Mobile library gets rural kids reading As a teacher in a primary school in rural Italy, Antonio La Cava (pictured above) was worried about his young pupils’ growing lack of interest in reading books. His response was Read More …

    Massimo Bottura is no stranger to accolades. Last year, his three-Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, was named the world’s best restaurant. But he’s more than simply a brilliant chef.   Three years ago, the 55-year-old restaurateur’s concern Read More …

    Swedish scientists say they have solved one of the challenges of solar energy: how to store the sun’s heat for later use.  The team from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg have designed a liquid molecule made of Read More …

    The largest-ever study of violent incidents captured on CCTV suggests that there are more Good Samaritans among us than we might suppose.  Researchers from universities in Denmark, Holland and the UK viewed video footage of more than 200 Read More …

    Food waste fighting app ‘Too Good To Go’ announced that it has saved one million meals in the UK since its launch in 2016, preventing an estimated 2,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions.   Too Good To Go reduces Read More …

      Twenty-one-year-old British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason first won attention aged 17 as the first black musician to win the prestigious BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.   Now, thanks to the so-called “Sheku effect”, a new generation Read More …

    A mystery benefactor has been handing out “surprise bags” (wundertüete) of money—more than €200,000—for local causes in the German city of Brunswick. The bags have been appearing at regional newspaper the Braunschweiger Zeitung with instructions on which charity Read More …

    “In Europe, we throw out so many things,” says Martine Postma, long frustrated by our throwaway culture. “I wanted to do something about it.”  What she did was to open the first Repair Café in Amsterdam, a social Read More …

    The sound of bad news ricocheting around the world is deafening.  Every news medium has a klaxon reverberating loudly, each one looking to outdo the other, with a story even worse than the last one.  We’re told we Read More …

    There was more positive news regarding plastic waste, with the announcement that a new super-enzyme has been developed to eat plastic rubbish.  It’s not the first time an enzyme has been found to munch through plastic, but the Read More …