The Know Daily - Wednesday 3 December 2025

_{Read in 4m 10s ∙ Listening to Michael Bublé ∙}

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A dazzling new portrait of the Butterfly Nebula has just been released by the Gemini South Observatory to mark its 25th anniversary 🌌 Sitting over 2,500 light-years away, this cosmic “butterfly” is shaped by swirling gas and dust cast off during a star’s final transformation.

👩‍🏫 Four-day school weeks

A new petition is calling on the UK government to trial a four-day week in schools amidst a growing national conversation about work-life balance.

How would it work?
A four-day week basically means fitting the usual 40-hour schedule into four days instead of five, or slightly cutting hours, while keeping pay the same. The aim is to maintain productivity but give people an extra day to rest, recharge or focus on life outside work. In schools, that could mean longer days from Monday to Thursday, leaving Friday free.

Has a four-day week been tried before?
Not on a national scale yet, but there have been plenty of experiments. In terms of schools, some districts in Colorado and Oregon have tested four-day school weeks to boost attendance and save money. Elsewhere, there have been more trials in other sectors. Iceland has run big trials of cutting working hours for its public sector workers and found productivity stayed strong, plus wellbeing improved. And in the UK, New Zealand and Australia, some companies have trialled shorter weeks – in the UK, nearly 1,000 Brits kept the four-day schedule after businesses decided to continue following a trial.

What are supporters saying?
Advocates think that reducing the in-person working week, particularly for teachers, could make a real difference. They argue it could help with recruitment and retention by easing stress and giving staff a little extra breathing room. The extra day could be used for planning, marking, or professional development – without reducing classroom teaching time. And it’s not just schools: workplace trials suggest shorter weeks can lower stress, boost morale and even improve productivity. Supporters hope teachers could feel the same benefits.

What’s the other side?
Some critics say longer school days might tire children and a shorter week could make inequalities worse if some students lose access to school resources or meals on the extra day off. As reported by The Times, parents could struggle with childcare, and fitting the same lessons into fewer days risks making timetables feel rushed. The same issues pop up in workplaces – squeezing work into fewer days can add pressure and reduce the wellbeing benefits.

So what happens next?
The four-day week is still being tested and debated. In education, the next steps could include pilot trials at willing schools and collecting feedback on how it goes to make sure the system can work for everyone. Responding to a petition that has amassed over 100k signatures, the government said that it has “no plans to reduce the school week to four days” yet. But the 4 Day Week Foundation is continuing to call on the government to allow more formal trials.

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👩‍⚖️ Jury trials for offences likely to carry sentences of under three years are set to be scrapped in England and Wales, under new reforms aimed at speeding up the justice system.

• The bigger story: Most minor crimes will now be decided by magistrates (judges who handle less serious cases) or by a single judge in specially created “swift courts”, which aim to hear cases more quickly. The government says the changes are needed because current backlogs mean some people charged today might not go to trial for years, but critics warn removing juries could reduce public trust in the system.

👠 Prada Group has announced that it has officially purchased its Milan fashion rival Versace in a €1.25 billion deal.

🇮🇳 India’s telecoms ministry has privately asked smartphone makers to preload all new devices with a state-owned cybersecurity app, according to a government order.

📸 The Nature in Focus award winners for 2025 have been revealed – we still can’t decide which is our fave!

🧬 Ancient DNA pulled from Ice Age cave sediments is now unveiling who lived there tens of thousands of years ago, revealing surprising overlaps between modern humans and Neanderthals.

🎧 Apple Replay has just dropped and it turns out that this hit was the most played song of 2025. 

🎄 Christmas is here and these are 10 free things you can do in London to celebrate the season. Live further afield? Send us in your recs and we’ll share them with The Know family 🫶

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Trivia answer: C) Yep, eggnog originated in medieval Britain, developing from a hot drink called "posset”.

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