Were enormous octopuses apex predators in ancient oceans?
Illustration of the giant octopus. Image: Yohei Utsuki, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Hokkaido University At the time of the dinosaurs, the oceans were teeming with life. Below the waves, giant marine reptiles, such as the fearsome 4m (13ft) long mosasaurs, were the undisputed apex predators. In artistic reconstructions of these ancient oceans, cephalopods […]
Do birds have accents? The fascinating regional differences in birdsong
Yellowhammers have two main dialects in the UK. WaceQ/Shutterstock Birds sing the most around an hour before dawn, when the air is at its stillest. Theoretically, this enables sounds to travel further, making song up to 20 times more effective than if sung at midday. With International Dawn Chorus day approaching, it’s time to take […]
Why your brain turns against you during arguments – and what to do about it
DimaBerlin/Shutterstock.com My ex once told me, mid-argument, that I was the most unempathetic person he’d ever met. It was a low blow. I’m a clinical psychologist. Empathy is literally my job. What he probably didn’t know – and I was too “flooded” to explain at the time – is that when we argue with people […]
Bacteriophages: meet the viruses that hunt superbugs
Model of bacteriophages. These are viruses that multiply inside bacteria and cause their death. In some cases they are used in the fight against bacteria instead of antibiotics. shoma81/Shutterstock Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect and kill bacteria. These microscopic predators are found everywhere from soil and water to food and the human gut. […]
Gaza: six months of ceasefire have left the territory in rubble and little vision for the future of its people
Municipal elections in the occupied West Bank and in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah on April 25 have been quickly framed by Fatah, the dominant faction within the Palestinian Authority (PA), as a sweeping victory. But it’s worth taking a closer look at how the election was organised. Candidates were required to commit […]
What women’s work songs reveal about the changing climate
Anusuyabai Pandekar and her daughter-in-law Mandabai sit facing each other beside a stone grindmill. The mill is still. No grain rests between its stones. No flour gathers at the edges. Instead it sits between them like an object from another time. One of the women begins to sing. The other joins. The melody carries the […]
How King Charles charmed the US while taking digs at Trump in historic speech to Congress
King Charles’s speech to the US Congress – only the second such address by a British monarch – demonstrates how much both the US and the UK have changed in the last three decades. The first speech was in May 1991 during his mother, Queen Elizabeth II’s, third state visit to the US. The underlying […]
An uncomfortable truth: healthcare is both a protector of health and a contributor to one of its greatest threats
When we think about the causes of climate change, the usual suspects often come to mind: coal-fired power plants, traffic-choked roads, industrial agriculture. Rarely do we picture hospitals. Yet if global healthcare were a country, it would be one of the world’s top five greenhouse gas emitters. With healthcare responsible for about 5% of total […]
Rape, sexual assault and long-term chronic health issues – our new study
Global figures estimate that around one in six women will experience sexual assault during their lifetime. These figures are not only high but also extremely concerning, given that sexual assault is a deeply traumatic experience for someone to go through. The psychological consequences of sexual assault, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression, […]
EU enlargement is often deeply political – as Ukraine and Montenegro show
The EU formally unblocked a €90 billion (£78 billion) loan for Ukraine on April 23 after Hungary and Slovakia dropped their opposition. This move came over a week after defeat in parliamentary elections brought the 16-year tenure of Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to an end. He will be replaced by Péter Magyar of the […]