Another Fourth of July is here, the time for backyard barbecues, picnics, cookouts, parades, swimming and fireworks.

One of those Independence Day pastimes, however, stands apart: fireworks. They’re a somewhat controversial topic in the US and are covered by a patchwork of different laws.

Few in the English-speaking world (and even the non-English-speaking world) are unfamiliar with Alice and her encounters with nonsense and play in Wonderland, whether through the original texts, or their many adaptations. Alice has walked across pages, stages, and screens; she is playable and played.

This timeless text speaks to all - adult, child, reader and player. The adaptability of Lewis Carroll’s language, the openness of its story world and the malleable nature of Alice’s character all beckon us to return to Wonderland in its many different guises.

Why play horror-themed videogames designed to shock and scare?

As with horror films or novels, they provide a means to indulge in the pleasure of frightening ourselves.

Most Americans have never heard of it, but according to new federal data, sepsis is the most expensive cause of hospitalization in the US.

A Dutch feminist pro-choice activist organization, Women on Waves, has been using a drone to drop abortion pills across the Polish-German border.

The aim of the flight has been to highlight Poland’s restrictive abortion laws – a consistent topic of debate since the fall of communism in 1989.

Abortion was available virtually on demand in Poland between 1956 and 1989. Under state socialism, difficult living conditions or a difficult personal situation were grounds for termination. But in 1993, the country’s comparatively liberal abortion laws were comprehensively overturned. With post-communism came one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe.

The catalogue of the Johannesburg Public Library in South Africa contains a poignant entry – “Biko, Steve. Long 0verdue”.

The entry refers to I Write What I Like, a volume of collected writings by Steve Biko, the Black Consciousness leader tortured to death in police custody in 1977.

The library used to have six copies of the volume but they have all been borrowed and never returned.