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New data out this week reveals that healthy life expectancy in the UK has fallen by more than two years over the past decade – and women are bearing the brunt of it. A girl born today in Hartlepool can expect 19 fewer years of good health than one born in Richmond-upon-Thames, with women in the poorest areas facing roughly three decades of life in poor health.
A new analysis digs into why this crisis falls so heavily on women. And it puts health secretary Wes Streeting’s newly launched women’s health strategy under the microscope.
Also this week, we explain why King Charles’s four-day state visit to the US – the first since 2007 – is being seen by Keir Starmer’s government as a crucial opportunity to repair a UK-US relationship that one former defence minister has described as at an “all time low”.
And if you were one of the millions watching the London Marathon on Sunday, we break down the science behind what just happened: how Sebastian Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha both ran sub-two-hour marathons, and why shoes, carbohydrate gels and 240km training weeks all played their part.
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Clint Witchalls
Senior Health Editor
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LittlePigPower/Shutterstock.com
Philip Broadbent, University of Glasgow
The UK’s healthy life expectancy crisis hits women hardest, but the government’s renewed women’s health strategy doesn’t come close to matching the scale of the problem.
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Evan Vucci/Alamy
Francesca Jackson, Lancaster University
The trip will go ahead after a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner raised doubts about security.
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Ian Walton/AP
Mark Connick, The University of Queensland; Queensland University of Technology
A sub-two hour marathon was, as recently as 2017, considered unlikely to occur for generations.
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World
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Gokcay Balci, University of Leeds; Ebru Surucu-Balci, University of Bradford
South-east Asia is becoming more explicitly tied into great-power competition, and the Strait of Malacca is at the centre of it.
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Politics + Society
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Anwen Elias, Aberystwyth University; Elin Royles, Aberystwyth University
Polls indicate that Plaid Cymru have a credible shot at forming a government for the first time.
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Health
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Adam Taylor, Lancaster University
Collagen production begins to fall in our twenties and drops further after menopause. Sun exposure, smoking and hormones all play a role.
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Chloe Casey, Bournemouth University
The alcohol industry loves studies like this. Scientists are less impressed.
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Tracy Hussell, University of Manchester
Better information, smarter prescribing and investment in domestic manufacturing could help the NHS weather the growing crisis of medicines running short.
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Science + Technology
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Nicolas Bellouin, University of Reading
Research suggests there may be ways to reduce the climate impact of flights by addressing the white trails they leave behind.
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Ezenwa E. Olumba, Aston University
The recent capture of a Russian position using ground robots is a milestone for the use of machines in warfare.
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Arts + Culture
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Justin Morey, Leeds Beckett University
Do the birds singing in your garden or local park remind you of a musician?
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Priyal Chitale, SOAS, University of London
Bhosle gave voice to women considered outsiders, and her passion opened up a world of possibilities for queer listeners.
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Will Shüler, Royal Holloway, University of London
This new production offers glimpses of how Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy might have unfolded differently.
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Simona Palladino, Liverpool Hope University
More than 800 men, branded ‘enemy aliens’ were killed when cruise ship bound for Canada was torpedoed by a Nazi U-Boat.
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Richard Jones, University of Salford
The show has been a fixture of Saturday lunchtimes since 1974.
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Business + Economy
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Kristina Shea, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences; Christian van Nieuwerburgh, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences; Kim Cameron, University of Michigan
The toxic energy of a bad boss can spread through organisations – new research shows how serious it can be.
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Environment
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Nicolas Bellouin, University of Reading
Research suggests there may be ways to reduce the climate impact of flights by addressing the white trails they leave behind.
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Farooq Sher, Nottingham Trent University
The strain is emerging from a mismatch between how energy systems were built and the conditions under which they now operate.
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2 March - 30 September 2026
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3 March - 15 May 2026
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Glasgow
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