Should you trust your gut feelings?

Editor's note

“The heart has its reasons which reason does not know,” said the 17th century physicist Blaise Pascal. Today, we often view emotions and intuition as unreliable – greatly inferior to analytic and rational thinking. But, as Valerie van Mulukom writes, gut feelings are based on fast brain processing that can provide us with very useful information. To learn more about intuition and how to harness it, listen to the latest episode of our Anthill podcast. It features physicist Jim Al-Khalili and biologist Johnjoe McFadden talking about the emerging field of quantum biology and their hunch that the strange rules of quantum mechanics may be what makes life possible.

One year ago today Robert Mueller was appointed by the justice department to lead an independent investigation into possible collusion between the Russian government and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Trump has been ranting and raving against Mueller ever since, and periodically threatening to fire him – but today, the investigation rumbles on with no end in sight. Clodagh Harrington explains why Trump should stop threatening Mueller and steel himself for a long game.

New parents have to deal with a wealth of information when their little one arrives, but there’s not much out there on how to help their pets cope with a new “sibling”. Thankfully, Emily Birch has put together a comprehensive guide to babies, from a furry friend’s point of view. But perhaps us humans should be learning about certain aspects of parenthood much sooner than when a baby is on the way. Amy Brown explains why children should be taught about breastfeeding in schools.

Miriam Frankel

Science Editor

Politics + Society

Paragraph 322(5): what the Home Office uses to refuse highly skilled migrants leave to remain in Britain

Jo Wilding, University of Brighton

The UK's general grounds for refusal of highly skilled migrants – explained.
Police are using big data to profile young people, putting them at risk of discrimination

Daragh Murray, University of Essex; Pete Fussey, University of Essex

When big data is used for police profiling and surveillance, it puts human rights on the line.
Scotland’s Brexit Bill rejection could be the start of a new constitutional crisis

Stephen Clear, Bangor University

Scotland's decision to reject the Brexit Bill may herald a national constitutional crisis.
Tessa Jowell’s farsighted vision for media literacy was ahead of its time

Richard Wallis, Bournemouth University

Years before 'fake news' was a thing, Jowell saw media education as a crucial life skill.

Health + Medicine
Why we won't have a paperless NHS anytime soon Victoria Reay, Lancaster University Digital records are all well and good, but they still don't match the versatility of paper. How dementia is portrayed in comics – and what sufferers think about it Sarah McNicol, Manchester Metropolitan University Comics often portray those with dementia as abnormal or less than human.

Arts + Culture
A brief history of immersion, centuries before VR Patrick T. Allen, University of Bradford We've never needed Oculus Rift to provide immersive experiences – they've been around for as long as we have. Babies and pets – a guide for new parents Emily Birch, Nottingham Trent University How to prepare pets for the arrival of a new human in the home.