Science (Page 203)

Can nudging help us shop more sustainably? BearFotos/Shuttestock At the end of last year (2021), there was lots of excitement about the first comprehensive analysis of past research on techniques designed to change people’s behaviour (known as “nudging”), confidently showing that they work. This was great news for researchers, butContinue Reading

A group of construction workers on site. Bannafarsai_Stock/Shutterstock Up to 8% of all global anthropogenic human-made emissions are due to just one material, cement. And our use of it is rising. The cement and concrete industry is encouraging this use, for example, by claiming that using concrete will reduce theContinue Reading

A modern cockerel with dramatic plumage Robert May, https://robertmay.photography/, Author provided There are more chickens than any other species of bird on the planet. With three chickens for every human being, they are a food staple for millions of people around the world. But new research shows chickens were domesticatedContinue Reading

When it comes to talking about death, we have no shortage of euphemisms. This is perhaps most famously illustrated in Monty Python’s dead parrot sketch from 1971. A pet shop worker insists to a customer that his new parrot is “not dead but resting, stunned, pining for the fjords, kippingContinue Reading

Frame Stock Footage/Shutterstock The chance of someone being killed by space junk falling from the sky may seem ridiculously tiny. After all, nobody has yet died from such an accident, though there have been instances of injury and damage to property. But given that we are launching an increasing numberContinue Reading

Roman Zaiets/Shutterstock American Kevin Strickland was exonerated after spending 42 years in prison for being wrongfully convicted of a triple murder in November 2021. His 1978 conviction was based on mistaken identification of an eyewitness. The eyewitness later said that police pressured her into identifying Strickland, and attempted to haveContinue Reading

UK rail lines don't do well in the heat hxdyl/Shutterstock The UK’s rail service has been hit with widespread train delays and high levels of cancellations during the heatwave. The whole of the east coast line between Edinburgh and London was closed for hours on July 20 because of theContinue Reading