Editor's note

Babies prefer the babbling of other babies to the sound of their own parents, a new study reveals. This preference for repetitive noises could help to explain how infants develop language, says Catherine Laing. And when it comes to communicating with children, many parents find it hard to talk to them about death. Just don’t shy away from the topic, advise Georgia Panagiotaki, Carys Seeley and Gavin Nobes. It’s important that you are honest and unambiguous.

It feels like rotten luck when you get a parking ticket. But whether or not you actually get busted for a violation might be more than a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Politics plays a part too. Emanuele Bracco found Italian mayors are a lot more lenient with their fines when facing re-election.

Childish Gambino’s new music video for his song This is America was viewed almost 50m times in five days. Daniel Cookney believes it is a multi-layered political statement which utilises choreography to satirise the historical role of the black man’s supposedly “joyous” song and dance routine.

Jill Gibbon sneaks into arms fairs in Europe and the Middle East by dressing up as a security consultant. She does so to caricature the glamour and etiquette that normalise international weapons sales – and from classical quartets to branded condoms, what she finds there may shock you.

Clint Witchalls

Health + Medicine Editor

Top stories

Elena Stepanova/Shutterstock.com

Babies prefer the sounds of other babies to the cooing of their parents

Catherine Laing, Cardiff University

Babies would rather listen to each other than to their parents' babytalk, according to new research.

Shutterstock

Revealed: how Italian mayors hoard parking penalties ahead of elections

Emanuele Bracco, Lancaster University

If you're going to drive badly in Italy, do it towards the end of the local mayor's term in office.

This is America. Childish Gambino/YouTube

Childish Gambino: This is America uses music and dance to expose society's dark underbelly

Daniel Cookney, University of Salford; Kirsty Fairclough, University of Salford

Donald Glover's music video is a multi-layered political statement which aims to kick its audience out of its complacency.

© Jill Gibbon

I go undercover into arms fairs – and secretly draw caricatures of the 'hell' I find there

Jill Gibbon, Leeds Beckett University

There's a disturbing disconnect between the polite etiquette of arms fairs and the hell that their products create.

Education

Politics + Society

Business + Economy

Health + Medicine

Science + Technology

Cities

 

Featured events

Time Tunnel: art, music and performance festival

Fabric District, London Road, Liverpool, Liverpool, L3 8HL, United Kingdom — Liverpool John Moores University

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

Cities of Strangeness, 1350-1700 conference

Ellen Wilkinson Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom — University of Manchester

Making the modern world: England's first civic university (Heritage Tour)

Old Quad, 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