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 […]
There’s nothing ‘wild’ about most wildfires – humans start them and have made them more dangerous
A wildfire needs a name long before anyone knows what caused it. When the pines of the Gironde in southwestern France caught light in July, the fire was being reported within hours under the name of the ground it was burning. By the time it had taken 40,000 hectares, that name was fixed in every […]
High infant formula milk prices are putting babies at risk
CameraCraft/Shutterstock We have all seen an increase in the cost of our food shop over the last few years. In March 2023, food price inflation in the UK hit a record peak of 19.1%. But price rises for infant formula milk have been steeper still. Infant formula, which was already expensive, rose by an average […]
Iran oil spill: the war is leaving environmental scars that ceasefires cannot heal
The mangrove forests of Qeshm Island off the coast of southern Iran. Nmarandi / Shutterstock Oil slicks moving along Iran’s southern coast have reached the Hara mangrove forests of Qeshm Island. Iranian authorities say the extent of the contamination is still being assessed and the source of the oil pollution has not yet been established. […]