5 things we learned this week

1 Coffee-lovers looking for a strong pick-me-up should head to Costa: its cappuccinos deliver 325mg of caffeine, the equivalent of four cans of Red Bull, and a whopping five times as much as the Starbucks 66mg offering.

Research by Which? magazine found that Greggs and Pret a Manger delivered the second- and third-strongest cups of joe, at 197mg and 180mg respectively, while Caffe Nero ranked second weakest with about 113mg.

2 The largest car theft in history happened in North Korea.

In the 1970s, the government in Pyongyang ordered 1,000 Volvos from Sweden. The cars were shipped and delivered, but once they’d arrived, North Korea simply didn’t bother to pay up. The bill remains unpaid.

3 Bands are now almost entirely absent from the music charts.

Only four new songs by groups made it into last year’s top 100 singles. One factor is social media. Rather than scouring sweaty pubs for the next big thing, record labels are scouting new talent online – and platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are much more of an individual pursuit. Another is technology: with today’s kit, solo artists can release studio-quality music from their bedrooms.

4 In 2025, London will get its own answer to New York City’s High Line: an elevated walkway almost a mile long on disused train tracks in North London.

The £14million Camden Highline has secured planning permission, says Bloomberg, and will run from Camden Town to King’s Cross. With greenery to dampen noise pollution, the stretched-out park could become a ‘thread of calm’ in the city – providing it doesn’t get ‘too popular’.

5 The male northern quoll, below, is dying for sex.

The rare Australian marsupials typically survive only one mating season – because, researchers think, they have so much sex they succumb to fatal sleep deprivation. Females, which are rather less obsessed, manage to live a few years longer.