Wildlife documentaries like the BBC’s recent series, Planet Earth III, are renowned for offering breathtaking images of animals in their natural habitats. You’d be forgiven for thinking these shows offer an unmediated portrayal of these animals – an objective window into their lives as they hunt, rest and rear their young. But this isn’t quite […]
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The names Passchendaele, the Somme and Mametz Wood stand as grim sentinels, forever bound to the unimaginable carnage of the first world war. Almost 500,000 men were killed in three months at Passchendaele, the third battle of Ypres. On the first day of that battle, Wales lost one of its most talented poets. Born on […]
Read the articleWarning: includes spoilers for the first eight episodes of Fargo season five. The latest series of Fargo includes a two-minute tracking shot that focuses on the menacing face of the sheriff, ranch owner, evangelical Christian and Donald Trump supporter Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm). He is filmed in tight close-up as he stomps through the snow […]
Read the articleAndrea Viale (University of Glasgow) If you happened to be looking at the sky in Europe on a cold night on February 5 1993, there is a chance you could have seen a dim flash of light. That flash came from a Russian space mirror experiment called Znamya-2. Znamya-2 was a 20-metre reflective structure much […]
Read the articleAlf Bruseth, 'Politician Coin Bank' (1938). Index of American Design If you follow politics, sports, Hollywood or the arts, you’ve no doubt heard the insult “sellout” thrown around to describe someone perceived to have betrayed a core principle or shared value in their pursuit of personal gain. The term has recently been hurled at a […]
Read the articleMaksim Safaniuk/Shutterstock Production of natural rubber has claimed over 4 million hectares of forest in south-east Asia since 1993 according to a recent study. This destruction of tropical forest for rubber plantations is thought to be two to three times greater than previous estimates. Natural rubber is vital to tyre production since it is stronger, […]
Read the articleOtters and other semiaquatic mammals can keep clean even in dirty water. AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth Underwater surfaces can get grimy as they accumulate dirt, algae and bacteria, a process scientists call “fouling.” But furry mammals like beavers and otters that spend most of their lives wet manage to avoid getting their fur slimy. These anti-fouling […]
Read the articleIn the 'big tent' philosophy of free speech, the more views, the better. But how does that hold up in practice? imageBROKER/Manuel Kamuf via Getty Images People often extol the virtue of open-mindedness, but can there be too much of a good thing? As a college dean, I regularly observe campus controversies about the Israel-Hamas […]
Read the articleMore than 100 peope were killed in the blast in Kerman, Iran, on Jan. 3, 2024. Mahdi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the terror group Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, has sought to internationalize its operational and recruitment campaign. Utilizing a sweeping propaganda campaign to appeal […]
Read the articleIt’s hard to hear anything about the Post Office scandal without being outraged at the way innocent people have been treated by a system stacked against them. The bosses of a powerful institution simply didn’t believe and didn’t listen to its people. More than 700 sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly convicted of theft, false accounting […]
Read the articleOnly 39% of autistic students who start college finish. Hill Street Studios / Getty Images About 1 out of every 100 students in American public schools has autism. A subset of these students also have academic gifts and talents in a broad range of areas, including math, science, technology, the humanities and the arts. These […]
Read the articleA tiger shark swims among surgeonfish off Fuvahmulah Atoll, Maldives, in the Indian Ocean. imageBROKER/Norbert Probst via Getty Images All of the saltwater bodies on Earth make up one big ocean. But within it, there is infinite variety – just ask any scuba diver. Some spots have more coral, more sea turtles, more fish, more […]
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