04 NOV 2023 A new study reveals a previously undiscovered way that we can feel light touches: directly through our hair follicles. Before now, it was thought that only nerve endings in the skin and around the hair follicles could transmit the sensation. The team behind the study, led by researchers …
Read More »EVEN HEALTHY PEOPLE CAN BE TRICKED INTO HEARING VOICES THAT AREN’T THERE
03 NOV 2023 We might automatically associate hearing voices with neurological conditions like schizophrenia. It now turns out most brains can be tricked into hearing voices that aren’t there, given the right conditions. Researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and the University Savoie Mont Blanc in France wanted …
Read More »CHINA IS FIGHTING THE THIRD OPIUM WAR – WITH FISH
02 NOV 2023 In the 19th Century, the British East India Company was buying up huge amounts of Chinese goods – tea, silk, porcelain and more – but China was not interested in buying anything from Britain. As a way of balancing the accounts, Britain began smuggling opium from India into …
Read More »WHAT HAPPENS TO GREENLAND IF WE MISS CLIMATE TARGETS? YOU LIKELY DON’T WANT TO KNOW
01 NOV 2023 It’s hard to overstate how crucial Greenland, and its kilometres-thick ice layer, is to climate change. If all that ice melted, the sea would rise by about seven metres – the height of a house. But what happens if we fail to limit warming to 1.5 °C (as …
Read More »WORLD’S GHOST FLEET IN FOCUS AS US CRACKS DOWN ON RUSSIAN PRICE CAP
31 OCT 2023 U.S. penalties on shippers transporting Russian oil in breach of the G7’s price cap could push more Russian cargoes onto vessels referred to as the ghost fleet and away from mainstream tankers, shipping sources and analysts told Reuters. The cap bans Western companies from providing maritime services for Russian seaborne oil exports sold above …
Read More »UKRAINE RAMPS UP SCRUTINY OF GRAIN EXPORTS
30 OCT 2023 Ukraine is imposing tighter controls over grain traders to boost revenues to fund its wartime defenses, a move that may further complicate shipments from the country’s Danube and Black Sea ports. The Cabinet of Ministers will require exporters of grains and oilseeds either to get licenses or …
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