Toxic legacy
Analysis by scientists at Porton Down suggested that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had been killed using epibatidine, a neurotoxin found in dart frogs from South America.
— Using naturally occurring neurotoxins goes back further than anyone thought. In January scientists at Stockholm University reported that they had found traces of alkaloids from gifbol – a poisonous form of onion – on 60,000-year-old quartz arrowheads in South Africa.
Debt to education
How much do graduates owe in student loans?
Average outstanding balance by year of graduation
2024 £48,470
2023 £44,430
2022 £48,930
2021 £51,410
2020 £48,020
2019 £44,410
2018 £44,310
2017 £42,410
2016 £33,910
2015 £21,690
Source: Student Loans Corporation
Counting sheep
How many farm animals on average were alive in England during Britain at any one point in 2025?
Beef cattle 569,361
Dairy cattle 1.082 million
Pigs 238,170
Sheep 13.3 million
Poultry 133 million
Source: Defra
Intelligent life?
Barack Obama said he thought aliens were ‘real’ but that he hasn’t seen any evidence they have visited Earth. How many people share his view?
— A YouGov poll from 2025 suggested that 75% of Britons believe that alien life exists somewhere in the universe, and 62% think it exists somewhere in our own solar system.
— 32% said they thought intelligent life had already visited Earth.
— A poll by the Pew Research Center from 2022 suggested that 65% of Americans believe intelligent life exists on other planets. 24% claimed to have seen a UFO and 8% of these believed that it was the work of aliens.
—An Ipsos poll asked people in 36 countries if they thought aliens would visit Earth in 2023. Positive answers varied from 43% in India to 8% in Japan. In the UK it was 10% and the US 17%.
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