Teenage cliques can offer protection – or enforce exclusionVirginia Woods-Jack/Millennium Images, UK Coming of AgeLucy Foulkes (Bodley Head (UK); Vintage Digital (US)) In the teen movie Mean Girls, protagonist Cady Heron arrives at a US high school having grown up in...
Nut deficiency What would happen if you removed most of the nuts from the bolts on three of the four sides of a tall electrical power pylon? New data speaks to that question. Newshub reported on 24 June that a...
Flying cars have long been part of our imagined future – but that is where they may remainShutterstock/Design Projects The Long History of the FutureNicole Kobie (Bloomsbury Sigma (UK, on sale now; US, 24 September)) A handful of technologies teeter on the cusp...
Astronomy Photographer of the Year, the annual photo competition showcasing all things space, is back for its 16th run. More than 3500 images were submitted for the award. Among the 30 to make the shortlist is Carina Letelier Baeza’s shot...
Shutterstock/LightField Studios Sometimes it is the really counterintuitive ideas in horticulture that ironically turn out to be the most effective. So about a decade ago, when the internet was suddenly flush with a curious new technique for using potatoes to...
Solar power stationYaorusheng/Getty Images Things are just a wee bit unstable right now – environmentally and politically – so I decided to call up some experts and find out what will be happening on Earth in 25 years. Perhaps sounding...
Brothers Jacob and Tibu in Queen Elizabeth National Park, UgandaAlex Braczkowski A pair of lion brothers have made the longest swim ever recorded for their species – about 1.5 kilometres across hippo and crocodile-infested waters. The massive swim – equivalent...
The speed with which we reach a decision can reveal the strength of our biasesDavid Williams/Bloomberg via Getty Images In a large group of independent decision-makers, those who reach a decision most quickly also tend to be those with the...
Horses are big and strong, but often quiet, which may comfort people with Alzheimer’s diseaseHalfpoint/Getty Images/iStockphoto Spending time with horses seems to make people with Alzheimer’s disease more sociable and improves their mood. “We’re seeing some really promising results with...
Existing menstrual pads can lead to leaksVittoria/Alamy Menstrual products that cause blood to form a solid gel-like substance, rather than be absorbed, seem to reduce the risk of leaks. Bryan Hsu at Virginia Tech and his colleagues wanted to find...
