1. ‘Like the flip of a switch, it’s gone’: has the ecosystem of the UK’s largest lake collapsed? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/19/like-the-flip-of-a-switch-its-gone-has-the-ecosystem-of-the-uk-largest-lake-collapsed-aoe

Hands up if you know where the UK’s largest lake is?

2. Here’s a TransformELT report by a team led by John Knagg on ten years of educational innovation in Uruguay, Over a decade of innovation: Ceibal en Inglés http://tinyurl.com/3wawtd9y

Ceibal en Inglés is a programme designed to teach English to children in state schools in Uruguay, very innovative when it started ten years ago, built around partnerships between a teacher in the classroom and a ‘remote teacher’ appearing on television. PDF below.

3. Three articles from The Conversation:

i) IQ tests: the danger of reading too much into them – and the crucial cognitive skills they don’t measure by Lawrence Whalley from Aberdeen University https://theconversation.com/iq-tests-the-danger-of-reading-too-much-into-them-and-the-crucial-cognitive-skills-they-dont-measure-223570

They were a big (and trusted) part of my primary school education in the early 60s.

ii) Social media users say their Palestine content is being shadow banned – here’s how to know if it’s happening to you by Carolina Arefrom Northumbria University https://theconversation.com/social-media-users-say-their-palestine-content-is-being-shadow-banned-heres-how-to-know-if-its-happening-to-you-222575

The unintended consequences of social media algorithms, or the intended consequences?

iii) Meet Lactobacillus acidophilus – the gut health superhero by Samuel J. White & Philippe B. Wilson from Nottingham Trent Universityhttps://theconversation.com/gut-microbiome-meet-lactobacillus-acidophilus-the-gut-health-superhero-213926

But do all cultures round the world have the equivalent of the yogurts and kefirs that most of us here in Eurasia get our Lactobacillus acidophilus from?

4. Three gift articles from The New York Times:

i) How Red Wine Lost Its Health Halo http://tinyurl.com/3fszbj8z

No amount of any alcohol is safe, says the World Health Organisation. Oh dear …

ii) Could You Pass the Presidential Physical Fitness Test Today? http://tinyurl.com/kh82m48e

I thought it was going to be about Biden and Trump and how they both failed!

iii) Can Learning a New Language Stave Off Dementia? http://tinyurl.com/5yju8nk4

Research suggests that bilingual people enjoy some cognitive benefits later in life, but it probably requires more than a few Spanish lessons in your 60s.

Here’s a bonus piece from Cambridge University that might offer comfort to non-bilingual heavy drinkers, Strongest evidence to date of brain’s ability to compensate for age-related cognitive decline https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/strongest-evidence-to-date-of-brains-ability-to-compensate-for-age-related-cognitive-decline

5. And, finally, Milbenkäse, a cheese produced in partnership by the good burghers of Würchwitz in Germany and the cheese mite (Tyrophagus casei) https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cheese-mite-memorial I’ve not yet tried it!