The Conversation

By Paul W Thomas Truffles, the prized fungi coveted worldwide by chefs and food connoisseurs, have long been held in high regard. Often associated with Mediterranean Europe, especially France, Italy ...

By Neil McArthur We are about to witness the birth of a new kind of religion. In the next few years, or perhaps even months, we will see the emergence ...

The real danger lies in how easily we’re prone to anthropomorphise it By Nir Eisikovits ChatGPT and similar large language models can produce compelling, humanlike answers to an endless ...

By Lucy Atkinson From the fairy tales read to us as children to the costumes every Halloween, the figure of the witch has been with most of us for our ...

By Christopher Patterson and Lance Barrie The idea of the 15-minute city, according to its originator Carlos Moreno, is that people are no more than a 15-minute walk or bike ...

By Joel Mead The UK is in the grip of its largest ever outbreak of bird flu. As its name suggests, avian influenza primarily affects birds, but it can also ...

NADIA RADZMAN on five cool things you should know about them Each year in February, the United Nations commemorates what probably sounds to many like a strange occasion: World Pulses ...

By Helen Warner The third and final instalment of the Magic Mike series is still drawing enthusiastic audiences. Inspired by Channing Tatum’s real-life Magic Mike Live stage show, the ...

And why does it make it so hard to keep weight off asks NICK FULLER If you’ve ever tried to lose weight but found the kilos return almost as ...

Dr Sarah Lothian Delegates gave a jubilant cheer at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Saturday night, as nations reached an agreement on ways to protect marine life in ...

By Sara Webb We have long been fascinated with the idea of alien life. The earliest written record presenting the idea of “aliens” is seen in the satiric work of ...

By Baris Celik The EU and the Nato have proved crucial in bringing together their member states around a coordinated response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Recognising the continued ...

By Serin Quinn Environment secretary Thérèse Coffey’s recent suggestion that Britons should turn to turnips following tomato shortages did not go down as she might have hoped. ...

By Steven James Jackson, Marcelle Dawson and Michael Sam Are we in the midst of a wellbeing pandemic? The question may seem curious, even contradictory. But look around, the concept ...

By Rebecca Mardon, Hayley Cocker and Kate Daunt In a departure from their usual content, TikTok beauty influencers are “de-influencing”, telling viewers what not to buy. Offering uncharacteristically critical product ...

Netflix’s new reality spectacle Physical: 100 pits South Korea’s strongest against each other says Sung-Ae Lee South Korea’s latest Netflix sensation, the reality series Physical: 100, appears to be ...

SHERYL BARRINGER on how the beloved treat gets its flavour, texture and tricky reputation as an ingredient Whether it is enjoyed as creamy milk chocolate truffles, baked in a devilishly ...

By Lee Cheng The Sims is one of the bestselling franchises in gaming history. But unlike most other AAA games (high budget and high-profile games produced by leading publishers), this ...

By Phillip Carter Is Turkey’s recent spelling change about being more authentically Turkish? Or is there more to the story? In June 2022, the United Nations agreed to change the ...

By Rosie Nelson Non-binary singer Sam Smith has caused waves with the release of their music video for I’m Not Here to Make Friends, a triumphantly queer declaration of ...

By Christian Dunn Like so many of the planet’s natural habitats, wetlands have been systematically destroyed over the past 300 years. Bogs, fens, marshes and swamps have disappeared from maps ...

By Christian Downie and Robert Brulle, You’ve probably seen ads promoting gas and oil companies as the solutions to climate change. They’re meant to be inspiring and hopeful, ...

They outshine cotton in sustainable fashion says RAJKISHORE NAYAK Ever considered the carbon footprint of manufacturing your favourite shirt? The average cotton shirt produces 2.1kg of carbon dioxide – but a ...

By Jeff Evans It’s the middle of the night and you are fast asleep. Suddenly you have ceiling plaster smashing down on you, pictures are falling off the walls ...