Activists brought some of the busiest parts of London to a grinding halt this week as part of a massive protest against climate change. One of Extinction Rebellion’s rallying cries has been to heed the apparent warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that we only have 12 years to prevent catastrophe. But one of the IPCC’s scientific authors is now speaking out against this claim.

Myles Allen positively encourages these protesters to get angry, but appeals to them to get angry “for the right reasons”. He is concerned that the “12 years” line isn’t an accurate reflection of what the panel says will happen in 2030, which surely can’t help their cause.

The events of this week have raised some really interesting questions about cultural history, human emotion and values. Notre Dame is a site of Catholic ritual but seeing the building in flames left many of us feeling shocked, whether we are believers or not. And in fact, the interplay between the religious and the secular runs deep in the building’s fascinating history.

A court will soon rule on whether South African athlete Caster Semenya can compete as a woman without artificially reducing her testosterone levels. This case has been controversial for years and the ruling isn’t likely to end that. It has major implications for sport and, indeed, the way we think about gender.

This week we’ve also been helping readers assess whether they could catch measles, as well as if they’ll ever have a robot as a teacher.

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