Hey folks! I usually keep these lists to one-line facts. This week, Iāve given each one a bit more room. Five short stories about medieval bears, falling crime, children playing outside, living past 100 and graduates who wish they had studied something else.
Medieval England imported bears for entertainment. Bear baiting, where dogs attacked a chained bear for a crowd, became much more common after the Norman Conquest of 1066, new research suggests. Bears were already extinct in Britain, so people had to bring them from continental Europe. Archaeologists found almost no evidence of live bears before 1066, then bones began appearing in London, Yorkshire and other places. Medieval texts link the spectacle to royal weddings and aristocratic festivities, but the remains suggest it was also popular public entertainment.
Britons think crime is rising even as it falls. Eight in ten people in the UK believe mobile phone theft has increased since 2010, and around six in ten say the same about burglary and vehicle-related theft. In reality, all three are down by at least 50%.
Children get less freedom to play outside than their parents did. A survey of nearly 2,000 UK families found that children are now allowed to play outside without an adult at an average age of 10.8. Their parents were allowed out alone at 9.7. Less than half of play among 5ā11-year-oldsā play happens outdoors, and street play has fallen to less than 25 minutes a week. London is an exception: outdoor and adventurous play starts rising again from around age nine.
Japan now has more than 100,000 people aged 100 or older. The country has 107,677 centenarians, up almost 8,000 in a year, and 88% are women. When Japan started keeping records in 1963, there were just 153. Today, the oldest woman is 114, the oldest man is 112, and another 54,294 people are expected to turn 100 during this financial year.
Many graduates would choose a different subject if they could start again. Just 70% of recent UK graduates said they would study the same subject. Animation and game design graduates were among the least happy with their choice: fewer than two in three would pick the same course again. Journalism, marketing and PR showed similarly high levels of regret. One possible reason is the job market. AI is already changing some of the entry-level work these graduates once expected to do.
What Iāve been reading
How meteorologists recreated weather that helped decide the Second World War: āTo do a forecast beyond 24 hours was, in the 1940s, like trying to land a man on the Moonā.
UK is finally showing signs of productivity growth, say economists: āEarly signs of tech-driven improvements in productivity growth could herald a sustained strengthening in the UKās economic outlook. Private sector productivity grew by 1.8% in the second quarter compared with a year earlier. The rise extended gains since 2024 and reduced the growth gap with the USā.
Heard about the Super Godzilla Monster El NiƱo? Hereās how it could actually affect you: āIgnorance is the foundation of fear. El NiƱo should not be feared. It should be understood for what it does, what it can do, and what you can do to prepare for it.ā
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Elia Kabanov is a London-based science writer exploring technology, cities, nature and history (@metkere).