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Editor's note
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Bonjour, hello, merhaba and nǐ hǎo,
We bring good news in many different tongues this weekend. It’s commonly thought that it gets harder and harder to learn a new language as we get older, but researchers are here to debunk that myth. It’s never too late to improve you linguistic skills.
How much does it matter where you work out? Health researcher Ewa Roos wanted to find out, so she provided a group of eager participants with a lovely, light filled exercise room and gave them access to all the latest, state-of-the-art fitness machines to use during an eight-week programme. She stuck another, less lucky group in a dingy, sweaty basement with little more than their own shoelaces for equipment. What she found after studying their health for those two months might make you reconsider your expensive gym subscription.
And does it matter what kind of exercise you do? Neuroscientist Ashleigh Johnstone reveals that if you choose martial arts, you could improve your physical well-being and boost your brain’s cognition too.
In the Orkney Isles a graveyard of 52 German warships sunk by the British has grown into a thriving ecosystem. Marine biologists have been investigating how the site off the north coast of Scotland has evolved to shelter fish, crabs, lobsters, starfish and sea urchins, including some rare species.
This week we’ve also been using our Spotify listening history for economic forecasting, flushing canal boat khazis, and taking a microscope to the small print of company terms and conditions.
Have a great weekend.
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Laura Hood
Politics Editor, Assistant Editor
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Top stories
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from www.shutterstock.com
Monika Schmid, University of Essex
Coverage of a new study suggests it's impossible to become fluent in a foreign language after age ten. But that's deeply misleading – and not what the study found.
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Igor Bukhlin/Shutterstock.com
Ewa M Roos, University of Southern Denmark
Working out in a dilapidated gym can yield more benefits than working out in a fancy gym. But it depends on your preferences.
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Lucy Baldwin/Shutterstock
Ashleigh Johnstone, Bangor University
As well as increasing physical fitness and mental health, martial arts can boost brain cognition too.
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Arts + Culture
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Jamie Halliwell, Manchester Metropolitan University
Eurovision Song Contest fandom on social media is giving LGBT issues a global platform.
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Jill Gibbon, Leeds Beckett University
There's a disturbing disconnect between the polite etiquette of arms fairs and the hell that their products create.
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Meg-John Barker, The Open University
I read 60 sex advice manuals – here's what I learnt.
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Catriona Jones, University of Hull; Julie Jomeen, University of Hull; Mark Hayter, University of Hull
Asexuality is less about a traditional understanding of sexual attraction and behaviour, and more about being able to discuss likes and dislikes in the early stages of a relationship.
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Daniel Cookney, University of Salford; Kirsty Fairclough, University of Salford
Donald Glover's music video is a multi-layered political statement which aims to kick its audience out of its complacency.
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Health + Medicine
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Ali Mobasheri, University of Surrey; Margaret Rayman, University of Surrey
The right diet, combined with moderate low-impact exercise, can benefit people with osteoarthritis.
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Colin Moran, University of Stirling; Naomi Brooks, University of Stirling; Ross Chesham, University of Stirling
The Daily Mile started in a primary school in central Scotland six years ago. Now it has spread to 3,600 schools in 35 countries.
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Environment + Energy
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Sylvia Jaworska, University of Reading
I analysed 15 million words written by major oil companies and found their usage of 'climate change' peaked a decade ago.
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Clara Mackenzie, University of Stirling; Joanne Porter, Heriot-Watt University
The wrecks of the German WWI fleet are home to an abundance of biodiverse marine life, now under threat from climate change.
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Business + Economy
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Kathy Conklin, University of Nottingham; Richard Hyde, University of Nottingham
Consumer law requires legal agreements to be transparent – so how does this apply to complicated terms and conditions we're expected to read?
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Kim Kaivanto, Lancaster University; Peng Zhang, Guizhou Minzu University
The emotions associated with trends in popular music and lyrics can predict economic sentiment.
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Cities
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Eve Mackinnon, UCL
Do canal boats have toilets? Yes, and they're greener than your average bog.
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Ekatherina Zhukova, Lund University
Forging emotional bonds through care, companionship and shared experiences, two very different countries built civic ties from the rubble of the world's worst nuclear disaster.
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Science + Technology
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Adam Barrett, University of Sussex
Consciousness final frontier of science?
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Ruth Gregory, Durham University
We may not live in an infinite 'multiverse' of parallel universes after all.
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Catherine Laing, Cardiff University
Babies would rather listen to each other than to their parents' babytalk, according to new research.
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Politics + Society
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Dan Finn, University of Portsmouth
A long read on the decimation of British jobcentres – and why it puts the rollout of Universal Credit at risk.
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Steven Hurst, Manchester Metropolitan University
Ever since the shocking spectacle of the Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis, American conservatives have reserved a special disdain for the Islamic Republic.
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Tom Quinn, University of Essex
She lurches from crisis to crisis but the prime minister remains in post. How does she do it?
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Emanuele Bracco, Lancaster University
If you're going to drive badly in Italy, do it towards the end of the local mayor's term in office.
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Education
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Paul Smalley, Edge Hill University
Islamophobic and anti-semitic parents are removing children from school RE lessons.
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Featured events
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Fabric District, London Road, Liverpool, Liverpool, L3 8HL, United Kingdom — Liverpool John Moores University
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G11, Henley Business School, Whiteknights campus, University of Reading, Reading, Reading, RG6 6AH, United Kingdom — University of Reading
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Ellen Wilkinson Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom — University of Manchester
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Old Quad, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom — University of Manchester
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