Farewell to Dolly, a beaten poet and all kinds of aliens: what to watch, see and listen to this week
I can’t think of anyone who wasn’t saddened to hear of the death of Dolly Parton this week, such was her natural ability to charm all kinds of people. Sharp, funny, warm and with a huge heart – much like her character Doralee in 9 to 5 – she constantly wrong-footed people with the way […]
Mouth ulcers: why have I got them and how can I get rid of them?
Olga by Shefer/Shutterstock.com If you’ve ever had a mouth ulcer, you’ll know how much a tiny sore can take over your day. These small, painful patches that suddenly appear inside your mouth make eating, drinking and even talking surprisingly uncomfortable. The good news is that most heal on their own within a week or two. […]
The strange history of bigamy in England: fake tears, secret weddings and double lives
Polygamy by Edward Williams the Elder (1787). The Met The historical source material on bigamy depicts an awful lot of weeping. Sometimes the tears are behind the scenes – the reaction of a deserted first wife or deceived second wife to the revelation of her husband’s crime. On occasion they are tears of contrition, as […]
Why innovative ‘bio-materials’ are still more sci-fi than fashion revolution
perfectlab/Shutterstock Walk around any major fashion exhibition and you might get the impression that biofabricated materials are about to transform fashion. Grown using living organisms, they’re often showcased as the next generation of sustainable materials — promising alternatives to leather, polyester and other conventional textiles. This year’s Première Vision Paris international textile trade show highlights […]
Stockholm syndrome isn’t a diagnosis – so why do we still treat it as one?
Police sharpshooter during the Kreditbanken siege. Roland Janson/Wikimedia Commons Fifty-three years ago, convicted criminal Jan-Erik Olsson walked into a bank on Norrmalmstorg, a square in central Stockholm, pulled a submachine gun from under his jacket and fired at the ceiling. Concrete and glass rained down. “The party has just begun!” he shouted in a fake […]
A black fungus is thriving in the midst of Ireland’s whiskey boom – we need to know more about it
Irish whiskey is one of Ireland’s great export success stories. Exports were worth over €930 million in 2025, with the country’s much-loved spirit being sold all over the world. Even amid difficult international trading conditions, with concerns around tariffs for export to the US, exports to the EU have grown by more than 21% in […]
Nepal-Tibet disaster linked to climate change – a glaciologist explains
The cause of the huge floods and debris flow on the border between Nepal and Tibet, which has caused hundreds of deaths, appears to have been an ice avalanche – the result of a huge piece of a glacier collapsing and cascading down the mountain more than 1,000 metres to the valley floor. The Conversation […]
Fly-tipping: here’s what is missing from Andy Burnham’s plan to tackle waste dumpers
Large fly-tipping dumps are an increasing problem. Sean Aidan Calderbank/Shutterstock UK prime minister Andy Burnham has promised to clean up three of the worst illegal waste dumps in England and sign off new measures to tackle the problem more widely. The pledge is bold, but it is also unlikely to solve the problem on its […]
Most people would sacrifice some life satisfaction in exchange for a more equal society
izzuanroslan/Shutterstock What kind of society would you rather live in: an equal one where everyone is just about getting by? Or an unequal one where most people are doing substantially better, but a small group consistently falls behind? Now imagine having to choose that society before you were even born, but with no idea of […]
The memoir that changed my mind – 11 experts share a perspective‑shifting read
Virinaflora/Shutterstock Our beliefs aren’t fixed. They’re shaped, stretched and sometimes overturned by the ideas we encounter as we move through life. For many of us, memoirs are the moments where that shift happens, through an argument that unsettles us or an inspiring story that re-frames how we see the world. We asked 11 academic experts […]