59 m. ago When It Rained for a Million Years by Paul Farley – thrilling leaps of imagination

An impressive collection of poems – largely set in industrial wastelands and musing on time and distance – makes the mundane magicalThe deluge of abstract thought in Paul Farley’s sixth collection, When It Rained for a Million Years, flows impressively far and wide. In this startlingly imaginative work, blood runs backwards and language itself has eyes – somehow, each word on the page “looks back, puzzled, like it dwells / on distances – between dip / and driving quill”.The “distances” these poems span are unremarkable in geographic terms. Farley is fond of scruffy car parks and cooling towers, PO boxes and photocopiers, taxi cabs and chimney stacks. I cannot always follow the beauty he sees in bus timetables or in a study of stacked chairs. But although the height of glamour involves a flying visit to the dismal grey of Heathrow, this subverted play on grandeur only renders his imagery more sublime. In one poem, a flag memorably “shivers like / a bolt of silk on a bed of nails, / o...

Politics

59 m. ago ‘I know their names, what they eat’: tracking polar bears on Svalbard’s shifting icescapes

For more than 20 years, scientists have followed the animals in Norway’s Arctic archipelago to understand how they may adapt to changing threats as the ice they depend on meltsWhen Rolf-Arne Ølberg is hanging out of a helicopter with a gun, he needs to be able to assess from a distance of about 10 metres the sex and approximate weight of the moving animal he is aiming at, as well as how fat or muscular it is and whether it is in any distress. Only then can he dart it with the correct amount of sedative. Luckily, he says, polar bears are “quite good anaesthetic patients”.Ølberg is a vet working with the Norwegian Polar Institute, the body responsible for the monitoring of polar bears in Svalbard, an archipelago that lies between mainland Norway and the north pole. Every year he and his colleagues track the bears by helicopter, collect blood, fat and hair samples from them and fit electronic tracking collars. Continue reading...

Politics

4 h. ago Travelling with children: the blood, sweat and tears – and the determination to keep going | Lucille Wong

If you feel there are not enough challenges in your life as a parent, may I suggest taking your kids on a flightSharing the Load is a column about parenting children of all agesWe landed in Melbourne after our red-eye flight from Bali. Our then two-year-old was raging with fever (he was not ill when we boarded) and had screamed for five out of the six hours.Dazed and confused, we joined the long line for international passport holders instead of the much shorter family line for Australians. We wasted 40 minutes. That was when our then four-year-old decided to vomit. We cleaned that up (FYI, immigration has spew bags), got past the custom dogs, hauled our stuff on to the insanely packed bus that would take us to the equally packed cheap car park, found our car and drove home, before collapsing into a heap. Continue reading...

Events

7 h. ago RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Jobsworth councils treat their residents with contempt. Here I share the stories from readers like you that will make your blood boil

First it was council staff bursting into tears and given a day off to compensate for the trauma of having to deal with the people who pay their wages.

Events

13 h. ago US court upholds Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’s conviction

Holmes, who is serving nine years, attempted to overturn conviction over multimillion-dollar investor fraud scandalA US court upheld the conviction of the Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes for defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars while operating her failed blood-testing startup, once valued at $9bn, rejecting her multi-year appeal. The court also upheld the conviction of Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, once Holmes’s romantic partner and president of Theranos.A three-judge panel for the 9th US circuit court of appeals in San Francisco rejected claims of legal errors at their separate trials held in 2022. Continue reading...

Events

17 h. ago Girl, 7, has stroke while going down park slide before doctors remove a third of her skull and try 12 times to reach the blood clot in her brain

Charliee Sue Salisbury, 7, from Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, faces 'a tough road ahead' after she suffered a life-changing stroke while going down a slide in her local park.

