Editor's note

Imagine being Theresa May or Emmanuel Macron. In the UK, May’s Tory colleagues are revolting and in France, citizens continue to take to the streets to call for the president’s resignation. On their surface, May’s Brexit troubles and Macron’s gilets jaunes woes appear quite different but they both reflect some of Europe’s biggest problems and, combined, are causing major instability. Our colleagues in France have been following the protest movement closely, bringing coverage in English and French. And click here for our expert analysis of the latest Brexit developments.

In the West, we often don’t take natural remedies seriously. However, nature produces some of the most potent medicines in the world. As many as two million diabetes sufferers regularly inject themselves with a synthetic version of a compound found in a particular species of lizard’s saliva. And the bark of the Pacific Yew tree is a vital component in cancer drugs. Here’s a look at the some of the heavyweight treatments that come from plants and animals.

Parents worry when their child brings home an imaginary friend and, indeed, the behaviour was historically viewed as a sign of psychological problems. But the past two decades of research have shown that playing with an invisible pal is actually good for our social and emotional development.

One of our young readers asked this week whether different people experience colour differently. When two people look at a tomato, how do we know they are seeing the same red? It’s actually not something we know for sure but we did our best to answer the question. Find out more about the science of sight.

Have a great weekend.

Laura Hood

Politics Editor, Assistant Editor

The Gila monster. Reptiles4all/Shutterstock

Nature is a rich source of medicine – if we can protect it

The Gila monster gave humans a treatment for diabetes. What other medical miracles are we losing by failing to protect wildlife and ecosystems?

Politics + Society

A gilets jaunes “yellow vest” protester on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris takes a photograph using his mobile phone (December 8, 2018). Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP

Debate: The ‘gilets jaunes’ movement is not a Facebook revolution

Jen Schradie, Sciences Po – USPC

Why do we always give all the credit to social media when protests take off?

Science + Technology

We don’t all see the same. Shutterstock.

Curious Kids: do different people see the same colours?

Niia Nikolova, University of Strathclyde

What colours we see depends not just on how things are in the world around us, but also on what happens in our eyes and our brains.

Environment + Energy

Svetlana.Is / shutterstock

How chickens became the ultimate symbol of the Anthropocene

Carys Bennett, University of Leicester; Jan Zalasiewicz, University of Leicester; Mark Williams, University of Leicester; Richard Thomas, University of Leicester

Our research shows that, millions of years from now, fossilised chicken bones will mark the era of human domination.

Arts + Culture

Health + Medicine

Business + Economy

 

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