The Know Daily - Thursday 10 April 2025

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A “pioneering project” by the Welsh National Opera has found that music could help those with persistent pain and improve mental health 🎶 Participants in the programme said singing and breathing exercises helped to ease their symptoms.

🍷 Tinier tastings

If you’ve noticed wine servings at restaurants and bars getting smaller, you’re not the only one.

Tell me more.
250ml options – equal to a third of a wine bottle – used to be commonplace, but the measurement has become increasingly harder to find across the UK, reported The Guardian. Instead, venues are opting for 125ml servings. There’s been a noticeable shift at high-end restaurants in particular. While they have typically offered visitors small or medium servings (175ml), that’s changed in recent times to only offer 125ml measures or the whole bottle. Now, just 1 of the 20 top Michelin-starred restaurants serves a medium – The Ledbury in London. 

Why the change?
There’s a few reasons. Firstly, people are drinking less – and the reduced servings are a reflection of that. In fact, the UK population now drinks 14% less wine than it did in 2000.

There’s more to the story though – Brits have become more adventurous with their wine drinking. So, instead of just being confined to larger servings of the same wine, people are opting for little glasses to sample as many as possible. The rise of natural wine bars – which typically have organic and minimally processed wines –  has played a big part in the rise as consumers have “smaller glasses of higher-priced wines”, said one chef. That being said, large chains like Pizza Express and Wetherspoons are bucking the trend, still offering diners the 250ml option of less expensive wines.

Anything else I should know?
Removing 250ml glasses could have a “positive effect on health”, acting as a way to nudge customers to drink less, according to a recent study. 21 pubs removed the measurement and pubgoers still opted for smaller servings, with no evidence that it led to reduced revenue. What’s more, mini bottles of wine as single servings are on the rise, gaining popularity for their convenience and affordability.

🇬🇧 Buy British: Chancellor Rachel Reeves has rejected calls for a “buy British” campaign – a movement in which shoppers would prioritise UK-made products as a response to the Trump administration’s tariffs.

• The bigger story: The move would make the UK too “inward-looking”, according to Reeves. Other countries, like Canada, have launched a “buy Canadian” movement. In several European countries, boycott campaigns against American-made products are also gaining traction.

🥼 Simpler testing: A new at-home saliva test for prostate cancer could “significantly improve” detection and treatment.

📚 Fantastic fiction: The International Booker Prize shortlist is out – for the first time all the books are from indie publishers. 

📮 Progressive parcels: The Royal Mail is trialling the “postbox of the future”.

📵 Congestion control: Barcelona is creating a selfie zone to curb overtourism at this popular site.

☕ Caffeine connoisseur: This is the best way to brew pour-over coffee, according to scientists.

🗞️ Metaverse Mondays: Looking for a breakdown of the latest news in the immersive technologies industry and the metaverse? Subscribe to The Immersive Wire for a no-nonsense briefing every Monday. 

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