|
Will you be heading to see the Bayeux tapestry when it visits the British Musuem in London next year? Its first trip to British shores since it was created and sent to France nearly 1,000 years ago is bound to generate much excitement. But it’s not just the countries either side of the Channel that have historically been fascinated by the 11th century embroidery – and the Nazis displayed a particular interest.
Earlier this year, a fragment of the Bayeux tapestry was discovered in German archives. To explain how it ended up there, historian of early medieval art Millie Horton-Insch tells the story of the Nazis’ “Special Operation Bayeux”, an attempt to use the tapestry to demonstrate what their twisted ideology viewed as the supremacy of the so-called Aryan race.
This month marks the centenary of the Scopes trial, a US legal case that attempted (and failed) to challenge a Tennessee ban on teaching evolution in schools and universities. One hundred years on, there remains a deep scepticism in the US over Darwin’s theory, which is much more commonly accepted elsewhere. Research on religious fundamentalism, misinformation and cognitive biases can help explain why.
And if you start to feel a bit ropey after your summer getaway this year, it might not just be the post-holiday blues. Here’s a guide to the symptoms you should take seriously.
|
|
Jane Wright
Commissioning Editor, Arts & Culture
|
|
Pictorial Press / Alamy
Millie Horton-Insch, Trinity College Dublin
The Nazis’ obsession with European art should be understood as central to Hitler’s genocidal regime and its efforts toward global domination.
|
Americans often have strong feelings about evolution.
Frances M. Roberts/Alamy
Edward White, Kingston University
Fundamentalists don’t necessarily examine evolution and then reject it; they tend to start with the conclusion that it must be false and work backwards.
|
What are you bringing back with you?
The Picture Studio/Shutterstock
Dan Baumgardt, University of Bristol
Don’t ignore these symptoms after your trip abroad.
|
World
|
-
David Hastings Dunn, University of Birmingham
Why the Russian stock market went up after the new US policy was announced.
-
Tom Long, University of Warwick; Carsten-Andreas Schulz, University of Cambridge
France imposed an emperor on Mexico. The Mexican republic resisted.
|
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Michael Martin, University of Sheffield
Play should be promoted in cities to bolster children’s right to play anywhere.
-
Thomas Thurnell-Read, Loughborough University; Robert Deakin, Loughborough University
The cost of running a pub has risen dramatically.
|
|
Arts + Culture
|
-
Pavan Mano, King's College London
Is the banknote a good reflection of a nation and who belongs?
-
Shelley Galpin, King's College London
Razor-sharp satires of social and gendered inequalities, Austen’s novels are full of witty observations and universally relatable experiences.
|
|
Environment
|
-
Samuel Fairlamb, Royal Holloway University of London
The fall of the Sycamore Gap tree was more than a loss of natural beauty. It was, for many, a symbolic attack on permanence, on meaning, and on shared identity.
-
James Weber, University of Reading
Researchers have analysed UK-wide trends for three major pollutants.
|
|
Health
|
-
Gulshanara (Rumy) Begum, University of Westminster
Is the taurine in your energy drink a performance booster – or a hidden risk?
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
