Found: forgotten secret of Great Pyramid's builders

Editor's note

Just how the ancient Egyptians managed to build the Great Pyramid of Giza remains one of history’s biggest mysteries. But after studying the graffiti poetry left by workers in an ancient Egyptian quarry, Roland Enmarch and his colleagues discovered a stone ramp that could revive an old theory.

The greatest escape of German prisoners of war during World War I started well. The 22 men slithered through a tunnel and out into a field of turnips in the middle of the night. But their success was shortlived. John Beckett tells the story of the escape from Sutton Bonington, now part of the University of Nottingham.

Being poor is bad for your health, but what if you managed to climb to the top of the social ladder, would your health improve? Lindsay Richards and Patrick Präg have discovered that the answer is no. If you want to be healthy, you need to be born to wealthy parents. If there’s any good news in all of this, it’s that moving up or down the social ladder – which is thought to be very stressful – doesn’t appear to have any ill effects on people’s health.

Stephen Harris

Commissioning + Science Editor

Arts + Culture

Wearing the poppy has always been a political act – here’s why

Sam Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University

Red or white, it doesn't matter what colour your poppy is if you respect the sacrifice it represents.
The V&A in Dundee – the city shares more than a century of history with the London museum

Sally Foster, University of Stirling

Thanks to the 19th-century obsession with plaster casts of artefacts, Dundee began a relationship with London's V&A long ago.
Under Milk Wood: Dylan Thomas’s invented villages have dark origins

Adrian Osbourne, Swansea University

Dylan Thomas's early short stories were shocking, obscene, and a sign of things to come

Business + Economy

Slavery is real and the West profits from it – Cambodia’s construction boom highlights how

Laurie Parsons, Royal Holloway

The long shadows of Cambodia’s edifices of wealth and progress conceal a deeper darkness.
The tobacco industry plays price games to make it even tougher to quit smoking

J. Robert Branston, University of Bath; Anna Gilmore, University of Bath; Rosemary Hiscock, University of Bath

Economic tactics play a big part in a habit that's hard to break.
Will US-China trade war ruin Africa or offer new opportunities? National leaders must decide

Stephen Chan, SOAS, University of London

Times are changing – will the 2020s be Africa's decade?

Health + Medicine

In tackling our physical inactivity pandemic, we risk ignoring those who need the most help

Sebastien Chastin, Glasgow Caledonian University; Bart De Clercq, Ghent University; Jelle Van Cauwenberg, Ghent University

Recent findings say that sitting around is a 'first world' problem. In reality, it's a bit more complicated than that.
Matt Hancock’s health prevention plans will pay off – health economist

Subhash Pokhrel, Brunel University London

The evidence that health prevention programmes work and are cost effective is strong.
What World War I taught us about PTSD

Benjamin Russell Butterworth, Glasgow Caledonian University

To some extent, shell-shock still shapes our understanding of PTSD today.

Politics + Society

EU citizens in the UK and a no-deal Brexit – what remains unclear

Adrienne Yong, City, University of London

There is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding EU citizens' rights in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Women in Wales didn’t fare as well as other female workers after World War I

Gerard Oram, Swansea University

Wartime employment gains were merely on loan for women in Wales.
Kristallnacht 80 years on: some reading to help make sense of the most notorious state-sponsored pogrom

Martin Goodman, University of Hull

Eight decades on, the thought of the state encouraging people to attack groups of citizens is hard to believe. Here are some books that might help.
World War I: what we’ve learned from the ‘war to end all wars’

Jonathan Este, The Conversation

100 years after the end of World War I, some of its brutal lessons.

Featured events

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Editor's note

Top stories

Great Pyramid: how my research on ancient Egyptian poetry led to an amazing discovery

How German PoWs staged their greatest World War I escape from a camp now part of a British university

Being born working class is bad for your health, and moving up the social ladder cannot compensate for it

Arts + Culture

Wearing the poppy has always been a political act – here’s why

The V&A in Dundee – the city shares more than a century of history with the London museum

Under Milk Wood: Dylan Thomas’s invented villages have dark origins

Business + Economy

Slavery is real and the West profits from it – Cambodia’s construction boom highlights how

The tobacco industry plays price games to make it even tougher to quit smoking

Will US-China trade war ruin Africa or offer new opportunities? National leaders must decide

Health + Medicine

In tackling our physical inactivity pandemic, we risk ignoring those who need the most help

Matt Hancock’s health prevention plans will pay off – health economist

What World War I taught us about PTSD

Politics + Society

EU citizens in the UK and a no-deal Brexit – what remains unclear

Women in Wales didn’t fare as well as other female workers after World War I

Kristallnacht 80 years on: some reading to help make sense of the most notorious state-sponsored pogrom

World War I: what we’ve learned from the ‘war to end all wars’

Featured events

Painting and stereo photography: a 3D talk by Dr Brian May and Denis Pellerin

College music showcase

Remembering the First World War: questions of faith and morality

Merging of minds: evolution, child development and disorders of social coordination