Latest Stories
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Excited or anxious? How to trick your brain in an exam
Which emotion did you feel before taking your SATs: excited, or anxious? Telling yourself you are excited could stop you feeling anxious and improve your performance. But can anxiety ever be...
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Fidget spinners! What can toys teach us?
Spinners are sweeping through classrooms across the globe, but this is not the first toy craze to make headlines. From hula-hoops to teddy bears, what can toys teach us about their time?
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Japanese princess gives up her title for love
Princess Mako is engaged to a commoner. When married, she will lose her royal status for good. The story took centre stage last week. Why does the world care so much?
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Should robots replace humans?
Robots learn to do more every year. They can write essays, build machines and play chess. As they get smarter, and better at doing hard work, should we hand them jobs humans usually do?
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Cats are our best friends really, study finds
Many of us love cats, but they rarely seem to love us back. Now researchers say they are keener on humans than we thought. Time to settle an age-old rivalry with our other favourite pet…
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Internet’s ‘most-hated app’ goes public
Peeple (with two ee’s) — an app which asks users to rate their friends and acquaintances — is launched today. It has already been slammed as creepy. Is there anything good about it?
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‘Boredom is good for you,’ says new book
How to be Bored is a new book that advises you, sometimes, to do absolutely nothing. Is boredom a forgotten treasure that improves our imagination, or is it just, well, boring?
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New call for policy to be about happiness
Good mental health and having a partner make people happier than doubling their salary, a new study has found. Could this lead to a new politics, in which well-being comes before money?
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Trump v Khan: the trouble with intelligence
Donald Trump, who wants to be US president, challenged the mayor of London to an IQ test, which measures intelligence. What are IQ tests, how do they work and what do they truly mean?
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From trees to tickling: a dictionary of joy
A psychologist has created a list of words from around the world that relate to ‘well-being’. He hopes that it will make our emotions richer. Can language really influence us in this way?
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Charity warns of exam stress epidemic
ChildLine is a helpline children and young people can contact - and it is increasingly being used by students who are worried about passing their exams. How much do tests really matter?
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Meet the man who ‘took a break’ from humanity
Life can be tough. One day a man called Thomas Thwaites was feeling low — so he decided to leave the human world behind and live in the mountains with a herd of goats. Why?
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Child soldiers: a scandal of the modern world
Today from Colombia to the Congo 250,000 young people are forced to fight as child soldiers. Red Hand Day highlights a global movement working to stop the brutality.
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Star thanks bullies for making her stronger
From the Olympics to the Oscars, celebrities are often grateful to people who have bullied them for making them more determined. Is this message inspirational, or could it be dangerous?
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Selfies more dangerous than shark attacks
So far this year, more people have died while taking a selfie than from shark attacks. Society has gone mad, some say. But should we really be surprised?