Editor's note

The Americas had native dog populations long before Europeans arrived, yet today there is little sign of them. Except, that is, for a sexually-transmitted cancer that continues to infect modern canines all over the world. When looking into the cells of this extraordinary type of infectious cancer Máire Ní Leathlobhair was surprised to find the fossilised DNA of the “founder dog” – a pre-Columbus pioneer pooch who left a rather nasty legacy.

The Brexit secretary, David Davis, has resigned days after Theresa May’s cabinet had reached agreement over how Brexit will happen. Mark Garnett writes on how the prime minister corralled her cabinet and pulled off a coup – at least for a short time.

After another case of Novichok poisoning in Wiltshire, fears are mounting over the danger of residual contamination in the area. With Google reporting a rise in the number of search queries for “Novichok half life”, it is easy to think of the nerve agent as a radioactive poison. However, as Rob Chilcott explains, contamination from nerve agents is differentcontamination from nerve agents is different. While it may not stick around for as long as radioactive polonium, it may be more difficult to clean up.

In the famously hot summer of 1976 food prices in the UK sky rocketed. But are concerns that the recent heatwave will dry up fruit and veg supplies – and particularly potatoes – well founded? Historians of agriculture, James Bowen and John Martin, explain why things were much worse back then than they are today.

And as the first boys are rescued from the cave they were trapped in Thailand, Sarita Robinson assesses the psychological impact the ordeal may have on them.

Jack Marley

Assistant Section Editor

Top stories

America’s dogs are a husk(y) of what they once were. www.commons.wikimedia.org

How American dogs disappeared and left a contagious cancer behind

Máire Ní Leathlobhair, University of Cambridge

America's early dogs are all gone – save for their rather nasty cancer.

A police officer stands next to a rubbish bin that has been cordoned off in Salisbury, Britain, 05 July 2018. RICK FINDLER/EPA

How Novichok is different from radioactive poisons – and what this means for decontamination

Robert Chilcott, University of Hertfordshire

Former Russian spies Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Skripal were both poisoned – one polonium, the other by Novichok. Now that there's been another nerve agent case, what's the difference?

The summer of 1976 was a scorcher. PA/PA Archive/PA Images

Why the 2018 heatwave will not be as bad as 1976 for your fruit and vegetables

James Paul Bowen, University of Liverpool; John Martin, University of Leicester

The heatwave is unlikely to cause the price hikes of 1976 for a number of reasons.

Politics + Society

Arts + Culture

Health + Medicine

Science + Technology

 

Featured events

ALBERT WOLTERS PUBLIC LECTURE WITH PROFESSOR ELIZABETH LOFTUS

G11, Henley Business School, Whiteknights campus, University of Reading, Reading, Reading, RG6 6AH, United Kingdom — University of Reading

Friday afternoon tours of the University of Reading's Meteorological Observatory

The Atmospheric Laboratory, Earley Gate, Whiteknights Road, , Reading, Reading, RG6 6BZ, United Kingdom — University of Reading

Age UK Men in Sheds: Report Launch

Geoffrey Manton Building (Atrium), Manchester Metropolitan University, Rosamond Street West, Manchester, Manchester, M15 6EB, United Kingdom — Manchester Metropolitan University

Resistance Under the Crown: Black Education and Radical Activism in Britain, 1965-1988

Samuel Alexander Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom — University of Manchester

More events
 

Contact us here to have your event listed.

For sponsorship opportunities, email us here