Humans

Scientists around the world are striking to raise awareness of institutional and systemic racism against Black academics. This event comes in conjunction with widespread protests against police violence after the killing of George Floyd, who died on 25 May after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground by his neck. The strike was […] More

A medieval forerunner to the Great Wall of China was thought to have been designed to defend against the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan, but the first major study of this wall suggests it was built before he was born. The Great Wall of China is actually a collection of many walls. The 8850-kilometre stretch […] More

Documentary Stalking Chernobyl meets the eclectic mix of people who keep visiting the site of world’s worst nuclear disaster. The film is a triumph, says Simon Ings Humans 3 June 2020 Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration after apocalypse Iara Lee Free on Vimeo and YouTube THE film festival circuit is frozen for lockdown, so how are independent […] More

Many people are experiencing boredom during lockdown. Book Out of My Skull brings together decades of research on this familiar yet elusive feeling, writes Elle Hunt Humans 3 June 2020 Out of My Skull James Danckert and John Eastwood Harvard University Press “Drab routine has begun,” wrote the Russian cosmonaut Valentin Lebedev, just one week […] More

Pangolins are the most illegally trafficked mammal. This image from a new photographic series features the efforts by conservationists to halt their decline before the creatures go extinct Humans 3 June 2020 PhotographerNeil Aldridge THIS curious creature is a pangolin, the only mammal that is covered in protective scales. This signature feature is why pangolins, […] More

For some people, the symptoms of Lyme disease never go away after treatment. Now we have clues about why this happens, supporting the idea that “chronic Lyme” really does exist Health 3 June 2020 BARELY a summer day went by that I didn’t hear someone talking about Lyme disease. In the four years I lived […] More

Watching videos of different tasks being completed is oddly satisfying and reminds us of pre-lockdown life, says Annalee Newitz Technology | Comment 3 June 2020 IT STARTED innocently enough, with a friend telling me about the Peregrine Nest Cam at the University of California, Berkeley. High in the campus clock tower, under a webcam’s watchful […] More

Ideas about natural capital and ecosystems services have altered how some governments value biodiversity – they could also help us build back better after lockdown Humans 3 June 2020 IF YOU have ever heard of “natural capital” or “ecosystem services”, then it is probably because of Gretchen Daily. The Stanford University biologist pioneered these concepts, […] More