As tens of thousands return to the streets for the first national Palestine march of 2026, this movement refuses to be sidelined or silenced, says PETER LEARY
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Only skin deep?
New research shows how alpha particles form in the ‘skin’ of an atom’s nucleus, write ROX MIDDLETON, JOEL HELLEWELL and LIAM SHAW
Sir Ernest Rutherford, Langworth Professor of Physics at Manchester University, with an ‘atom counting’ apparatus; and (far left) an artist’s impression of two neutron stars merging
[University of Warwick/Mark Garlick / Creative Commons]
If the government really wanted to address public finances, improve living standards and begin economic recovery, it would increase its borrowing for investment, argues MICHAEL BURKE
MATT KERR takes a winter journey through poetry, labour and memory, from Glasgow to Newcastle, arguing that our radical past isn’t something to revere from a distance, but a tool still meant to be used
One of Canada’s most revered politicians is a native of Falkirk but is relatively unknown in his original homeland. KENNY MacASKILL tells his story
Labour prospects in May elections may be irrevocably damaged by Birmingham Council’s costly refusal to settle the year-long dispute, warns STEVE WRIGHT
HENRY FOWLER and ROB POOLE explain the significance of today’s Megapicket
IMAGINE an atom: like a miniature solar system with the nucleus in the centre and electrons orbiting around like planets.
Although the picture is familiar, analogies like this can mislead. New research published in Science last week by a team largely based in Darmstadt, Germany, emphasises that the atom is far stranger than our simple images. We still have much to learn about its inner citadel: the nucleus.
The discovery of the atomic nucleus is a little over a century old. Earlier ideas about the atoms imagined them like tiny billiard balls.
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The Communist Party of Britain’s Congress last month debated a resolution on ending opposition to all nuclear power in light of technological advances and the climate crisis. RICHARD HEBBERT explains why
Neutrinos are so abundant that 400 trillion pass through your body every second. ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT explain how scientists are seeking to know more about them