When thousands of crabs mysteriously washed up on beaches in north-east England three years ago, many blamed a toxic industrial chemical called pyridine thought to have been released from contaminated marine sediments by dredging in Teesside port. Politicians debated, academics disagreed and some reporters suggested a cover-up. But nobody could actually confirm the culprit with any degree of certainty.

As with all science, gathering accurate evidence and rigorously analysing it takes time. Now three of the scientists who were part of the independent panel that reviewed the evidence for the government have produced a study outlining why the case for pyridine as the cause of the crab deaths was unfounded. Here, they explain the evidence – and push back against those who questioned their independence and integrity in favour of a conspiracy theory.

I was moved by this article on Anna Narinskaya’s play The Last Word, which gives a platform to the voices of nine women who have fallen foul of the Russian legal system. Julie Curtis, professor of Russian literature at the University of Oxford, gives us her view on what makes the play so powerful.

And it seems surgeons mistakenly remove the wrong body part or leave a foreign object inside a patient surprisingly often. Here’s how it happens.

All the best.

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