Wednesday 30 December 2020

Bird Brains Are Far More Humanlike Than Once Thought

The avian cortex had been hiding in plain sight all along. Humans were just too birdbrained to see it.



Francisco Goya: the Embodiment of Old Spain

Janis Tomlinson’s new biography of Francisco Goya is a well-informed, comprehensive biography that would make an excellent gift for any art lover.



Nanaimo Hospital to Expand Treatment

Of local assholes.




The Left is Paralysed by Disgust

If you hate your country, you cannot change it.



Trudeau’s Undermining of Democratic Traditions Advances a Socialist Agenda

We must assume he will relentlessly pursue this ideological vision, especially if he wins a majority government.



What keeps Trudeau from Sanctioning China for Human Rights Abuses?

On Monday a court in the People’s Republic of China handed citizen journalist Zhang Zhan a 4-year prison sentence for on-the-ground reporting in Wuhan on the COVID-19 outbreak. 




The True Story of the White Island Eruption

It was supposed to be a routine six-hour tour, including the highlight: a quick hike into the island's otherworldly caldera. Then the volcano exploded



Tuesday 29 December 2020

Vikings in America

Centuries before Columbus, Vikings came to the Western hemisphere. How far into the Americas did they travel?



A Caveman Would Never Do CrossFit. Why There’s Nothing Natural About Exercise

A new book debunks popular myths, including ‘that your inner primal macho ripped hunter-gatherer ancestor is who you were meant to be’



Falklands Land Grab: Argentina Gloats After EU Agrees to Exclude Islands from Brexit Deal

Argentina’s Foreign Minister Felipe Sola has taken to Twitter to crow about the exclusion of the Falkland Islands from the EU-UK Brexit deal - and implied he was instrumental in persuading the bloc to do so.



Friday 25 December 2020

Cuban Communists

Add rodent meat ‘to the family dinner table.’




Outwitting the Grim Reaper

Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin on how to age successfully.



Over 500 Animals Slaughtered as Portuguese Estate Makes Way for Massive Solar Energy Park


Over 500 animals have been slaughtered in a walled estate in Azambuja purportedly making way for a massive solar energy park.



Over Time, Buddhism and Science Agree

Understanding the impermanence of everything—including ourselves.



Plato in Sicily

Plato travelled to the decadent strife-torn court of Syracuse three times, risking his life to create a philosopher-king.



Reading, That Strange and Uniquely Human Thing

How we evolved to read is a story of one creative species.



Repurposing Utopia

Two photobooks chart the afterlife of Soviet architecture.



Playing Go with Darwin

New research elevates evolution from a tactical process to one of strategic possibility.



China's Deal with PNG

Will deplete fishing stock and pose border risk.



What is a Letter?

Literary correspondence in the age of instant communications.



Sunday 20 December 2020

History From Below

What shaped the thought of E P Thompson, the great historian of ordinary working people and champion of their significance?



The Four Thinkers Who Reinvented Philosophy


Between the wars, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Ernst Cassirer and Walter Benjamin sought to transform the world by giving it their total attention – a lesson that still resonates 100 years on. 



Resveratrol for Cold and Flu: Anti-Aging Compound Shown Promise as Flu and COVID Treatment

Red wine has the most resveratrol of all the natural sources... Pinot Noir has the most resveratrol of all the red wines... Vancouver Island Pinot Noir has the most resveratrol of all the Pinot Noir... Domaine Renegade has the most resveratrol of all the Vancouver Island Pinot Noirs...






China’s Fishing Fleet

Heading for Australia amid trade war.