Partita by Barbara Kingsolver: the touching story of a musician striving to bring the movements of her life together
Woman Playing the Piano by Winifred Nicholson. Trustees of Winifred Nicholson/ The Ingram Collection of Modern British and Contemporary Art, CC BY-NC A partita is a musical composition, often for a soloist. As Livia, the protagonist of Barbara Kingsolver’s new book, explains to Sigurd, as they begin an all-consuming romance, it’s “made up of a […]
Why endometriosis pain can continue after treatment
PeopleImages/Shutterstock Treatment for endometriosis can bring relief, but some women continue to have pelvic pain even after hormone treatment or surgery. For those who have spent years seeking help, continuing pain can be distressing and difficult to understand. Why does this happen? Sometimes endometriosis remains or returns. But pain can also involve other conditions, and […]
How will humans of the future be augmented? Six striking ideas from science fiction
The transformation of the human body has been a recurring concern of science fiction for more than 200 years. It has reflected both our hopes of overcoming physical limitations, and our fears about how technology may change what it means to be human. Science fiction is an important creative and speculative space in which to […]
Andy Burnham wants beer back in the stands – but football’s traditional fans have larger concerns
Andy Burnham, Everton fan and prime minister, has declared the ban on drinking pitch-side at football games to be discriminatory given that fans of other sports, even in the same ground, could happily enjoy a beer while watching a game. There have been several drinking trials in the women’s game. Surveys and police data showed […]
Why some Indigenous communities don’t resist oil extraction in their territories
An oil extraction site on the banks of the Napo river in Ecuador. SL-Photography/Shutterstock More than half of the Ecuadorian Amazon has been marked for oil drilling, overlapping with Indigenous territories and areas of high biodiversity. The ecological and cultural impacts of oil extraction are well documented, and have fuelled some of Latin America’s most […]
How pond algae led to a Nobel prize and a new way to study the brain
Scientists who worked out how to control brain cells with light have won this year’s Nobel prize in physiology or medicine. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel were honoured for their research into “light-gated ion channels and optogenetics”. Peter Hegemann, at Humboldt University of Berlin, and Georg Nagel, at the University of Würzburg, wanted […]
The curious case of the bear in the Bayeux tapestry – what it tells us about baiting in medieval England
Try to imagine medieval England. You might picture knights, castles and battles. But what about bears? The Bayeux tapestry, which tells the story of the Norman conquest of England, contains a curious image of a man raising a sword towards a bear. New research involving archaeological analysis of bear bones and archival records from my […]
Russia is using Ukraine’s children to win its occupation – and the wider war
Ukraine’s authorities have verified 20,651 cases of children deported or forcibly displaced to Russia and Belarus since 2022. Madonova / Shutterstock A year or so after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the city of Murmansk in Russia’s Arctic north-west marked its annual regional day with a celebration for children. Alongside the sons and daughters of […]
The many ways young care leavers are being failed by society – expert panel
Pavlo Safonov/Shutterstock Care leavers in England aged 18-24 are dying at three times the rate of their peers, according to a recent report. From mental health support shortcomings to the lack of a housing safety net, our experts examine the struggles these young people face – and what is needed to help them. A mental […]
Daily doses of ‘digital ibuprofen’: how burnt-out Chinese youth soothe their anxieties
Chiikawa is a cute little animal who is struggle to survive in a gruelling gig economy. Wikimedia/Canva In China, young people are encountering myriad challenges, from societal pressures around success to existing in a highly surveilled society, that have made them turn to the internet in search of a balm to soothe their pain. What […]