It’s grim when you walk around to find cigarette ends flicked on the ground. A late friend of mine was a heavy smoker. Her local authority gave her a pouch type item to put her cigarette ends in and the local authority fined anyone they caught throwing tab ends on […]

NaksomritStudio / shutterstock Amber Martin-Woodhead, Coventry University I recently spoke to a man named Adam who told me that every object he owns could fit in one of Ikea’s famous shelving units. He owns two pairs of jeans and T-shirts in just three colours. He is so concerned with the […]

Iurii Stepanov/Shutterstock Grace C Roberts, Queen’s University Belfast Over 16 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. The government is now expanding the vaccine rollout to more people, including those who are “clinically vulnerable”. But millions of people with asthma will not […]

Glass windows like these could be replaced with wood. Shutterstock/Visions-AD Steve Eichhorn, University of Bristol Wood is an ancient material humans have been using for millions of years, for the construction of housing, ships and as a source of fuel for burning. It’s also a renewable source, and one way […]

Some places, like Nazaré Canyon in Portugal, produce freakishly huge waves. AP Photo/Armando Franca Sally Warner, Brandeis University On Feb. 11, 2020, Brazilian Maya Gabeira surfed a wave off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, that was 73.5 feet tall. Not only was this the biggest wave ever surfed by a […]

Paolo Paradiso / shutterstock Ian D. Rotherham, Sheffield Hallam University There’s no way around the fact that Christmas has a large carbon footprint, from the travelling we do to the presents we give and the large amounts of food we eat. But it is possible to at least reduce the […]

Piotr Łaskawski/Unsplash, CC BY-SA Lauren Moore, Nottingham Trent University After months of hard work raising hoglets by themselves, autumn finds female hedgehogs in a rush to fatten up before hibernation. It’s a busy time of year which brings them closer to roads and the risk of being squashed. During the […]

Yuliya Yesina / shutterstock Sharon George, Keele University Over the summer, eating outdoors was a pleasant way to socialise more safely at pubs, restaurants and in gardens. But as temperatures drop and covid restrictions remain in place, socialising outdoors becomes more tricky (even after lockdown). Regular patio heaters are hugely […]

David Metz, UCL UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced £2 billion to create thousands of miles of protected bike lanes and pedestrian space. There are lots of good reasons to encourage walking and cycling – active travel, as it’s called. The pandemic necessitates social distancing on public transport, which […]

Pexels Avril Rowley, Liverpool John Moores University Most adults will remember spending much of their childhood playing outdoors without much parental supervision. But fears for children’s safety plus the demands of modern life mean many parents don’t allow their children the same freedoms. We live in an age where people […]