‘Ferritin face’ is trending – but can your skin really reveal low iron?

Marina Demeshko/Shutterstock.com Forget jade rollers, LED masks and salmon sperm facials. The latest skincare trend taking over TikTok is a blood test. “Ferritin face” is the social media term for the claim that low iron levels leave visible clues on your face – dark circles under the eyes, pale or grey-looking skin. Some influencers say […]

Why Yemen has returned to conflict

The dormant conflict in Yemen has erupted once more, with the Houthi rebel group seizing control of the Red Sea port city of Mocha and a number of islands from Yemeni government forces in recent weeks. This has given the Houthis a foothold close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key trade gateway linking Asia […]

AI can be more comforting than a person – our research shows why

22% of 18- to 21-year-olds have sought emotional support from generative AI. oatawa/Shutterstock Some of us now use generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) to talk through difficult feelings. We may ask a chatbot to write an email or plan a holiday, but we also tell it that we have had a rotten day or feel […]

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 […]

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 […]