John Wojcik pays tribute to a black US activist who spent six decades at the forefront of struggles for voting rights, economic justice and peace – reshaping US politics and inspiring movements worldwide
Latest editorial
Moths: natural history and human history
Moths cause huge damage to clothes, carpets and crops, but they’re so much more than just pests, explain SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
A Hawkmoth collecting nectar
In the fifth and final part of a series of articles, Storming the Heavens author JENNY CLEGG explains how the Communist Party of China’s approach demonstrates how Marxism, rooted in concrete conditions and mass participation, can shape history
In times of genocide, art is not a refuge from politics but a weapon against injustice, says ROGER McKENZIE, highlighting three of his own favourite political truth-tellers
As members elect their first leadership, a deeper battle is unfolding over what democracy should mean in practice, says CASSI BELLINGHAM
The language of humiliation is a step towards a second civil war, argues RAMZY BAROUD
ANDREW MURRAY says switching the prime minister on and off again is no substitute for new political approach we need
THE occurrence of household moths in Britain has seen a striking rise in recent years according to English Heritage. The anger and hatred of those who’ve survived a moth infestation is understandable, but most moths are unfairly maligned.
Unlike butterflies, which form a group of all the descendants of a single ancestor, moths are much more genetically diverse, having diverged from each other at an earlier point. There were early moths 300 million years ago, which adapted into modern moths alongside early flowers.
There are 160,000 known species of lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) worldwide, and more are still being discovered. While there are just 59 species of butterfly found in Britain, there are 2,500 known moth species, 900 of them “macro” moth species with wingspans generally longer than 2cm. Surprisingly only three moth species (all micro-moths) live indoors and cause damage to clothing and carpets.
Similar stories
The West’s dangerous pesticide dumping in Africa is threatening biodiversity, population health and food sovereignty, argues ROGER McKENZIE
One of the major criticisms of China’s breakneck development in recent decades has been the impact on nature — returning after 15 years away, BEN CHACKO assessed whether the government’s recent turn to environmentalism has yielded results
MAT COWARD presents a peculiar cabbage that will only do its bodybuilding once the summer dies down
ALEX DITTRICH hitches a ride on a jaw-dropping tour of the parasite world