Editor's note
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The very ground you walk on is slipping out from under you. That might sound like a familiar feeling in 2019, but new research suggests it’s quite literally true. In areas of the world that are intensively farmed, the precious topsoil that we use to grow food is being eroded faster than it can be replaced due to the relentless pace and industrial scale of modern agriculture.
So much soil is being washed from the land that some areas of the UK may have little more than a century of fertile topsoil left. That may sound like a long time, but it actually represents the final 1% of their total lifespan. This isn’t just a tragedy for feeding a growing global population though.
According to Dan Evans, soil is also an invaluable asset for tackling climate change. The world’s soil contains more organic carbon than the Earth’s atmosphere and all of its plants combined. This vast carbon bank could store a lot more of the gases currently warming the planet if we changed our farming habits. This could mean planting crops across rather than down hillslopes to interrupt the flow of water and trap soil, or planting trees
and ensuring fields are vegetated with cover crops like clover when they’re not being used to grow food.
Post election, we take a look at what manifesto promises the Conservative Party made for funding Britain’s schools. And while the financial markets currently look bullish, for how much longer?
And publishers have been primed for the annual bump in book sales over Christmas. In Iceland they even have a word for it: jólabókaflóð. But giving books has been happening even before the advent of paper.
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Jack Marley
Commissioning Editor
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Top stories
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What lies beneath? Not a lot.
Dan Evans
Dan Evans, Lancaster University
Areas of the UK may lose their topsoil in little over a century according to new research.
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Paul Grover/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire/PA Images
Chris Rolph, Nottingham Trent University
Reforms are set to continue in the same direction as before.
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On the mend?
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Jonathan Perraton, University of Sheffield
While Johnson brings a modicum of certainty about the UK's direction of travel – out of the EU – its future beyond 2020 remains uncertain.
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A long history of gifting of printed books at Christmas remains strong despite increases in e-book sales.
B Bernard/Shutterstock
Leah Henrickson, Loughborough University
Books have always made great Christmas gifts. But what makes them so special, aside from their being so easy to wrap?
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Environment + Energy
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Thomas Muinzer, University of Dundee
The European Commission will propose a wide-ranging 'climate law' in the next few months.
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Robin McKenna, University of Liverpool
The science says that more or better climate education won't convince sceptics. Here's what we can do instead.
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Patricia Thornley, Aston University
What is the climate emergency, and whose climate crisis is it anyway?
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Politics + Society
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Ryan Swift, University of Leeds
With historical strongholds lost to the Conservatives, some introspection is needed.
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Eric Shaw, University of Stirling
What lay behind Team Corbyn's woeful campaign.
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Business + Economy
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Juan Grigera, King's College London
The new government of Alberto Fernandez must now deal with Argentina's least favourite international organisation.
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Science + Technology
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Alexander Brasier, University of Aberdeen
New research shows how rock features that look like fossilised microbes can form without life.
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