Events

19 h. ago Art collector’s son stabbed housekeeper before claiming she was a demon, court told

Bourne told a 999 operator: ‘I’m a nice boy from Chelsea. You’re just going to have to please not bring a gun. I do have blood all over me’

Events

20 h. ago A frog: their eyes can detect a single photon of light | Helen Sullivan

Their metamorphosis seems more like a human’s than a butterfly’s – so much is visible, and awkward, whereas the butterfly forms in secretSome species of frog have eyes so sensitive to light that they can detect a single photon. To confirm this, scientists dissected a frog’s eye and removed the lens. If you dissected eyes in biology class, you may remember that a lens is extraordinarily simple and unlike other organs. It is a hard, clearish, object that comes out clean: no blood supply, no blood. It looks like a glass bead, and functions – inanimate – much like glass, and not like most things we find in our body (except maybe teeth, which function like knives). Look through the lens at the classroom around you, you will see it clearly, but upside down.A frog in space, moving further and further from the sun, would eventually start to see not a shrinking star but tiny flashes of light: individual photons. This is because as the photons travel further from their source, they are spread...

Culture

23 h. ago Eating popular sweet treat could help lower blood pressure, say health experts

High blood pressure can often go unnoticed but certain foods can help maintain healthy blood pressure levels

Events

25 h. ago Pope Francis is in 'critical condition' and suffering kidney failure, Vatican announces

Blood tests show the pontiff is suffering early kidney failure as Francis battles pneumonia and a complex lung infection, officials said last night.

Events

38 h. ago Pope Francis is still fighting for his life as blood tests show early kidney failure but officials say he is 'alert'

In a late update, the Vatican said the 88-year-old pontiff remains 'well oriented' and attended Mass, as he battles pneumonia and a complex lung infection.

Events

39 h. ago Pope Francis still in 'critical condition' as Vatican confirms more health issues

An update from the Vatican confirmed that 'the thrombocytopenia remains stable; however, some blood tests show early, mild renal insufficiency, which is currently under control'

Economics

46 h. ago You've found blood in your urine. This is what you need to know

Last month I noticed some blood in my urine. I thought it might be due to premenopausal bleeding, but didn't have any spotting. What should I do?

Events

50 h. ago Pope Francis had ‘restful night’, Vatican says, morning after respiratory crisis

Pontiff had fallen into critical condition, receiving high flows of oxygen and blood transfusions in hospital as he battles complex lung infection Pope Francis had a “restful night” in hospital, the Vatican said on Sunday morning, after announcing on Saturday that he was in critical condition following a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis linked to pneumonia and a complex lung infection.The 88-year-old pope received “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe, it was announced on Saturday. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update. Continue reading...

Events

57 h. ago Terrifying alert over how British children are being poisoned by lead that is 'giving them autism'

Global studies show that lead levels in the blood have decreased since it was removed from petrol in 1999, but experts say children are still being exposed to the metal through paint and pipes.

Events

59 h. ago Britain's Got Talent viewers 'switch off' during 'most disturbing act' in show history

Britain's Got Talent viewers were left horrified by extreme act Auzzy Blood

Culture

59 h. ago Stopping blood thinning drugs for elderly could put them at risk of a life

The drugs - known as anticoagulants - are prescribed to patients to prevent deadly blood clots forming in their veins, but many doctors limit the length of time over-75s spend on them.

Events

59 h. ago British children could be suffering undiagnosed lead poisoning, causing lower IQs and learning difficulties, researchers warn

Global studies show that lead levels in the blood have decreased since it was removed from petrol in 1999, but experts say children are still being exposed to the metal through paint and pipes.

Events

60 h. ago Two contestants receive the golden buzzer as Britain’s Got Talent returns to ITV

The show also took a gruesome turn when horror-themed act Auzzy Blood began to insert a number of metal items into his face.

Culture

60 h. ago Britain's Got Talent's Dec issues warning over shock act as fans make same demand

Dec Donnelly threatened to 'smash faces in' on Britain's Got Talent after Auzzy Blood got the audience raving for the Golden Buzzer

Events