The Fisher Professor of Natural History and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University takes us on a tour of the first 3 billion years of evolutionary history. Australopithecines, dinosaurs, trilobites -such fossils conjure up images of lost worlds filled with vanished organisms. But in the full history of life, ancient animals, even the […]
Life on a Young Planet Read More »
Without our Sun in (the relatively) close proximity of 93 million miles it would be a cold and dark world indeed. It is the source of all our light and heat. The object is a massive ball of gas and plasma. Thanks to the nuclear fusion reactions taking place at its core, the Sun has been shining
Karin Slaughter (http://www.karinslaughter.com/) has published 16 fiction titles since 2001 and has a dedicated following. She has sold more than 30 million copies of her books, and is published in 32 languages. I wonder if you’ll take to her particular style of crime fiction. The summary of her latest, ‘Cop Town’ (24 Jun 2014) is as
Have you ever wondered how the 3.3 pounds of gelatinous material inside your skull generates the amazing magic lantern show that humans call ‘consciousness’? This, in philosophy, is known as the ‘hard problem of consciousness’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_problem_of_consciousness). Experimental science, undaunted, is having a go at finding out the answer. You may be surprised to learn just how long
Headhunters by Ben Shephard Read More »
Belatedly canonized on 7 October 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI, Christian mystic and visionary Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179) (http://www.hildegard-society.org/faq.html) had been revered in the Roman Catholic Church for centuries. Apart from her work as an abbess of a Benedictine convent, and for her scholarship, Hildegard is one of the earliest known composers in the Western
Hildegard of Bingen by Sabina Flanagan Read More »
American veterinarian James Paul Czajkowski (born August 20, 1961, pen-name James Rollins, http://www.jamesrollins.com/) writes best-selling, action-adventure, thriller novels. He gave up his veterinary practice in Sacramento, California, to be a full-time author. He has also published fantasy fiction under the nom-de-plume of James Clemens. The summary of his latest thriller (15 May 2014) is as follows.
Edinburgh born Philip Kerr (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Kerr) and (http://www.philipkerr.org/) has served up some pretty successful historical crime/thrillers set in Germany and elsewhere during the 1930s, the Second World War and the Cold War. Should you wish to immerse yourself in these shady worlds and gain an introduction to the work of Kerr I’d recommend this compilation. It brings
If inequality doesn’t bother you a bit – turn away. If you believe it’s an obscenity that the rich can stash away £13 trillion in offshore investment accounts in order to avoid tax (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-22/news/32788549_1_tax-havens-tax-justice-network-investment-bank) whilst the poor are ground into the dust, made to work harder every day and have their income reduced – this
Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty Read More »
This is a treat for anyone who is already convinced by the ideas of evolutionary biology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_biology) or wishes an introduction to them. Here is a question…Will people born in the 1990s in the developed world live as long as those born 60 years ago? The upward trend in life expectancy of the last century
Mismatch by Peter Gluckman Read More »
