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Two new studies on ancient DNA are helping shed new light on the history of migration into Britain. By focusing on the genetic markers left by major migrations including during the days of the Roman empire and the Norman conquests, it becomes clear that cultural dominance does not always leave a physical legacy in people. In fact, some of the most famous influxes to the British Isles have left surprisingly little trace in our DNA. Instead, a patchwork of distinct but overlapping lineages characterises modern Britain.
This week, we’ve also been looking at modern humanity’s obsession with smelling good – or at least with avoiding body odour. While animals are guided by each other’s scent, we scrub, perfume and deodorise ours away. Our health editors wanted to find out whether that matters by sniffing out the science on how people use olfactory information.
When you’ve got what experts call a “strong” passport, it’s easy to take international travel for granted. If you’re from a developed, politically stable country that enables visa-free access to many other countries, you will generally breeze through immigration and security onto your destination. This is not the case for people with “weak” passports. Accounts reveal anxiety over being questioned every step of the way, the feeling of being treated as though you don’t have a right to get on a plane and a constant state of uncertainty about whether you’ll be allowed across the border when you land.
There’s been a lot of discussion about oil reserves in recent months, as the conflict in Iran forces us to assess our fuel security. But what is an oil reserve – and where do you store it? As we found out in this week’s episode of The Conversation Weekly, the answer, at least for the US, is a network of subterranean salt domes.
Also this week, if you like pistachios, you’ll want to see a resolution to the Middle East conflict asap, if you skip stretching after exercise, you’re in elite company – and if you think you’ve had a hard time in this heatwave, wait until you find out what it’s done to bees.
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