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I don’t know about you but the state of current affairs has me clinging to anything that can offer stability. So I’m sorry to report we can literally no longer trust what we see in front of us. As University of Birmingham philosopher Henry Taylor writes, we may only ever be conscious of some of the information our eyes process. According to one school of thought, called the global neuronal workspace theory, our brain can only communicate so much of the unconscious information we process to our consciousness. His article includes a well-known experiment you can test on yourself by watching a short video clip.
Speaking of alarming information, it turns out very young children are carrying at least one virus half of the time. A new study brings together research on the immune systems of kids and why they pass so many bugs around once they start nursery.
Meanwhile beaver numbers are rebounding across Europe. And it’s not just cuteness and flood prevention they offer their human neighbours. Environmental researchers found their dams can help store a surprising amount of carbon.
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Jenna Hutber
Commissioning Editor, Science
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Kitreel/Shutterstock
Henry Taylor, University of Birmingham
The information your eyes takes in is only half the story.
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Art_Photo/Shutterstock
Lucy van Dorp, UCL; Charlotte Houldcroft, University of Cambridge
Having an under five in your household increases your risk as an adult of having diarrhoea and vomiting.
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WildMedia/Shutterstock
Joshua Larsen, University of Birmingham; Annegret Larsen, Wageningen University; Lukas Hallberg, University of Birmingham
As beavers reshape rivers, wetlands become a natural storage system for carbon.
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World
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John Strawson, University of East London
Reports are circulating of rifts between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Iran.
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Politics + Society
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David Lewis Thomas, University of Sussex
Proposed changes to UK banknotes reveal the power of cultural memory on national identity.
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Lowri Sian Wilkie, Swansea University; Andrew H Kemp, Swansea University; Zoe Fisher, Swansea University
With the 2026 Senedd election nearing, Wales must decide whether to defend its pioneering Well-being Act or let it be overshadowed by short-term political pressures.
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Arts + Culture
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Jennifer Fuller, University of Sheffield
Musicians played an enormous plastic bottle marimba, a wall of tuned glass bottles, discarded flower pots, cooking pans and a washing machine drum.
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William Garbett, Lancaster University
SNL’s British adaptation faces a cultural problem, not a format problem.
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Andrew McInnes, Edge Hill University
This new BBC drama is an enjoyable retelling of Austen’s most popular novel from the perspective of one of its least regarded characters.
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Adrian R Bell, University of Reading; Andrew Prescott, University of Glasgow; Helen Killick, University of Reading; Jason Sadler, University of Southampton
Our research has built pictures of people involved in the events of 1381.
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Environment
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Pedram Vousoughi, University of Limerick
Moss can absorb pollution caused by traffic and grow in thin soil.
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Renaud Foucart, Lancaster University
The next big innovations will centre on energy efficiency.
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Health
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Sheena Cruickshank, University of Manchester; Jonathan Worboys, Manchester University
This new type of immunotherapy shows promise for treating different cancers including prostate cancer, leukaemia and lung cancer.
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Andrew Moscrop, University of Oxford
UK children are getting taller. The reason why reveals a troubling story about obesity, inequality and poverty.
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Philip Broadbent, University of Glasgow
A vaccine has existed since 2013. The UK was first to adopt it. But a decade of students never received it – and are now paying the price.
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Barbara Pierscionek, Anglia Ruskin University
A major study links Wegovy to a rare form of sudden vision loss, and finds men may face three times the risk of women.
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Vikram Niranjan, University of Limerick
Rising heat is making everyday exercise harder, with modelling studies suggesting long-term impacts on activity levels and population health.
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Science + Technology
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Jamie Thompson, University of Reading
Deserts seem unforgiving. However, the fragile flowers of cacti are evolving quickly.
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The most clicked links from yesterday
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2 March - 30 September 2026
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