Judy Wearing has spent much of her life studying our follicles. She explains how our armpits betray our emotions, why some gentlemen really do prefer blondes and the reason we evolved to have eyebrows

As a PhD student at Oxford studying mating behaviour, Judy Wearing was suddenly struck by a thought: what was the purpose of pubic hair? The point of armpit hair? The function of each of our body’s furry patches? When the published literature failed to produce satisfying answers, Wearing began her own investigation. Her aim was to shed light on why exactly we evolved these particular patches, with pubic hair the most puzzling of all: was it for warmth, protection … or something else?

Wearing is still tangling with those questions, some 30 years after her student days. Now an author and editor (largely in the education sector), she has revisited her fascination with hair in Anxious and Hairy: The Evolution and Culture of Human Hair, exploring its unexpectedly dense and layered place in our history and psyche. Even Wearing was surprised by the places her research on hair took her, and the mysteries that still remain to be solved. “A lot of these questions, no one’s actually looked at,” she says over Zoom. Here is a mere snip of the fascinating facts she’s uncovered about hair.

The Naylors’ four-bedroom home in Milton Keynes acts like a mini-power station after retrofitting solar panels, a battery and a heat pump

Clare Naylor paid close attention to how much energy she and her family were using last winter, filling hot-water bottles and bringing out extra blankets to ensure they didn’t go over budget. This year, she won’t have to worry as she is guaranteed not to receive a bill.

While millions of British households face the highest energy charges in three years from today after a 4% rise in the price cap, and predictions of a 16% increase in January, upgrades to Naylor’s home mean she will not have to pay anything.

There’s no ignoring the holders but what of the hosts, the All Blacks, France and even England? Here’s a rundown of all 24 teams taking part in Australia in 2027

Beaten by Australia last weekend but the manner in which they came back after Rassie Erasmus emptied his bench was emphatic. The series victory over New Zealand was the one they really wanted this year and achieving that, romping from 1-0 down to 3-1 victors, underscores that they are the team to beat in Australia next year.

In a new book, German artist and writer Philipp Ruch argues that viewing the ascent of Hitler’s NSDAP through the prism of the Third Reich has distorted our understanding of fascism’s electoral breakthrough

With your art collective Centre for Political Beauty you famously built a replica of the Holocaust memorial on a property next to the home of an AfD politician. Now you’ve written a history book about the Nazis’ rise to power. Don’t we already know everything there is to know about the 1932 elections, the Reichstag fire and the Enabling Act of 1933?

About three years ago I became interested in how Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ party (NSDAP) rose to prominence when Germany was still a democracy, because I hoped it could tell us something about the success of rightwing extremist movements today. From looking at historical sources, I realised that the Reichstag elections of 14 September 1930 were in many ways more important than what happened in 1932 and 1933. And I expected it to be an open-and-shut case. But the more I looked into it, the more I realised that most of the theories we have to explain the rise of the Nazis don’t make sense – the data tells a completely different, far darker story.

Borrowing can be good, there is no such thing as the ‘nation’s credit card’, and, yes, you can buck the markets – as previous governments have shown

Andy Burnham does a nice line in nostalgia. His first party conference speech as prime minister was full of fond memories for the Britain of the 1950s and 1960s, when working-class families could sense their lives steadily getting better. The underlying message of his address was that, given time, he could rekindle that optimism and return the country to how it was before Margaret Thatcher wrecked everything.

Much of what Burnham says is true. The 1980s was a decade of deindustrialisation, asset-stripping and financial deregulation that has shaped modern Britain – and not in a good way.

Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist

The Emirati royal is increasingly influential on the world stage. Some see him as a visionary. Others compare him to a Bond villain. Who is he?

On the night of 12 November 1993, a slim, young Brazilian named Royce Gracie stepped into an octagonal cage in Denver, Colorado, and found himself staring up into the eyes of a giant. Gerard Gordeau, a Dutch kickboxer, stood five inches taller, weighed almost three stone more than him, and had an extra decade of fighting experience under his belt. Now the pair were about to engage in bare-knuckle combat: no judges, no separation of opponents by size, no respite until someone either got knocked out cold or begged for mercy.

The fight lasted barely 100 seconds. In that time, Gracie calmly tripped Gordeau up, jumped on his back, and clutched at his throat, forcing the big man to hammer the floor in submission.

Hundreds of prisoners are being released early today across England and Wales in attempt to ease overcrowding

Just as a reminder of why prisoners are being released early, here is an explainer by Jamie Grierson which sets out how the scheme works, why it was introduced and the changes made by Burnham’s government:

Jamie writes:

The Labour government says it inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse, with fewer than 100 spaces left in the summer of 2024. No 10 says a lack of investment in the prison estate, with just 500 net places added over a decade, has led to a situation where adult male prisons are now at 98% capacity. It says the steps are necessary while it builds capacity.

Benjamin Netanyahu says too early to tell who may have been behind plane incident as carrier halts all flights to Israel

The motive, background and affiliation of the Omani co-pilot who stabbed his captain in an apparent attempt to crash an Israel-bound flight from Dubai remains unknown, as international teams open investigations into the incident.

Israeli passengers intervened to stop the attack on Wednesday, restraining the co-pilot, while a reserve crew in the plane was able to stabilise the plummeting plane and ultimately land it safely in Saudi Arabia.

Christa Pike, sentenced to death over 1995 murder, was heard snoring 40 minutes after lethal doses administered, witnesses said

A Tennessee woman convicted of murdering a schoolmate 30 years ago has been taken to hospital after surviving two attempts to execute her with lethal injections.

Witnesses reported that Christa Pike was still breathing despite the injections intended to kill her late on Wednesday. It was the second botched execution in Tennessee this year.

Exclusive: Greens for Palestine group has links to activists who say pro-Israel ‘infiltrators’ must be rooted out of UK

An organisation pushing the Green party to equate Zionism with racism has encouraged people to join the party specifically to support that agenda, and has links to activists who say that pro-Israel “infiltrators” must be rooted out of the UK, the Guardian has learned.

Some Green members are increasingly concerned that the party risks being manipulated by extremist outsiders over a motion to be voted on at the party’s annual conference this weekend, which states that “Zionism is racism”.