The Duolingo taxi test – could being rude to the driver cost you your dream job?
GBJSTOCK/Shutterstock Duolingo recently revealed a seemingly genius trick to assess candidates for a senior position. Hiring managers at the language-learning app read applications and cover letters, scheduled phone interviews and asked all the usual questions about skills and ambitions. But they also found out about how the candidates behaved in the taxi ride to the […]
Turner prize 2026 shortlist points to sculpture as a way of thinking about power, ecology and belief
The shortlist for the Turner prize 2026 brings together four artists whose practices are firmly rooted in sculpture and installation. Their work, in diverse ways, tests how material form can carry political, ecological and symbolic meaning. This year’s Turner prize jury (chaired by Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain) is composed of Sarah Allen (South […]
Euphoria: thoughtless depictions of adults pretending to be sexualised infants are extremely harmful
There has been much talk about the sex work storylines in the recent series of the show Euphoria. One of the main characters, Cassie Howard (played by Sydney Sweeney), starts an OnlyFans account to fund her upcoming wedding. In the last two episodes, viewers have watched her create videos for different “audiences”. In one video, […]
Joan Eardley: ‘she would set up her canvas on the shore and paint in the lashing wind and rain like a woman possessed’
Joan Eardley was one of the most unique and celebrated artists of her generation, but the international acclaim and recognition that her work deserves eluded her. Her paintings are not only foundational in Scotland’s cultural history, but continue to influence its creative landscape, particularly with those concerning dialogue around community and the poetics of place. […]
What Mandelson vetting row reveals about escalating tensions between ministers and civil servants
Nigel Harris/Shutterstock Keir Starmer’s decision to fire Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins has contributed to “one of the worst crises in relations” between ministers and civil servants in modern times. The words of former cabinet secretary Gus O’Donnell, writing after Robbins was sacked for declining to inform Starmer that Peter Mandelson failed vetting for his […]
Why some countries give away free electricity and even pay consumers to use it
vfhnb12/Shutterstock In parts of Germany and Australia, a surprising thing is happening more and more often: households are being offered free electricity. This is happening at times of day when there are high levels of energy being generated from solar or wind. It is caused because sometimes more electricity is being produced than people need. […]
Supplements for menopause: here’s what the evidence actually says
All sorts of supplements are marketed online as being able to improve symptoms of the menopause. Pixel-Shot/ Shutterstock Social media is saturated with menopause solutions: powders for brain fog, gummies for sleep or capsules promising hormonal balance. Supplements such as magnesium, lion’s mane, creatine and collagen are being marketed as must-haves for perimenopause and menopause. […]
Chernobyl: the five best things to watch and play to understand the disaster
Can we ever really understand Chernobyl? As a researcher in visual culture, I find myself returning to this question again and again as I examine films, TV shows, documentaries, visual novels and artworks. We know that the explosion occurred on April 26 1986 at 1:23am due to a safety test gone wrong, and that the […]
Why Sweden’s ban on fossil fuel production matters, despite not producing any itself – new research
Greta Thunberg and fellow climate activists demonstrating outside the Swedish parliament in 2019. Liv Oeian/Shutterstock In 2022, Sweden took a rare step: the country banned all fossil fuel production. The quirk is that Sweden has never actually produced any fossil fuels. So why would a country with no fossil fuel production decide to ban such […]
Middle East conflict looks increasingly like a war nobody can win
Let’s begin with a simple question that rarely gets a straight answer: what would victory over Iran actually look like? In Washington and Jerusalem, the answers tend to sound definitive: eliminate Iran’s nuclear capability, break its regional power, perhaps even force political change at the top. It’s the language of decisive war, the kind with […]