Sleeping on the job

Is it right to sleep at work? Some experts think we work better if we can close our eyes and have a short rest in the office.  So, is it time for bosses to put beds in the workplace?

Rob and Finn discuss the benefits of sleeping on the job.

This week's question

When the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, was in power, she did her job with very little sleep. Do you know how many hours a night she slept?

a)     Three hours

b)     Four hours

c)     Five hours

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-02102014

Food waste

Many people around the world throw away food that's still good enough to eat. This food waste could feed millions.

Rob and Finn discuss why some of us are tempted to buy more food than we need and what attempts are being made to reduce the amount of wasted food.

This week's question:

According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, what percentage of food is wasted?

a)            25%

b)            33%

c)            50%

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-09102014

Laughter is bad for you

Laughing is good for you, isn't it? True, it can reduce anger, anxiety and stress, but according to the BMJ, laughter can occasionally have harmful side-effects for certain people. They reviewed over 700 academic papers and came up with a list of health problems which can be caused by laughing.

Finn and Rob discuss the pros and cons of laughing, and explain some health-related vocabulary.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-141211

42 Languages

Rob and Finn talk about a school in London which has 600 children who speak a total of 42 different languages. Is it difficult for them to learn English? And how does this affect their educational performance? Are they good at other subjects like maths?

Find out about life at this school and learn some vocabulary to do with education:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-141218

Time capsules

A centuries-old time capsule has been discovered in Massachusetts, US. It's thought to have been buried by American revolutionaries in 1795. You can hear Rob and Neil talk about what to include in a time capsule – that’s a device used to keep the memory of a place in time alive – in 6 Minute English:

http://bbc.in/1tCS8RG

What would you put in a time capsule?

15th anniversary of the death of the great poet T S Eliot

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the great poet T S Eliot. You can hear him read The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, one of his most famous poems, in this video: http://vimeo.com/7602340 
or you can read a selection of his poems here: http://bit.ly/14b6aUe