Society  22% of Scots wouldn't be able to afford to pay for a funeral if a loved one died unexpectedly. 19% said they would go into debt to be able to do so. Source: YouGov.

Social Security Scotland will, later this month, administer a new fund to help bereaved families on low incomes with funeral expenses. The average payment given will be £700. Source: Scottish Government.

The number of online grooming crimes recorded by police in the UK has risen by 36% in the past year – from 3,217 to 4,373 cases. Around 20% of children targeted were under the age of 12 and the main social media platforms involved were Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Snapchat. Source: NSPCC.

70% of 999 calls in the UK are made by mobile phones. In Scotland, however, just 49% of emergency calls are made by mobile phones, with Scots still more reliant on landlines. In 2000, the number of 999 calls made in the UK was around 25 million. Last year, some 33 million calls were made, with 49% for the police and 47% for the ambulance service. Source: BT.



Economy  Unemployment in Scotland rose by 19,000 to 110,000 in the three months from May to July. Employment figures over the same time period fell by 33,000, down to 2,669,000. Source: Office for National Statistics.

Satisfaction with public transport in Scotland fell to an all-time low in 2018, with only 65% of customers fairly or very satisfied with the service. Low levels of satisfaction were also recorded with Scotland's schools and healthcare, with just 51.7% of Scots happy with all three public services. Source: Scottish Household Survey.

More than five shops are closing on Scotland's high streets every week. Between January and June this year, 140 shops closed – 33 more than in the same period last year. Source: Local Data Company/ PwC.

Education  Cambridge University has cut its carbon emissions by 10.5% after taking beef and lamb off the menu in 2016, despite overall food sales having increased. Source: Cambridge University.



Science  Barnacle geese are choosing new feeding sites due to climate change. They are now heading further north in their migratory route from the UK to Norway. Source: St Andrews University.

Emissions of a relatively unfamiliar greenhouse gas called sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) have risen rapidly worldwide in recent years. SF6 is widely used in the electrical industry to prevent short circuits and accidents. The gas also has the highest global warming potential of any known substance and is 23,500 times more warming than carbon dioxide. Source: BBC.

Human intervention in the breeding of dogs has had an effect on the shapes of dogs' brains. A brain-scanning study of 62 purebred dogs (33 breeds) found that their brains were not all alike, with alternative breeds having different shapes of various brain regions. Source: Journal of Neuroscience.



Health  The number of available beds in hospitals in Scotland fell by 2%, from 13,429 in 2017/18 to 13,105 in 2018/19. Meanwhile, patient numbers have risen by 6,000 in the past year. Source: Royal College of Physicians.

Artificial Intelligence has been developed that can identify 'biological red flags' in people who are likely to have a fatal heart attack – five years before they do so. Source: Oxford University.

Currently less than 1% of funding for health R&D investment goes to developing tools to tackle malaria. Children under the age of five are believed to account for 61% of all malaria deaths, with more than 90% of the world's 400,000 annual malaria deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Source: World Health Organisation.

Recreation  25% of women stay away from gyms because of 'gymtimidation' – the fear of being judged. The same number of women say the gym is too expensive and admit to only exercising once a week. Source: Sure Women.

The V&A Dundee welcomed 330,000 more visitors than expected during its first year. Source: V&A Dundee.



Oddities  Many of us don't know where our food comes from. Survey results suggest that an estimated 1.3 million Brits think that bacon comes from cows, and veal from deer. 10% also think that tofu is a type of mushroom. Source: HelloFresh.

27% of the public don't know the year in which the second world war started. One in 10 think that the current Queen was on the throne at the time. Source: Ancestry.co.uk.