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Could picking up a pair of pliers improve your language skills? It seems a strange question, but it was one an international team of researchers was compelled to ask in the face of growing evidence that fine motor skills and language are linked in the brain. Their study was published yesterday in the journal Science.
They asked people to complete motor training exercises using mechanical pliers, as well as language syntax exercises. Using brain imaging, the researchers showed the two tasks activated common areas in the brain. And when they observed people’s performance in these activities one after the other, they found motor training with the pliers was associated with an improvement in people’s understanding of complex sentences – and vice versa. As two of the researchers explain, this finding could one day help people struggling with language or motor skills.
Elsewhere, there’s been no shortage of corruption allegations in the UK recently. A professor of politics explains how the UK compares to other countries in this regard. And men without university degrees have suffered the biggest hit to
employment since the beginning of the pandemic.
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Phoebe Roth
Commissioning Editor
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SvedOliver/Shutterstock
Claudio Brozzoli, Karolinska Institutet; Simon Thibault, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
We used brain imaging techniques to show these two activities engage the same region of the brain. Then we wanted to find out more.
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Ian Davidson/Alamy
Daniel Hough, University of Sussex
The UK actually rates very well when compared to other nations – depending on what you include in your data.
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Shutterstock/Artem Avetisyan
Jeevun Sandher, King's College London
The pandemic has left many looking for work as part of a longer term decline.
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Environment + Energy
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Matt Gitsham, Hult International Business School; Ajit Nayak, University of Southampton; Jonathan Gosling, University of Exeter
Research suggests that corporate leaders can be encouraged to lobby for climate action by personally experiencing the effects of climate change.
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Richard Black, Imperial College London; Piers Forster, University of Leeds
Mainstream reporters not familiar with the topic may spin the summit as a huge success or devastating failure.
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Ljubomir Jankovic, University of Hertfordshire
Embodied emissions in buildings could be a hidden setback for carbon reduction targets.
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Charles Gillott, University of Sheffield
Embodied carbon - carbon produced during a building’s construction - urgently needs reducing, and reusing buildings could help.
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Gemma Ware, The Conversation; Daniel Merino, The Conversation
Experts explain the latest evidence on eco-anxiety in The Conversation Weekly.
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Politics + Society
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Daniel Fitzpatrick, Aston University
On-field demonstrations of remembrance and protest are able to harness potent political power.
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Tom Hunt, University of Sheffield
Improving care workers’ wages and working conditions will not only boost vaccination rates – it will tackle staffing shortages in care.
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Liana Semchuk, University of Oxford
Is Russia masterminding the buildup of international migrants on the Poland-Belarus border?
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Hannah Rose, King's College London
The French commentator’s heritage is providing a useful patina for extreme views.
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Science + Technology
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Iraklis Giannakis, University of Aberdeen
A new tool to detect hidden layers of the surface of the far side of the Moon could provide vital information about what lies beneath and how Earth’s satellite evolved.
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Sam England, University of Bristol
Many living organisms generate and even detect static electricity in their natural environments. We must understand more to ensure we don’t disturb these delicate processes.
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Roy Smith, University of Portsmouth; David Martill, University of Portsmouth
We examined pterosaur jaw fragments from the Moroccan desert to understand more about how these creatures evolved.
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Arts + Culture
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Andrew Murphy, Trinity College Dublin
The bard’s plays were not always so readily available. It took a handful of savvy publishers to see the potential in publishing his plays.
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Featured events
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— Museum of London, 150 London Wall, Barbican, London, EC2Y 5HN, London, London, City of, EC2Y 5HN, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — Gresham College
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— Edgbaston campus, Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Birmingham
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— Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — Royal Holloway University of London
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