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From sprinting up the stairs to tackling gardening with extra energy — everyday movements done with more intensity may be enough to boost your health and even help you live longer. Most people know that regular exercise and a healthy diet are key to longevity. But many struggle to find time for gym sessions or reach 10,000 steps a day. New research suggests you may not need to. Short, vigorous bursts embedded into your daily routine could bring substantial benefits. This approach has a name: vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity, or VILPA. Also called “exercise snacking,” “snacktivity,” or “activity microbursts,”…

Modern cities are louder than ever — traffic, construction, nightlife, constant alerts from phones. Noise has become an invisible pollutant linked to anxiety, sleep disorders and reduced productivity. But urban planners and psychologists are increasingly discussing a surprisingly modest proposal: introduce a daily “Silent Hour” — one hour in which cities intentionally quiet down. The concept is gaining interest in parts of Scandinavia and Japan, where communities are testing what happens when a whole city agrees to pause the noise, even briefly. A collective breath for modern life The idea behind Silent Hour is straightforward. At a set time each…

As food prices rise and millions of tonnes of groceries are thrown away each year, one idea is gaining remarkable traction across European cities: the community sharing fridge. It is a simple concept with surprisingly powerful potential — a public refrigerator where anyone can leave surplus food and anyone who needs it can take it freely. What began as a grassroots experiment in a handful of neighbourhoods is now being studied by urban planners, economists and sustainability experts. Could a fridge on the street really help solve food waste, strengthen communities and reduce hunger at the same time? A solution…

A collection of rare and sacred Islamic artefacts has gone on display at the North Lincolnshire Museum in Scunthorpe. Several pieces are centuries old and, until now, could typically be seen only by those who had travelled to Mecca. Among the exhibition’s standout items are a key to the resting place of the Prophet Muhammad and a rare section of Kiswa, the ornate cloth that covers the Kaaba — Islam’s most sacred site at the heart of the Great Mosque in Mecca. Organisers say the exhibition is open to visitors of all faiths and offers a unique opportunity to “connect…

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has introduced a new fundraising initiative that lets supporters “adopt” a structural beam in Hall’s Croft — the former home of Shakespeare’s daughter, Susanna Hall, and her husband, Dr John Hall. The 400-year-old property in Stratford-upon-Avon suffered significant damage in October when a car accidentally reversed into the building. To help complete restoration efforts, the Trust has launched a £500,000 appeal, part of a larger £2.5 million conservation project. Under the new scheme, anyone donating £500 or more can adopt a beam within the historic Jacobean house and will receive a certificate acknowledging their contribution. Damage…

A California physician who supplied ketamine to Friends actor Matthew Perry has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, becoming the first person punished in the investigation into the star’s overdose death. Dr Salvador Plasencia was one of five individuals charged after a multi-year federal probe uncovered how Perry obtained large amounts of the anesthetic through an illicit Hollywood drug network. Perry, 54, was found dead at his Los Angeles home in 2023 after long-standing battles with depression and addiction. Family calls doctor “most culpable” In court, Perry’s family urged the judge to impose a lengthy sentence, describing Plasencia…

People considering cosmetic facial fillers should be clearly informed about a potentially serious complication: blocked arteries that can cut off blood supply, leading to skin damage and, in severe cases, blindness, experts have warned. The alert follows a study in which researchers used ultrasound imaging to analyse 100 cases where filler injections had resulted in medical problems. Based on these findings, clinics are now being urged to perform pre-procedure ultrasound scans to map facial arteries and avoid accidental injury. Lead researcher Dr Rosa Sigrist explains that although these “vascular occlusions” are relatively rare, their consequences can be severe. If filler…

For most of modern history, wars have been fought over territory, ideology or oil. But as the climate warms and populations grow, a quieter, more consequential struggle is emerging — access to freshwater. From Arizona to the banks of the Indus River, communities are waking up to a reality once reserved for dystopian fiction: water, the most fundamental resource on Earth, is running out. A crisis hiding in plain sight In Cape Town, residents still remember the panic of “Day Zero,” the moment in 2018 when the city nearly became the first major metropolis to run out of water entirely.…

In corporate boardrooms, the conversation about artificial intelligence tends to swing between excitement and anxiety. Yet on the ground floor — in logistics hubs, medical centres, design studios and legal offices — another story is unfolding. Humans and algorithms are beginning to collaborate in ways that are subtler, more pragmatic and far more transformative than early predictions suggested. From automation to augmentation For years, the dominant narrative was simple: machines would take jobs. But as companies deploy AI systems on real tasks, a more nuanced reality has emerged. Rather than replacing employees, algorithms frequently act as specialised colleagues — fast,…

The Bank of England has warned that the rapid rise of artificial intelligence could be inflating a market bubble, cautioning that major technology firms may be vulnerable to a “sharp correction” in value. In its latest financial stability report, the Bank said UK equity prices were now close to their most stretched levels since the 2008 financial crisis, while valuations in the US echoed the exuberance seen before the dot-com crash. Companies most exposed to the AI boom were judged to have “particularly stretched” valuations. Alongside its warning, the central bank announced it would lower the amount of capital commercial…