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If you’re in a city or large town in England, chances are wood burning is strongly restricted in your area. Yet you could still walk into your local garden centre and buy firewood and a wood-burning stove. It’s very confusing and must be one of the easier rules to break, even by accident.
The confusion is partly because the tools used to control wood burning date back to the great smogs of the 1950s, says James Heydon of the University of Nottingham. Those rules were aimed at thick, industrial smog, not the tiny invisible particles emitted by wood fires – and this loophole persists today. With the use of wood-burning stoves growing fast, Heydon looks at the options.
“Scrambled eggs. Oh my baby how I love your legs…” Say it out loud. If the rhythm sounds familiar that’s because those were the original lyrics to Yesterday by the Beatles. Paul McCartney said he used them as a placeholder after the melody for the song suddenly came to him came to him one drowsy morning. Psychologists call this the “hypnagogic state”, and Steve Taylor of Leeds Beckett University says it’s responsible for many great discoveries and inventions.
Meanwhile, the dominance of the US dollar may be unravelling under Trump, as America can no longer be relied on to act predictably or responsibly. Fabian Pape of the University of Edinburgh and his co-authors explain why this is happening and why it matters.
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Will de Freitas
Environment + Energy Editor
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terekhov igor / shutterstock
James Heydon, University of Nottingham
The UK wants cleaner air. But its rules are stuck in the age of smog.
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Orawan Pattarawimonchai/Shutterstock
Steve Taylor, Leeds Beckett University
Many artists and scientists have had breakthrough while in this drowsy state between sleep and waking.
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The dominant global financial position of the US and its currency, the dollar, is wobbling under the second Trump administration.
AURA88 / Shutterstock
Fabian Pape, University of Edinburgh; Johannes Petry, University of Warwick; Tobias Pforr, European University Institute
The erosion of trust in the US as the steward of the liberal international order should be taken seriously.
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World
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Tom Harper, University of East London
US intervention in Latin America could put China’s influence there in jeopardy.
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Jonathan Este, The Conversation
The war in Ukraine is driving a wedge between the US and Europe and exposing divisions within the EU.
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Politics + Society
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Nicholas Dickinson, University of Exeter
Parties of the British left have been notorious for the arguments about what names mean. No wonder this new endeavour chose a name that effectively says nothing.
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Sam Power, University of Bristol
Thailand-based businessman Christopher Harborne has given the largest ever single donation to a British political party.
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Elaine Jackson, University of Glasgow; University of the West of Scotland; Lee John Curley, Glasgow Caledonian University; Martin Lages, University of Glasgow
If a judge makes a decision on their own, only their own biases will influence the verdict. In a jury, consensus needs to be reached.
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Arts + Culture
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Sara Read, Loughborough University
This spiced wine has been drunk in Britain since the Romans introduced it.
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Dominic Davies, City St George's, University of London
The film loses the spirit of unsettling indirection that comprises the magic of the original story.
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Business + Economy
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Christopher Adam, University of Oxford; İrem Güçeri, University of Oxford
The country can’t keep tinkering with a dysfunctional tax system and expect things to get better.
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Environment
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Jonny Hanson, Queen's University Belfast
Human nature will shape the feasibility and viability of proposals to reintroduce apex predators such as lynx or wolves.
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Georgia de Leeuw, Lund University
The Indigenous Sami in the far north of Sweden say intensive industrial projects pose risks to their way of life.
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Health
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Vikram Niranjan, University of Limerick
Cancer is a universal challenge that hits those with the fewest resources hardest – and nearly half of global cancer deaths are linked to preventable risks.
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Parth Shinde, Birla Institute of Technology and Science
Simple physics replaces expensive centrifuges, making fast testing possible anywhere.
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Amy Brown, Swansea University; Aimee Grant, Swansea University
Headlines promised £500 savings on baby formula, but the UK government’s plan offers far less than struggling families hoped.
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Science + Technology
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Martin Fullekrug, University of Bath; Blair McGinness, University of Reading; Karen Aplin
The phenomenon could have implications for future missions to the red planet.
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