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I love stories that make me rethink stuff I’ve spent my whole life taking for granted. An example is this explanation of how conversation works. Summoning a word in your mind and then saying it takes at least 600 milliseconds. Yet the most common gap between one person finishing a speaking turn and the next one starting is a third of that time, whatever the language.
This means our brains operate like a sophisticated version of predictive text. Instead of waiting for a sentence to finish, we continuously predict how it is likely to end. Even more fascinatingly, research by Ruth Corps at the University of Sheffield has found that people with some hearing loss are better at this prediction skill than those who hear clearly.
Is someone in your social network a “hassler”? That’s the name given by researchers to people who are a persistent source of stress for their friends or family. And the really bad news is, they could be making you age faster.
Finally, something else I’ve just learned – the emerging field of neurofinance uses brain research to better understand financial decision-making. It can even help to explain why financial markets react unevenly to different types of climate risk, and what this means for your pension.
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Mike Herd
Senior Science and Technology Editor
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Benjavisa Ruangvaree Art/Shutterstock
Ruth Corps, University of Sheffield
We often think of conversation as effortless. In fact, it’s a finely tuned dance of listening and speaking.
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Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock.com
Ann Marie Creaven, University of Limerick; Chloe Boyle, University of Limerick; Srebrenka Letina
The people in our lives can protect our health – but new research suggests that those who consistently cause us stress may actually be ageing us faster.
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The floods that hit the Valencia area in autumn 2024 put climate risk front and centre of investors’ minds.
Vicente Sargues/Shutterstock
Narmin Nahidi, University of Exeter
Financial markets react more strongly to sudden, visible events like storms, even when gradual changes like rising sea levels might be equally devastating.
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World
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Christian Emery, UCL
Often called the ‘forbidden island’, Kharg is vital to Iran’s economic survival.
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Ben Seymour, Nottingham Trent University; Eszter Simon, Nottingham Trent University
Washington may see the Kurds as a useful tool for confronting the Iranian regime, but such a strategy could create new tensions elsewhere in the region.
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Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham; Marina Gorbatiuc, Moldova State University
Beyond simple survival, Moldova seems to have emerged stronger from the challenges it has faced.
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Politics + Society
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Maria Sobolewska, University of Manchester
Labour has long been accused of taking Black voters for granted. Now trends among other ethnic minority voters should concern Keir Starmer.
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Nicole Martin, University of Manchester; Ralph Scott, University of Bristol; Roland Kappe, UCL
Subject choice fairly early on is linked to later political preferences.
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Sue Farran, Newcastle University; Colin Murray, Newcastle University
The UK government’s efforts to decolonise the Chagos Islands remain mired in legal controversy.
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Richard Youngs, University of Warwick
Europe is rattled by Trump’s approach to geopolitics but doesn’t seem able to produce an alternative vision.
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Annabel Hoare, Anglia Ruskin University
A highly stylised storyline around a handful of high-profile influencers risks painting a misleading portrait of the manosphere.
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Arts + Culture
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Laura O'Flanagan, Dublin City University
This compelling film examines survival and moral compromise among those caught inside the machinery of the Nazi regime.
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Nozomi Uematsu, University of Sheffield
Loneliness in women is on the rise in Japan, and friendship can help. But in this novel, connection quickly becomes obsession.
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Beth Johnson, University of Leeds
The eight-part remake attempts to revive the glossy melodrama of the 1980s bonkbuster while reframing its heroine for a contemporary audience.
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Jen Harvie, Queen Mary University of London; Edward Venn, University of Leeds; Jennifer Daniel, Edge Hill University; Kiera Vaclavik, Queen Mary University of London
Is opera dying? Do people care? What does it need to survive? Where will new audiences come from? Our experts assess the state of opera in the UK.
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Alison Taft, Leeds Beckett University; Ailish Kate Brassil, University College Cork; Angela Dunstan, Queen Mary University of London; Christina Hennemann, University of Limerick; Clodagh Philippa Guerin, University of Limerick; Edel Semple, University College Cork; Faye Lynch, University of Liverpool; Sarah Olive, Aston University; Stephanie Palmer, Nottingham Trent University; Wen-chin Ouyang, SOAS, University of London
From serious villains to children’s book baddies, these literary mothers subvert every maternal instinct.
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Environment
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Sanam Mahoozi, City St George's, University of London
Plants that convert seawater to drinking water are at the heart of major cities in the Gulf. But they are increasingly becoming military targets.
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Kate Moles, Cardiff University; Safia Bailey, Cardiff University
Through navigating pollution, outdoor swimmers are reminded that the health and wellbeing of our bodies is bound to the quality of our waters.
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Health
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Eef Hogervorst, Loughborough University
A study tracking women for more than two decades adds to growing evidence that when menopause hormone therapy is started may influence dementia risk later in life.
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Ahmed Elbediwy, Kingston University; Nadine Wehida, Kingston University
Cancer death rates in the UK have hit a record low, but the picture is more complicated than the headline figure suggests.
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2 March - 30 September 2026
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3 March - 15 May 2026
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Glasgow
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11 March - 11 April 2026
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