Clean eating: why cutting sugar out of your diet might not be as healthy as it sounds – new study
everydayplus/Shutterstock.com Cutting all sugar from your diet sounds like the healthy thing to do. But a recent study suggests it may do more harm than good. Instead of improving metabolic health, it appears to make it worse. Before rewriting your shopping list, though, it is important to note that this research was conducted on rodents, […]
England’s sewage spills: why citizen scientists want to test for pollution themselves
Andy Soloman / Shutterstock.com Thousands of volunteers across England now regularly take out their own testing kits to study the levels of pollution in rivers and the sea. With sewage spills rarely out of the news, citizen water testing has become one of the most visible responses to England’s pollution scandals. A crisis of trust […]
AI saves time – so why does it make us feel guilty?
Productivity guilt is the uneasy sense that time saved through technology has to be justified. Drazen Zigic / Shutterstock We have built tools that save us hours in work. So why do so many people feel worse for using them? The answer has less to do with AI and more to do with what we […]
Four reasons electric vehicle targets shouldn’t be weakened
Serge Cornu/Shutterstock The UK government is preparing to water down its electric vehicle sales targets. Under the existing zero emission vehicles (ZEV) mandate, 80% of all new cars sold in Britain needed to be electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030. Following sustained lobbying from car manufacturers and trade unions, that figure could be revised down to […]
Is Australia’s social media ban for under 16s working?
Bricolage/Shutterstock When Australia banned under 16-year-olds from using social media in December 2025, it became a test case for a policy now being pursued by governments around the world. Six months on, the UK has announced plans to introduce its own social media ban in 2027, with France, Malaysia, Indonesia and Greece among other countries […]
Does screen time mean children are missing out on play?
banhan chueatong/Shutterstock In Toy Story 5, Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the gang are up against a new challenge: Bonnie’s tablet. Even Rex the toy dinosaur is worried about going extinct again. The storyline reflects a broader shift in childhood. Traditional toys increasingly share space with digital devices as part of children’s everyday play experiences. There […]
What makes the ideal digital icon? A psychologist explains
wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock Digital icons are everywhere – and usually, we interpret these visual symbols in the blink of an eye. Who today doesn’t know that a wastebasket means “delete” and a magnifying glass means “search”? Yet icons’ meanings can be deeply shaped by culture, experience and technological history. So what seems obvious to one person may […]
The kombucha paradox: measurable effects, uncertain wellbeing benefits
Chay_Tee/Shutterstock Kombucha has become part of the wider boom in gut-friendly foods and drinks. But a major heart-health charity is urging consumers to look more carefully at what these products actually contain. The British Heart Foundation has warned that some popular gut-friendly products can come with drawbacks. Commercial kombucha may be a healthier alternative to […]
A ‘super’ El Niño has the power to devastate fishing – and leave seals and sea lions starving
Many sea lions died in previous super El Niño. wildestanimal/Shutterstock There is a more than 60% chance that a “super” El Niño will develop by the end of this year. This is defined as the strongest El Niño event you can get, and happens when sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean rise by […]
Why weight-loss drugs don’t work for some people
Not everyone finds that Ozempic and Wegovy work for them. KaterynaBorodina/ Shutterstock Weight-loss jabs are the latest craze for shedding a few pounds. Their effect has been dramatic with drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide) causing users to lose up to 15% of their body fat on average. Semaglutide, which is a glucagon-like peptide […]