How firelight may have shaped the origins of spoken language
PeopleImages/Shutterstock When asked about the greatest innovation of humans, people will often say language or fire. A new paper suggests that these innovations may be more interlinked than we previously assumed. Understanding how human language evolved is one of the hardest problems in science to unpick, since writing is a relatively recent innovation. Also, the […]
Wendell Berry spent his life farming and writing – his legacy is an ethic of care for the natural world
The American farmer, novelist and poet Wendell Berry, died on August 31 2026, aged 92. Berry farmed in Port Royal, in his native Kentucky, for over 40 years. Through his writing and his farming, Berry emphasised the importance of both community and care for the planet, advocating for small-scale agriculture as key for both. He […]
Earthshot and the science of positive tipping points: how environmental progress can become unstoppable
It must be tough being a judge on the world’s most prestigious environmental prize: imagine having to choose between an ingenious machine that removes microplastics from a river in Europe, or a company in East Africa that sells clean cookstoves through affordable weekly instalments. Over the last six months, we have been working with colleagues […]
Proposed curriculum in Northern Ireland would restrict children’s language learning
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock Northern Ireland is in the process of establishing a new curriculum for primary and secondary education. The proposed Northern Ireland Curriculum Framework 2028, TransformED – currently under consultation – sets out a new, knowledge-rich curriculum. Knowledge-rich means a strong understanding of subject-specific content, rather than, for instance, more general skills. There are many similarities […]
Britain’s most artificial landscape may not survive climate change
Stretching across much of eastern England, the Fens produce a third of the country’s vegetables and support tens of thousands of jobs. Yet around 33% of the region lies below average sea level, while 87% is below the highest spring tides The landscape only exists due to centuries of engineering – pumps, embankments and drainage […]
Why £72 million doesn’t come for free – the risks to Reform UK of taking cash from mega-donors
British politics looks set to be dominated in the coming weeks and months by the £72 million donated to Reform UK. This is because, and there’s really no other way to cut the cake here, this is an astonishing amount of money. The donations to Reform came in the space of just one weekend – […]
Abdominal aortic aneurysms can cause years of anxiety, even without symptoms
A healthcare professional explains an abdominal ultrasound to an older patient. Ultrasound is used to detect and monitor abdominal aortic aneurysms. BearFotos/Shutterstock Some people describe it as a ticking timebomb. Others learn to live with information they can neither see nor feel, but cannot forget. This is what it can mean to be diagnosed with […]
Andy Burnham wants to run a ‘cost of living government’ – here’s what he can learn from families living through the crisis
Richard M Lee/Shutterstock Parliament is back in session, and Andy Burnham is set to put his promise of becoming a “cost-of-living government” into practice. Since 2021, economic and geopolitical instability has led UK households to struggle with a fall in real disposable income and inflation, particularly around food and energy prices. Families are under sustained […]
Greyhound racing just turned 100, and says its dogs are fine. But are they?
Motion-blurred greyhounds in coloured racing jackets racing around a floodlit track at night. Craig Allen/flickr, CC BY-NC This year, greyhound racing in Britain turns 100 years old. The first race ran on July 24 1926 in Manchester, where six dogs chased a mechanical hare around a track. Recently, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) […]
The real reason Britons are more medicated than Danes
It is tempting to tell a tidy story in which people in Britain take too many pills because they exercise too little and eat too poorly, while Danes stay slim by cycling everywhere. The assumption is that Britain relies on medication to fix lifestyle failures, whereas Denmark relies on prevention. But are Britons actually more […]