Toxic legacy

Analysis by scientists at Porton Down suggested that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had been killed using epibatidine, a neurotoxin found in dart frogs from South America.

— Using naturally occurring neurotoxins goes back further than anyone thought. In January scientists at Stockholm University reported that they had found traces of alkaloids from gifbol – a poisonous form of onion – on 60,000-year-old quartz arrowheads in South Africa.

Debt to education

How much do graduates owe in student loans?

Average outstanding balance by year of graduation

2024 £48,470

2023 £44,430

2022 £48,930

2021 £51,410

2020 £48,020

2019 £44,410

2018 £44,310

2017 £42,410

2016 £33,910

2015 £21,690

Source: Student Loans Corporation

Counting sheep

How many farm animals on average were alive in England during Britain at any one point in 2025?

Beef cattle 569,361

Dairy cattle 1.082 million

Pigs 238,170

Sheep 13.3 million

Poultry 133 million

Source: Defra

Intelligent life?

Barack Obama said he thought aliens were ‘real’ but that he hasn’t seen any evidence they have visited Earth. How many people share his view?

— A YouGov poll from 2025 suggested that 75% of Britons believe that alien life exists somewhere in the universe, and 62% think it exists somewhere in our own solar system.

— 32% said they thought intelligent life had already visited Earth.

— A poll by the Pew Research Center from 2022 suggested that 65% of Americans believe intelligent life exists on other planets. 24% claimed to have seen a UFO and 8% of these believed that it was the work of aliens.

—An Ipsos poll asked people in 36 countries if they thought aliens would visit Earth in 2023. Positive answers varied from 43% in India to 8% in Japan. In the UK it was 10% and the US 17%.