Lifestyle
Why Clothing Sizes Are Inconsistent
A 32-inch bust was a size 14 in 1937, a size 8 in 1967 and a size 0 in 2011. The standard everyone assumes was lost never actually bound anybody.
More top stories
Latest stories
World
How International Sanctions Work — and Why They So Often Fall Short
Sanctions are the default response when governments want to act without going to war. Here is what they are, who imposes them, and why enforcement is the hardest part.
Business
How Big Should Your Emergency Fund Really Be?
Three to six months of expenses is the standard advice. Here is how to work out the number that actually fits your income, your job and your obligations.
Technology
Why Phone Batteries Wear Out — and What Actually Slows It Down
Lithium-ion cells lose capacity through chemistry, not misuse. Here is what genuinely slows the process, and which pieces of popular advice you can ignore.
Sports
How the Football Transfer Window Works
Deadline day looks like chaos. It is the visible end of a year-round process governed by registration rules, instalment payments and financial regulation.
Travel
Twelve Ways to Find Cheaper Flights That Still Work
Airfare pricing is algorithmic, not arbitrary. Here are the tactics that reliably lower what you pay — and the popular ones that do nothing at all.
Health
Sleep Hygiene: What the Evidence Actually Supports
Most sleep advice mixes solid physiology with repeated folklore. Here are the habits with the strongest evidence behind them, and when to see a doctor instead.
World
All World
World
How Export Controls Work, and Where They Leak
A licence refused is how one government blocks a sale between two other countries. The mechanism behind export controls, and the two ways it leaks.
Business
All Business
Business
How Inflation Is Measured, and Why It Feels Wrong
A quarter of the most-watched economic statistic in the world is an estimate of rent that homeowners never pay. How the index is built, and why it lags what households feel.
Technology
All Technology
Technology
What Happens When an Undersea Cable Breaks
Roughly 200 submarine cable faults happen every year, and almost none of them make the news. What actually breaks, who fixes it, and why the repair fleet is the part worth worrying about.
Sports
All Sports
Sports
Who Pays for Stadiums, and Why the Rules Backfired
A federal rule written to end stadium subsidies guaranteed them instead. To keep the tax break, at least 90% of the debt must be repaid from something other than the stadium.
Travel
All Travel
Travel
How Airline Overbooking Works, and Who Gets Bumped
The gate auction is not a courtesy — it is a legal requirement, and it exists so the airline never has to pay the regulated amount. What the rules actually owe you.
Health
All Health
Health
How Clinical Trials Work, and Why Most Drugs Fail
Roughly six in every hundred drugs that enter human testing come out the far end. The phases, the arithmetic between them, and what to check when a trial makes the news.
Lifestyle
All Lifestyle
Lifestyle
The Capsule Wardrobe, Explained — and Where the Idea Breaks Down
A small, coordinated wardrobe is a genuinely useful idea. The rigid item counts attached to it are the part worth ignoring.
Entertainment
All Entertainment
Entertainment
Why Your Favourite Show Keeps Moving Between Streaming Services
Catalogues shrink, series vanish and the same film appears on three services in a year. The cause is licensing, and the logic is more predictable than it looks.