Why antidepressants can stop working after initially helping
Symptoms can return despite continued antidepressant treatment, but this does not necessarily mean the body has become tolerant to the medicine. Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Shutterstock Antidepressant use continues to rise. In England, 96 million antidepressant prescription items were dispensed to an estimated 9.1 million patients in 2025 to 2026. These medicines are prescribed for depression and other […]
The ick: the psychology of why a romantic partner can suddenly repulse you
The ick can strike without warning. Prostock-studio/Shutterstock Ever felt a sudden wave of cringe toward someone you were into – all because they wore questionable shoes or chewed a bit too loudly? Congratulations, you’ve caught “the ick”. That instant flip from attraction to total repulsion is everywhere on TikTok and Instagram, with singletons and couples […]
Rebel Rebel the Musical stages David Bowie’s dystopian vision
“If you can listen to Rebel Rebel and not be a tiny bit glad you’re alive,” the Irish writer Joseph O’Connor once claimed, “you’ve got an answering-machine for a heart”. O’Connor was of course referring to David Bowie’s 1974 song, which provides the title of a new musical directed by Belgian theatre director Ivo van […]
Nobel physics prize awarded for discovery of ‘ghostly messengers’ from the cosmos
With a colleague, Halzen came up with the vision for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. Christopher Michel, CC BY-SA The 2026 Nobel prize for physics has been awarded to Francis Halzen for his discovery of high energy neutrino particles from space. The Nobel committee said Halzen has made “decisive contributions” to the […]
What helps children feel safe at school?
ucchie79/Shutterstock The issue of children missing school in England remains an urgent problem. New data shows that in the 2024-25 academic year, 18% of pupils were persistently absent, meaning that they missed 10% of their morning and afternoon sessions at school – around 19 days. While a slight decrease from the previous year, this is […]
The UK and Denmark: a dentist assesses the state of the nations’ teeth
How the health of your teeth is influenced by where you live. canva/Shutterstock/Videnskab.dk Teeth are an unlikely place to start when judging a health system, but they can be one of the most revealing. Oral health tells a surprisingly big story. Tooth decay, gum disease and tooth loss are some of the most common chronic […]
Taylor Swift’s new video marks her ghostly return to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca
In 2020, Taylor Swift told us she read Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, the 1938 bestseller about a young bride haunted by the memory of her husband’s glamorous first wife. Swift described how it inspired her while she was writing Tolerate It for her ninth studio album Evermore, which came out the same year. The song […]
Unusual senses: the secret superpowers of amphibians and reptiles
The Surinam toad’s hand. reptiles4all/Shutterstock The Surinam toad is one of the strangest frogs on Earth. Flat-bodied, tiny-eyed and adapted to the murky waters of the Amazon basin, it hunts well despite having very poor vision. When a fish swims close, the frog suddenly opens its mouth and sucks the prey inside in a fraction […]
Rhinos and elephants can cause huge problems if reintroduced badly – here’s how to get it right
Rhinos in the Kruger national park in South Africa. Karel Gallas/Shutterstock Moving large animals around is a seductive idea in conservation. If there are plenty of animals in one place and too few in another, moving some between the two seems an obvious solution. Sometimes it is. But with animals as large, mobile and socially […]
Does increased childcare funding help mothers into work?
SpeedKingz/Shutterstock Since Labour won the 2024 general election, policy focused on children in the early years – from birth to school age – and their parents has moved sharply up the political agenda. The government’s most expensive early years commitment so far has been its decision to honour the previous administration’s pledge to provide 30 […]