On a recent trip to New Orleans, the king cake baby became, for me, a symbol of plastic’s ubiquity in the food system. King cakes are a beloved Mardi Gras season sweet, and when bakers are done cooking them, they hide a small plastic baby in each. Whoever gets a slice with the baby in…
Spicy, woody and sweet: it sounds like a description of a fancy air freshener. But researchers say the mix of aromas arise from something rather different: mummies. Researchers have used both human noses and scientific instruments to probe how ancient Egyptian mummies smell today, and to what extent the odours reflect the materials used during…
Israel has sent tanks to the West Bank city of Jenin, in the first deployment of its kind in the area in more than two decades, as troops intensify operations in the territory that officials said will last at least a year. The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said on Sunday that the latest operation…
The average mattress is just six years old when it gets chucked out, according to the National Bed Federation. That’s an awful lot of foam and springs going to landfill. Should you stick with an uncomfortable bed for the sake of the planet, or choose more wisely next time you go mattress shopping? The Guardian’s…
Growing up in a family of refugees, I was raised to approach strangers with caution. After experiencing displacement, my parents instilled in me the idea that trust had to be earned; they had seen the risks that come with being vulnerable in a new environment. Being wary of the unfamiliar was their way of ensuring we…
The Trump administration declared on Friday that the Gulf of Mexico had been renamed the Gulf of America, but popular mapping services from Google and Apple have continued showing the old name. On Monday, Google said it would update its maps to display Gulf of America as soon as the U.S. government updated its official…