The Guardian: How can Britain exit the EU? As a nation state it doesn’t really exist

Once upon a time there was a Roman province called Britannia, but it did not include Ireland, or Scotland north of Hadrian’s Wall. What does exist today is a state called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is not a nation state like France or Denmark. It is a multinational state, like the former Yugoslavia or the Austro-Hungarian empire.

It is also a distinctly odd state. It contains four nations, one far richer, more populous and more powerful than the other three. England contains almost 84% of the UK population, Scotland has just under 8.5%, Wales just under 5%, and Northern Ireland just under 3%. The state populations of Germany and the United States vary widely, but none towers over the rest to remotely this extent. To judge by what they say and do, the London-centred political and media elites are blind to the tangled history this oddity reflects. As a result the union state is now heading for break-up. [...]

Like a mortar bomb crashing into a building infested with dry rot, the EU referendum has torn great holes in the structure, the operational codes and the underlying assumptions of the increasingly rickety union state. Two of the union’s four nations voted to leave the European Union; two voted to remain. There were dramatic differences within three of the four. The Scottish vote to remain was pretty uniform across the nation. But in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin areas voted to remain while DUP areas voted to leave. England voted to leave but London, Liverpool and Manchester voted to stay. Wales also voted to leave but Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan and Monmouth in the south, and Ceredigion and Gwynedd in the north, voted to remain.

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The Guardian: Lost British birdsong discovered in New Zealand birds

A new study reveals that a type of native birdsong, now lost in Britain, can still be heard in New Zealand where the birds were introduced in the 19th century.

By comparing recordings of yellowhammer accents in both countries scientists were able to hear how the birds’ song might have sounded in the UK 150 years ago.

The study, published in Ecography, examined yellowhammer accents in the UK and New Zealand, where over 600 of the birds were introduced in the 1860’s and 70’s and later became pests. It found some dialects that likely existed in the UK appear to have gone extinct, yet they still exist in New Zealand – a phenomenon that also occurs in human languages. [...]

The New Zealand birds had almost twice as many dialects as their British relatives, overturning the scientists’ expectations that the range of dialects would be greater in the mother country.

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Business Insider: The youngest pope in history was a tween who ruled 3 separate times in his life

HBO's new show "The Young Pope" takes place in a world where we get a new pope.

As you may have surmised from the title, he's a sprightly one — just 47 years old. That's pretty young for a pope, who are, on average, elected in their 60s.

The character, Lenny Balardo, is played by Jude Law, 44, who takes the title of Pope Pius XIII.

The youngest pope in history, however, is less than half that age. That would be Pope Benedict IX, born Theophylactus of Tusculum, who was picked as pope on three separate occasions in his lifetime, ruling during a tumultuous period in the church with seven different papacies over a short period of time. The date of his birth is uncertain, but his first papacy, in 1032, was given to him somewhere between the age of 11 and 20.

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The Conversation: How to talk to your dog – according to science

There is already quite a lot of research evidence showing that the way we communicate to dogs is different from the way we communicate to other humans. When we talk to dogs, we use what is called “dog directed speech”. This means we change the structure of our sentences, shortening and simplifying them. We also tend to speak with a higher pitch in our voices. We also do this when we are not sure we are understood or when talking to very young infants.

A new study has shown we use an even higher pitch when talking to puppies, and that this tactic really does help the animals to pay attention more. The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, showed that talking to puppies using dog-directed speech makes them react and attend more to their human instructor than regular speech. [...]

But there are significant differences in how dogs understand our communication and how children do. The theory is that dogs, unlike children, view human pointing as some kind of mild command, telling them where to go, rather than a way of transferring information. When you point for a child, on the other hand, they will think you are informing them about something.

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Deutsche Welle: Germans not opposed to same sex marriage

Gays, lesbians and bisexuals still face discrimination in Germany, even though the country's General Law on Equal Treatment (AGG) prohibits it. Christine Lüders, the head of Germany's Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency, told journalists in Berlin on Wednesday that it is "clear" that there are still problems. She cites the examples of a lesbian couple that was refused an apartment by a landlord, a man who was fired when it transpired that he was living with another man, or a gay couple that was asked to leave a hotel lobby because the pair was seen kissing there. The people affected all turned to the Anti-Discrimination Agency.

Yet, a study commissioned by Lüders' office shows that a majority of Germans clearly support legal equality for homosexual and bisexual marriage. Of those surveyed, 83 percent are for same-sex marriage and 95 percent believe it is a good thing that gays and lesbians are legally protected from discrimination. [...]

A large part (75.8 percent) of the approximately 2,000 people surveyed between October and November 2016 are in favor of allowing same-sex couples to adopt children together. The current laws do not allow it. [...]

Beate Küpper, head of the study, also found that the younger and more educated the interviewees were, the less prejudiced theya were against same-sex marriage. Women generally have a more positive view of homosexuality than men. Another factor that plays into attitudes is religion. The more religious people are – be it Jewish, Christian, Hindu or Muslim – the less tolerant they are of homosexuals and bisexuals.

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