I write about life sciences, health and the environment. My first book "The Genesis Quest" is about how life on Earth began and is out now
What is the optimal amount of exercise and how much is too much?
When it comes to exercise, more isn't necessarily better – and we're now discovering the ideal dose for better health
NSIA Annual Report 2023
This Annual Report outlines the activities and progress of the National Society Investment Alliance (NSIA) in 2023
Capacity Building Fund Report 2023
This report details the 2023 activities and expenditures of the IFRC Capacity Building Fund, which supports Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies in their self-development.
When did human ancestors start walking on two legs?
Anthropologists have been arguing for 20 years about whether Sahelanthropus, a hominin that lived about 7 million years ago, was one of the first bipedal apes
Ancient Denisovans hunted snow leopards on the Tibetan plateau
Thousands of bones found in a Tibetan cave have been analysed to learn how mysterious ancient humans known as Denisovans lived
Neanderthal child may have had Down’s syndrome
A fossil bone displaying features consistent with Down’s syndrome belonged to a Neanderthal child who survived beyond 6 years old
Phased introductions to smartphones will help kids more than bans
Creating "walled gardens", much like TV channels do, would provide children better tools to navigate a lifetime of social media than banning smartphones altogether
The truth about social media and screen time's impact on young people
There are many scary claims about excess time on digital devices for children and teenagers. Here’s a guide to the real risks - and what to do about them
Did rock art spread from one place or was it invented many times?
Rock art is a truly global phenomenon, with discoveries of cave paintings and etchings on every continent that ancient humans inhabited – but how many times was it invented over human history?
Why did hominins like us evolve at all?
Animal life on Earth existed for over half a billion years before hominins hit the scene – a complex combination of environmental changes, innovations in technology and competition may have led to us
Untangling the enigmatic origins of the human family’s newest species
Five years ago, a fossil found in the Philippines was determined to be from a new species of hominin called Homo luzonensis. Since then, we’ve learned a bit more about the newest member of the human family
The unexpected reasons why human childhood is extraordinarily long
Why childhood is so protracted has long been mysterious: now a spate of archaeological discoveries suggest an intriguing explanation
First Nations astronomers predicted eclipses without using writing
The oldest written records of eclipses are in cuneiform texts from around 2000 BC, but examination of oral traditions reveal First Nations astronomers were predicting eclipses by word of mouth
Did the people of Easter Island independently invent writing?
Wooden tablets containing a language of glyphs called Rongorongo may be evidence that the people of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, created their own writing system without the influence of European language
The Story of Earth's Climate review: 25 discoveries tell tangled tale
Palaeontologist Donald R. Prothero squares up to the tough task of explaining how life and climate have shaped each other over the 4.5 billion years of Earth's history