Learner profile: Open-minded
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The picture that gave Instagram a meltdown
What is it about Friends? It took one selfie of the show’s main cast to spark such delirium yesterday that Instagram crashed. Yet for many the comedy is sexist, offensive and outdated.
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Baby in a bag: artificial womb project launches
Is it a dream come true or a science-fiction nightmare? Scientists in the Netherlands have been given €2.9m to build a prototype artificial womb. They say it could save millions of lives.
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New robot ‘on the path to self-awareness’
Will robots ever be self-aware? Scientists at Colombia University have built a machine that learns about itself in the same way as a baby. Could it become more intelligent than a human?
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‘I created Labradoodles and spawned a monster’
Are Labradoodles really a “Frankenstein’s monster”? That’s what their creator, 90-year-old Wally Conron, says. He believes the “unhealthy” dogs set a dangerous trend.
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Angry and alone, ‘Mad King’ Trump reigns
Is Donald Trump having a meltdown? After the US president unleashed his fury on Twitter, one Washington Post columnist argues that Trump’s demented rage echoes Shakespeare’s mad King Lear.
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Kurds cry betrayal as Trump withdraws support
Should Kurdistan be an independent country? Donald Trump’s abrupt cave-in yesterday, pulling support from the USA’s old allies in the fight against ISIS, has left 45 million people at risk.
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Cancer survivor swims Channel FOUR times
Could you have done it? Sarah Thomas swam 134 miles without stopping for 54 hours, fighting strong currents, hurting from salt water in her throat, and stung in the face by jelly fish.
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Apocalypse could return us to Middle Ages
Is it wrong to scare people with visions of doom? Britain’s best thriller-writer, Robert Harris, warns that our hyper-advanced civilisation could be set back 500 years by a sudden catastrophe.
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The father who gave birth to his own son
What if all men could give birth? Freddy McConnell is legally male, but was born female and is biologically able to carry children. His mother says it is an experience all men should have.
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Emergency plan to deflect giant asteroid
Are asteroids our biggest threat? Scientists are now working on a plan to protect Earth from Didymos, a giant rock the size of Egypt’s great pyramid — one of 20,000 known near-Earth objects.
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Tests show Loch Ness monster may be giant eel
Why are we so entranced by monsters? Yesterday, a team from the University of Otago in New Zealand revealed its conclusion that Britain’s most famous Leviathan must be a gigantic eel.
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Massive study reveals there is no gay gene
Are experiments like this harmful? Human sexuality is far more complex than previously thought, say scientists. But some in the LGBT community say the research should never have taken place.
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The bank manager: ‘Believe in yourself’
What does it take to work in banking? Selina Vernon wasn’t sure what to do when she left school with few GCSEs. Today, she is managing her own bank branch and “loving every minute of it”.
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The lawyer: ‘Get all the experience you can’
What does it take to be a lawyer? Claire Leadbeatter is a trainee solicitor at one of the UK’s top law firms. She doesn’t think she’d be where she is today without her teenage summer jobs.
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Scientists declare gene-editing war on pests
Should all pests be wiped out? New Zealand’s government plans to kill all rats and invasive predators by 2050. Some want to use genetic modification, but others warn of ecological disaster.