How electric vehicles could help pollinators find flowers again
Richard Casebow, CC BY-NC-SA A hidden threat is making it harder for bees, butterflies and other pollinators to do their job: air pollution is scrambling the floral scents they use to find flowers. Colleagues and I have just published research showing that ground-level ozone and nitrogen oxides (two pollutants strongly linked to fossil fuel use) […]
Are the UK authorities letting down survivors of modern slavery?
People trapped working in slavery often find themselves beyond the reach of any help. hxdbzxy / Shutterstock The adoption of the Slavery Convention 100 years ago was a landmark moment for the international prohibition of slavery. It also laid foundations for human rights movements across the world. The United Kingdom played an important role in […]
Messy, risky outdoor play is important for children, but adults can stop them enjoying it
PeopleImages/Shutterstock There is growing evidence that children today have fewer opportunities for independent, adventurous outdoor play and fewer chances to make decisions and shape their own experiences than previous generations. Just 43% of children and young people aged from eight to 15 in England report spending time outdoors every day or most days. Research suggests […]
Can NAD+ supplements help us age more healthily? Here’s what the science shows
Oksana Mizina/Shutterstock Anti-ageing supplements are everywhere, from advertising campaigns to social media feeds. Promising everything from increased energy to a longer life, they come in many forms, from powders containing multiple ingredients to single-nutrient capsules. One molecule in particular, NAD+, has attracted growing interest, with claims it can boost energy, improve vitality, slow ageing and […]
Cottage cheese, sunscreen and pimple popping: Strange Health is back for season two
The Conversation, CC BY-NC-ND What do cottage cheese, sunscreen and pimple popping have in common? They are all heading our way in the new series of Strange Health, the podcast from The Conversation that investigates the odd, awkward and occasionally disgusting questions raised by our bodies and the health trends surrounding them. We’re back for […]
Economics Nobel: how this year’s winners helped to smooth the cycle of economic peaks and troughs
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences to the American economists Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford. The prize was awarded in recognition of their development of macroeconomic models that helped to reduce the length and depth of economic downturns. According to the Academy, the economists’ work […]
Why do some children become seriously ill with COVID? The answer may lie in their genes
Drazen Zigic/ Shutterstock Most children who are infected with SARS-COV2, the virus that causes COVID, experience only mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. But a small proportion develop severe illness which can sometimes even require hospital care. The reason why only some children develop severe illness hasn’t been clear until now. But our latest […]
Empathy can help make maternity care safer – here’s how
oatawa/Shutterstock.com Poppy Russell lived for just 12 hours. She died in April 2021 at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford after suffering a brain injury during birth. An inquest concluded that her death was preventable. Her parents, Neil and Katie Russell, then faced another ordeal: the hospital trust blamed Katie, alleging she had refused foetal […]
An overlooked sci-fi movie shows how disruption by AI could be positive for society
The AI doomsday news cycle plays on anxieties about the future. The media has tended to prioritise sensational takes on the risk at the expense of more thoughtful opinions by, for example, experts in the ethics of AI. Alarmist fantasies of superintelligence – where artificial intelligence surpasses that of the most gifted human minds – […]
Escape rooms give healthcare students a safe place to get things wrong
Working through problems together can help healthcare students practise the reasoning and decision-making they will later need with real patients. PeopleImages/Shutterstock The buzzer goes off. Three occupational therapy students are convinced they have worked out what should happen to their patient next. They are wrong. Nobody is harmed, and no real patient is waiting. The […]