triocean/Shutterstock If you look up at the sky on a clear day, you might notice little cobweb-like structures drifting across your field of vision. They are known as floaters or, more formally, muscae volitantes – Latin for flying flies. Like regular flies, muscae volitantes are rather pesky, so it’s notContinue Reading
An artist's impression of the Titan submersible. Amnat Phomuang/Shutterstock Like most people, I watched the tragedy of the Titan submersible unfold with horror. We talked about it in cafes, jumped when news reports came in on our phones, and wondered why people would ever actually pay money to experience suchContinue Reading
In 2020, the National Portrait Gallery closed for renovations. And they were much needed, said Laura Freeman in The Times: its entrance hall was “poky”, and its collection “dusty and undervisited” – overshadowed by the museum’s “shiny, shouty” temporary exhibitions. It has since undergone “a £41m makeover” helmed by JamieContinue Reading
T he Government’s legal challenge over the UK Covid Inquiry’s demand for former prime minister Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages, diaries and personal notebooks will be heard at the High Court. The Cabinet Office is bringing a judicial review of inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett’s order to release the documents, arguingContinue Reading
M ore than 300,000 extra nurses, doctors and other health workers are expected to be employed in the NHS in England over the coming years through radical plans to improve staffing in the health service. The possibility of cutting the amount of time doctors spend in medical school, driving upContinue Reading
S cotland had no plan for a non-flu pandemic ahead of Covid-19 arriving in the country in 2020, Nicola Sturgeon has told a public inquiry. The former SNP leader, who was Scotland’s first minister for the duration of the pandemic, told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry there was “thinking” within governmentContinue Reading
Since 1966, the England men’s football team has had an unerring ability to dash a nation’s dreams, said Andrzej Lukowski in Time Out. So a play about the squad’s supposed “resurrection” under manager Gareth Southgate feels “potentially hubristic” – and at risk of “dangerously overhyping a gifted man who stillContinue Reading
T he Court of Appeal is due to rule on legal challenges over Government plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. In December last year, two judges at the High Court dismissed a series of legal bids against the Government’s plan to provide asylum seekers with a one-way ticket toContinue Reading
MRI brain scan. SpeedKingz/Shutterstock People often jokingly say they’ve “got a bit of OCD” (obsessive-compulsive disorder) if they are overly organised or tidy. But OCD is actually a severe and disabling disorder characterised by obsessions – recurrent intrusive thoughts, impulses or images that are unwanted and anxiety provoking. This isContinue Reading
A view of the seafloor from the Deep Rover 2 submersible. Jon Copley, Author provided The tragic death of five people when the Titan submersible imploded during its descent to the wreck of the Titanic has led some to describe deep-diving submersibles as inherently risky. But their history shows thatContinue Reading
