How the BBC’s Learn Cornish podcast could help boost this minority language
Cornish is part of the Celtic family of languages, traditionally spoken in Cornwall in the south-west of Great Britain. From the medieval period onwards, speakers in the region gradually shifted to English, leaving only a handful with knowledge of Cornish in the far west of Cornwall by the 18th and 19th centuries. The 20th century […]
New virus catalogue reveals which pathogens pose the greatest threat
In a typical year, scientists discover two or three viruses that have never been seen in people before. The number fluctuates, but the trend has been fairly steady since the 1960s. Most of these viruses attract little attention, and my colleagues and I have often had to search through old medical papers to find any […]
The UK government has kept its promises on parental leave, but they weren’t bold enough
Dusan Petkovic/Shutterstock When Labour won the 2024 general election, parental leave reform was one of its promises to working families. The manifesto committed to reviewing the parental leave system within the first year of government and making parental leave a right from the first day of employment. The Employment Rights Act 2025 has delivered on […]
Your summer reading list: five of the best non-fiction reads of 2026 so far, according to our experts
The best summer companion is a good book. This year has already given us some truly brilliant ones, making it really hard to whittle down the best. These five non-fiction reads will also transport you all over the world – from 1960s India and Afghanistan to Ancient Greece and Hitler’s Germany – without ever having […]
The new technologies in the UK defence investment plan
The MOD’s Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) initiative aims to develop low-cost, uncrewed fighter drones. UK MOD / Crown Copyright Seventy years ago, Britain confronted a dilemma. It wanted to remain a leading military power but no longer had the economic resources to sustain all the conventional capabilities it had inherited from the second […]
The cooling divide: how air conditioning is creating a new climate inequality
For decades, people in the UK tended to view air conditioning as something that belonged elsewhere. It was associated with office buildings, hotels and hotter countries rather than their own homes. But as summers become warmer and heatwaves more frequent, that picture is beginning to change. Colleagues and I analysed data from the English Housing […]
Defence investment plan should make the UK more secure – but it will need to find the money from somewhere
The UK government’s defence investment plan (DIP) will guide the spending decisions of the Ministry of Defence and armed forces not only for the remainder of this parliament, but also for the five years from 2029. So far, the plan has been praised and criticised in equal measure. But one element that has attracted widespread […]
Why Pope Leo has excommunicated a group of conservative Catholics
The decision by Pope Leo XIV to excommunicate members of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) is the latest twist in a long-running saga between the Vatican and this contentious traditionalist group. It is yet more evidence of the deep polarisation between conservatives and progressives within the Catholic church. The Vatican issued a statement […]
Ukraine war sparks fears of an organised crime resurgence in Russia
Following the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, Russia endured a period of violent criminal lawlessness known as the “wild 90s”. Organised crime spiked, with gangs taking control of banks, factories and other lucrative markets. Contract killings, shootings and car bombings became part of urban life. There are now fears that the Ukraine war will give […]
A brief history of human pain
To understand the roots of how we think about pain today, it helps to go back and see how earlier cultures made sense of it. Zwiebackesser/Shutterstock Pain is one of the few things all of us experience, from stubbing a toe to waking up with an aching back; we can all relate to the feeling […]