’s easy to see […]
Marilyn Monroe’s final home – and the life she imagined within it
Marilyn Monroe’s untimely death at just 36 has long been woven into her mystique, fuelling both fascination among fans and a proliferation of theories about its cause. Monroe lived in the property for just six months. But as the home she died in, it has become a site of near-ritualised fan pilgrimage, much like her […]
World Cup 2026: why moving games to evenings isn’t enough to tackle extreme heat problem
The 2026 Fifa World Cup is the biggest ever edition of the world’s most watched sporting tournament. The 48 teams taking part in Canada, the US and Mexico may find their toughest opponent is the extreme heat. Very hot temperatures are expected across many of the states including Texas, California and Florida where World Cup […]