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Are you having less sex? Chances are you might be. Research shows we’re having much less now than in recent years. But at the same time, porn websites are reporting record viewing figures and many TV series and films seem to be steamier than ever. So what’s going on?
Mary Harrod believes that we’ve reached a point where meaningful intimacy is at once an object of scepticism and a cultural obsession – and that the more dubious we seemingly are about the possibility of transcendent romance, the more we want to dream of its existence. And that’s leading to more raunchy scenes on our screens and more sexual exploration in the books we read. After all, if we aren’t getting our rocks off in real life, we need to get our thrills
somewhere, right?
With the UN climate summit in Glasgow only weeks away, we bring you the second episode of our new podcast, Climate Fight: the world’s biggest negotiation. In this instalment, experts explain the goal of net zero by 2050 – and compare the
carbon-sucking innovations needed to get us there. You can get academic analysis of potential climate solutions direct to your inbox each Wednesday by subscribing to our Imagine
newsletter.
Of course, even if we survive the climate crisis, our planet will face an eventual end. Dimitri Veras explains why his new research could hold some clues about how the Solar System will die.
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Holly Squire
Special Projects Editor
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Fruity.
Alena A
Mary Harrod, University of Warwick
Is sex the meaning of life? Books, TV and films certainly make it seem that way.
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Boundary Dam coal-fired power station, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Dave Reede/All Canada Photos/Alamy Stock Photo
Jack Marley, The Conversation
Listen to the second episode of a new series from The Anthill Podcast ahead of the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow.
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Scientists have spotted a Jupiter-like planet surviving the death of its star.
Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko
Dimitri Veras, University of Warwick
For the first time ever, astronomers have astrophysical evidence that Jupiter and many other planets will survive the death of the Sun.
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Politics + Society
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Tim Bale, Queen Mary University of London; Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser, Diego Portales University
A look behind the long-term trends following the surprise victory for social democrats in Germany.
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Henrietta Moore, UCL
Over the coming decade a new study will put citizens and communities at the centre of efforts to reimagine prosperity and define what constitutes a good quality of life.
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Georgina Brewis, UCL; Daniel Laqua, Northumbria University, Newcastle; Rowan Thompson, Northumbria University, Newcastle
Post-war government support saw ex-servicemen head to university by the tens of thousands. Their distinct perspective – and their numbers – shaped 1920s student life
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Environment + Energy
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Johanna Forster, University of East Anglia; Naomi Vaughan, University of East Anglia
Removing carbon from the atmosphere is as much a social problem as a technical one.
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Sharon George, Keele University
Turning down your heating by just 1℃ can save around £55 a year.
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Health + Medicine
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Ziggi Ivan Santini, University of Southern Denmark; Lau Caspar Thygesen, University of Southern Denmark; Ola Ekholm, University of Southern Denmark
The average wellbeing of people with depression in Denmark improved over the first six months of the pandemic.
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Business + Economy
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Martin Lockett, University of Nottingham
The government is preparing to offer some kind of limited bailout to businesses that are struggling because of high electricity and gas prices.
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Arts + Culture
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Terrell Carver, University of Bristol
Grimes finds solace in The Communist Manifesto after her split from Elon Musk, but what can she learn from reading Marx and Engels? A political theorist explains.
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Science + Technology
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Richard Bean, The University of Queensland; Megan Piorko, Georgia State University; Sarah Lang, University of Graz
The secret recipe came from Arthur Dee, 17th-century alchemist and royal physician to the Tsar.
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Featured events
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— Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, London, London, City of, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — Brunel University London
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— Online, Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Southampton
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— Online, Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Southampton
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— Thomas Paine Study Centre Lecture Theatre, University of East Anglia, Norwich , Norfolk, NR4 7TJ , United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of East Anglia
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