|
|
|
|
The male and the female roam the woods, spending days looking for a corpse. They then get to work – burying a creature many times their size in half an hour before stripping it of hair or feathers and dispensing chemicals to hide it from other scavengers. Then, their babies are born and they encourage them into the crypt …
This isn’t the twisted plot of the next big horror movie. It’s a key part of the life cycle of carrion beetles, small creatures that new research has revealed are far more crucial to the development of soil ecosystems than previously believed. It may be a gruesome tale, but as Tancredi Caruso explains in our latest Insights long read, the secrets of these zombies of the natural world are key to our understanding of soil, carbon sequestration
and the cycle of life.
Another devilish character who has seen a resurgence of late is Cruella de Vil, infamous villain of the Disney classic 101 Dalmatians. A new film explores what made her so vicious, but what’s sparked the trend for humanising classic wrongdoers?
And in the next installment of our series on recovery and resilience, Geoff Mulgan explores what the COVID experience has taught us about risk.
|
Josephine Lethbridge
Investigations Editor
|
|
|
A female burying beetle caring for her brood.
Oliver Krueger
Tancredi Caruso, University College Dublin
Carrion beetles help stabilise the biology of the soil they live in.
|
Disney/YouTube
Leora Hadas, University of Nottingham
Like Joker, this adaptation seeks to humanise a famous villain. But is this revisionism or a new story altogether?
|
Navigating risk can feel like walking on a tightrope, even when you’re perfectly safe.
zhukovvvlad/Shutterstock
Geoff Mulgan, UCL
We often underestimate dangerous risks because they are slow or we think we are in more control of them than we actually are.
|
Business + Economy
|
-
Michael Benson, Sheffield Hallam University; James Cawthorne, Sheffield Hallam University
Thanks to a bid from a private equity firm backed by former Tesco boss Terry Leahy, the UK's fourth largest supermarket chain is in play.
-
Daniele D'Alvia, Queen Mary University of London
Both Spacs and bitcoin went rocketing up in price only to come crashing back down. And that's not all they have in common.
|
|
Health + Medicine
|
-
Keith Grehan, University of Leeds; Natalie Kingston, University of Leeds
Two scientists claim that the genome pairing CGG-CGG is evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was made in a lab.
-
Michael Jennings, SOAS, University of London
Upwards of 60% of the world needs to be vaccinated to suppress COVID-19 – even with an extra billion doses, that target looks very far away.
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Reshanne Reeder, Edge Hill University
Experiment that creates altered states of consciousness sheds light on an old problem.
-
Jack Singal, University of Richmond
Astronomers know a lot about what's in outer space – and think it's possible it never ends.
|
|
Environment + Energy
|
-
Clare Rishbeth, University of Sheffield; Jo Birch, University of Sheffield
How do migrants to the UK explore and experience its natural environment -- and how does it connect them to their roots?
|
|
Education
|
-
Steve Strand, University of Oxford
The data shows that attainment gaps in English education at age 16 cannot be attributed to any single factor.
|
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Tom Smith, University of Portsmouth
The sad reality is that Duterte’s murderous and corrupt brand of politics will be hard to displace.
|
|
| |
Featured events
|
|
Online, Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Birmingham
|
|
This is a FREE online event (University of Aberdeen), Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, AB24 3FX, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Aberdeen
|
|
University House, Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2UP, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Portsmouth
|
|
University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Essex
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
