Mind the gap: travel apps need human help to bridge digital divide

Personal support and user opinions are crucial to ensuring local transport systems become more widely accessible. By  Jessica Berthereau When Inez Rastovac, who works for the Dutch municipality of Tilburg, asked 30 women of migrant background in 2021 about gaps in technologies for using local transport, she wasn’t expecting them to request cycling lessons. ‘At … Read more

The miniature green superhero helping to fight bowel disease

Compounds found in seaweed may reduce a serious digestive-tract illness. By  Vittoria D’Alessio Roberto Saldana was 16 when he developed severe stomach pain and diarrhoea, but two more years would pass before he was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD. Saldana, now 41 and a resident of the Spanish capital Madrid, said he was … Read more

Silver reveals luxury tastes of Vikings and trade talents of ancient Greeks

The precious metal’s role as far back as antiquity offers a window into the rise and fall of past civilisations. By  Gareth Willmer Vikings, traditionally depicted as primitive bearded warriors, had a fondness for some of life’s precious things. In Europe, hundreds of buried hoards of silver testify to its attraction for Vikings when they … Read more

Humans’ family tree revealed by ancient proteins

Humankind’s genetic links to long-extinct relatives are being mapped in a rapidly expanding research field called palaeoproteomics. By  Michael Allen They are a fixture of almost every novelty T-shirt shop: humorous pictorials of human evolution, five figures in silhouette – from ape to human – usually with the last replaced by a skateboarder, Darth Vader … Read more

Share This