How getting rid of dustbins helped Taiwan clean up its cities
Hope Ngo Features correspondent Getty Images Landfills, like this one outside Taipei, were full to bursting in the 1990s, leading to public concern about environmental contaminants (Credit: Getty Images) From landfills that were bursting at the seams to remarkably clean streets, Taiwan’s changing attitude to waste has transformed how the island deals with waste. Waste […]
How dating app algorithms predict romantic desire
Javier Hirschfeld/ Getty Images “It’s something that single people want to exist – it’s the romantic equivalent of an easy weight-loss plan” (Credit: Javier Hirschfeld/ Getty Images) Online dating might not help you to find the one. But the data from dating apps offers some tantalising insights. In one night, Matt Taylor finished Tinder. He […]
What’s so fascinating about weird children’s TV shows?
Linda Geddes Features correspondent Alamy Young children can become transfixed by television programmes that adults find utterly baffling (Credit: Alamy) They depict hypnotic worlds filled with acidic colours and baffling plot lines, but children’s television can give us surprising insights into how our brains develop as we grow up. Pepi Nana stirs, and sits up in […]
The problem with India’s man-eating tigers
Rachel Nuwer in Karnataka, India Features correspondent Getty Images There may have once been hundreds of thousands of tigers in India’s forests (Credit: Getty Images) India has the potential to nearly quadruple the world’s tiger population. But some experts say that that could — ironically — require killing some of them. By 11:00, Gopamma Nayaka […]
How your face betrays your personality and health
David Robson Features correspondent (Getty Images) We are more than just a pretty face. It turns out the shape, size and even colour of our looks can relay some very important information about our personalities, health and sexuality. David Robson investigates. You might expect a great philosopher to look past our surface into the depths […]
Why do we have blood types?
Carl Zimmer Features correspondent (Science Photo Library) More than a century after their discovery, we still don’t know what blood groups like O, A and B are for. Do they really matter? Carl Zimmer investigates. When my parents informed me that my blood type was A+, I felt a strange sense of pride. If A+ […]
Life of Clarice Cliff celebrated with Stoke-on-Trent blue plaque
Alice Cullinane BBC News, West Midlands ClariceCliff.com Clarice Cliff is famous across the world for her pottery The life of ceramic artist Clarice Cliff has been celebrated with the unveiling of a national plaque. Cliff, who was born 125 years ago, is regarded as one of the most influential ceramic artists of the 20th Century. […]
How Beloved unearthed the ghosts of a brutal past
Stephanie Watts Powell Features correspondent Getty Images Toni Morrison’s masterpiece told the truth about race, family, slavery and memory in the United States. Stephanie Powell Watts explores what the novel means to her – and to the world. Years ago, when I was a very young child, I watched with my parents the musical version […]
Why we’ve always loved seaside style
Amber Butchart Features correspondent The coast has long been a place for promenading and peacocking. Amber Butchart explores nautical sartorial styles, from fishermen’s smocks to beach pyjamas. Forget the catwalks of Paris or the streets of Milan, it’s the seaside that should be celebrated as one of our most enduring fashion centres. “Attire for bathing […]
For Sama and the female perspective on war
Hugh Montgomery Features correspondent ITN “Everything we know about war we know with ‘a man’s voice’. We are all captives of ‘men’s’ notions and ‘men’s’ sense of war. ‘Men’s’ words. Women are silent.” So writes the Nobel prize- winning journalist Svetlana Alexievich in the introduction to her celebrated book The Unwomanly Face of War. Originally […]