Vitamin D and calcium supplements may not protect against bone fractures, large new study suggests
Niranjan Acharya/Shutterstock.com For years, many people have taken calcium and vitamin D supplements to help keep their bones strong as they age. Walk into any pharmacy or supermarket and you’ll find shelves full of products promising to support bone health, prevent fractures and reduce the risk of falls. Calcium is an important building block of […]
We found microplastics in hedgehogs – then we traced them back to pet food
When colleagues and I found microplastics in hedgehog droppings, we wanted to know where they were coming from. One answer was surprisingly close to home: pet food. The story began in 2021, when we collected 189 hedgehog faeces samples from residential gardens and rehabilitation centres across the UK. We found plastic in 19% of them. […]
In The Hand of Dante: a striking and ambitious cinematic fever dream
There are few films this year as ambitious as director Julian Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante. Combining manuscript mystery, gangster thriller and spiritual odyssey, the film moves between medieval Italy and the 21st-century criminal underworld in pursuit of questions about creativity, faith, power and redemption. This film is a big, gutsy gamble. Casting a […]
Free will: does refusing to believe in it make you a ‘bad’ person? Research is challenging this old idea
Did you click on this article out of your own free will? Or was it predetermined by the cosmic evolution of particles, unfolding in an unbroken chain reaction set in motion by the big bang? Perhaps you think random quantum processes or unconscious brain activity were responsible? Whether you are philosophically inclined or not, the […]
We recreated the legendary heatwave summer of 1976 in today’s climate – here’s what we found
The summer of 1976 was an extraordinary heatwave for its time. With 15 consecutive days of temperatures over 32°C, it was an unprecedented length for a UK heatwave, coming at the end of a year-long drought. This led to severe water shortages and frequent wildfires, followed by flash floods. But the climate has substantially changed […]
How high can a volcano throw lava up in the air?
Gal_Rotem/Shutterstock Erupting volcanoes spew molten lava, gas and rocks up into the air. But just how high can the lava go and how do eruptions work? That’s what eight-year-old Thomas from Leeds in the UK wanted to know. Thomas joined our host Eloise to put his question to volcanologist Martin Mangler from the University of […]
Citizenship education: primary school children are already able to think politically
New Africa/Shutterstock Rebuilding social cohesion and democratic trust has become a key concern in British politics, amid increasing political polarisation, misinformation and declining trust in public institutions. Schools are often seen as part of the solution, helping children learn how to participate in civic life and live alongside others. Yet children are rarely included in […]
Helping their friends to read can boost children’s attainment
Artit Wongpradu/Shutterstock In a primary school classroom, a nine-year old reads aloud to the person next to them. When they stumble over a word, their partner encourages them to try again. Together they discuss what might happen next. But the child isn’t reading to an adult – a teaching assistant or volunteer. Instead, they are […]
The mistakes that sealed Keir Starmer’s fate
On the gloriously sunny morning of July 5 2024, Keir Starmer walked into Downing Steet as prime minister for the first time, having won a stonking 174-strong majority in the general election the day before. On a similarly warm morning a little less than two years later, he has been forced to stand outside Number […]
House of the Dragon: four real historic women who inspired the show
Dragons may be fictional, but the struggle for the throne, influence and legitimacy in House of the Dragons has roots in conflicts that shaped real history. Long before the fictional Westeros, women across Europe and Asia faced rival claimants, political factions and systems designed to keep them from power. Like Rhaenys Targaryen, Alicent Hightower and […]