The Conversation

From myopic monks on magic mushrooms to superhuman detail By Rachel Moss The Book of Kells is a late-eighth century illustrated copy of the four gospels of the New Testament, ...

By Patricia Christian We’ve all been there. You’re dying to grab that last piece of cake on the table during an office meeting, but you are not alone. ...

Gypsy Rose Blanchard went to prison for murder – and is now a social media star By Edith Jennifer Hill After spending eight years in prison in the United States, Gypsy ...

Four ways to tell the designer fashion items worth investing in from the ones that aren’t By Naomi Braithwaite Whether it’s aspiring to the “quiet luxury” or “old ...

Opposites don’t attract, but mixing them with the right chemistry can give a delicious result says Nathan Kilah Salads are not just for summer. And salads are even more ...

By Lesley Speed After an exhausting day, housework is often the last thing I feel like doing. But I sometimes relax by playing video games where you tidy and arrange ...

Here’s how to clean your clothes more sustainably By Judith Weis Microplastics are turning up everywhere, from remote mountain tops to deep ocean trenches. They also are in many ...

What was the mantua? By Sarah Bendall If you’ve watched many period dramas, you’ve probably seen a mantua before. Originating in France in the 1670s, this women’s ...

By Sara Byala A new book called Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African tells the story of how the world’s most famous carbonated drink conquered the continent. It’s a ...

By Clio Doyle When I started my podcast, Studies in Taylor Swift, in the spring of 2021, I felt that I was simultaneously helping to invent, and trying to catch up ...

By Chris Hann Everywhere in Europe, rituals to mark the winter solstice have long been focused on the Christian narrative of the birth of Jesus. Yet in the ancient Julian ...

By Colin John Irwin There is no peace in the Middle East because there is no effective peace process. This isn’t because the Palestinians and Israelis do not know ...

By Richard Hornsey, Anna Greenwood and Hilary Ingram Last winter, UK retailers reported record sales of hot water bottles as consumers looked to cut their heating costs as the average ...

Catherine Spooner goes from from all-black to pastels Goth is the subculture that never died – or more precisely, perhaps, remains undead. The persistence of the subculture’s style is due ...

By Shelley Brunt I was recently among a curious Melbourne audience who turned out to see a hologram of the long-dead soprano Maria Callas singing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. ...

Taste depends on nature and nurture say Nicholas Archer and Astrid Poelman You’re out for dinner with a bunch of friends, one of whom orders pizza with anchovies and ...

By Hazel Flight No confectionery symbolises the holidays quite like gingerbread. While most of us associate gingerbread with edible houses and spiced loaves of cake-like bread, it’s also increasingly ...

Disney’s ghostly new Christmas tale evokes the eerie qualities of Britain’s abandoned second world war airfields By Sam Edwards From Charles Dickens to MR James, Christmas has a ...

By Tom F. Wright The Oxford English Dictionary has selected rizz as its word of 2023. If you’ve heard of it at all, you’ll probably have heard that it ...

Here’s how parents can deal with it By Michelle Cowley-Cunningham As Christmas approaches, many children experience the “gimme-gimmes” and write a list of toys that they hope Santa will ...

By Rick Sarre, If you were, just for example, a slightly portly, older gent in a red and white suit who soon plans to travel around the globe delivering presents, ...

Armin Langer on how the keffiyeh – a practical garment used for protection against the desert sun – became a symbol of Palestinian identity After Israel declared war on Hamas following the ...

By Bradley Smith and Mia Cobb For many of us, dogs are our best friends. But have you wondered what would happen to your dog if we suddenly disappeared? Can ...

But who comes second matters By Thomas Gift Former president Donald Trump has pitched himself as the inevitable Republican nominee for the White House in 2024. So much so that he’...