Can you imagine a world where more than half of our common plant species and a third of our known animals disappear from sight? That's the scenario suggested by new research on the impact of climate change. An international team of researchers looked
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Have you learnt a lot of English words? Well, many more are being created right now! Neologisms appear all the time, especially linked to new technology. This not only represents more work for you but also annoys some native speakers of English. Ever
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Public trust in the food industry has been shaken recently after it came to light that some processed meat sold in British and Irish supermarkets as beef was actually horsemeat. The Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said: At the moment this appears
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Is it art or vandalism? Britain is divided by graffiti. Recently, a British judge was so impressed by one graffiti gang, called SMT, he said in court that they should be proud of their work. He still sent them to prison though. Under the law, graffit
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Obesity is back in the headlines in the UK, with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges calling for fizzy drinks to be heavily taxed and junk food adverts banned until after the watershed. The body, which represents doctors in the country, has called
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Luis Prado has created what he hopes will become the international symbol for global warming. He's one of many designers contributing icons to an online bank of icons called the Noun Project.The creators of the Noun Project think it could one day con
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English writer Enid Blyton is one of the most popular authors in the world. More than 400 million copies of her children's books have been sold worldwide and generations of British children have grown up hooked on her stories of adventure and magic.
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If you are on sick leave for work-related stress don't pick a fight with a shark on a popular beach. A charity worker from Wales learnt this lesson a few weeks ago. He was sacked after his bosses saw a video of him wrestling one of the dangerous sea
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Have you ever wondered why sweets are always by the till in supermarkets? Why you are made to walk down many aisles to reach the everyday essentials at the back of the shop? Retailers are always coming up with new tactics to get us impulse buying. Th
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Do you need a lot of sleep? Some famous leaders are thought to have spent little time in the land of Nod so keen they were on their high-powered jobs. The late Margaret Thatcher earned a reputation for getting by on four hours a night. Tirelessness b
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The economy might be depressed, but the British are still splashing out on wellies. One shoe company has reported sales of the boots are up 673% this year - they're selling 15 pairs a minute. They thank the snow for our enthusiastic welly-buying. It'
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It's 80 years since the Loch Ness monster was spotted for the first time. Mrs Aldie Mackay, a local hotel manageress, might have thought that her eyes had deceived her when she reported seeing a whale-like fish in the waters of the Scottish lake. Or
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As the old saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. A tragic event in India the gang rape of a young woman led engineering students to develop a bra that can deliver a 3800kv electric shock to any would-be attacker. Manisha Mohan, from the
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Do you often get angry? If the answer is yes, you are not alone. Bad traffic, disagreements with people and other occurrences can potentially be a nuisance. But can you control your temper or do you bristle with rage every time someone crosses you? O
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If you hear the sound of a handset beeping in a bag or pocket, you could be forgiven for thinking that someone has received a text message. But nowadays there are so many different ways of messaging someone that it could spell the death of the tradit
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What sort of upbringing did you have? Did your parents impose strict discipline? Raising a child is not easy and the challenges of parenthood have turned childcare advice into a multi-billion pound industry. Books, magazines and television shows comp
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Whenever anyone measures educational success, East Asian countries are always top scorers. But in a recent league table, a European country, Finland, was top of the class. South Korea was still in second place, though. Britain was at number 6. What i
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What would you pack for a six-month trek on the coldest continent in the world? Bear in mind that there'll be no shops around and no help from home. That's the challenge the British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes faces as he prepares to lead a six-stro
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How can you tell if someone's lying? The answer is, they're probably not. Traditional economics says that people are rational beings who will lie if it's to their advantage. A recent university study has shown that, actually, we're pretty honest - es
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Do you think of yourself as a bit of an expert at board games like chess or Go? Maybe you're not quite as good as you think. New research from the University of Manchester and the University of Oxford suggests complex games like these are impossible
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