This year’s Bristol Radical History Festival focused on the persistent threats of racism, xenophobia and, of course, our radical collective resistance to it across Ireland and Britain, reports LYNNE WALSH
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The tectonic shifts in Chile's ancient geology and new politics
The Atacama desert and the Andean mountains are brimming with natural history and cutting-edge contemporary science
(L to R) The supercontient Gondwana 420 million years ago; rare rainfall events cause the flowering in southern Atacama Desert
A maverick’s self-inflicted snake bites could unlock breakthrough treatments – but they also reveal deeper tensions between noble scientific curiosity and cold corporate callousness, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
The FBU is demanding 52 weeks of full pay for women firefighters, highlighting the unique health risks they face — and the continuing need to recruit and retain more women if policies like this are still not in place, writes SEONA HART
Israel continues to operate with impunity in what seems to be a brutal and protracted experiment, while much of the world looks on, says RAMZY BAROUD
A new report by Amnesty International pulls no punches in highlighting the Labour government’s human rights violations of those on benefits, says Dr DYLAN MURPHY
With Reform UK surging and Labour determined not to offer anything different from the status quo, a clear opportunity opens for the left, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
A recent Immigration Summit heard from Lord Alf Dubs, who fled the Nazis to Britain as a child. JAYDEE SEAFORTH reports on his message that we need to increase public empathy with desperate people seeking asylum
THE Andes rise high above the Atacama desert on the western coast of South America, higher in fact than a model based on basic plate tectonics would indicate. Their height is part of why the Atacama desert is so dry.
Unlike in Britain, where the west coast is wetter than the east, the prevailing winds from the oceans around southern South America come from the Atlantic, rather than the Pacific. These winds were called the “trade winds” by European nations who used them in their imperial and colonial expansions.
Just like on the island of Britain, but switching east for west, the prevailing winds pick up water over the ocean, and on hitting the mountains rise, cool and squeeze out their water load into rain clouds that keep the east coast of southern South America lush and fertile.
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A maverick’s self-inflicted snake bites could unlock breakthrough treatments – but they also reveal deeper tensions between noble scientific curiosity and cold corporate callousness, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
Science has always been mixed up with money and power, but as a decorative facade for megayachts, it risks leaving reality behind altogether, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
A small Japanese trial has reported some positive results for stem cell therapy to treat spinal-cord injuries
Man-made canals like Panama and Suez face unprecedented challenges from extreme weather patterns and geopolitical tensions that reveal the fragility of our global trade networks, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
