Explore news for you
The first bomb disposal expert: Colonel Vivian Majendie and the original ‘war on terror’
A man of his time: Colonel Vivian Majendie — the first recognised bomb disposal expert in Britain Spy Magazine (1882) via Wikimedia Commons On the last day of February 1884, the then home secretary Sir William Harcourt rose in the UK parliament to answer a question about a series ofContinue Reading
How well does the AstraZeneca vaccine work? An expert reviews the current evidence
When the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was first authorised by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, it was hailed as a milestone in turning the tide on the coronavirus. But in the time since, this highly efficacious vaccine has suffered a lot of reputational damage. In January, the German pressContinue Reading
Pandemic shows that everyone should have access to free broadband
COVID-19 has intensified the UK's digital divide. Juliya Shangarey/Shutterstock The internet and other digital technologies have helped many of us cope with lockdown, and new ways of working have quickly become commonplace. But the pandemic has also exposed the “digital divide” across the UK – and the fact that notContinue Reading
Qatar Open: Sania Mirza, Andreja Klepac Lose In Semi-Finals | Tennis News
Sania Mirza and her women’s doubles partner Andreja Klepac bowed out of Qatar Open in semi-final.© SAI Media/Twitter Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and her partner Andreja Klepac of Slovenia crashed out of the ongoing Qatar Total Open after facing a defeat in the semi-finals on Thursday. Sania, who wasContinue Reading
This frog’s lungs act like noise cancelling headphones
Clever frog. Shutterstock/Martin Valigursky For us humans, having a conversation in a crowded room is challenging – it’s often called the cocktail party problem. The mix of sounds arriving at our eardrums needs to be analysed to pick out the sounds of individual talkers and that’s a difficult task. TheContinue Reading
Why is celebrity abuse on Twitter so bad? It might be a problem with our empathy
rafapress/Shutterstock Stories of celebrities suffering abuse and harassment on Twitter are a constant feature in today’s news. Footballers and rugby players are ritually abused if their teams lose. Politicians and journalists are abused for doing their jobs – and that abuse is far worse for women. Even Captain Sir TomContinue Reading
South-west Iceland is shaking – and may be about to erupt
The Reykjanes Peninsula. Johann Helgason/Shutterstock Over 17,000 earthquakes have been recorded in the south-west of Iceland, in the Reykjanes Peninsula, during the past week. People living in the area have been advised to be extra careful due to dangers of landslides and rockfall. Many of the larger earthquakes have evenContinue Reading
Why has the UK’s COVID death toll been so high? Inequality may have played a role
The first death to be publicly attributed to coronavirus in the UK was of a woman in her seventies on March 5 2020. The same day, a spokesperson for the prime minister, Boris Johnson, warned the virus could spread in “a significant way” in the UK. On March 16 2020,Continue Reading
Women in mosques: fixating on the number of female imams overlooks the progress that has been made
Zara Mohammed, the new secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, was recently questioned about Muslim female leadership on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour Abdulmukith Ahmed/Muslim Council of Britain Debate continues in the wake of a high-profile Radio 4 Woman’s Hour interview with Zara Mohammed, the first woman generalContinue Reading