US defies forecasts of economic slowdown, but its growth isn’t making ordinary people better off
US economic growth is picking up again after a slowdown towards the end of 2025. According to price data released on May 28, US GDP grew by 1.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026. This is despite energy prices rising and consumer confidence falling since the US president, Donald Trump, went to war with […]
Why impressionists loved to paint gardens
Woman with a Parasol in a Garden by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1875). Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum Dahlias thrust their colours skywards; hollyhocks frame a child at play; peasants tend cabbages; water lilies dot the surface of a pond. The “impressionist garden” captures all of these moments and more. But why were Monet, Renoir, Morisot, Pissarro and their colleagues […]
Megacolon: when constipation becomes something more serious
9dream studio/Shutterstock The colon is about one and a half metres long and plays a vital role in moving waste through the body. In rare cases, it can become so stretched that it begins to lose its ability to work properly, like an elastic band that has lost its spring. This is known as megacolon. […]
How gaps in education, work and welfare support can push neurodivergent into homelessness
Jonathan Tallon/Shutterstock Homelessness in the UK is reaching critical levels, with more than 380,000 people estimated to be without a home in England alone as of late 2025. There is also a growing recognition that neurodivergent people are over-represented among homeless populations. But much of this comes from anecdotal reports from service providers or localised […]
How positive tipping points may be the key to protecting tropical rainforests
Tarcisio Schnaider/Shutterstock The world’s tropical rainforests are edging towards collapse. But knowing how to stop deforestation isn’t enough to drive action. The challenge is aligning all the pieces of the puzzle to initiate substantial change. Now our research suggests the key is to persuade enough people to make the system tip in the right direction. […]
Pizza lovers and savoury snackers: what secondary school pupils choose to eat
Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock Changes are on the horizon for the food that students can choose in English schools. The government is proposing updates to the school food standards, which set out what schools can serve. The changes are aimed at increasing fibre and reducing fat, sugar and salt in school food. These will, for example, […]
Wes Streeting’s health bill brings back ‘democratic control’ of the NHS in England – but what does it mean?
repic/Shutterstock.com Most NHS patients never think about who has legal responsibility for the health service. They notice waiting times, whether local services disappear and whether they can get treatment when they need it. But Wes Streeting’s new health bill changes who has the ultimate power to make those decisions, and may make the NHS far […]
World’s first AI-designed vaccine explained
Sooksaard/Shutterstock.com Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed what they describe as a fundamentally new type of vaccine using artificial intelligence (AI). The vaccine’s key component was designed entirely by AI and has now been tested in people for the first time. The goal is ambitious: a single vaccine that works not just against […]
Why do my fingers go wrinkly in the bath?
Karkacheva Anna/Shutterstock Have you ever stayed in the bath or swimming pool for ages and noticed that your fingers and toes went all wrinkly? Well, 11-year-old Maya from London wanted to know why that happens. She joins our host Eloise to get the answer from biologist Tom Smulders on the first episode of season two […]
Rhino horn: why South Africa wants to revive the international trade, and why critics fear the consequences
Jason Gilchrist South Africa wants to expand exports of rhino hunting trophies and other wildlife products. The move relies on an exemption process within the international treaty that has largely restricted rhino horn trade since 1977. It’s a shift that could reopen one of global conservation’s fiercest debates: does a legal trade protect endangered species […]