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Editor's note
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Neanderthals have long been thought of as a bit dumb and brutish. But scientists are increasingly learning that this extinct human relative was a lot more capable than previously thought. New research shows that Neanderthals even produced art. Alistair Pike and Chris Standish explain how they discovered that the world’s oldest cave paintings were created by Neanderthals – and what this means for our understanding of human evolution.
Could you write an anarchist language – and if you did, would it affect the politics of those who spoke it? This was a question explored by Ursula le Guin in her 1974 sci-fi novel The Dispossessed. Martin Edwardes, who created a version of Pravic, le Guin’s anarchist language, tried to teach it to some real people and writes about what happened here.
In Nigeria, a long-running conflict between Christian farmers and nomadic Muslim herdsmen killed 168 people last month. But this isn’t really an ethnic or religious struggle, says Olalekan Adekola – it’s a resource conflict sparked by desertification and Lake Chad drying up.
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Miriam Frankel
Science Editor
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Top story
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Neanderthal art.
P. Saura
Chris Standish, University of Southampton; Alistair Pike, University of Southampton
Neanderthals, rather than modern humans, created the world's oldest cave paintings.
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Barandash Karandashich
Hugh McLachlan, Glasgow Caledonian University
What might first seem unarguable starts to look shaky when you bring twins into the equation.
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roseshutterstock25 / shutterstock
Olalekan Adekola, York St John University
Talk of ethnic and religious conflict between Muslim Fulani herders and local Christian farmers misses the full picture – this is about resources.
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Environment + Energy
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Annalisa Savaresi, University of Stirling; Ioana Cismas, University of Stirling; Jacques Hartmann, University of Dundee
After a long run of devastating typhoons, one country is holding the world's biggest corporations to account on climate change.
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Science + Technology
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Jan Hoole, Keele University
A new study of ancient Botai horses turns our knowledge about wild and domestic horses on its head.
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Michel Rauchs, Cambridge Judge Business School
There’s no magic fix in sight for the amount of energy gobbled by cryptocurrency miners – but at least the method used is relatively secure.
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Michael Wade, IMD Business School
Uber, Tesla and Waymo (Google) are leapfrogging traditional car makers like Ford, VW and General Motors when it comes to self-driving cars.
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Arts + Culture
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Martin Edwardes, King's College London
Ursula le Guin gave us an anarchist society on another world; we brought it back to Earth.
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George Corbett, University of St Andrews
Divine inspiration was at the centre of music for thousands of years – until post-war conservatoires got other ideas.
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Alan Roberts, University of Sussex
A philosopher's take on what makes jokes funny.
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Health + Medicine
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Robin Bailey, University of Central Lancashire
Daydreaming may seem like a fun, harmless way to pass time, but evidence suggests that it could be bad for your mental health.
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Business + Economy
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Mark Hart, Aston University
Turbulent times or business as usual? What the latest jobs figures do and don't tell us about the British economy as Brexit looms.
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Politics + Society
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Marina Shapira, University of Stirling
New data shows another drop in the number of EU citizens coming to the UK since Brexit.
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Admir Skodo, Lund University
The movement known as the 'Pashtun Long March' and the 'Pashtun Spring' has emerged from a history of human rights abuses, regional politics and War on Terror policies.
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Emma Heywood, University of Sheffield
The 17-year-old Palestinian activist about to face trial in Israel has become the face of the conflict.
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Kirstine Szifris, Manchester Metropolitan University
Participants in a recent study became calmer, more able to express their point of view without aggression and developed more open minds.
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Education
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Teresa Hillier, Swansea University
Thousands of children with cerebral palsy were deemed 'ineducable' in the 1950s.
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Paul Gorczynski, University of Portsmouth
One recent survey found that 43% of academic staff exhibited symptoms of at least a mild mental disorder
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Aline Courtois, UCL
New cross-European study shows how Brexit will affect higher education beyond the UK.
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Keith Topping, University of Dundee
The latest What Kids Are Reading report finds that secondary school students aren't challenging themselves – and it could limit their choices later in life.
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