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Editor's note
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Researchers claim to have found the best solution to climate change available: restoring 900m hectares of forest on an area of land that’s roughly the same size as the continental US. The landmark study claims all those growing trees could soak up two thirds of the CO₂ that humans have already put in the atmosphere, helping to throw the brakes on catastrophic climate change. Better yet, there’s a lot of empty land that we’re not using to
grow food or live on, so reforesting the Earth could be done with relative ease.
Sound too good to be true? It may well be, say earth system scientists Mark Maslin and Simon Lewis. They argue that reforestation wouldn’t absorb nearly as much CO₂ as the study predicts and all of it depends on humans protecting the forests we already have. Currently, the world loses a football pitch of rainforest every single minute.
When it comes to foreign policy, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia have very different relationships with the UK. While Saudi Arabia is a close ally of the UK, Iran and Russia are clearly not. Yet a new poll found that the British public don’t distinguish between the way the three countries use their influence on the world stage – they are all as bad as each other. Armida van Rij explains why a recalibration is needed.
When the names of the people due to take over the top jobs in Brussels were announced this week, insiders were shocked. The long and painstaking appointments process seemed to have been bypassed and a completely surprise lineup announced instead. EU watcher Amelia Hadfield was particularly startled by the nomination of German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission president, not least because her department is currently
subject to a parliamentary investigation back home. Emma Seddon has also spent some time in the halls of European power, looking specifically at the unique version of English that is spoken there. Because EU institutions are such linguistic melting pots, the language is evolving there in unexpected ways.
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Jack Marley
Commissioning Editor
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Top stories
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Inga Linder/Shutterstock
Mark Maslin, UCL; Simon Lewis, UCL
Could our best shot at stopping climate catastrophe be restoring forests on a massive scale?
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British Prime Minister Theresa May meets Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia at the G20 in Osaka, Japan.
Andy Rain/EPA
Armida L. M. van Rij, King's College London
Despite the UK's close relationship with Saudi Arabia, the British public think much the same about its global influence as they do about Russia and Iran – and it isn't good.
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Ursula von der Leyen: still under investigation in Germany.
EPA
Amelia Hadfield, University of Surrey
It's not just that the new top team only represents western states. Several of them seem rather unprepared to lead the union.
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shutterstock
Emma Seddon, Newcastle University
English will remain an official EU language – even after Brexit – and this will impact the way it evolves.
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Science + Technology
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Christian Schroeder, University of Stirling
Titan may host primitive lifeforms and could tell us how life arose on our own planet.
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Arts + Culture
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Alice Watterson, University of Dundee
A decade-long project to excavate a sod house from half a millennium ago has yielded nearly 100,000 artefacts.
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Environment + Energy
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Adam Bates, Nottingham Trent University
Wildflowers, bees and butterflies – your lawn is a vibrant ecosystem waiting to be unleashed.
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Cities
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Juan Manuel del Nido, University of Manchester
Uber's expansion has become a global epic with regional episodes, but the legal conflict in Argentina has even higher stakes.
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Politics + Society
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Becky Alexis-Martin, Manchester Metropolitan University
The British nuclear weapon tests on Kiritimati (or Christmas) Island had profound and lasting cultural consequences for both atomic veterans and local islanders.
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Andrew Dix, Loughborough University
Fifty years after the original film, three generations of Shaft are loose on the streets of New York.
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Gervase Phillips, Manchester Metropolitan University
The Declaration of Independence was not greeted with universal acclaim and many Americans stayed loyal to the crown.
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Health + Medicine
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Jasmine Khouja, University of Bristol
They're effective – and popular.
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Amy Brown, Swansea University; Victoria Harries, Yale University
When there is no "village" to help raise a child, parents often turn to baby books for guidance — but they don't always hold the best advice.
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Josefine Hirschfeld, University of Birmingham
Oil pulling is a useful addition to toothbrushing.
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Featured events
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University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Essex
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Berrill Lecture Theatre, Walton Hall, The Open University, MK6 7AA, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK6 7AA, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — The Open University
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99 George St , Glasgow, Glasgow City, G11RD, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Strathclyde
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The Forum, Streatham Campus, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QJ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Exeter
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