The soviet origins of shadow libraries
Balázs Bödö's first interaction with a shadow library was when, as a young professor at university in Budapest, he was faced with a dilemma: what should he teach his students? "Do I condemn my student...
6 Aug 20min
A window into the murky world of peptides
Timothy Piatkowki was scrolling when a targeted ad landed in his feed. Cheap peptides! Straight from the factory! Naturally, he started a chat with the dealer and found himself deep in the world of a ...
30 Jul 18min
Save our brains: how dangerous is sport?
With growing evidence about concussion, repetitive head impacts and long-term brain disease, have we underestimated the risks of sport all along? How did we get here, what do we really know about head...
23 Jul 16min
How Manchester shaped Andy Burnham, the UK's incoming prime minister
Three months ago, Andy Burnham’s desk was filled with the business of running Greater Manchester. Buses. Housing. Policing. This mayoral region in the north of England is home to 3 million people and ...
16 Jul 27min
How celebrities like Taylor Swift are fighting back against AI deepfakes
When Taylor Swift launched her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, in October 2025, she recorded two short clips to promote it. One for Amazon Music began with “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift”. Another, for...
9 Jul 25min
The anatomy of a super El Niño
El Niño has begun and forecasters predict a more than 60% chance that the naturally occurring phenomenon could become a very strong, or super El Niño later in 2026.El Niño begins with warmer water in ...
2 Jul 21min
Cockroach party hits nerve with angry young Indians
A new youth protest movement in India that started as online satire is now staging an ongoing sit-in in New Delhi calling for the resignation of India’s education minister.The Cockroach Janta Party (C...
25 Jun 25min
Teens are still on social media, but does that mean Australia's ban has failed?
When Australia banned under 16-year-olds from using social media in December 2025, it became a test case for a policy now being pursued by governments around the world. This week, the UK announced a s...
18 Jun 27min
