Ravenser Odd, the sunken medieval island that continues to inspire and obsess
The following story is the winner of The Conversation Prize for writers 2026, a competition run in partnership with Faber and Curtis Brown. Read more about the competition here. “It’s a heck of a way”. My parents are surprisingly resistant to visiting Spurn Point. It’s the second summer of the COVID pandemic, and my husband, […]
Grand Theft Auto: players are voting, debating, protesting and making political decisions
Mehaniq/Shutterstock The gameplay trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, one of the most anticipated entertainment releases of the decade, landed at the end of August. For those unfamiliar with it, the satirical video game is famous for allowing players to drive around a fictional US city committing crime and shooting people. But as well as […]
England is rainy again. So why is it still in drought?
After one of the driest periods in recent memory, rain has finally returned to many parts of England. Lawns that were brown only a few weeks ago are green again, rivers have begun to rise and the parched appearance of the landscape is starting to fade. So why are drought warnings still being discussed? And […]
In the race to roll out 6G, the UK and Europe are caught between technology’s superpowers
sutadimages/Shutterstock Even as the rollout of the 5G network continues around the world, the race to design and build the sixth generation of mobile infrastructure has begun. The new, global 6G network represents a fundamental shift in what a mobile network is built to do. Where previous generations were designed primarily as pipelines for transporting […]
Bangladesh has lost 900 children to measles – a warning to other countries where vaccine rates have slipped
Almost 900 people in Bangladesh are suspected to have died in a measles outbreak that began in March. Most of those affected are children. Measles is one of the most infectious diseases known. It can spread rapidly when vaccination rates fall, and the Bangladesh outbreak shows how quickly years of gaps in protection can turn […]
As Ukraine rebuilds amid constant Russian attack, small towns and villages are being sidelined
Destroyed cars sit on the Zhytomyr highway, roughly 12 miles from Kyiv, in April 2022. Drop of Light / Shutterstock In the early days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian armoured columns pushed east along the Zhytomyr highway towards Kyiv. Makariv, a small settlement of about 10,000 people 36 miles west of Kyiv, sat […]
How do animals sense the Earth’s magnetic field?
Simple Line/Shutterstock Scientists have known for more than 60 years that animals can sense the Earth’s magnetic field, and there is a wealth of behavioural evidence supporting their use of this cue as a navigation mechanism. But despite this evidence, there’s no consensus as to how animals actually sense the magnetic field. Magnetic cues appear […]
The wondrous history of fairy tale art – from wolves and witches to fallen princesses
How do fairy tales, with roots reaching deep into the past, continue to cast their spell on us? This question animates The Art of Fairy Tales by Joanna Ebenstein. The book is a visual exploration of the ever-changing lives that fairy tales take on through the imagination of artists. In the preface to her essay […]
Having a baby in Denmark vs the UK: how different is it?
From maternity leave to the pram: how Danish parents differ from British ones. Videnskab.dk Denmark and its Scandinavian neighbours often appear at the top of many of the world’s “best of” lists, from happiest and least corrupt to best place to raise a family. The Danish way of parenting has inspired a slew of manuals […]
Five foods that could cost even more this winter – and why
A number of pressures have converged on food production over the past year, and their effects are likely to show up in our shopping baskets this winter. Farmers have faced increasingly erratic weather, influenced by climate change and the El Niño phenomenon, while international conflicts have pushed up the cost of fuel, fertiliser and other […]