For millennia, Tyrian purple was the most valuable colour on the planet. Then the recipe to make it was lost. By piecing together ancient clues, could one man bring it back?
35
votes
Showing only topics with the tag "source.bbc future".
Back to normal view
-
-
After 800 years, volcanic activity has returned to Reykjanes – Andri Snær Magnason reflects on the Icelandic relationship with volcanoes
12 votes -
The world-first Danish strategy to encourage plant-based foods may contain a lesson for other nations looking to cut back on meat – build new demand first
9 votes -
At a Helsinki nursery, children spend all day in the forest – how outdoor learning benefits children's health and teaches them to value nature
25 votes -
Drought and salt tolerant pumpkins grown for food in Bangladesh - potential uses worldwide
15 votes -
The remote Danish island of Bornholm has pledged to eliminate trash by 2032. How will it get there?
13 votes -
The surprisingly subtle ways Microsoft Word has changed the way we use language
38 votes -
Can a map of the ocean floor be crowdsourced?
6 votes -
The blue flash: How a careless slip led to a fatal accident in the Manhattan Project
43 votes -
How a dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist
27 votes -
Finland is on the verge of becoming the first nation to bury spent nuclear fuel rods deep underground for the long term
12 votes -
How donkeys changed the course of human history
5 votes -
As demand for electric vehicles soars, Stora Enso in Finland has hired engineers to look into the possibility of using lignin, a polymer found in trees, to make batteries
6 votes -
A new way of storing renewable energy is providing clean heat – the Vatajankoski power plant is home to the world's first commercial-scale sand battery
5 votes -
Citizen future: Why we need a new story of self and society
4 votes -
Some of the world's most celebrated authors have written manuscripts that won't be published for a century – why?
9 votes -
Can gravity batteries solve our energy storage problems?
14 votes -
The medical power of hypnosis
3 votes -
The strange appeal of garden lawns
10 votes -
Bullying can make children's lives a misery and cause lifelong health problems – but scientists are discovering powerful ways to fight it
17 votes -
For centuries, indigenous groups in north-east India have crafted intricate bridges from living fig trees. Now this ancient skill is making its way to European cities.
5 votes -
Why insects are more sensitive than they seem
8 votes -
The name for Britain comes from our ancient love of tattoos
6 votes -
The Scandinavian way to zero-carbon construction – cities like Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen are working to clean up one of the world's most high-emission industries
4 votes -
The hobby with hidden health risks - Even the most basic DIY activities can lead to potentially fatal health conditions without proper protective equipment and training
8 votes -
How humanity has changed the food it eats
3 votes -
Esperanto, the invented language that found a second life online
9 votes -
There are signs the world might be running out of natural rubber. Disease, climate change and plunging global prices have put the world's rubber supplies into jeopardy.
4 votes -
The battery invented 120 years before its time
8 votes -
The medications that change who we are
9 votes -
The woman who is allergic to water
8 votes -
One of the most robust laws on climate change yet has been created in Denmark – can legislation really make failing to act on climate change illegal?
5 votes -
The mysterious origins of an uncrackable video game - Atari 2600 game Entombed
17 votes -
What the 'meat paradox' reveals about moral decision making
4 votes -
The country disappearing under rising tides
4 votes -
The 'Sea Nomad' children who see like dolphins
6 votes -
How modern life is transforming the human skeleton
16 votes -
The global internet is disintegrating. What comes next?
12 votes -
The unspoken effect of childbirth
3 votes -
Why there's so little left of the early internet
36 votes -
Why humans have evolved to drink milk
15 votes -
Are we on the road to civilization collapse?
31 votes -
When it comes to learning a foreign language, we tend to think that children are the most adept. But that may not be the case – and there are added benefits to starting as an adult.
9 votes -
What can I do about climate change?
33 votes -
Why we should believe in ghosts
7 votes -
What is the best age to learn a language?
13 votes -
The country where unwanted food is selling out
7 votes -
The amazing fertility of the older mind
4 votes -
One country's plan to solve the world's hidden health crisis
5 votes -
The outrageous plan to haul icebergs to Africa
6 votes