What vision tells us about the human mind – Mar 19 2026

UK Edition – Today's top story: Human vision: what we actually see – and don't see – tells us a lot about consciousness

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UK Edition | 19 March 2026

I don’t know about you but the state of current affairs has me clinging to anything that can offer stability. So I’m sorry to report we can literally no longer trust what we see in front of us. As University of Birmingham philosopher Henry Taylor writes, we may only ever be conscious of some of the information our eyes process. According to one school of thought, called the global neuronal workspace theory, our brain can only communicate so much of the unconscious information we process to our consciousness. His article includes a well-known experiment you can test on yourself by watching a short video clip.

Speaking of alarming information, it turns out very young children are carrying at least one virus half of the time. A new study brings together research on the immune systems of kids and why they pass so many bugs around once they start nursery.

Meanwhile beaver numbers are rebounding across Europe. And it’s not just cuteness and flood prevention they offer their human neighbours. Environmental researchers found their dams can help store a surprising amount of carbon.

Jenna Hutber

Commissioning Editor, Science

Human vision: what we actually see – and don’t see – tells us a lot about consciousness

Henry Taylor, University of Birmingham

The information your eyes takes in is only half the story.

If you think your toddler’s often ill, you’re right – what going to nursery means for catching colds and building immunity

Lucy van Dorp, UCL; Charlotte Houldcroft, University of Cambridge

Having an under five in your household increases your risk as an adult of having diarrhoea and vomiting.

Beavers can turn streams into carbon stores – we measured how much

Joshua Larsen, University of Birmingham; Annegret Larsen, Wageningen University; Lukas Hallberg, University of Birmingham

As beavers reshape rivers, wetlands become a natural storage system for carbon.

World

• Trump and Netanyahu may have jointly started the war in Iran, but ending it together will be difficult
  

  John Strawson, University of East London

  Reports are circulating of rifts between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Iran.

Politics + Society

• Taking Churchill off the banknote isn’t ‘erasing history’ – but it is a matter of identity
  

  David Lewis Thomas, University of Sussex

  Proposed changes to UK banknotes reveal the power of cultural memory on national identity.

• Can Wales’ wellbeing law survive the pressures of the next Senedd election?
  

  Lowri Sian Wilkie, Swansea University; Andrew H Kemp, Swansea University; Zoe Fisher, Swansea University

  With the 2026 Senedd election nearing, Wales must decide whether to defend its pioneering Well-being Act or let it be overshadowed by short-term political pressures.

Arts + Culture

• A concerto played with trash: Barbican offers a masterclass in thought-provoking classical programming
  

  Jennifer Fuller, University of Sheffield

  Musicians played an enormous plastic bottle marimba, a wall of tuned glass bottles, discarded flower pots, cooking pans and a washing machine drum.

• Saturday Night Live has thrived in the US for 50 years – but a British SNL faces an uphill battle
  

  William Garbett, Lancaster University

  SNL’s British adaptation faces a cultural problem, not a format problem.

• The Other Bennet Sister: this fresh take on Pride and Prejudice transforms the overlooked Mary
  

  Andrew McInnes, Edge Hill University

  This new BBC drama is an enjoyable retelling of Austen’s most popular novel from the perspective of one of its least regarded characters.

• Who were the ‘peasants’ of the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt? New database has answers
  

  Adrian R Bell, University of Reading; Andrew Prescott, University of Glasgow; Helen Killick, University of Reading; Jason Sadler, University of Southampton

  Our research has built pictures of people involved in the events of 1381.

Business + Economy

• The UK’s high electricity prices are here to stay. But could they offer an opportunity?
  

  Renaud Foucart, Lancaster University

  The next big innovations will centre on energy efficiency.

Environment

• How moss could help roads cope with heavy rain and reduce air pollution
  

  Pedram Vousoughi, University of Limerick

  Moss can absorb pollution caused by traffic and grow in thin soil.

• The UK’s high electricity prices are here to stay. But could they offer an opportunity?
  

  Renaud Foucart, Lancaster University

  The next big innovations will centre on energy efficiency.

Health

• Masked T-cell engagers: cancer immunotherapies for the future?
  

  Sheena Cruickshank, University of Manchester; Jonathan Worboys, Manchester University

  This new type of immunotherapy shows promise for treating different cancers including prostate cancer, leukaemia and lung cancer.

• British children are getting taller – and obesity may be the cause
  

  Andrew Moscrop, University of Oxford

  UK children are getting taller. The reason why reveals a troubling story about obesity, inequality and poverty.

• Kent’s meningitis outbreak was years in the making – here’s why
  

  Philip Broadbent, University of Glasgow

  A vaccine has existed since 2013. The UK was first to adopt it. But a decade of students never received it – and are now paying the price.

• What is ‘eye stroke’ and why has it been linked to weight loss injections?
  

  Barbara Pierscionek, Anglia Ruskin University

  A major study links Wegovy to a rare form of sudden vision loss, and finds men may face three times the risk of women.

• Extreme heat may keep millions from exercising, linked to 500,000 early deaths yearly
  

  Vikram Niranjan, University of Limerick

  Rising heat is making everyday exercise harder, with modelling studies suggesting long-term impacts on activity levels and population health.

Science + Technology

• Cacti may help explain a centuries-old mystery of evolution
  

  Jamie Thompson, University of Reading

  Deserts seem unforgiving. However, the fragile flowers of cacti are evolving quickly.

The most clicked links from yesterday

• Would more North Sea drilling lower UK energy bills? Our analysis says no
  

• Iran war shows how AI speeds up military ‘kill chains’
  

• Moulin Rouge! turns 25: how Baz Luhrmann reinvented the movie musical
  

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