
Is the pope a mathematician? Yes, actually – and his training may help him grapple with the infinite
Humans are finite creatures. Our brains have a finite number of neurons and we interact with a finite number of people during our finite lifetime. Yet humans have the remarkable ability to conceive of the infinite. This...

India and Pakistan have agreed a precarious peace – but will it last?
India and Pakistan stepped back from the brink of catastrophe on May 10 after a US-brokered ceasefire brought rapidly escalating hostilities between the two countries to an end. But tensions are still running high. The...
Why we’ve fallen out of love with dating apps
pathdoc/Shutterstock Dating apps have transformed how people meet romantic partners. But they seem to be falling out of favour. Data shows that last year, four of the biggest dating apps in the UK lost over a million users...
The roots of dementia can start in childhood – prevention should be a lifelong goal
Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock More than 60 million people are estimated to be living with dementia, resulting in over 1.5 million deaths a year and an annual cost to the global healthcare economy of around US $1.3 trillion...
How to treat a wound – without using superglue, grout or vodka, like some people
Fotos593/Shutterstock When Mikael Blomkvist is hit by a bullet in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander springs to the rescue with a needle and dental floss to sew up his wound. But not before she attempts to...

Cockney Yiddish: how two languages influenced each other in London’s East End
Yiddish is a familiar presence in contemporary English speech. Many people use or at least know the meaning of words like chutzpah (audacity), schlep (drag) or nosh (snack). These words have been absorbed into English from...

Putin dodges peace talks in Istanbul as Russia pushes for territorial concessions from Ukraine
Demands by British, French, German and Polish leaders in Kyiv last weekend that Russia agree to a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine or face possible massive sanctions went down in Moscow about as well as youd expect. In an...