Millions of cakes, ice creams and pastries are sold every year, baked or topped with that prize ingredient – vanilla. So how does the tiny vanilla bean industry, centred around labour-intensive farming in Madagascar, keep up? It doesn't. Scientists have managed to make fake vanilla from wood pulp, oil, rice and more, says Iain Fraser, but if you want the real thing you're going to have to dig deep to pay for it.

It was custard pies all round after the Oscars ceremony descended into farce when the wrong film was awarded Best Picture. The blunder meant that the clear political messages that were voiced lost out on the night – Julie Lobalzo Wright explains what you may have missed.

And as the bill to trigger Britain's exit from the EU makes its way through the House of Lords, many in the pro-Brexit camp are warning non-elected members not to stand in the way. But while the issue of reform is once again at the fore, writes Matthew Cole, it's unlikely to be Brexit that brings change to the chamber.

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