Air conditioning harms the climate through power and gas
Air conditioning warms the planet twice, through the power it draws and the gas inside it. The UN's Mark Radka puts cooling at 7% of global emissions.
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Fruit flies breed in a week, so traps alone rarely end them
A fruit fly goes from egg to adult in a week. Which? says to clean the bins and throw out rotting fruit first, because a trap alone rarely ends them.
Heat kills bed bugs. So can cold.
Heat above 45C, or a few days in a freezer, kills bed bugs. Look for brown spots on the sheets, and call a pest controller once an infestation is established.
One cost of living figure never fits every household
A cost of living figure prices a fixed basket, and whose basket it is decides the answer. UK private renters saw 3.0% inflation to June 2026, retirees 2.5%.
Marcus Aurelius may not have been the Stoic he described
Marcus Aurelius left a notebook of Stoic reminders. He spared a rebel's backers, but made Commodus co-emperor at sixteen and sought to destroy the Iazyges.
Kelp forests slow waves and cut coastal erosion
Kelp forests drag on currents, calm the waves that reach the shore and shelter young fish. Urchins, warming seas and pollution can strip a forest bare.
What a duvet's tog rating actually measures
A duvet's tog number measures heat trapped, not thickness. Labs heat one side and compare temperatures. A 4.5 tog suits hot weather and 13.5 tog midwinter.
England caps contingency fees in injury cases at 25%
A contingency fee lawyer takes a share of a client's win and nothing if the case fails. England caps injury fees at 25%, and a Canadian judge cut one by 90%.
Every UK employer must auto-enrol staff earning £10,000
UK employers must put staff aged 22 or over who earn at least £10,000 into a workplace pension. You can opt out, but you are re-enrolled every three years.
UK installers fill cavity walls through the outer brickwork
Installers drill through a UK home's outer brick and inject insulation into the cavity. A typical job costs about £2,200 and could save up to £370 a year.
Anthropic's alignment lead puts AI extinction risk above 10%
In a 2024 survey of nearly 3,000 AI researchers, over half put the odds of AI causing human extinction or disempowerment at 10 per cent or more.
A single ruling can bind courts that never heard the case
Under stare decisis, a lower court must follow a higher court's rulings. A court can overturn one of its own past rulings, but only for a compelling reason.
Judith Jarvis Thomson named the trolley problem, then doubted it
The philosopher who named the trolley problem later said you may not pull the switch unless you would steer it into yourself. West Point still teaches it.
No new UK cost of living payment, and where help comes from
The DWP plans no more Cost of Living Payments. English councils now run Crisis Payments, and Winter Fuel Payment is worth up to £300 for 2026 to 2027.
How a Smithsonian curator chooses US campaign objects to keep
A Smithsonian curator prizes the signs and pins supporters make themselves over campaign handouts. His team drops duplicates and keeps the sturdiest copy.
The brain that changes itself, and what keeps it steady
Neuroplasticity, once dismissed, is now core brain science. Neuron timing strengthens or weakens links, and with too much change no memory would form.
A student designed the recycling symbol for $2,500
Gary Anderson was 23 when he won a 1970 contest to design a recycling logo. The EPA now says his arrows mislead on plastics that are hard to recycle.
Eliezer Ben Yehuda and the revival of spoken Hebrew
For nearly 2,000 years Hebrew had no native speakers. Eliezer Ben Yehuda, and children taught in Hebrew-only classes, made it a mother tongue again.
Certificate authorities check who owns a site before signing
Your browser trusts over 100 certificate authorities. CISA warns they vary in how strictly they check, and only a fingerprint check by phone is certain.
Bhutan scores happiness from 148 questions and nine domains
Bhutan's 2022 happiness survey scored the nation 0.781 out of 1. Youth unemployment reached 28.6% that year, and young workers are leaving for Australia.
A UK power of attorney passes your decisions to someone you trust
A power of attorney lets a chosen person act for you if illness or injury stops you deciding. Scotland lets you grant one at 16, the rest of the UK at 18.
Air fryer jacket potato: 200C for 40 to 50 minutes
Oil and salt the skin, then air fry the potato at 200C for 40 to 50 minutes. After a microwave start, BBC Food crisps it in the air fryer for 10 minutes.
Air fryer corn on the cob: how heat changes the cooking time
Kitchn air fries corn at 400F for 6 to 8 minutes for a light char. BBC Good Food softens it at 180C for 15 to 18, and foil stops the kernels drying.
A Tinder romance crypto scam took a UK chef's house deposit
Alexandr Gutu put £40,000 of his £42,000 deposit into a fake crypto account. A match who moves the chat off the dating app is the first warning sign.