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Can NAD+ supplements help us age more healthily? Here’s what the science shows
Anti-ageing supplements are everywhere, from advertising campaigns to social media feeds. Promising everything from increased energy to a longer life, they come in many forms, from powders containing multiple ingredients to single-nutrient capsules.
Messy, risky outdoor play is important for children, but adults can stop them enjoying it
There is growing evidence that children today have fewer opportunities for independent, adventurous outdoor play and fewer chances to make decisions and shape their own experiences than previous generations.
Are the UK authorities letting down survivors of modern slavery?
The adoption of the Slavery Convention 100 years ago was a landmark moment for the international prohibition of slavery. It also laid foundations for human rights movements across the world.
Cottage cheese, sunscreen and pimple popping: Strange Health is back for season two
What do cottage cheese, sunscreen and pimple popping have in common? They are all heading our way in the new series of Strange Health, the podcast from The Conversation that investigates the odd, awkward and occasionally disgusting questions raised by our bodies and the health trends surrounding them. We’re back for season two, with a new batch of questions that have been bothering us, fascinating us or sending us down unexpectedly strange research rabbit holes.
In Liverpool I saw the tough choices Louise Casey faces on social care – starting with who will pay? | Polly Toynbee
Preparing her first report on England’s social care system, the peer says ‘everything is on the table’. This should include older people’s wealth, rather than taxes on younger workers, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
Economics Nobel: how this year’s winners helped to smooth the cycle of economic peaks and troughs
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences to the American economists Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford. The prize was awarded in recognition of their development of macroeconomic models that helped to reduce the length and depth of economic downturns.
Escape rooms give healthcare students a safe place to get things wrong
The buzzer goes off. Three occupational therapy students are convinced they have worked out what should happen to their patient next. They are wrong.
An overlooked sci-fi movie shows how disruption by AI could be positive for society
The AI doomsday news cycle plays on anxieties about the future. The media has tended to prioritise sensational takes on the risk at the expense of more thoughtful opinions by, for example, experts in the ethics of AI.
Empathy can help make maternity care safer – here’s how
Poppy Russell lived for just 12 hours. She died in April 2021 at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford after suffering a brain injury during birth. An inquest concluded that her death was preventable.
Why do some children become seriously ill with COVID? The answer may lie in their genes
Most children who are infected with SARS-COV2, the virus that causes COVID, experience only mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. But a small proportion develop severe illness which can sometimes even require hospital care.
Unpicking the pensions triple lock: where it came from, and what might happen next
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has made the politically risky decision to adjust the pensions triple lock from April 2030.
China and the EU could turn Morocco into a surprise global hub for electric vehicles
China now makes more than seven in ten of the world’s electric cars. In 2024 it produced over 12 million, 1.25 million of which were exported, mainly to Europe.
As a scientist, here’s what worries me about the suspected Russian plague victim | Devi Sridhar
Russia’s silence over the death of a lab worker underlines that pandemic preparedness amounts to nothing if information on threats is withheld, says public health expert Devi Sridhar
Donald Trump aligns with Vladimir Putin yet again, leaving Ukraine – and US relations with Europe – under pressure
The deal struck by Donald Trump with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on October 9 to allow Russia to sell millions of tonnes of diesel is a major departure from US policy and runs counter to Ukrainian and European interests. It also directly contradicts a law signed by the US president in September to authorise fresh US sanctions and tariffs on nations that import Russian oil and gas.
What Andy Burnham can learn from Sweden about defending against Russian disinformation
In his speech at the UN General Assembly in September, Andy Burnham announced that his security chiefs would begin work on a new National Centre for Information Defence.
Animals: Ben Affleck stars in this thriller about a politician who can’t hide his ugly side
As the new Netflix thriller Animals began, I wasn’t sure how its 106-minute runtime was going to keep me sympathetic to the plight of a wealthy American politician. Ben Affleck, directed, co-wrote and stars in the film as Mark Kimball, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate.
When Europe’s monastic libraries were looted, Britain’s richest book collectors went hunting
In 1790, the London bookseller Thomas Payne sold a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the earliest printed book, to George John, 2nd Earl Spencer. He charged him £370 – an enormous sum at the time, roughly equivalent to £878,000 today – as part of a package deal which included two other early theological works. As part of the deal, Payne had the old book rebound in sumptuous midnight blue goatskin.
How dyspraxia can exhaust children and exclude them from social activities
Ask a parent of a child with dyspraxia what happens around 4pm, and many describe the same scene. Their child has spent a whole school day gripping pencils, fastening buttons and keeping up in the playground. By the time they get home, they are exhausted.
Will AI be good or bad for the climate? Here’s what the latest evidence on energy use suggests
Is AI a climate change villain, whose insatiable hunger for electricity will roast the planet? Or will it help predict where the next climate disaster will strike and what to do about it?
China’s panda diplomacy: how Beijing combines conservation and trade
Two giant pandas recently landed in Atlanta, a week after Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met in Washington.
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