Now that it’s big business, nostalgia is a thing of the past
A Nintendo GameCube console from 2001 Photolgy1971 Retro is booming. Nintendo keeps bringing back old games. Hollywood can’t stop making sequels and remakes. Netflix fills our screens with shows inspired by the 1980s. Spotify recommends songs we loved as teenagers. Even Facebook reminds us what we were doing “On This Day” ten years ago. For […]
Medea goes on a Mexican odyssey in Dahlia de la Cerda’s new book
In a summer with much discourse about a Greek mythical figure (Odysseus), here is the translation of a book that uses another, Medea. In this instance Medea is relocated to contemporary Mexico. A powerful presence who rolls up in a custom-painted modified car, dressed in black with snake tattoos, Medea is an “iconic, queen of […]
Can a vaccine built for one Ebola virus stop another? The World Health Organization is about to find out
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended prioritising the Ervebo vaccine for testing in a clinical trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The vaccine was originally developed to protect against Zaire ebolavirus, the species responsible for the devastating west African epidemic just over a decade ago. It was not designed for the Bundibugyo […]
The death of dark energy is a false alarm – the universe is still accelerating
A 2025 study by South Korean researchers caught the attention of the astronomy community when it suggested that the evidence behind dark energy could be wrong. Dark energy makes up about 70% of the universe but nobody knows what it is. This makes it a frequent target for scepticism. Scientists had long known that the […]
What the battle between Nigel Farage and Count Binface really tells us about Britain’s mood
The people of Clacton have spoken. Well, 44% of them have, with the majority of eligible voters staying at home rather than cast their ballot in the byelection. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, the winning candidate, also stayed away – snubbing the count at Clacton leisure centre after claiming police had warned him of an […]
What happens when someone’s chromosomes, sex hormones and body don’t align?
The intersex symbol nito/Shutterstock I teach a university course called Hormones and Behaviour. What surprises students is that biological sex is not produced by a single switch. What surprises me is that many students have never been taught this before. It is basic biology, but it helps explain life. Sex emerges through a sequence of […]
Britain’s quarter century: experts in sex, mental health, nutrition and addiction assess the nation’s changing wellbeing
In this fourth part in our series on how the UK has changed in the past 25 years, we look at health. Life expectancy and illness Michael Murphy, Emeritus Professor of Demography, London School of Economics A good way to follow the health of a nation is to glance at what is known as period […]
Ukraine and Iran: why military strength doesn’t mean winning wars
What do Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Volodymyr Zelensky and Mojtaba Khamenei have in common? The military power that they can all command is far easier to use than to convert into political success. They command vastly different resources and pursue different goals. Trump and Putin lead nuclear powers (it’s generally accepted that Netanyahu […]
Russia investing in missiles to outplay Ukraine’s drone tactics
Some ominous news out of Ukraine this week in the form of an air defence assessment from Ukrainian intelligence official, Major-General Vadym Skibitsky. Skibitsky reported that Russia is rejigging its defence industry to prioritise the production of ballistic missiles. This, he said, would mean a concerted campaign of strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure ahead of […]
To tackle extreme heat, Andy Burnham needs to urgently take these three radical steps
The UK has entered its fifth successive heatwave. More than 70% England and all of Wales are now under drought conditions. That means 45 million people are now living in a drought area in England, with more than 27 million facing water use restrictions. Dangerous wildfires are have been blazing across the country. Firefighters have […]